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7 Songs Changed Forever by Their Use in a Horror Film

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John Carpenter once said that the music he composed for Halloween (1978) was one of the most, if not the most important ingredients to the success of a film. While a hand-tailored score can be a powerful tool for a film, sometimes a song that comes from a different source can be just as effective. The songs on this list are songs that aren’t necessarily horror-related, but due to their inclusion in a specific film, have become forever associated with the strange and the macabre. They’d make great additions to any Halloween playlist, despite no mention of ghouls or goblins. Listen up!

Pseudo Echo – His Eyes (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)

Probably the only reason anyone still remembers this song is due its inclusion in A New Beginning, during a hilarious dance scene. The entire affair is so corny and overwhelming reminiscent of the decade in which it was made that one can’t help but love it. Though it did absolutely nothing to make the movie any scarier, it did succeed in getting stuck in your head. Or, at least making you go, “What the Hell is this ridiculous song?”

Rocky Mountain High – John Denver (Final Destination)

This one is unsettling for more than one reason. The first one is obviously the fact that the reverb-laden song was intended to be a joyous exclamation for the beauty of the mountains. Here, it is used as a song of death – whenever someone hears it, you know they are going to die. The second reason this song’s use is so unsettling is because of the way that the composer himself died. Jon Denver lost his life to a plane crash, and in a scene in the film, one of the characters hears this before boarding a plane. Art imitates life, I suppose. Or, in this case, death.

Ethel Waters – Jeepers Creepers (Jeepers Creepers)

There’s a creepy quality to many older songs. I’m not saying that all of them are creepy, but I’m saying that there’s a good amount that have a certain creep-factor. This was one of them long before its inclusion in the 2001 monster flick. There’s the old trope of the happy song played against a gory backdrop, sure, but the real scariness comes from the lyrics. “Jeepers creepers, where’d you get them peepers? Jeepers creepers, where’d you get those eyes?”

The Chordettes – Mr Sandman (Halloween II)

Halloween II is significantly more violent than the film that came before it, allowing the violence to continually escalate until the conclusion of the film. Then, when all is said and done, this cheery little number plays over the credits. The contrast is startling, and though it’s been done numerous times before and after, this is one of the most effective uses of an innocent song in a horrifying movie. There’s nothing creepy about The Chordette’s song, but ever since Halloween II, the song is associated with death and a white Kirk mask.

Bad Moon Rising – CCR (An American Werewolf in London)

This is one badass song. John Landis’ film does not change that. The film is a horror-comedy, and manages to maintain a joking vibe throughout. So, while the song is now almost synonymous with the movie, it holds more of a mystical quality as opposed to a terrifying one. There’s a whole slew of songs related to the moon included in the film, but this is the one that stands out the most. Plus, it’s one of the greatest songs of all time. That’s not up for debate. Howl, baby. Howl.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird (The Devil’s Rejects)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np0solnL1XY

Tears. Straight tears. That is what comes to mind now whenever I heat this song. Conflicting tears, too; the entire situation is highly unsettling. As the Firefly family faces their death, this hit by Lynyrd Skynyrd accompanies the bullets as they end our hero’s lives – and that’s the unsettling part. The Firefly family are in no way, shape, or form heroes. They are evil, sadistic, sons (and daughters) of bitches. They are murderers and necrophiles, among other things; so they why do we feel so sad when we see them die? Damn you, Rob Zombie. Does this mean I’m evil, too?

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells – (The Exorcist)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRQ-hK766tY

Is this the theme song to WIlliam Friedkin’s The Exorcist? I’d say so. However, it was not exclusively made for the film. In fact, the song is much bigger than the little piano sequence used in the film. Tubular Bells is a progressive rock album, the first record released by Virgin Records, that contains two parts to one song; Tubular Bells, obviously. But with the passage of time, Mike Oldfield’s association with the song has waned, and images of demonic possession and split pea soup have taken over. I will never, ever be able to hear that piano line and not be chilled to the core. I don’t care what the backstory is, who wrote it, or where it really came from. The damn thing is creepy, man.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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