stage horror – Weirdo Du Jour

Musical Double Feature: Phantom of The Paradise and Shock Treatment

Whether adapted from stage or produced strictly for the big screen, musicals have been popular since the emergence of sound film technology. Choreography and music interwoven delight the imaginations of young and old alike, with lavish sets and perspectives that would be impractical in a theater. Adding in elements of kitsch and horror have given us classics like Little Shop of Horrors and Hedwig And The Angry Inch, yet one of the most common themes in musical film is a rags-to-riches tale. Set within the entertainment industry, characters of humble origins realize their dreams of making it big. Sensationalizing the notion that anybody could be discovered and revealing the grotesque addiction to reaching celetoid status.

Brian DePalma and Richard O’Brien would deliver darker takes on show business within the musical film genre. Inspired by German expressionism and classical gothic horror, Phantom of The Paradise and Shock Treatment are satirical journeys through the shadowy side of striving to become famous. De Palma’s rock opera would lament the loss of self and exploitative hallmarks of celebrity isolation. While O’Brien’s musical would be ahead of its time, predicting round-the-clock access to the rich and elite. Both films would achieve cult status in varying degrees and ask their audiences what would they give to be adored on stage?

Phantom of the Paradise

In 1969, a young Brian De Palma had overheard a popular Beatles song turned into unbearable elevator muzak. Igniting an intense disgust within the director to hear art transformed by corporate America for a quick buck. Combined with his personal demons of pitching ideas to indifferent studio suits, De Palma created Phantom of The Paradise. A Faustian musical, taking notes from Leroux’s The Phantom of The Opera and Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Grey.

The film begins with a grim introduction by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone. Preparing the audience to meet the mysterious and Spector-esque record tycoon, Swan. Surrounded by 2-way mirrors and bodyguards, the genius producer seeks a unique sound to open his new music venue, The Paradise.

While hundreds of acts vie for his attention, Swan takes notice of the passionate and naive composer, Winslow Leach. Having written a cantata based on the German legend of Faust, Swan steals Winslow’s music and disposes of him. Brutalized and mangled in a record press accident, he is reborn as a masked Phantom. Terrorizing performers as they rehearse bastardized versions of his songs for opening night.

But Swan casts an irresistible lure, promising the cantata will be performed by the perfect songstress, Phoenix. Winslow is compelled to bind himself through infernal contracts signed in blood, when tempted with his heart’s last desire.

With Swan shrouded in surveillance and secrets, the cameras keep rolling. Tapes pile up in his vault, having recorded the darkest moments of Winslow and Phoenix. The Paradise’s mirrored walls shine distortions of dreams turned into obsession. Splitting from their innocence and integrity, leaving only empty reflections of fame. Winslow, now as the Phantom, rewrites his cantata as a confessional acceptance of his metamorphosis. Acknowledging his new founded villainy and the internal battle of angels and demons. Torn between the success of his masterpiece and saving the soul of Phoenix from Swan and the horrors of celebrity.

Shock Treatment

After a few unproduced ideas for a sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Richard O’Brien would release Shock Treatment in 1981. Considered an “equal” to the cult film without referencing the events of its campy predecessor. It features music adapted from previous scripts and shared themes with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Poe’s short story William Wilson.

Brad and Janet Majors reside in the domestic doldrums of their hometown Denton, Texas. Now transformed into a Stepford suburbia of mindless entertainment addicts, the town is taken over by DTV. A television studio owned by fast-food tycoon, Farley Flavors. The Majors become guests on “Marriage Maze”, a game show that is quick to publicly humiliate them. To save their relationship, Brad is committed to “Denton Vale” for treatment. A psychiatric hospital that is also a reality show/soap opera.

But perceptions are warped through multiple camera angles and walls of television screens. The neuro-specialists are actually character actors and counseling is a series of commercials. Farley Flavors and DTV slowly seduce Janet with stardom. Brainwashed by pharmaceuticals and her own ego, she becomes a self-obsessed monster. Along for the ride is the entire town of Denton. Lost within its role of audience participation and Farley’s plot of take-out therapy and world domination.

Circling the series of events befalling The Majors is Betty Hapschatt and Judge Oliver Wright, hosts of “Denton Dossier”. An investigative show that gets canceled just as Janet’s star rises. Oliver and Betty suspect a conspiracy is taking place as others vanish within their on-air personalities. Fearing for Brad and Janet’s sanity they decide to intervene as fame and “mental hygiene” spreads like a virus through Denton.

“Are you one of those that finds this emotive form of presentation is overly manipulative?”

There is a rigid dichotomy between the mysticism of Phantom of The Paradise and the science of Shock Treatment. Yet both offer villains with good publicity that hook us with a litany of false pretenses. The only real power they have over us is what we give them when tempted with our dreams coming true. Both musicals expose the power of desire and how weak human morality can actually be. The soundtracks to DePalma’s and O’Brien’s musicals become allegorical representations of abandoning humanity for excess and fame. The track listing offers ballads of sacrifice and catchy commercial jingles foreshadowing the dirges to come.

What stands out most is the eerie prediction of reality television in all of its extremes. In the climactic scene of Phantom, Swan plans to marry Phoenix and assassinate her on live television. While in Shock Treatment, Farley Flavors is content to package and sell a fad fixation on mental health by exploiting the private lives of the audience to push products and ratings.

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, both films make use of mirrors and themes of character-splitting that beg the audience to look at themselves. Reflect on our indifference to commodifying the human experience and the rate at which we consume celebrity culture. To recognize our own faces in the screaming crowds at The Paradise or among the spectators of DTV Studios and consider the normalcy of unreality in the name of entertainment.

Scream, Baby, Scream

Born in 1929 as Jalacy Hawkins, he was never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story. Cultivating his own mythical history, Hawkins embellished his life as a true entertainer. Adopted by Blackfoot Indians at 18 months old, he grew up with an appreciation for opera and classical music. Often referencing Paul Robeson as a major influence. As an accomplished pianist, Hawkins became a blues and jazz musician by way of Tiny Grimes’ band, Rockin’ Highlanders. Often stealing the show with the genesis of his outlandish wardrobe before becoming a solo artist. Inspired by the sounds of Big Bill Broonzy and Dizzy Gillespie, Hawkins created his style of performing and writing his own version of blues.

Horror on Stage

Following the controversial success of 1956’s “I Put a Spell on You”, a Cleveland disc jockey would encourage the musician to capitalize on the negative backlash of his song. Clad in a black cape and velvet gloves, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins would rise from his mirrored casket to glare at the audience with spinning eyes. Accompanied by his sidekick ‘Henry’, a rotting skull on a stick that actively smoked cigarettes. Sometimes Henry was described as a restless soul possessing a fetish and other times an actual donated skull of a deceased friend. A mechanical severed hand would squirm on the piano and was previously believed to have run across the stage in the early years. Other elements of the occult were incorporated into live shows. Candles and bells to call spirits, snakes around his neck, and chattering teeth illuminating from the darkness. Hawkins would also employ smoke bombs, flash paper, and other pyrotechnics that would leave him burned by his own quest for entertainment. Hawkins’ shows were frequently picketed by offended citizens yet continued to draw eclectic crowds of teenagers. All clamoring to take part in the magic rituals staged by the other-worldly figure of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

Songs

The morbid stage antics were just icing on the cake. The real substance of his career was in the music. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s most famous song, “I Put a Spell on You” was written in a fit of despair following a bad break-up. Originally intended to be a ballad, a record executive suggested Hawkins do “something different” with the song. Providing the group with imported fortified wine, they recorded a blind drunk version that became the infamous waltz of unrequited love. Blacked-out from their wild night at the studio, neither Hawkins nor the rest of the band remembered the session. “I Put a Spell on You” was an instant hit, surpassing a million copies in sales and ruffling the feathers of moral gatekeepers everywhere. The provocative growling, that became the singer’s trademark, was considered too suggestive and banned by radio stations. Hawkins would feed the grim rumors by claiming he had tried yet was unable to destroy the original audio tapes. Also, reportedly the song gave him the creeps throughout his career. Admitting that he would only sing it live after hitting the bottle. But his claim to fame wasn’t the only song packed with horror tropes. Here are a few suggested songs to those looking for the thrills only Screamin’ Jay could provide.

“Alligator Wine”

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was one of the first to record “Alligator Wine”. Lyrically the song is a cartoony recipe for a love potion, but Hawkins set the standard with a swampy, bare-bones blues trance. Reading the grotesque ingredients and instructions right out of a bayou healer’s grimoire, “Alligator Wine” describes the adverse effects after consuming the concoction. A powerless addiction to vice and the charms of Screamin’ Jay himself.

“The Whammy”

The song “The Whammy” gives Screamin’ Jay a taste of his own medicine. With a full catalog of confessional tunes of snaring women with magic, the tables turn for Hawkins. He sings of being desired by a woman who puts a supernatural influence on him. Building suspense through his disturbing moans, Hawkins wails of the physical torture under this powerful conjure. Descending into madness as he begs the spell caster for release, going to far as to threaten her with a shotgun.

“I Hear Voices”

Equal parts biographical as well as the intrinsic aesthetic of Hawkins, “I Hear Voices” notes of a man unlucky in love. Another relationship soured and our jilted lover mourns his losses to the brink of paranoia. Screamin’ Jay’s song is plagued with the troubled mumbling and whispers of spirits. Losing a grip on reality, our narrator hears the chattering giggles and footsteps of phantoms as his own heartbreak drives him insane.

“Whistling Past The Graveyard”

Written by Tom Waits, the song’s title is an idiom of unknown origin, meaning to focus on a positive outcome regardless of the situation. The lyrics are a string of superstitions deliberately broken. Purposely provoking this bad luck energy with the confidence of a man who has nothing to lose. Screamin’ Jay’s cover utilizes his baritone instrument for the melodic incantation. Summoning a trickster entity born from a series of bad omens. The audience could easily see this song as another facet of Screamin’ Jay’s mythic history.

“Baptize Me in Wine”

Released in 1954 as a single by Jalacy Hawkins, “Baptize Me In Wine” takes influence from a New Orleans second line funeral. A midtempo chucklesome tale of wino’s last requests. Whether the preacher has returned to life or is knocking at death’s door is debatable. What is clear is that the afterlife will have to wait until the decedent has had a final libation. The soul will not rest until refreshed and buried with his beloved wine.

“Monkberry Moon Delight”

A nonsensical song written by Paul & Linda McCartney. The couple explained their original inspiration was taken from the surreal wordplay of a child’s imagination and singsong riddles. As an underrated cover, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins gives purpose to the song. Making it his own by improvising lines so the song is tailored to a spiritual narrative. Undergoing a psychedelic trip and surrendering to the addiction of a unique spirit/potion.

Spellbound

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a pioneer of shock rock and proto-goth subcultures. Providing the blueprint for every band who incorporated macabre theatricality in their music. Breaking taboos in the industry, none can surpass his original bone chattering freak-out power. If rock ‘n roll really is the Devil’s music, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a supernatural force.

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