Reviews: 6 Various Horror Musicals, Part I

 Reviews: 6 Various Horror Musicals, Part I

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Growing up, I was as much a fan of musicals as I was of horror films. To some extent, I still am. First a guideline on the reviews here. These are films where the music is narrative, not just a band playing (e.g., 2009’s Suck) or music playing over the soundtrack, with one exception. What we have here is horror films where characters break into songs that further the story, or reflect on it in an unnatural way. It should come as no surprise that most horror musicals are also comedies.

Some of these films I have reviewed previously in a more extensive form, and I have hyperlinked to the full review in these instances.

These films below are not ranked, but are listed alphabetically, all from TubiTV, unless indicated. Note that my snark is truly meant to be fun and rib-poking with a touch of stream of consciousness for the shorter reviews. I had just the right low-budget expectation for these films, so I was not blindsided by anticipating a theatrical extravaganza experience. After all, when it comes to the cheese level, there are times when ya want melted brie on toast, and at others, Cheez-Whiz on animal crackers. I enjoyed these films for precisely what they are. Links to the coming attractions for all of them are at the bottom of each review.

 

The Devil’s Carnival
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
56 minutes, 2012
There are three interlocking tales based on greed/ego, blind trust (via lust is my interpretation) and grief/suicide, mixed with the telling of Aesop’s Fables. That’s the basic premise, but there is just so much going on at the same time. The carnival is the entranceway to hell, and each person coming through is tested to get to the next step, making sure not to break any of the “666 Rules.” Terrance Zdunich, the writer of the film and its music, plays a very interesting looking Devil, who does not take the obvious road when it comes to the songs. Yeah, “666 Rules” is kinda catchy, but most of the music is dense, off-beat and dissonant. Not only are the songs odd, but so is the whole production, and again, that’s meant complimentary. Everyone in the film seems to be having fun doing it, and there are some “names” in the cast, such as Alexa PenaVega (from the Spy Kids series), musician Emilie Autumn, and Bill Moseley (from House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects and 3 From Hell). The film is definitely dark in tone – though not overwhelmingly so – but that is not surprising considering Darren Lynn Bousman also directed the likes of Saw II through Saw IV, as well as Spiral. For the full review, go HERE. 
Trailer is HERE

 

The Devil’s Carnival Alleluia!
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
96 minutes, 2016
This is the sequel to the film above, which is essentially the second war of Satan vs. God (Terrance Zdunich and Paul Sorvino, d. 2022, respectively). Seems the Debbil is dropping off lost soul that belong in Hell (i.e., The Carnival) and shipping them to Heaven to distract God enough to take over. Meanwhile, we also get to hear the devil tell a story about a group trying to get into heaven. Best I can tell, it took place in the late 1940s, or very early 1950s. God is shown as cruel, demanding, and conspiratorial, much as He is in the Old Testament. Also, it addresses the lack of free will allowed in Heaven, something philosophers have been arguing for centuries. It is nice there is a psychological element to the film, rather than just showing black and white God good/Devil bad. The story is used as the lynchpin to explain about the coming incursion, with the film ending just as the war is about to begin. The set design, lighting, and cinematography definitely has its own character, as did the first one.. There is some amazing casting here including Ted Neeley (who played the title character in 1973’s Jesus Christ Superstar; as a side note, there is a nod to JCSS when someone asks, “What’s the Buzz? Tell me what’s happening”), Barry Bostwick (1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Bill Moseley (Rob Zombie’s Firefly trilogy), and David Hasselhoff (“Baywatch”). While this looks like the second of a trilogy (and it may yet be), Sorvino, who both played God and was a producer, has passed away, and there is nothing listed on the director’s up-and-coming that indicates that it will carry on, but still an interesting piece to watch even as a standalone.
Trailer is HERE

 

Evil Dead the Musical
Directed by Christopher Bond; Hinton Battle
101 minutes, 2007
Yes, this is a tape of the final night (February 17, 2007) of the Off-Broadway version of the infamous Sam Raimi films. The camera is static and in the back (I’m not sure if this is “official” or a cell phone taping), being further away than the trailer indicates, and the sound reflects that. It is recommended to watch this “full screen.” I did not know what to expect, though I knew the soundtrack is quite popular. This play mixes Evil Dead (1981) in the first act, and Evil Dead II (1987) in the second(though there is also a few bits from Army of Darkness, 1992), starring Ryan Ward (Ash), Jennifer Byrne (Linda, Ash’s girlfriend), diminutive and amazingly energetic Jenna Coker (Cheryl, Ash’s sister), Brandon Wardell (Scott, Ash’s best friend), Renee Klapmeyer (Shelly, Scott’s girlfriend/Annie, the professor’s daughter), Tom Walker (Ed, Annie’s boyfriend), and Daryll Winslow (Jake, a local yokel). Now that that is out of the way, let’s get back to the play. It is loyal enough to the story to get Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell’s approval. The films had comic elements, but this is solidly hilarious. I laughed often, and out loud. Sometimes it is self-reflective (one character yells at Ash, you killed all the demons except the one that makes puns?, for example). Sometimes the lyrics are a bit hard to make out, but generally this is very enjoyable. I was a bit worried about the first set (i.e., the woods), but the cabin and all its accoutrement that plays into the story is great, right down to the moose head. The songs, the dancing, beheadings, the demons, the blood-splatter (first couple of rows is not the place you want to sit). The story is a bit jumbled a bit from its source material, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised how much I laughed, as it is well-written. There are lots of songs, with titles like “Houseware’s Employee,” “What the Fuck Was That?,” All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons,” “Do the Necronomicon,” and “Blew That Bitch Away.” This is available free on YouTube.
Trailer is HERE

 

Happiness of the Katakuris (aka Katakuri-ke no kofuku)
Directed by Takaski Miike
113 minutes, 2001
A mixture of the love of family, death-death-and-more-death, horror, crime, comedy, dancing, and a snappy soundtrack; yes, we’re off to a Takashi Miike off-kilter special treat. The six-member Katakuri family moved out to the countryside to try and make a go at a Bed and Breakfast called the White Lovers’ Guesthouse, but are waiting for patrons to finally show up. The problems begin when they do eventually come. And go. Through no fault of the Katakuri tribe, the customers rarely seem to last a night without meeting their maker by different means. Since the family doesn’t want to ruin their reputation before they have the chance to be successful, they must figure out what to do with the growing pile of bodies. This is actually very dark and humorous at the same time. For example, in Miike fashion, some the characters include a sumo wrestler and his obviously underage uniformed schoolgirl girlfriend, a TV announcer who has a bug climb into his nose, violence, zombies of a sort, and as I said, a nice body count. And did I mention the Claymation yet? For the full review, go HERE.
Trailer is HERE

 

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies!!? (aka The Incredibly Mixed Up Zombie; Diabolical Dr. Voodoo; The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary)
Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler
82 minutes, 1964
Often Ed Wood is opined as “worst film maker,” though his films have become cult classics. Lesser known for the same reasons is director Ray Dennis Steckler (d. 2009). Along with this doozy, which cost $38,000 to make (about $370,000 in today’s dollars), he also directed other “Grade Z” cults classics like Wild Guitar (1962, with Arch Hall, Jr.!), Rat Pfink and Boo Boo (1967), and the music video for Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” (1967). For this hot mess, shot in “Bloody-Vision” and “Hallucinogenic Hypnovision,” Jerry (the director, using the stage name Cash Flagg) and his best girl, Angie (Sharon Walsh, the director’s spouse at the time), along with Jerry’s pal Harold (Atlas King, looking remarkably like Arch Hall, Jr.) go to an Amusement park (The Pike, Long Beach, CA; closed 1968) run by the evil fortune teller, Madame Estrella (Brett O’Hara). Her sister, Carmelita (Erina Enyo), is a stripper at a music and comedy club called the Hungry Mouth that is connected to the park, where much of the tunes in the film originate. She’s an alcoholic on the verge of being fired, and so the Madame hypnotizes Larry to go out and kill Carmelita’s competition. Eventually, the Madame’s acid-scarred “pets” (previous hipnoteeze, i.e., the titular zombies) get loose and wreak havoc on the dancers and patrons of the club. The acting is horrendous and the writing is on equal level, but the filmmaking by Steckler is well ahead of its time, with twirling images, weird editing, and playing with the film itself. This is especially true during an extended dream sequence. Because of when this was shot, four years before Night of the Living Dead (1968), the zombies were murderous, but not cannibalistic; they are hunched over and disfigured (make-up by Tom Scher) but move quickly. Like other films of the time, filmed just as the Beatles were hitting, the music here reminds me a bit of the ballads that were sung often in the Avalon/Funicello beach franchise, which was popular at the time. When I worked as an usher in a movie theater in Brooklyn in the 1970s, the Bloody Mary version of this film played on Halloween, and we minimum wage staffers had to run through the theater wearing masks at the point when the monsters were loose on-screen. One of my fellow ushers got punched in the face by a Tony Manero type, and that ended that. Things were different a dozen years earlier when this was released.
Trailer is HERE

 

Little Shop of Horrors
Directed by Frank Oz
94 minutes, 1986
Yes, I know, at a budget of $25 million, this is hardly an independent work, but if you did not know, it is based on a black and white, low budget film by the same name, put out by Roger Corman in 1960 (which included Jack Nicholson’s very first role ever in the dentist’s patient/victim played by Bill Murray in the remake). I fell in love with the off-Broadway soundtrack (on cassette) from 1982. This film, though, is quite different in that many of the original songs are changed, dropped, or new ones added for the film, though in an instant, I would take “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space” for “You’re the One That I Want.”. This is a blast with catchy music and fun acting, though it is incredibly bloated by “name” actors to grab an audience, much like the film (1978) adaptation of the play (1972) Grease (and both were huge successes). I was one of those snobs who was disappointed in the new conclusion of the film, preferring its original ending, but director Oz was too afraid to offend a sanitized general audience who would think it to be too negative. Still the film is a beauty, especially scenes like “Skid Row” and “Suddenly Seymour.” I thought Steve Martin was horrendous as the doctor (and I am a Martin fan from his earliest of days of “The Ray Stevens Show" in 1970 (which isn’t even listed on IMDB!). Surely everyone now knows the story of Seymour, his sweetie, Audrey, and the ever-growing venus flytrap from outer space, Audrey II. This film was a huuuuuge success and is beloved by many. I really enjoy parts of it, and others, such as the dentist scenes and John Candy’s cameo (and I’m a Candy-man fan). If you have not seen it, it is worth it. This film is available on Freebie TV, NBC, SYFY, USA Network, Bravo, E!, Telemundo, OXYGEN, Prime Video, Redbox, or Vudu on your Roku device; the non-musical 1960 original is on TubiTV.
Trailer is HERE