Tuneful Tuesday: The Song of the Cat People

It's the last Tuesday before Halloween, and we're closing our presentations of cover versions of the immortal song "Cat People" with two different versions--one guitar-driven instrumental by the Breakaways... and a haunting version by Danish band Phosphoric with a female vocalist and a cello, front and center.

Again, there aren't any videos here to speak of--the one for the Phospheric cover is more annoying than anything else, frankly--but the music is great!

The original "Cat People" film was released in 1942.

There was a remake (the version for which David Bowie performed the "Cat People" song) was released in 1982.

Here's hoping there's another remake in the works for release in 2022. It would be great to have a tradition of a "Cat People" remake being released every 40 years...

Tuneful Tuesday with Beyonce and Rob Cantor

I really like Rob Cantor's song "Ghost", but since it didn't have a video, I couldn't think of an excuse to post it here, during the 31 Nights of Halloween... until I came across Beyonce's video for "Haunted'? I don't like her song as much as I do Cantor's, but the pair still add up to a Tuneful Tuesday Spectral Double Feature! (And there's no denyong that the Beyonce video is creepy as heck!)

31 Nights of Halloween: Dimensions of Horror

I absolutely cannot stand the style of metal (death metal, typically) where the lead vocalist, at best, sounds like Cookie Monster from "Sesame Street" and, at worst, is impossible for me to make out a single lyric. The band known as Gruesome performs in this style--where the lyrics are growled more than they are sung--and they're the performers on this Musical Monday of the 31 Nights of Halloween.

Is the song in today's video in English? Damned if I know. But the mini-horror movie that makes up the video is far better than many of the ones you'll be wasting 80 or more minutes of your life on this month.

Gruesome: Dimensions of Horror (2016)
Starring Gruesome and Uncredited Actresses
Director: Unknown
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

31 Nights of Halloween: Wild Boys!

I'll be presenting a creepy music video every Monday as part of the 31 Nights of Halloween, because it's Musical Monday!

We're kicking off this sub-theme in the mini-horror film festival with one of several creepy Duran Duran music videos that are also mini-movies. This one, the video for "Union of the Snake" feels like you're walking into the middle of the movie, but it's still excellent.

Duran Duran: Union of the Snake (1983)
Starring: Duran Duran
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Orchestral arrangements of great horror themes

Well, time and a dearth of horror films I've felt strongly enough to comment on over the past couple of years have pretty much put this blog out to pasture. But, given that it's the horror month of Halloween, I feel like posting SOMETHING here. So here's a some commentary horror movie theme arrangements by Mac Styran.

Mac Styran is a German composer who's been writing scores for a range of media projects for more than 15 years. He is a classically trained pianist who has several works available through ScoreBuffet.com. More samples of his work can be found on his personal website.

Mac Styran at work

The videos featured here were all edited by his wife Doro Styran. They are all very well done and compliment the music perfectly.

First, here's my favorite of Styran's arrangements -- appropriately enough John Carpenter's "Halloween Theme." Styran adds a number of his own musical elements here, but he keeps what made the original tune great.




Next is Styran's take on "Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds." This version is highlighted by its perfectly timed flourishes and a nice instrumental version of "Forever Autumn"--a tune that most people butcher when they try to cover or rearrange it. I would have liked a stronger callback to the "Eve of War Theme" at the end, but otherwise this is a perfect track.




Finally, Styran has also tackled Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave's "Theme from Phantasm." The original piece is a favorite of mine, and the "Phantasm" movie holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the works that prompted me to be a writer, because I wanted to tell stories like that.

Styran's bombastic arrangement of the "Theme from Phantasm" captures the killer dwarfs and flying silver balls of death perfectly--and the balls are also the focus of the video--but I think it needed more quiet moments. It should either have built up to the powerfully noisy elements, or it should have had a quieter bridge. For me, the quiet stretches contribute even more strongly than the savage scenes to what makes "Phantasm" such a unique and creepy movie. Still, if this is any indication, Styran would be a great choice to score another entry in the "Phantasm" series if one was ever made.

31 Nights of Halloween: Thriller!

Today is a little something different. I bring you a short film that is also one of the all-time classic music videos. If you haven't already seen the full-length version Michael Jackson's Thriller, I think you'll find this tribute to classic monster movies lots of fun.

So... sit back and watch as date night turns into fright night... with singing, a backbeat, and dancing zombies! Almost 30 years later, it's still true that no mere mortal can resist--the evil of the Thriller! (And it's still a better love story than "Twilight".)

Thriller (1983)

Starring: Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, and Vincent Price

Director: John Landis
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

And since we're here, here are some neat covers. (Of course, they all suffer from the fact that Vincent Price was not around to provide narration in his unmatchable voice.)

First off, here's a quirky and fun a-cappella version--because there ain't no second chance against the thing with the forty eyes!

Next up, it's a hard rock version by The Love Crave that emphasizes the darkness and horror--because there are demons closing in on every side!



And here's Australian band Kortini presents an updated, rock version that keeps the playful mood of Jackson's original intact even as the band makes the song their own. And note that the original lyric "where's the dime" has become "where's the time"--because does anyone know what a pay phone even was anymore?





And, finally, it's a video that takes us full circle as it provides a narrative to go with the music of an instrumental version performed on ukulele by Matt Dahlberg.