Halloween Horror Montage

635_psycho.jpgEvery year, I see those Chuck Workman clip compilations on the Oscars broadcast and I think, “Gee, that looks like a fun job.” Also every year, I wish I had started thinking about Halloween early enough to do something special for my Web site. Here’s the result of those twin impulses: a short montage of clips culled from my collection of horror movies from 1960 and later, cued up and intertwined in a sequence dictated by my memories of watching them over the decades — and some ascertainment of their meanings in relation to one another — and set to a fairly arbitrary choice of music. Accordingly, and as HBO and/or the MPAA might note, it contains graphic violence, brief nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and some disturbing images. It also may contain sidelong SPOILERS for a number of terrific horror movies (they’re listed at the bottom of this entry), so proceed at your own risk.

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Audio Commentary: Se7en (Fincher, 1995)

A look at the opening titles sequence for Se7en; some of the work by Joel-Peter Witkin, Stan Brakhage, and Norman McLaren that inspired it; and the Mark Romanek music video for “Closer,” which served, in a remixed version, as the movie’s theme song.

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