Case of the Missing Horror Musicals
The making of a horror movie is very intricate; the dialogue must be delivered a certain way that leaves the audience hanging on their every word, the body language and facial expressions of the actors in the film must coincide with the dialogue they are delivering, and perhaps the most important of all, when the music enters and exits a specific scene is paramount to the thrills and chills the audience has and their overall investment in the film they are watching. The theme of the Halloween movies, and coincidentally what is also playing every time Michael Meyers appears behind or in front of, is beyond widely recognizable and critic James Berardinelli has called the score of the Halloween franchise simple and unsophisticated, yet admits that the music in the film is one of its strongest assets. I would actually beg to differ because after seeing the Halloween movies several times, its score is what makes those movies the timeless classics that they have widely come to be known. It would make sense then, that if music is such a tremendous part of a horror movie, why aren’t we injecting more music into them?
A few nights ago I was watching the horror musical that started the genre—Little Shop of Horrors. Now, days later and having watched many, many movies since, I still have three separate songs from Little Shop of Horrors stuck in my head. The mark of an excellent musical is, of course, the music. The music that you somehow remember even though you have only heard the song once and you can recite the words line-by-line. The music that you find yourself humming in the shower days after the credits have scrolled down the television screen. The music and a good plot with characters that intrigue you are the makings of a great musical and that is exactly what Little Shop of Horrors offered its audiences and that is what the bulk of original musicals offered, which is why they are so beloved and could also explain why so many B-movies as well as accomplished horror movies have been getting their dance routines down over the years.
While Little Shop of Horrors is considered the first “horror musical,” there are many others that are enveloped in a cult of fanaticism all their own; case in point: The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I firmly believe that the only reason why they haven’t redone that musical is because a man does not exist who would so effortlessly and casually strut around in a corset and heels and look good doing it! Rocky Horror actually brought a great deal of social issues out into the mainstream (or as mainstream as Rocky Horror has even gotten) that people were quite squeamish or conservatively reserved about; issues like sex and transvestites with a little cannibalism and some aliens thrown in for fun! Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was also very progressive for its time when it first appeared on stage (this is pre-Johnny Depp and yes, it did exist before he, Helena Bonham Carter, and Tim Burton teamed up for the upteenth time for some sorta-kinda creepy movie.) Sweeney Todd sliced and diced into widespread fame by singing about cannibalism and murder.
Other than the severely limited horror musicals above, the bulk of musicals that have been coming out left and right over the past few years are remakes of movies that were not originally intended to be musicals in the first place. Movies like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Fly, Night of the Living Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Giant Killer Shark (perhaps they didn’t want to pay for the copyright for ‘Jaws?’) as well as cult classic comedies Young Frankenstein and Evil Dead. While I would love to be able to see first-hand what a stage crew would do to create The Fly, it seems as if these productions are meant to be more like horror gone B-comedy, regardless of the fact that specifically Night of the Living Dead was a huge deal when it had been made and still remains one of the best horror movies of all time.
While there are a ton of remakes of movies going on and remakes going into musical mode, the only very recent musical to gain attention in the horror musical category is Repo! The Genetic Opera; a futuristic story centering in circa-2056 about a company who sells organs to save lives, but repossesses them if payments fall behind. While I have not yet seen Repo! The Genetic Opera, I am beyond intrigued by its plot and if the music is as catchy as it definitely should be, given that it is meant to be seen as a musical, I’m sure we’ll have another timeless cult classic on our hands.
But with only one horror musical with original content on the scene for the past few years, I have to ask—Where have the horror musicals gone, and more-so, where has the original thought gone? Are we truly just out of ideas and squandering around for an old film to remake, either by remastering it, by using modern technology to transform it into a 3-D experience, or turning it into a musical, which by the looks of it, regardless of the film’s genre, is going to be portrayed as comedy anyway?
Horror musicals can be done, and they can be done effectively and still remain a horror movie and intrigue an audience. It was being done in the 70’s and instead of re-doing the cult classics that people already know and love, I think it is about time for some fresh, new ideas to make their way to the horror musical genre.
