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What’s up Sorry Staters?
I’m writing this a little later in the week than I do usually. Just got back from a quick visit to the beach this weekend to celebrate my buddy Mike’s birthday. I think I’ve still got sand between my toes, and it definitely still feels like there’s a couple bottle’s worth of Modelo in sloshing around in my belly. But I had a great time; I wish I could have stayed longer. Now I’m behind the counter at the store, doing my usual Sunday shift in a foggy state of mind. Good news is that after a warm weekend at the beach, this morning it was so chilly outside that I had to throw on my denim jacket. As the air gets cooler and you see people cluttering their yards with Halloween decorations, I know it’s getting to be my favorite time of year. Speaking of which, the Sorry State 10-year anniversary is less than 2 weeks away! (Holy shit). If you’ve been debating getting tickets last-minute, now would be the time! Don’t sleep.
In other news, me and Usman’s label Bunker Punks Discs & Tapes just put our latest release up for sale on our website! Screaming Death is a compilation, or “4-way split” as we like to say, featuring exclusive new tracks from Dissekerad, Rat Cage, Destruct, and our band Scarecrow. This project has been in the works since early 2021, and we’re so excited it’s finally seeing the light of day. All the recordings from each band came out amazing, and we wanted to make the presentation just as special as the tunes on the LP. Joe B did the incredible cover artwork, which is printed on a heavy weight reverse board jacket. The record also comes with a double-sided insert and a huge foldout full-color poster that I personally was hoping would come across as reminiscent of the posters that came with 80s Pusmort releases. For now, Screaming Death is only available on our website, but I’m sure we’ll stock copies at Sorry State very soon. Hope everyone checks it out and is as stoked on it as we are!
As I said, the shift in season around October is my favorite time of year. I’ve written about this in the newsletter in years prior, but I love to try and binge as many horror or trashy exploitation flicks as I can leading up to Halloween. This staff pick doesn’t really have much to do with punk, or records in general I guess, but I thought I’d change it up and talk about a movie. The other night, I rewatched Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. I watched 2nd installment as well, and it had been a looong time since I’d seen that one. So wild, all the alternate dimension labyrinth stuff. But I still think I prefer the first movie.
For those that are interested and perhaps unaware, the plot of the movie involves a character named Frank who unlocks a mysterious puzzle box which summons these demonic hell-spawn beings called “Cenobites”. The Cenobites crave suffering, and basically torture and reduce Frank to a bloody pulp. Later, the character Julia discovers Frank (or what’s left of him) in the attic of the house that she and her husband just moved into. Frank is her husband’s brother, whom Julia had a secret affair with. She begins luring men into the house and murdering them to sacrifice for Frank so that he can drain their life and become “whole” again. And there’s a lot more that happens, but I’ll leave the synopsis at that.
What struck me about the movie after having not seen it in quite a while was how amazing the practical effects look. The bloody, drippy flayed corpse version of Frank slowly gaining more and more skin looks so insane. Totally disgusting, yes, but also quite impressive. I can’t imagine what the “goop” budget was on this movie. So many frames of goopy, drippy, shiny crimson. And sometimes, with gross, gory effects in movies, if the visual looks kinda cheesy or just not well-done, the suspension of disbelief is kinda ruined. It can totally take me out of it and cause me to not take a movie seriously. Then again, sometimes I love low-budget movies where the vibe is totally campy. But with a movie like Hellraiser, I find myself totally immersed and transfixed. The scene where Larry is being pulled apart by chains and delivers the classic line, “Jesus… wept,” gets me every time. There’s definitely an element of titillating, yet horrifying sexuality thematically on display in this movie. Sure, it’s demons from Hell torturing people, but it’s also basically just extreme sadomasochism. Interesting ideas to digest while watching this thing.
To tie it back to punk, I remember the last time I watched this movie was when Scarecrow and Vidro were on tour together. After our show in Boston, we drove a little bit to Worcester to stay with Andy from Innocent and his partner, Elise. I had a blast hanging out there and was stoked to walk into their living room and see it decorated with horror ephemera everywhere. Hellraiser was already playing on the TV, so I only got to see bits and pieces of it. What was really funny was to watch Vendela, the singer of Vidro’s reaction to the movie. She had this look on her face looking at me kinda like, “you actually enjoy this?” Haha.
Anyway, I’m hoping to chime in with more spooky season themed staff picks in the weeks to come. But for now, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.
’Til next week,
-Jeff