Meat Loaf: 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now'

Here's another fun and spooky video for a fine Jim Steinman song. All music videos should be this entertaining.

Eine Kleine Schreckmusik

Insomnia strikes, I try to bore myself to sleep with Youtube... and what do I find, but mini-horror movie as the video for Blind Guardian's cover of "Mr. Sandman."



Pretty spooking stuff. I give it a rating of Ten Monstrous Clowns out of Ten. :)

Blind Guardian is a German metal band that's been around since the mid-1980s, and they pretty much single-handedly gave rise to the German metal scene. They've often been imitated and lampooned, but never equaled. Of particular interest to readers of this blog might be that the lyrics for their songs, written mostly by front-man Hansi Kursch, are often inspired by fantasy and horror literature.

Their best albums over the years have been "Tales from the Twilight World" (1990), "The Forgotten Tales" (1996), "A Night at the Opera" (2002), and their most recent effort "At the Edge of Time" (2010). (The video featured above was originally produced to promote "The Forgotten Tales", an album that's half quirky cover tunes.

Welcome to the Hotel California

"You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave."

"Hotel California" is a great and spooky song that no one has yet fully managed to capture in a video. That's surprising to me as it's a neat little horror story.

Still, here's a video from a creative bunch who made an attempt.



And here's a dancer who states that this performance piece was inspired by the lyrics of "Hotel California". It's spooky enough, but I wonder why she didn't perform to the music of the song? (Yeah, I could ask, but that would be too much like, you know, work.)




In the end, this still holds true:

Meat Loaf's 'I Would Do Anything for Love'

It's a great video for one of his greatest recordings. (It was directed by Michael Bay.)

Great slasher flick in 1/4 the usual time

Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (2007)
Starring: Cali Fredrichs, Charlie Capen, Hunter Huston, Angela Schnaible and Zoe Warner
Director: Robert Cosnahan
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Four Ivy League students (Capen, Fredrichs, Huston and Schnaible) conducting an initiation into a secret society end up in the middle of a bloody massacre in a backwoods cabin.

If you've ever been amused or terrified by a slasher flick (or even both at the same time), or if you're interested in seeing a fun twist on the "psycho backwoods murder spree" film, you need to keep an eye for "Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre" at film festivals near you. It's great little film! It's funny, surprising, shocking... everything most horror films (and comedies even) shoot for but fail to achieve.

"Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre!" features some excellent photography and editing, great acting, fantastic use of music and sound--the twangs and squishy sounds during the banjo murder were both funny and disturbing--and a clever script that is truly a superior effort, with more effective twists that you find in most horror films running ten times as long this 17-minute short.

The only real complaint I have with the film is the final couple of seconds. I think it would have ended on a far stronger note without the "eyes snap open" cliche at the very end.

'Death in Charge' is excellent horror short

Death In Charge (2008)
Starring: Marina Benedict, Kylie Chalia and Gillian Shure
Director: Devi Snively
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When an indifferent mother (Shure) mistakes the Grim Reaper (Benedict) for a babysitter and rushes off for the night, Death gains a new perspective on life while spending an evening with a nine-year-old girl (Chalia).


"Death in Charge" is an interesting film that packs more interesting character development into its 15-minute running time than many films manage to do with 115 minutes. Most impressive about the film is the take on the personification of Death, and actress Marina Benedict manages to bring many dimensions to this character, dimensions that range from humorous to chilling. (It's funny to see Death try to get the attention of a mother so preoccupied with her upcoming date that she can't tell the Grim Reaper from a goth babysitter, but it's chilling to watch Death go about her business as the film draws to a close.)

Well-staged and well-acted, the main thrust of the film has us see Death learning about the little joys of life from a little girl, in a part of the film that is humorous and touching... even if we know that something is going to go wrong. And that "something" is when the girl callously kills a bunch of Sea Monkeys, because she is disgusted by the fact they don't resemble the cartoon animals on the box when they come to life in the water. Benedict manages to convey heartbreak as Death--who had been enjoying eating Mac 'n' Cheese, playing video games, and seeing the Sea Monkeys spring to life before her very eyes--sadly remembers her reason for being as she watches the Sea Monkeys die.