Editorials
2010 BLACK FRIDAY CHOPPING LIST: MUSIC
While the horror genre is most closely tied to the medium of film, it also sometimes manifests itself in the musical realm, with some acts being more aboveboard with their horror-movie references (i.e. White Zombie, The Misfits) and others merely hinting at a subtle menace threatening to rise up at any moment. Which you prefer really depends on how you like your blood and guts served – fresh off the grill or slipped quietly into your dinnertime soup (or maybe it just depends on what you’re in the mood for). In the “Music” section of B-D’s Black Friday Chopping List we focus a little bit on both types, featuring new releases from artists both classic and contemporary that are firmly entrenched – either overtly or subtly – in the horror tradition.
COMICS & BOOKS | FILMS | MUSIC | TOYS | GAMES
List Price: $99.98 (Ultimate Edition)/$29.98 (Deluxe Edition)
Released in 1990, Cowboys From Hell was Pantera’s breakthrough album and also the official debut of their most famous lineup, namely singer Phil Anselmo, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex Brown. This three-disc ultimate edition, which marks Cowboys‘ 20th anniversary, includes a newly remastered copy of the original album as well as rare live tracks, demos and several pieces of merchandise including a t-shirt designed by “Dimebag” Darrell, a “Cowboys From Hell Fucking Hostile” button, and flyer reproductions from their `90/’91 tour. Also featured is “The Will to Survive”, a previously unreleased song that was recorded during the Cowboys sessions. For those on a budget there’s also the earlier-released “Deluxe” edition, which includes all three discs but not the extra items that come with the Ultimate set.
List Price: $69.98
In summer 2010, the “Big Four” of ’80s trash metal – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax – shared a stage for the first time in history on seven special tour dates with the traveling Sonisphere Festival around Europe. Due to pent-up demand from fans who’d been waiting over 20 years for the lineup to coalesce, the June 22nd show in Sofia, Bulgaria was beamed live via satellite to over 1,000 movie theaters across the globe to satiate the appetities of those who couldn’t be there. Now that show is available on a special 5 CD 2 DVD set, which also comes with a 24-page booklet, poster, photos of each band, and a “Big 4” guitar pick.
List Price: $199.98
The Vinyl Conflict collects (on vinyl, duh) all ten of Slayer’s albums since 1986 (starting with Reign in Blood and up to last year’s World Painted Blood) in one limited-edition box set – just in time to screw up the holidays. Each album has been meticulously remastered from the original “flat master tapes” and then pressed onto the highest-quality vinyl for your macabre listening pleasure. The set also includes reproductions of all artwork from the original LPs, encased in “heavyweight, litho-wrapped chip jackets”. In other words, it’s a big deal for any hardcore Slayer fan (aka Satanists).
List Price: $243.98
Release Date: November 30, 2010
This UK-only import is a little pricey, but if you can afford to buy it for that beloved Sabbath-freak in your life this holiday season, The Ozzy Years: Complete Albums box set is definitely worth the money. The 13-disc compilation, the first of its kind, comes deliciously encased in a large black cross and collects all nine remastered Ozzy-era Sabbath albums, three radio documentaries on the band, a 100-page illustrated booklet, a guitar pick set, and a special poster. You could wait for the American version of this (hello, Warner Bros.?) and save a little cash I guess, but I’ll bet the person you’re thinking of buying this for wouldn’t want you to.
List Price: $10.98 (CD)
Overseen by Trent Reznor himself, this Pretty Hate Machine remaster (also available on vinyl) has been a long time coming for hardcore NIN fans. After completing the score for The Social Network earlier this year, Reznor ollaborated with engineer Tom Baker to digitally remaster all ten of the album’s original tracks, including breakthrough singles “Sin”, “Down In It”, and “Head Like a Hole”, from the original master tapes. The disc also includes a cover of Queen’s “Get Down Make Love”, which ws the B-side to the original “Sin” single but has since become unabailable. The iconic cover art has also been slightly re-conceptualized by NIN’s longtime art director Rob Sheridan. A great gift for both NIN-heads and naive young’ns who weren’t around during Reznor’s early heyday and currently spend far too much time listening to Justin Bieber.
List Price: $18.98
Four years after their 2006 hit The Black Parade, which not only went platinum but surprisingly managed to win over most critics, My Chemical Romance have returned with Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, which according to the band was supposed to be a bit more “stripped-down” than their last album, though judging from the overproduced first single “Na Na Na…” that doesn’t appear to be the case. The band has at least as many detractors as fans, though the rising cries of “emo!” from certain sectors don’t appear to have dampened the enthusiasm of the band’s core fanbase (who in all fairness likely buy their music specifically because of that emo label). Regardless of how you feel about MCR this will probably be one of the biggest pop/rock albums of the year, so buy it for that person on your list whose tastes run a little more toward the mainstream.
List Price: $13.98
If you’ve never heard of Clinic before, now’s your chance to discover one of the best under-the-radar bands of the last ten years (you can thank me later). A good place to start would be their 2002 classic Walking With Thee, which is kind of like the soundtrack to some lost, bizarro art/horror film. Their latest release, Bubblegum, was released just last month to typically positive reviews, with a more melodic sound than some of their previous albums but with the unsettling art-punk/folk vibe from their previous albums still intact. Indeed, it is this vague air of paranoia bubbling just beneath the surface that is the surgery mask-wearing band’s stock in trade. Get it for someone you love who enjoys searching out undiscovered musical gems.
List Price: $18.98
Extreme metal band Cradle of Filth are back with their ninth studio album, Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, which sees the long-running virtuosos at their most brutally intense. The concept here basically revolves around “Lilith” (aka the “Venus Aversa”), who according to Jewish mythology left Adam to conceive demon spawn with the Biblical Serpent. Fans of the group will no doubt be satisfied with this release, which features frontman Dani Filth’s trademark growling vocals, insane guitar-playing from Paul Allender and James McEllroy, and a tight focus that carries the listener forward on a wave of punishing, maniacal forward momentum. Also includes a bonus disc with four extra tracks and working demos.
List Price: $39.95
This 2-disc collection, the first in a series of retrospective compilations of the industrial/dance group who became known for using horror movie imagery in their lyrics, remixes twelve of their best tracks from the Wax Trax Records era, including a previously unreleased song entitled “Satana Rising!” recorded during the same time period. Also included is a bonus disc consisting of live tracks from a typically theatrical 1990 concert in San Antonio, Texas. When it comes down to it, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult has always been a silly, gimmicky band, but nevertheless they managed to craft some undeniably catchy tracks in their day that are still fun to blast though your car stereo as you drive down the highway at unreasonable speeds.
List Price: $19.98 (Deluxe Edition)/$16.98 (Standard Edition)
Still a bad-ass after all these years, Nick Cave’s current side project Grinderman (made up completely of members from the Bad Seeds) just released their second album of dark, off-kilter, down-n-dirty rock three years after their raw, propulsive debut. This album is a bit more polished than their last but never less than gripping, as Cave’s vocals become unhinged on funky, threatening tracks like “Heathen Child”, “Bellringer Blues”, and “Worm Tamer”. Do yourself a favor and give it a spin, then buy it for someone you know who can truly appreciate the joys of wildly unpredictable rock `n’ roll. The Deluxe Edition also comes with an expanded 56-page booklet and poster.
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The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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