Ten Best Dark Musical films

Musical Macabre-




Most people have a belief that musicals are happy cheerful affairs. While that is true in many instances, there is a dark side to musical films. Those films that combine music with the macabre. These films vary from very dark science fiction/horror films to more lightweight fanciful films with just a touch of darkness. Here are ten of the best dark musical films, the musical macabre.



1. Repo! The Genetic Opera- A film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman of Saw fame, Repo! The Genetic Opera is based on a stage play by Bousman and Terrance Zdunich. Set in a future where your life is collateral for your organ transplants. Miss a payment on your new heart and the Repo Man will pay you a visit and repossess it. Starring Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton, Sarah Brightman and genre favorite Bill Moseley. With a mix of musical stars and actors with little musical background, Repo could have been a colossal failure but instead is pure musical gold. It didn't perform well at the box office but has already achieved cult status. The director has taken the film on the road with various vast members in attendance. Repo is a very gory film and contains some profanity and nudity and is probably not suited for younger kids.



2. Sweeny Todd- This film remake of the stage musical about the demon barber of Fleet Street was directed by Tim Burton and stars frequent collaborator Johnny Depp. The film also stars Burton's off screen love Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. Even though the film is gory, the gore is not extremely realistic. Burton decided to go with orange paint to recreate the look of the stage musical. The colors are vibrant against the otherwise drab colors in the film and work effectively.

 
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Amusement

Originally planned as a big screen release, the production company folded and domed this to direct to DVD. While not a masterpiece it is better than a lot of the higher profile films released to theater and way above most Direct to vid films. It has a decent budget, and really looks slick and polished. The acting is good enough to carry it and the plot, well the plot is a pretty convoluted mess, but does feature some decent scares. The motive for the killing are pretty weak, but since the protagonist is identified as being an insane psychotic, does he really need a reason.  If you like creepy clowns you will probably love this, especially the middle segment.

Leaked Piranha 3-D film clip

Leaked Piranha 3-D film footage! This leaked clip won't be up long so watch it while you can. Piranha looks to be a gory film, director Alexander Aja is known for making gory horror films such as High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes and it doesn't look like he is backing off on the Pioranha 3-D film. Lot's of blood and boobs so my impression has came up a bit. Filmed at Lake Havasu, Arizona (although changed to Lake Victoria for the film). Like I said this trailer WON'T be up long.

Raiders of the Damned

Wow, watching this made me yearn for a Uwe Boll film. Bad hardly describes Raiders of the Damned. Seriously Ed Wood would be ashamed to have made this film. The special effetcts are juvineile, I have seen better make up effects from students. The vehicle effects are barely more than saucers, actually a helicopter, on string, Richard Grieco appears to be attempting to channel Heath Ledger's Joker. Note to Grieco, you are not Heth Ledger and just watching you ham around in your long stringy faux Joker hairdo pissed me off. The acting is pretty much horrible all around, but Grieco takes the "best" of show. The direction is stupid, zombies lurch around one moment then high speed sword fight with each other the next. I can't comment on the plot because I am not sure it had a plot. The dialogue is laughable which is probably the best thing about this film. Grieco's behavior would be funny as well, but like I mentioned I can't shake that he was trying to imitate Heath. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, true, but not if you are a washed up hack, whose biggest claim to fame was being on the same show as Johnny Depp when he was a teen. Do yourself a favor and avoid this at all cost.

Horror Hottie Anna Falchi part 2

I'm just gonna shut up and let yoiu enjoy these

LET ME IN Restricted (Red Band) Trailer

The original is a classic and one of the best vampire films ever. This is the Americanized remake. I cannot imagine this film being anything but an insult to the original. I admit that some scenes in the trailer look interesting but overall it is an exercise in fail. From watching the trailer it appears the American film will rip away all the ambiguity of the original. One of the great things about Let The Right One In, is wondering exactly what Eli feels for Oskar. Does she want him as a human guardian, vampire companion or just a take out meal. I can't imagine they will keep the sexual ambiguity either as homophobic as the general public is, I just don't think mainstream Hollywood would dare make Eli anything except a female vamp. Still check out the trailer and let me know what you think

Ed Norton out of Avengers, Polanski out of jail

Well the world's most famous pedophile is once again free to terrorize teenage girls. The Swiss are well known as a nation of standing up for what is right and not being afraid to take a stand (is the sarcasm dripping enough?)  Now they have decided to refuse to extradite the award winning film director.  Polanski's talent as a filmmaker cannot be denied, however his talent as a love maker has been roundly criticised by Natassja Kinski his former child lover.  Hey Roman, when a fifteen year old says you suck in bed, it's time to just eat a bullet and do the world a favor.  Once again celebrity is proved more important than justice.  Polanski is best known in the horror world for directing Rosemary's Baby, then fucking a baby.

Speaking of fucked up releases, Marvel has dropped Ed Norton from the cast of the upcoming Avengers film.  Way to slam the fans who liked Norton as the green behemoth.  They promise a "name star" will be announced soon, Eric Bana maybe?  Expect a "name star" who works cheap.  Good thing LiLo is doing time, huh?  Dollars over quality once again

The Stepfather

Finally got around to seeing this cult classic this week.  It's funny because I have seen the sequel many times over the years.  Stepfather 2 runs regularly on basic and pay cable but apparently not the original film.  Just a couple of weeks ago I even saw the remake with Dylan Walsh on premium cable.  Usually the only good thing about a remake is the increased exposure to the original.  Not with the Stepfather however.  The remake came and went and the original seemed to stay in hiding, which is shame.  No offense to Dylan Walsh but he can't hold a candle to Terry O'Quin.  When O'Quinn goes into psycho mode it is a terrible thing to behold.  The modern really doesn't have anything over this film.  The original is gory ,chilling and suspenseful.   The cutesy kids of the remake can't compare to sexy Jill Schoelen, especially with her nude shower scene.  If you haven't seen the Stepfather check it out.  It's a better film than the remake.

Petey Wheatstraw

Classic blacksploitation film starring Rudy Ray More as Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son in Law. The film is still funny even though it is dated.  Don't look for high brow humor just goofy fun.  Petey is a comedian gunned down by his rivals played by comedians Leroy and Skillet. The devil appears and offers Petey a second chance but only if Petey marries the devil's ugly daughter.  Petey accept the offer in order to get revenge but starts scheming on how to trick the devil.  Fans of Sandford and Son may remember Leroy and Skillet from several appearances there.

Horror hottie Katharine Isabelle

The Shrine Trailer

Why do we watch disturbing films.

I actually got asked this not long ago. I was compiling a list of the most disturbing horror films. I had my draft printed out and a friend found it and read a few of the descriptions. Apparently just my short synopsis of films such as Cannibal Holocaust, Martyrs, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer were enough to disturb her. “Why does anyone watch films like this?” She asked me. Well anyone who has been posed a similar question to a person who is not a horror film fan knows it is really impossible to make them understand. Most of us probably aren’t exactly sure why we are driven to the more extreme elements of horror.

Recent films like The Hills Have Eyes remake have pushed the envelope of the casual horror fan. Still these films are for the most part extreme only in the amounts of blood and gore on the screen. There is a huge difference between a film like Saw and a film like Takashi Miike’s Imprint. Saw is bloodier and gorier yet, it and it’s sequels play regularly on premium cable. Imprint meanwhile, was considered too disturbing for Showtime’s Masters of Horror. Then there are the incredibly disturbing films like Martyrs and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer that transcend the genre and become works of art. Sill why do we put ourselves through the emotional torment?

They elicit an emotion is us. They change us just a bit. Just like any work of art. As a lover of fine art can be transformed by a Van Gogh, we can be changed by the emotions we feel in a film. The more brutal and disturbing the stronger the emotions. Are fans moved by a film like Hostel? Possibly. What about a film like Friday the 13th? Not likely. That doesn’t mean it is a bad film, but it lacks the emotional content that other films contain. It is impossible to set through Martyrs and not be moved.

It is hard to sit through Martyrs, but if you manage it, just like the heroine Ana, you will be transformed. Maybe just a bit but you will come away changed. The emotions are just too strong. The characters too real. We care for them and we watch them destroyed. It is not that we enjoy them being destroyed, we don’t. But in their destruction we gain something. Some deep understanding of ourselves and our world. We gain an understanding of our own inevitable death.

Fans of horror have long understood that these films force us to confront our own mortality. They allow us to look into the abyss and walk away. To understand that one day that abyss will claim us. These disturbing films work in a similar way only much more potent than the average horror film. If The Wolfman is a Tylenol, then Audition is a shot of morphine. We have so desensitized ourselves to horror that just like a junkie the weak stuff just doesn’t work any longer.

Critics of the horror genre have long accused it of desensitizing us to violence. I think it is the other way around. The world is numbing us to horror. In 1931 Dracula was horrifying, in our modern age Bela Lugosi hamming it up in a cape just will not suffice. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with child killers, genocide, and global terrorism we need something stronger than a Hungarian count and fake spider webs. We still need that emotion, but we need a stronger drug. Because we need to be forced to look at death in order to fully live. We need to be reminded that mortality is what makes our lives so special.

So we watch horror films and as we get more and more doses of the nightly news, just like an infection we get resistant. We get closer to the abyss. Maybe sometimes we get too close. I felt way to close to the abyss after watching Oldboy. I also felt that elation that comes with standing on the edge of the void. We crave that feeling and even though we might not admit it, we crave that queasy disturbed feeling. The same people who look at us funny for enjoying Inside will rush out to see Marley and Me, leaving the theater in tears. They have gotten that same look into the dark, just from a different angle. I believe they are more like us than they, or we, want to acknowledge.

They flirt with the dark side. Watching light weight fare like Twilight and calling it horror. Others rush to see the latest bloodied up remake and say they love horror. While many true horror fans get pushed by the wave into deeper and darker frontiers. Maybe those of us who watch these films just need them more. Just like the addict we need our fix. Maybe instead of heroin it’s the Zoloft that keeps us sane. The drug that allows us to let our darkest side out in a safe environment. The valve that keeps us from going critical.

So ask me again why I like I like I Spit on Your Grave and I will just ask you why you like The Notebook. As different as they are, they both share certain similarities. They both look into the abyss. They both remind us that life is short lived. That dignity can be stripped away, by age and disease in The Notebook and by people in I Spit On Your Grave. So when you look at me and turn up your nose, try and remember this. We aren’t that different after all.

Will the real Wolfman please stand up?

I really tried not to hate Twilight.  I know it was a book written for kids, that broke into a mainstream audience.  It reached beyond the young horror genre to millions of people who would never go see a horror movie willingly.  I can only assume some of these people have never heard of a werewolf before.  That assumption is the only thing holding back my anger at Twilight and its fans over the last few weeks.  Now I fear it is becoming impossible to have any respect for Twilight or the majority of its fans.  I realize Twilight does have some "real" horror fans that like it.  I also realize that it is an entertaining movie for tweens.  I also realize that America's teens and tweens are becoming more and more stupid and Twilight isn't helping matters.


First off it was the fan letter to Universal accusing them of "stealing" from Twilight to make The Wolfman remake with Benicio del Torro.  Part of me still holds out hope that the letter was a prank, but knowing teens today, I can see it being real.  Then some twit on the Oscar red carpet refers toTaylor Lautner as playing the most famous werewolf of all time?  Excuse all the fuck out of me?  That’s like calling Lady Gaga the most famous singer ever.  Just because it is hot right now does not mean it will stand the test of time.  Let us take a quick look at the most famous werewolf of all time. Jakob Black would not exist without this man.  Stephanie Meyer would still be working at Captain D's if not for him.  Ladies and gentlemen,
Lon Chaney, Jr.


Maybe Lon doesn't pass the hawtness test of today’s text obsessed, barely can spell, can't locate Canada on a map teens but in the 40's he was considered a handsome leading man.  Not only that he could act.  He put a pathos and a sadness into his wolf man that has never been repeated in film.  The entire film was as much a tragedy as a horror film.  You tweens do know what a tragedy is right?  Or did you skip out on that part of class to go to the mall?  Most of the time honored werewolf mythos was created in that film, mythos which Meyer confidently threw out to make her goofy love triangle story.

The 40's were a different time though.  A time when a movie didn't need big flashy effects.  A time when people actually paid attention to the story and the acting.  Now America is simply too stupid.  If a movie doesn't have big sparkly effects, fast cuts, handsome young barely legal actors and a non-sense storyline, it just cannot keep our interest.  Honestly Twilight is nothing but
a gimmicky, flashy, teenage angst filled piece of fluff.  Hopefully the

tweens that flock to it will someday realize this, but I don't hold out
much hope.

I am afraid the day of good movies, at least on the big screen are over.  I liked The Wolfman remake but it suffers from those same flaws, too much flash and not enough substance.  Much more substance than Twilight, but it can't compete with the original.  Will we ever see another Lon Chaney?  Nope. Will we ever forget him? Not true horror fans and true cinema fans.  It is our job, no our responsibility to keep his memory alive.  If your kids want to watch Twilight, make them watch The Wolfman first.  Take away their cell phone while they are watching it, turn down the lights and make some popcorn.  Maybe they will laugh at the special effects after being exposed to all the CGI, but maybe they will jump once or twice.  Maybe they will shed a tear at the end.  If they don't leave me a comment saying " I told ya so," if they do then maybe there is hope for America yet.

Oh yeah Twilight sucks