Editorials
The Lost Art of the Horror Movie Theme Song
Chances are that if you have listened to Marilyn Manson’s latest release, a cover of Gerard McMahon’s “Cry Little Sister,” you instantly thought of The Lost Boys. While most film soundtracks nowadays tend to favor timeless instrumental scores, there was a period in the ‘80s-‘90s where soundtracks featured songs written specifically for the film, and often became huge smash hits that would rival the successes of the movies themselves. The movie theme song in the 80s and ‘90s was a catchy rock or pop anthem with lyrics that often summed up the plot of the movie. Who doesn’t think of Ghostbusters and instantly start humming Ray Parker Jr.’s iconic “Ghostbusters”?
The movie theme song waned in popularity, and as much as I’d like to blame Will Smith (I’m looking at you, Wild Wild West), it had much more to do with the passage of time and ever-evolving music and industry. There’s also a certain level of cheese associated with a song that essentially spells out the plot of the movie. Nostalgic for sure, but you don’t really associate upbeat tunes with really serious movies. More so, it’s likely just not lucrative or feasible to pull in well-known musicians as it once was in the prime of the movie theme song. Essentially, the original movie theme song has long become a lost art form. In commemoration of this lost art, here are some of the most memorable horror movie theme songs.
“Pet Sematary” – Ramones
With filming underway on the remake of Pet Sematary, and the casting now in place for the final members of the Creed family, speculation on what directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer vision will be have begun. I think we can definitively count on one thing this updated adaptation will be lacking; a catchy ear worm theme song by the Ramones. The Ramones “Pet Sematary” was written in an hour’s time by bassist Dee Dee Ramone, and it became one of the band’s biggest radio hits. With lyrics that directly reference the plot, like “Follow Victor to the sacred place,” the Ramones gave you everything you need to know about the movie’s plot. And everything to ensure it won’t leave your head for at least a week after listening.
“He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” – Alice Cooper
It’s fitting that Jason Voorhees film with the biggest sense of fun would be the one to get its own theme song; Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Leave it to Alice Cooper to aptly sum up the rules of Camp Crystal Lake with lyrics like, “You’re swimmin’ with your girl, Out on lovers’ lake, and the wind blows cold, It chills your bones, But you’re still on the make, That’s a bad mistake.” The song even features the signature “ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma” that’s become synonymous with the franchise. A hit for Cooper, this song was not only featured throughout the film, but the recent video game as well. The rights on this franchise might be caught up in legal hell at the moment, but I guess we still have this theme song to play on loop in the meantime.
“Dream Warriors” – Dokken
Remember when music videos were a thing? I mean a popular thing when MTV still meant music television. Dokken band members George Lynch and Jeff Pilson wrote this song for Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but aside from lyrical nods to dreaming and dream warriors it doesn’t really explain much of the plot. That’s where the music video comes in, with clips from the film and Dokken antagonizing Freddy Krueger. But it was a catchy song with a cool video, so it works.
“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” – David Bowie
Paul Schrader’s Cat People, a more erotic horror remake of the 1942 classic, isn’t nearly as well-known as the theme song that David Bowie wrote with producer Giorgio Moroder. Moroder had recorded most of the music, and Bowie wrote the lyrics after director Schrader sought him out. The result is a gothic, moody piece that gets stuck in your head. That Bowie re-recorded and released the song on his album, Let’s Dance, further propelled it into the spotlight while this movie remains in the shadows.
“Me Against the World” – Lizzy Borden
There are few pairings as great as horror and metal, which is why the obscure 1988 creature feature Black Roses is worth mentioning. The plot revolves around a metal band, Black Roses, coming to town and turning its teens into demonic monsters with their music. This means that the soundtrack is full of prominent (at the time) bands like King Kobra, Tempest, and Lizzy Borden. While most of the songs performed by Black Roses in the film were done by King Kobra, its Lizzy Borden’s “Me Against the World” that’s the catchiest thanks to a killer opening sequence.
“Fright Night” – J. Geils Band
There was a glaring omission from the 2009 remake; a catchy theme song like the final single from J. Geils Band in the 1985 original film. Truthfully Brad Fiedel’s “Come to Me” and Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King’s “Give it up” tend to get recalled more than this theme song for the infamous scene where Amy gets seduced by vamp Jerry Dandridge in the nightclub, but this theme song better suits not only the comedic, light tone of the movie but plot-wise as well.
“Killer Klowns” – The Dickies
The lyrics “These klowns, honey, gonna make you die” pretty much says it all. The eponymous killer klowns in the movie are fun, colorful, humorous, but deadly. The Dickies’ song encapsulates the film wholly with their punk rock style merging with the circus calliope; more specifically, the band’s ear worm sampling of Julius Fucik’s “Entry of the Gladiators.” Arrow Films Blu-ray release has a special feature that delves into this theme song’s creation, just in time for the film’s 30th anniversary. Anniversary or not, this song is a must listen when it comes to ‘80s theme songs.
This hardly scratches the surface. What horror theme song is your favorite?
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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