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10 Happy Songs from Horror Movies

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Lord of IllusionsWe all know how critical it is for horror films to have the right music at the right moments in order to achieve the appropriate reaction. Sometimes the proper music is something which, on its own, is a happy and cheerful song. Such songs can be deliberately juxtaposed against violent imagery in a bit of irony, while others can be turned on their heads and twisted into something foreboding. Here are ten examples of happy songs used to great effect in horror movies.

Lord of Illusions – “Magic Moments” by Erasure
The underworld of magic is a disturbing, dangerous place. Lord of Illusions is filled with the kind of bodily horror and dances with the dark side that one can expect in a Clive Barker film. To balance this out with a dose of happiness, the director tapped Erasure to make a cheerful classic even more sugary sweet by covering this track originally made famous by Perry Como. The song plays as Harry D’Amour enters the Magic Castle, providing a jarringly pleasant break from the horror surrounding it. [youtube id=”uA3nOOZnyDQ” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

Halloween series – “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes
“Sandman, I’m so alone. Don’t have nobody to call my own.” Well, those lonesome nights are over, and you’re going to wish they weren’t. This classic received new, creepy life in the Michael Myers franchise. Trick ‘r Treaters are woefully unaware of the terror that awaits them on Halloween night. Mr. Sandman didn’t bring a dream—he brought a nightmare (sorry, couldn’t resist). [youtube id=”oNuX7bs2qAM” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

Insidious – “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim
Let’s face it, this song is kooky to begin with, but that’s part of its charm. It’s the record of choice for a demonic entity lurking in The Further, the astral projection no-man’s land where Dalton is trapped. The cheeriness in Tiny Tim’s warbly high-pitched vocals is a stark contrast to the evil that haunts the film’s family. “Come tiptoe through the tulips with me” now sounds like an invitation no one should answer. [youtube id=”_eQQKVKjifQ” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

American Psycho – “Hip to be Square” by Huey Lewis and the News
Do you like Huey Lewis and the News? Patrick Bateman sure does, and he wants to provide a thorough explanation for his appreciation of this band just before he slams an axe into Paul Allen’s face. The music blares on his state-of-the-art CD player while he dresses in a raincoat and gingerly shuffles across the floor with his axe. It’s a darkly comic scene, and when Bateman violently unleashes his fury while the catchy song keeps playing in the background, it’s both unnervingly humorous and horrifying. [youtube id=”LB5YkmjalDg” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

Fallen – “Time is On My Side” by The Rolling Stones
A serial killer is executed, and among his final words are the lyrics to this classic rock track. Later, when Detective Hobbes begins to hear these lyrics sung by random people around him, it becomes clear that something supernatural is happening. This song serves as a cue of sorts, used to chilling effect to alert Hobbes (and the viewers) that someone may not be who they seem. [youtube id=”wbMWdIjArg0″ align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

More horrific happiness on the next page!

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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