MentalPolyphonics
Smash monogamy.
I’ve been working on a horror movie. As I’ve said before, Tarantino starts with music and I find that really helps.
The other little trick I’ve learned is to start by writing from the point of view of the antagonist. They’re the hero of their own story — we all are — so their scheme has to make some kind of dramatic sense. I find it’s easiest to put together a plot by writing what the bad guy wants to have happen and then confounding him at key moments with the actions of the hero.
Like in Star Wars: Palpatine successfully executes his decades-long ultimate-power plan, then Luke et. al. come and smash everything. Simple, right?
So, how do I get in that horror movie frame of mind? I’ve been listening to The Grateful Dead, partly because they’re awesome, partly because the protags are all hippies, and partly for the name-archetype which I think will be useful. Yesterday I decided to try some horrorcore, that rap-metal-horror flick hybrid.
Psychopathic Records is the Disney, or Coca-Cola, of the horrorcore market. Don’t get me wrong: It’s an indie label, but their fanbase is big enough to do things like send their new acts to #1 on Billboard Heatseekers.
Psychopathic’s flagship act is ICP, of whom I used to be a giant fan. Boondox is their first non-urban, Dirty South act. His thing is a kind of Chainsaw-Massacre-Deliverance-Meets-Black-Magic. Here’s Dox’s track Inbred Evil:
This video is deceptively good. Family is a key element of horror (eg/ Mrs. Vorhees). In the video Dox kills because of his childhood — the argument in the car triggers him. Plus, little kids and sped-up footage just look creepy.
Horrorcore albums are supposed to be concept-centric and cinematic, like a horror movie. Listening while I write is reminding me of some key elements of the genre: Evil should be “ancient” (in Scream the evil is a year old, which is good enough). The family element also helps because, and this is my own untested theory, family is the closest most people get to insanity so it’s a good way in.
Here’s Dox’s party track Sippin’:
You need horrorcore party tracks just like you need comic relief in horror films: The lows are lower if the highs are higher.
Here’s Rollin’ Hard, the crazy-drug-murder track. I recommend you don’t listen, it’s certainly NSFW:
You do need gore. The Blair Witch Project, psychological horror film extraordinaire, had that little pouch with a bloody tooth in it. A little goes a long way. (A quick note on that user video: Images that directly represent your soundtrack look terrible. Go for implication.)
Despite hitting the top of Billboard Heatseekers, The Harvest isn’t a genre-beater. It’s no The Great Milenko or The Amazing Jeckel Brothers — fantastic albums in their own rights, let alone in horrorcore.
I thought this set a good overview. Also: there is very little...
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