Editorials
6 Dream Tour Pairings!!!
How many of you have thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be just awesome if [insert band name here] toured with [insert band name here]?” I know I’ve done it on more than one occasion. Hell, I do it all the damn time. There are some tour pairings that make so much sense that it simply boggles my mind that the’ve never been done. These are tours that would get fans salivating, drool flowing from the mouth like waterfalls.
So I put together six of my most desired tour pairings, ones where the headliner and co-headliner would not only compliment each other but would take things to an entirely new level. Head on below to see my list!
Porcupine Tree with Karnivool
Both of these bands take progressive rock to near transcendental levels, mixing gorgeous melodies with crushing heaviness, often within the same song. Seeing the both of them perform live would be an out of this world experience.
Tool with Opeth
First of all, forgive me for my April Fools’ joke in 2011. But you have to admit, it was a good one!
But seriously, think about this for a second. Talk about a match made in heaven! Both are bands that refuse to write music that would suit “the masses” and are yet push musical boundaries, taking several genres and mixing them into something that only they can each pull off.
Katatonia with Anathema
While listening to some bands, it’s clear that they write the songs, they record them, and they go on tour. Then, they rinse and repeat. Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with that. Some bands write songs that are very direct and to the point.
But then there are bands that take it a step further and don’t release music, they release art. And that is the level that I place Katatonia and Anathema in. Seeing them perform is like going to a museum and really taking the time to appreciate what you are looking at. It’s not simply a concert, it’s a time for reflection and appreciation.
Alice In Chains with Pearl Jam
This is basically a way to make my inner 90’s grunge self make the unmanliest of squeals. Both Dirt and Ten are fantastic albums that helped shape and define my musical tastes as I was growing up. This tour would probably bring about the revival of the patch covered denim jacket.
Lamb Of God with Soilwork
The ferocity and aggression of both of these bands is undeniable. Lamb of God would bring a seriously heavy groove while Soilwork would bring the melody. It’s the type of concert that would result in many cases of whiplash due to headbanging.
Rammstein with Rob Zombie
Let’s be very clear here, this concert is all about fire. Both Rammstein and Rob Zombie put on amazing and explosive (pun intended) shows that would be something for the books. I’m pretty sure that the amount of pyro used over this tour would shift the global climate up a degree or two.
Alright fellow concertgoers, what tour pairings would you want to see? Let me know in the comments below!
Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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