Monday, May 05, 2008

Music: Werewolves! Lesbians! Vampires! Nuns! Monday!

A tribute to the trashy and incomprehensible Euro-sleaze subgenre of film horror, the video for the Blues Explosion's (no longer prefacing their collective moniker with the name of front man Jon Spencer) "She Said" is a bizarre mash-up of werewolves, naked nun flesh, and lesbian vampires, all shot in the awkward, cheapo, washed-out style of Jess Franco.

WARNING: This is NOT work safe. If you decide to play it in your cube and are later forced to explain what a group of half-naked nuns were doing writhing across your monitor, you brought the trouble on yourself. Don't tell human resources to call me, 'cause I won't help.



Scare-sounds fans might note that "She Said" is a cut off the Blues Explosion's Plastic Fangs album. Though it isn't really a unified concept album, the cover art and several of the songs have an overt Creepy/EC horror-comic vibe going on. Devotees of musical monstrousness might want to take it home and let it haunt their iPods for a bit.

6 comments:

Heather Santrous said...

I stoped reading at "half naked nuns" and watched the video. Wait...maybe I shouldn't say it that way. Oh well. I done typed it so it stays. Not to bad a song but not one I think I would ever listen to a lot.

CRwM said...

Screamin' Heather,

Your just writing what we're all thinking.

I'm actually a long-time Blues Explosion fan. But I figure musics kinda like religion: Either somebody gets it too to or it just sounds kinda silly to them. You can't convince folks to like it.

Still, I hope the bizarro video was worth a look.

Anonymous said...

That Heather is one naughty Mermaid...

Neat video.

Not a bad song. The visuals are pretty cool, kinda leaves you wanting more... um, purely for the need for more of the story, mind you...

Also, I don't know if the video's actually shot that way or that's how it's playing via the internet, but it has a little herky-jerky rhythm that reminded me a lot of silent films, so actually, even though it wasn't in black and white, I was getting a real old school (like NOSFERATU old school) feel, even though all the elements scream 70s euro-sleaze.
Which ain't a bad vibe to pull off, methinks!

I may have to check this album out.

Hell, I have to give Los Straitjackets a listen, too, for that matter.

Movies, books, music, comics: you name it, I'm way behind!
Dammit!

CRwM said...

Screamin' Cattle,

I'm glad you pointed that out. I was pondering just what gave certain shots that hurky-jerky feel, and you're mention of silent film jogged my memory.

I think certain shots are being played backward; but they are cut into sequences with standard shots showing a single action or sequence. This was a trick used in silent horror films to give the feeling of otherworldly motion.

Take a look at the nuns undressing again (like I needed to ask you to do that). If you look at the 1:43 mark, you'll notice the habit of the lead nun seems to sort of fly over her head in a big arc. I think that's because that one shot is actual a backward shot of her whipping her habit on. She has a fan on her, which further confuses the issue. The trick is obvious again at the 2:11 mark, with Mr. Spencer's backward walk.

The reverse-motion trick is still used in horror movies occasionally. It's pretty common in J-horror flicks and their remakes. That's how they get Samara's hair to seemingly spill over the edge of the well before she rises up out of it in the first Ring flick. In Ring II they get Samara's weird motions while climbing out of the well by filming a contortionist climbing down the side of the well, then playing it backward. The effect is striking, but you can't immediately tell why it looks so off.

Anyway, that's my theory.

AndyDecker said...

I love this "not work-safe" tags :-)

As someone who hasn´t the problem and doesn´t know the proper etiquette, it is okay to read a, say Disney Blog on company time, but heaven help you if get caught watching something with nudity? Then you are really in deep shit?

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm sure there's varying levels of what one's place of work will deem acceptable on company time or in the company workplace.
It's quite possible that some places don't want you looking at ANYTHING online that's not work related.

But, having said that, if you're caught looking at something "not work related", you're in a better position to explain away apologetically Scrooge McDuck or Goofy versus a convent of scantily clad, writhing nuns-- no matter how cool the song is that said brides of Christ are writhing to, you know?
So, I'm assuming "NSFW" is just a bit of a polite heads up to those frequenters of the net at work...