Halloween Mix 2018

For the past several Octobers I've listened almost exclusively to a series of Halloween mixes that I downloaded from some retro site circa 2012. They were basically a collection of Halloween-related media from the late 60s through the early 80s. Still are, I guess - I think you can probably find them still over at retrospace, although that site hasn't been updated in awhile. 

This year I decided to put my own mix together. You can access the full playlist here with constant YouTube interruption (alas) or click on any of the annotated links below - some of them different versions than the one on my playlist; oh my! - until YouTube decides to kill the links. (Also alas). Pretty much the same deal as my James Bond Mix Tape post; please see there for all context re: cassettes and mixmaking policies and protocols.

And away we go!

SIDE ONE

1.1 The Vampira Show intro 

1.2 Skyhooks - "Horror Movie"

1.3 Night Gallery theme

1.4 Bing Crosby - "The Legend of the Headless Horseman."

I've never actually seen The Vampira Show. But not a bad way to get things started, eh? As for the others, I'd never heard of that Skyhooks tune until the aforementioned retrospace Halloween mix, but it's become a staple of my seasonal listening. The Night Gallery has nothing specifically to do with Halloween, but it's spooky. And, of course, "Headless Horseman" is a classic. "You can't reason with a head-less ma-aa-n."

Damn true. 

Can't remember where I got this or what it's from. Cool, though.

1.5 Ministry - "Everyday is Halloween"

1.6 Halloween (1978) radio ad

1.7 Rosemary's Baby theme

1.8. Carl Maria Von Weber - Der Freischütz, act 2, scene 4, "Die Wolfsschlucht"

1.9 The Haunted Strangler trailer

Believe it or not, I'd never heard that Ministry tune before. Unless it was in a movie or something and I forgot, which it probably was. But my wife loves it (and - apparently - so does my 7 month old son) so it's been in rotation round the homestead.

I love radio ads for movies. It is a genre with unique considerations. I was looking specifically for the radio spot for Visiting Hours (1982), which is from one of those retrospace mixes and I've grown accustomed to hearing during Halloween season (leading to finally actually viewing the film either last year or the year before; all the since-we-had-kids years blend into one when trying to figure out what I've seen). Couldn't find it, though, but while searching I found the Halloween one. Works for me. 

Now, as for Der Freischütz, the Wolf's Glen scene that opens Act 2 is great start to finish. But let me link to two specific spots: this one, roughly 8 minutes long but it's really the first 5 or 6 that would make the mix, and this one, from later in the scene. Those links open, respectively, to an avant-garde production of the opera (meaning you'll see some crazy shit on that stage; fair warning) and to a more traditional one. Both have subtitles, so you can read along for yourself. 

To set the scene, though: the first link is Kaspar going into the Wolf's Glen (a haunted forest) alone to summon the spirit of Samiel (i.e. Satan). Kaspar has made a deal with the devil years before, and his time on earth is almost over. He wants to buy more time by swapping in the unsullied spirit of his friend Max for his own. Satan shrugs - whomever works, but no more stalling. "Bei den Pforten der Hölle! Morgen, er oder du! / By the gates of Hell - in the morning, him or you."

The second link is later in the scene, after Kaspar has brought Max into the Wolf's Glen to give him the magic bullets for the contest ("Der Freischütz" = "The Free Shooter," and there's a hunting/ shooting competition that is the climax of the opera. The idea is that the bullets will hit any target, but the 7th bullet will take an innocent life - Max's wife's. Satan loves that kind of crap.) The music for this second sequence (both for sure, but all the swirling stuff in between the bullet-count) is goddamn extraordinary - please crank it.

Imagine an audience in 1822 seeing and hearing this for the first time. It's amazing they didn't lock Von Weber up, even if the opera ends with good triumphing over evil. No one in Europe had ever seen or heard anything like Der Freischütz before.

1.10 "Soul Dracula"

1.11 The Omen theme

1.12 The Devil's Rain (1975) radio ad

1.13 Franz Liszt - Totentanz

"Soul Dracula" and "Totentanz" are, all hyperbole aside, two of the greatest pieces of music ever written. 

The Omen has never been a favorite of mine. The opening scene is great, but they lose me after that. The only Omen I need is Pt. 3: The Final Conflict. Obviously, many disagree, and more power to them. The theme's awesome, though, and a seasonal fave.

"Corbis!! GOD-DAMN-YOU!!"

1.13 The Hour of the Time

1.14 The Vince Guaraldi Trio - It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

1.15 Jon and Al - "The Thing (The Musical)"

"Hour of the Time" clearly echoes the intro of Arch Oboler's Lights Out Old Time Radio show. Couldn't find a link just to the intro so that's to an entire episode but link provided only for the intro. (Not to say that "Cat Wife" ain't a fine story/ episode. When I was boxing up all my stuff to move back to Chicago in 2010, I listened to a good 7 or 8 hours of Lights Out, and  "Cat Wife" has stayed with me.)

The contrast between it and the intro to Great Pumpkin works well to end the side, I think, and that Linus and Lucy tune is (a) welcome anywhere, and (b) another thing I look forward to hearing this time of year. Truthfully, any time of year. Ditto for that "Thing" tune - so many great lines. My favorite may be "You can check on your ancient computer / it's astonishing how fast that I spread / You can pick up an axe and go crazy / but I can grow legs from my head."

  

SIDE TWO

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Erik Estrada."

"Erik Estrada who?"

"Erik Estrada from CHIPs."

(appropriate pause before:)

2.1 Friday the 13th: the Series (theme)

2.2 Demon - "Full Moon"

2.3 Excerpt from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2.4 Leatherwolf - "Bad Moon Rising"

The knock-knock joke is from the recently-released Mandy with Nicolas Cage. That excerpt up there from TTCM would really only use the first ten or twenty seconds of that clip. Actually, were this an actual mix, I'd not use it at all but use Boat Chips's "Mulder, the Wrath of Leatherface" in its stead, which blends the beginning of that bit (from "Sally, I hear something - stop!" through the chainsaws and the screaming) with the ethereal intro to Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes and an altered-at-will version of the X-Files theme. But, since I don't have a link to that one, I include the TTCM clip as a placeholder.

All of it is meant as an intro to "Bad Moon Rising," which I actually might replace with the original CCR version. The contrast works better. The junior high kid in my head who occasionally calls the shots is really insistent on the Leatherwolf version, though, so it'd be a dilemma.

2.5 John Carpenter - "The Shape Lurks"

2.6 The Brotherhood of Satan birthday party scene

2.7 Arnold Schönberg - "Rotte Messe," Pierrot Lunaire 

2.8 Cochran's Speech from Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Had I made this tape in the 90s, would I have run the music from that Brotherhood of Satan scene through the 4 track and try to record Cochran's speech over it for this part? It's possible.

That Schönberg piece is pretty wild. Great atmosphere for a mix tape such as this.

Seriously - Brotherhood of Satan is so underrated.

2.9 Demon - "One Helluva Night"

2.10 That H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-that-spells-HALLOWEEN song.

2.11 Fred Schneider - "I'm Gonna Haunt You"

2.12 Theme from The Fog

I might not use the entirety of that Fog theme - space permitting, though, sure why not. Such atmosphere there. That H-A-double-L... song takes its melody and structure from Saint-Saens wonderful Danse Macabre, which I almost included, as it's also a seasonal favorite, but I figure hey, save the space. I've got a lot of stops to make, and we've only got 45 minutes per side to play with.

"I'm Gonna Haunt You" is perfectly self-explanatory. As is "One Helluva Night," but there's a story, there, which I've told elsewhere, but here goes again. My brother had a Halloween party one year (I want to say 1983 or 1984) and I was told to stay upstairs and out of everyone's way. Which I did, but I came downstairs at one point to go to the kitchen/ peek in. Everyone was gone (I think out in the backyard for something or other) and this song was cranking on the stereo. I remember standing there in the doorway with this cranked, completely by myself in the house, with the chorus blaring over and over again.

2.13 Rubenstein - The Demon tune

2.14 "This Is Not a Dream" from Prince of Darkness (1987)

2.15 Five Man Electrical Band - "Werewolf"

The Demon tune in that playlist I made is not this one. I don't know if this link works, but the one I have in mind is the Introduction/ Chorus to Act 1, Scene 3, and the Old Servant's little bit right after. I had trouble finding it on YouTube. This one works great if cranked very loud. It could be something like "Masquerade Waltz" is more appropriate. If so, swap it in. (Hell, drop the 45 minute per side conceit and just add both.)

Prince of Darkness has come up a few times lately, which made me think to include that wonderfully spooky bit from the very end of the movie/ very beginning of the expanded soundtrack. (Interesting they did it that way.) And "Werewolf" is another holdover form the retrospace mix(es).

Ain't no party like a Rothschild party because a Rothschild party don't stop.

2.16 Berlioz - Witches' Mass, Symphonie Fantastique

2.17 John Carpenter - "Better Check the Kids"

2.18 Redbone - "Witch Queen of New Orleans"

2.19 The Beatles - "Good Night" (Anthology version)

Although Berlioz's entire Symphonie Fantastique is wonderful, as is the whole 5th movement (The Witches' Sabbath) from which this bit is taken, I'd probably just use a small portion of it. I like the idea of weaving in the "Dies Irae" theme once on each side. 

Before the Beatles (and there's no Halloween connection there, I just like it as the credits/ exit music) there's that Redbone track. Personally I'll take it over the band's other big hit ("Come and Get Your Love") which isn't a dis to the latter, just "Witch Queen" is so damn slick.

~

Happy Halloween, friends!

King's Highway pt. 62: Christine

Bad-ass cover, is it not?

This wasn't one of my favorites. I enjoyed reading it as a teenager but found my eyes skimming over some pages, this time around.

While it's certainly true that the novel "plays to one of King's greatest strengths: making broad characters human and making the uncanny believable," as mentioned here, and that there's nothing technically wrong with the book, or unbelievable, it's just rather lightweight. There is no real dramatic tension; the insights into adolescence, parental/familial relationships, girlfriends, and sex would be no one's idea of "the definitive portrayal of..." such. Again, not that they're bad, just that they're functional and that's about it. They're as believable as they need to be, but all of it could be cut-out or diminished with no harm done. 

And as mentioned in this review from a defunct King-re-read blog that I wish its author would resurrect, "It's almost as if the B-movie trappings are getting in the way of the Grade A horror I have come to expect." I think this would have been better served as a short story or a novella. All of the best bits could be preserved in such with no loss of velocity.

You likely know the plot, but I'll relay it just the same via images from the movie.

(L to R) Arnie and Dennis buy the car from loathsome old man Le Bay.

Arnie begins to notice strange things about the car, like how the car seems to repair itself and only really hum when it plays the oldies station.

The odometer runs backwards, as well.

Dennis doesn't like the car and has reservations about its influence on his friend.

Alas, he breaks his leg, so he can't do much as Arnie falls increasingly under its spell.

Nor can he protect Arnie from the bullying of one Buddy Repperton, who looks a little old for high school, but so be it.

Owning the car improves both Arnie's complexion and his confidence, and he begins to date new-to-school Leigh Cabot.

Christine does not approve. Leigh survives this attempt, but it's enough to break her and Arnie up. You know, that old chestnut, We were in love, but my car kept trying to kill her.

Christine starts to kill people, starting with the "shitters" (rather literally) led by Buddy, who attacked her in the airport parking garage where Arnie keeps her. Before they die, they each see the ghost of LeBay behind the wheel.

As does Arnie.

Leigh and Dennis hatch a plan to destroy the car.

Harry Dean Stanton's the cop on the case.

The novel ends with Dennis and Leigh crushing the car to smithereens. An epilogue finds Dennis four years older and reflecting back on the events both of the novel (Arnie and his family all die) and after (he and Leigh date, then break up, now he's a schoolteacher.) He reads an article on the vehicular homicide of the last of Buddy Repperton's gang, in Los Angeles, and wonders if LeBay's ghost is back... The last line is His unending fury. 

Actually, that last line speaks to the "meh"ness I felt upon completing this one. LeBay's "unending fury" felt more-told than shown. But beyond that, Dennis's narrative voice is inconsistent. At times he seems wise-beyond-his-years, as in these two passages from the epilogue:

"I carried a torch for her, but I'm afraid I carried it self-consciously and dropped it with an almost unseemly haste."

or 

"A secret needs two faces to bounce between; a secret needs to see itself in another pair of eyes. And although I did love her, all the kisses, all the endearments, all the walks arm-in-arm through blowing October leaves... none of these things could quite measure up to that magnificently simple act of tying her scarf around my arm."

I mean, he's 22. But, of course, let's give the 22-year-olds the benefit of the doubt, here, okay fine, but nevertheless, it's just too flowery, for both his established-character and the subject matter. Here's a case where the kind of narrative-characterization evident in, say, Blockade Billy, would have worked better. You don't get anything special from having the novel told by Dennis, and his characterization is inconsistent as a result of it.

Speaking of such things, when the p.o.v. changes in the second book ("Arnie - Teenage Love Songs") I thought, "How much more interesting the book might have been had it been structured like Hearts in Atlantis?" Normally, I dismiss such speculation (anything can be "what-if"d but that doesn't make it a compelling means-of-evaluation,) but in this case, I thought now that really could have been something. If Christine was ever re-booted as a pair of novellas and a couple of wrap-up short stories, the canvas-stretching might do wonders for the subject matter.

As it is, I simply cannot agree with this enthusiastic and often-spot-on reviewer, who says "his supernatural story would perfectly complement the eroticism of JG Ballard's Crash, another book about a bloke and his crush on cars." I'm not a huge Ballard fan, but even so, it's a stretch to put this in the same league. (I'll take From a Buick 8 over either of those, thanks, and I'll take Spielberg's Duel over either Cronenberg's Crash or Carpenter's Christine.)

Before I move on to the film, I thought the song-excerpts that start each chapter add little (and there's way too many of them.) Another shrug. I normally jot down phrases or passages that resonate with me to include in these blogs, but outside of the two above (from the epilogue) nothing really jumped out at me.

The movie is about the same, for me - not good, not bad, but nothing special.

Came out the same year the book was published in that deluge-of-King-material from 1983 to 1985 or so. Carpenter was at the height of his cinematic powers, then, arguably.

I prefer the book if only because the story works better if the car is haunted by LeBay's unsettled-spirit/ unending-fury. The movie jettisons this and makes it clear from the opening sequence alone that the car is just "Bad to the Bone." Incidentally, according to the commentary, this was the film where that song makes its first appearance.

It's certainly noteworthy, though, for its lack of miniatures; an untold number of cars (few of them actually Plymouth Furies, just dressed to look like them) were demolished for this film. Probably more than even Maximum Overdrive. And this sequence where the stunt driver (Kerry Rossall) drives an actually-flaming vehicle (with gasoline in its tank) is from a crazy-dangerous-stuntwork-era we'll likely never see again.

The film's other most-memorable sequence is likely the Christine-repairs-itself "Show Me" scene:

Achieved by turning the cameras upside down (note to aspiring filmmakers - this doesn't work with digital cameras, but doing so in olden actual-film days made the film run backwards. For more obsolete filmmaking know-how, call me.) while the car was pulled downwards by a compressor-sort-of-device. (I forget what these specific things are called, but it's not a crusher.) All special effects are supervised by longtime Carpenter collaborator Roy Arbogast.

The commentary track for this is kind of fun. I'd say it and perhaps the soundtrack (it is a Carpenter movie, after all; while I'm here let me say the transition of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" to the 70s-Tanya-Tucker-version was a nice touch of bringing the movie from then-to-now. Well, the "now" of the film. Now-ish.) are the best parts about owning the DVD. It's by John Carpenter and Keith Gordon, i.e. Arnie from the film, who later went on to direct the film version of one of my favorite YA novels The Chocolate War. (John Stockwell, who plays Dennis but will always be Michael Harlan from My Science Project to me, also went on to direct, but I think Keith's probably got him beat as far as worthwhile material. Still, I tip my cap to anyone making a living in Hollywood, regardless of where they cast their respective nets.)

I wanted to include a screen-grab of the end of Arnie's driveway, particularly in one night scene. It's just about the most evocative shot of driving around to pick up your friend I've ever seen. Alas, couldn't find one.

Here's a young Kelly Preston, though, as Dennis's cheerleader girlfriend, all but forgotten for the rest of the film. (Likewise for the novel, though she gets a bit more mention)

Is it worth seeing? Sure. Worth reading, too, I guess, but neither are high up on my list of personal favorites of King or Carpenter.

The car looks wonderful, though.

Though how could you go wrong filming such a work of art as the Plymouth Fury 1958? Seriously, what an automobile. Check out this site for a complete history (and awesome pics, if you're into such things.)

A quick word on John Carpenter before signing off.

This guy's run from Halloween (1978) to They Live (1988) is just amazing; ten years, nine masterpieces. (Well, I'm including Christine, so ten years, eight masterpieces and one not-bad-one. I'm also perhaps-unfairly not including his tv-work, but whatever.) In the twenty-four years since, he's produced seven movies and - my affection for Ghosts of Mars notwithstanding - no masterpieces. Here's hoping he knocks my socks off again, and soon.

(For those who like both worst-to-best lists and John Carpenter, check out this excellent Truth Inside the Lie post. And no, I'm not getting paid to promote that blog, or any of the ones I link to so-damn-often. What can I say? When I find something I like, I stick with it.)

NEXT:

GERALD'S GAME