Lockdown! at the Disco #23: The Scary Movie Special

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Hiyaaaaaa! Imagine for a moment that you’re home alone and you’re making popcorn and the phone rings and you’re like, Oh damn! A pal! Friendo! Let’s chat! And then you answer and it’s just me going, Do you like scary movies, la? Come’ead then…

TRACK ONE: “Red Right Hand” – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Oh, hello there! Come in, get comfortable, and get some of that jiffy pop on the hob will ya? This is episode #23 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco and this is The Scary Movie Special! That was Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with “Red Right Hand” which is kind of the theme tune to the Scream franchise and can be heard in each and every one of those wonderful movies – or at least the initial trilogy, at the very least.

We’re continuing our Halloween spook-tacular this month with this episode in which we’ll be celebrating but a mere selection of our favourite scary movies – and the absolute jams that can be heard in them.

This episode, as ever, has been lovingly curated with the help of our fabulous Safe Spaces group here at Comics Youth and an extra massive shoutout goes to my awesome co-worker and my scary movie partner in crime Kay Dale who also helped me out a lot with suggestions for this episode.

Kay is also one of my bestest pals in the whole world and I hope she knows how much I love her and how much I miss us being able to hang out and watch scary movies together. She’s been an absolute rock to me this past year or so and you know what? It’s nice to let folk know these sorts of things, so here you go Kay – this episode is for you, buddy. 

This is our usual episode disclaimer that whilst every effort is made to keep Lockdown! at the Disco friendly for all ages and free of inappropriate language or content that occasionally the odd word or subject matter might slip through which might not be suitable for younger listeners, so parental discretion is advised! We’ll also be talking about scary movies today, so obviously some scary stuff and references to fictional acts of violence could come up.

But now, we’re gonna dive straight in with something extra dark and heavy to kick things off properly. This is Fantomas with their gnarly cover of the theme from Rosemary’s Baby…

TRACK TWO: “Rosemary’s Baby” – Fantomas
TRACK THREE: “Goodbye Horses” – Q Lazzarus

That was the incredible “Goodbye Horses” by Q Lazzarus taken from Silence of the Lambs and it was the first of many tunes recommended for today’s episode by Tom. Before that was Fantomas with their ripping reworking of the theme from Rosemary’s Baby.

Fantomas are a really interesting metal supergroup made up of such musical heavyweights as Mike Patton of Faith No More and Mr Bungle, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, and Buzz Osborne of The Melvins. They have an album called The Director’s Cut which is full of covers of classic and cult movie themes – a lot of which are horror ones. So it’s kind of the perfect listen for this time of year if you like music on the heavier side of the spectrum and happen to be a spooky kid like me.

Now, we can’t bring up Rosemary’s Baby without addressing the problematic elephant in the room by the name of Roman Polanski who directed that film. There’s a constant debate regarding Rosemary’s Baby – masterpiece that it is – on whether we should discard our love for the film because the director of it is kind of a monster. 

And the position that I’ve settled upon – on Rosemary’s Baby and a lot of art in general, as well as just things in everyday life too, to be honest – is to not let bad people ruin good things. Rosemary’s Baby might have been directed by an absolute garbage fire of a man, but you know what? A lot of what makes Rosemary’s Baby such a significant horror film isn’t stuff that can or should be credited to Roman Polanski.

A lot of people worked on that film – from the performances to the costumes and the score, not to mention the original story which was written by Ira Levin – and I refuse to have their work ruined by the awful acts of one man. By all means, make up your own minds and give each other room to make your own decisions on that front too. We get nowhere by attacking each other about such things.

And remember, the world is hard enough sometimes without having to lose our favourite horror movies in this great trash pile of life too.

Speaking of abominable men, this next song is taken from a very iconic scene from Mary Harron’s wonderful feminist adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho. For those of you who might not be aware, American Psycho is a black comedy horror satire about an extremely narcissistic yuppie by the name of Patrick Bateman who commits horrific acts of violence and murder – and just kinda gets away with it.

What’s extra interesting about that film – and also the book – is how it’s continued to become more and relevant as time has gone on. In Ellis’ book, Bateman is obsessed with Donald Trump – he’s a disciple of him, as many men were in the 80s. In 2020, of course, it’s easy to see parallels between Ellis & Harron’s depiction of Bateman on screen – a narcissist who truly believes he’s entitled to hurt people for his own gratification – and the current President of the United States.

I say current because good lawd, let’s hope he doesn’t stay current for long. Now, if you don’t mind I’ve got to return some video tapes…this is “Hip To Be Square” by Huey Lewis & the News.

TRACK FOUR: “Hip To Be Square” – Huey Lewis & the News
TRACK FIVE: “Looking for the Magic” – The Dwight Twilley Band

That was “Looking for the Magic” by The Dwight Twilley Band and that’s the song that gets left playing on repeat at the neighbour’s house in Adam Wingard’s amazing house invasion horror You’re Next.

And it’s an absolute solid JAM – but somehow, that only makes the use of the song played on an endless loop all the creepier. House invasion movies are a terrific genre of horror which tend to provide critical allegories about the country within which they’re set.

American horror films like The Purge, You’re Next, and Us, for instance, might look on the surface to be films about a household which comes under threat from violent invaders. But beneath the surface of such films are some very savvy political and social commentaries about American values – and how they very often work against the people.

Home invasion movies talk often talk about the vulnerabilities of a country – and the fear of ‘the other’ infiltrating it and changing the values of it. Both You’re Next and The Purge, for instance, have a lot to say about capitalism and class and the rise of the 1% - and also how wealth is hoarded by the rich, leaving little resources for the rest of us to scrap over. Jordan Peele’s Us, on the hand, is full of commentary about who is allowed to call themselves an American and how, as a country, the United States has a historically proven fear of the outsider. Of pointing the finger and placing the blame on those who think or act differently to us.

And with that in mind, we’re going to play a really beautiful tune from one of our favourite home invasion horrors of the past 20 years – The Strangers. This is “Sprout and the Bean” by Joanna Newsom – and boy oh boy does it sound creepy as heck in this film.

TRACK SIX: “Sprout and the Bean” – Joanna Newsom
TRACK SEVEN: “Hard Times” – Paramore

That was “Hard Times” by Paramore and though we played this track on our very first episode of Lockdown! at the Disco it’s such a jam that we just had to play it again. It also soundtracks one of our favourite scenes from a horror film in the past few years – and that’s the death montage scene from Happy Death Day 2.

if you haven’t seen either one of those films, we strongly urge you to check them out, especially if you’re not too much of a traditional horror fan but still want to dip your toe into the genre a little. The films aren’t gory and the scares aren’t huge, they’re dark comedy teen slasher films with a weird sci-fi twist in that they’re predicated around a girl trapped in a time loop who has to find out who his strange baby-faced baddie is who keeps killing her over and over again in order to stop dying and break the loop.

Both films are tremendous fun and very witty and in the second film there’s a really cool montage where the lead character embraces the death loop she’s trapped in to just die in really cool ways and have a little fun with it – and in doing so she takes some control over her looping life and finds a certain sense of empowerment within it. And you know we love that!

And that brings us to chatting about comedy-horror films. You’ll find that a lot of people who work in comedy or horror or both, have a deep understanding of how great horror and great comedy work off the same beats and rhythms and both operate on the same platform of alleviating tensions within people.

When you laugh at a joke, it’s usually because on some level you can relate to the central premise of it. Jokes work on that understanding. When we don’t find an otherwise well-executed joke funny, it’s usually because we don’t share the values or experiences that make a joke like that land. And horror can operate on the same level. Much like humour and laughter, fear and terror are subjective – and they rely on communicating particular anxieties and vulnerabilities to us in a very visceral way.

A good scare, like a good joke, can be extremely cathartic – sometimes the darker the better, too! – and that feeling of being terrified or horrified about a particular scene can help to alleviate and to process bad feelings, emotion, and anxiety (sometimes they even validate these feelings) in the same way a good laugh can too. 

So, comedy-horror can be a great combo for that reason. Films like The Evil Dead 2, Tucker and Dale Versus Evil, Scream, Cabin in the Woods, and more recently the amazing Ready or Not serve up the best of both worlds and can leave us feeling comforted and joyful even while nestling us within the darker realm of things. 

And on that note, this is the phenomenal “You’re Dead” by Norma Tanega from one of our fave comedy-horror films here at Comics Youth – What We Do in the Shadows.

TRACK EIGHT: “You’re Dead” – Norma Tanega
TRACK NINE: “Ghost Town” – The Specials

That was “Ghost Town” by The Specials taken from one of the greatest comedy-horror films of all time, Shaun of the Dead. And ooh boy – does that song hit hard in the thick of how rubbish and haunted most cities are currently feeling in this country at the moment.

We’re winding down a little bit now so I just want to offer this wholesome reminder that scary movies can be a whole lot of fun. Some scary movies can be so horrifying and even emotional that they’re therapeutic – Hereditary certainly pulled that number on me – but for the most part, they can be a whole lotta fun and very, very cathartic to enjoy.

And that’s particularly true during dark and difficult times – scary movies are there for you to process that stuff in a safe, and sometimes very silly, way. So this spoopy season, remember: Scary movies aren’t just for Halloween, they’re for life.

And on that note, this is “Dream Warriors” by Dokken – the kinda silly, but also GREAT, power pop theme to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3.

TRACK TEN: “Dream Warriors” – Dokken
TRACK ELEVEN: “Bad Moon Rising” Credence Clearwater Revival

That was “Bad Moon Rising” by Credence Clearwater Revival and it’s from the iconic An American Werewolf in London – which is one of the fave films of Kay Dale’s dad and also my dad – and it’s also one of our art director’s fave films, and he’s a dad too. So that one goes out to all the dads.

And that’s it for this week, folks! Next week’s episode is going to be the fourth and final instalment of our Halloween spook-tacular where we’re going to be throwing a belated Halloween party as a reminder that spoopiness isn’t just one-time-of-the-year thing – oh no. For some of us, it’s a way of life, honey.

And so for that epispde we want your Halloween party tunes and just basically whatever spoopy jam your heart desires, so be sure to request ya faves. And I really need your help with this one because if I don’t get some requests in then I’m basically just gonna be blasting the entirety of AFI’s The Art of Drowning while wondering why nobody turns up to my parties.

We also want to know how you’re celebrating Halloween this year! What are the vibes your way? And also what are favourite ways to celebrate Halloween – feel free to include celebrations on a normal non-pandemic, non-Tory dystopia year too.

Until then, remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness stay scary – this is Amy Roberts signing off and this is the Tethered remix of “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz from Jordan Peele’s Us, as requested by both Kay and Tom.

Byeeeeeeeeeeee….! 

TRACK TWELVE: “I Got 5 On It” – Luniz (Tethered Remix)