Songs I Love from Scary Movie Month

by Adam Riske

Some spooky tracks to play while you sort your Halloween candy stash.

Song: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
From: Christmas Evil
Artist: Larry Farrow and Elaine Norwood



One of the highlights of Scary Movie Month this year was introducing my friend Nathan (Hi Nathan!) to Christmas Evil. That movie just gets better and better to me (did you know Patricia Richardson from Home Improvement is in one scene?) but it made me really ready for the Christmas season, which is a problem because we haven’t even had Halloween yet. And I’m Jewish and shouldn’t be celebrating Christmas but I decided during COVID I deserve both Hanukkah and Christmas (the latter in a commercial/non- religious way). Anyways…this song gets a spotlight during the work Christmas party scene in Christmas Evil and it’s a disco banger. Shazam didn’t know it, so I had to do some sleuthing on IMDB and YouTube (for some reason the movie’s end credits don’t list the songs featured). It was worth the extra work. I especially like the bit starting at the 5:23 mark because that’s when the song really means business, knowwhatimean?

Song: “Seed of Memory”
From: The Devil’s Rejects
Artist: Terry Reid

I revisited The Devil’s Rejects for its 20th anniversary and remain wowed by it. I’m among the fans who think it’s Rob Zombie’s directing masterpiece. It’s a masterclass of manipulating your emotions and juggling tones. This song is pretty haunting and somber as it plays over the end credits. It’s a great choice because it sort of makes you sad and happy at the same time. Like “Oh no the Firefly family’s dead” and “Holy shit we’ve been through a lot, what a relief we don’t have to deal with those damn Fireflys again.” The Devil’s Rejects is so good that I can ignore 3 From Hell in the continuity even though that movie is at least ok. I just wish Zombie stuck to ending this story with The Devil’s Rejects. Double features are cooler than trilogies, knowwhatimean?

Song: “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
From: Donnie Darko
Artist: Joy Division



I’ve always loved Donnie Darko (theatrical cut all the way!) but seeing it again in a theater during Patrick’s Smash Cut series reminded me what a miracle movie it is. Like, how did a filmmaker get this out in a digestible way? It’s a movie that seems so dense that it could only make sense in someone’s head. And how did they edit a perfect theatrical cut that leaves such power and mystery from a director’s cut that explains too much and sucks the oxygen out of the movie? How did they make a movie about 1988 in 2001 that feels more 1988 than 1988 did? I don’t think I knew this song before hearing it during the Halloween party scene in Donnie Darko and I’ve loved it ever since (especially in 2007 when I was all about the Joy Division biopic, Control…which real ones know I can’t watch again until 2027). Holy shit, those opening guitar riffs into the drums! This is why I love music; it activates your emotions so fast and effectively. This is aggressive but welcoming malaise, knowwhatimean?

Song: “Funky Sh*t”
From: Event Horizon
Artist: Prodigy



This video starts out swinging right away because it says it was “Edited by Spaz,” who everyone knows is the dog from Spawn. Pup’s got talent. This song slaps, especially when played over space horror clips from Event Horizon, which has always been a movie I loved but it played especially well for me the past couple viewings. It’s just so well designed and the pacing is great. On a side note: I love Sam Neill in horror movies, but my only issue is he’s so sympathetic as a screen presence that he could do almost anything and I’d be like “I dunno…he isn’t all bad.” I guess he’s a project is what I’m saying. Like I could fix him or something, knowwhatimean?

Song: “Good Man in a Bad Time”
From: Fright Night (1985)
Artist: Ian Hunter



I kicked off Scary Movie Month in a great way by seeing Patrick host a Critic’s Classics screening of Fright Night (1985), which I had never seen before in a theater. It was awesome even though I had to switch seats because a guy sitting next to me was coughing consistently before the movie. I went to the box office to change my assigned seat. When I got back in the theater the guy was looking at me like “You’re a punk.” In other words, I was a good man in a bad time. I know that in my heart. That’s probably why I like Fright Night so much, knowwhatimean?

Song: “Stigmata Martyr”
From: Night of the Demons (1988)
Artist: Bauhaus



I’m not a ‘Sirius XM Dark Wave’ type guy usually (maybe I am though between this and Joy Division?) but this song really kicks ass in the context of its use in Night of the Demons (1988). It’s a demon doing jerky dancing to a strobe light. Yikes. Revisiting Night of the Demons (1988) this month was my magic screening of the movie. I’ve liked it more with every revisit and even though it’s camp, I think it works great in terms of mood and atmosphere. It’s one of the few haunted house movies where you’re like “Yup, some bad shit has really gone down in this place, knowwhatimean?”

Song: “Lay Down My Arms”
From: Pulse (2001)
Artist: Cocco



I’ve said many times on the site that Pulse (2001) is one of the best horror movies of the 2000s. I’ve also said it’s very sad and despairing, which is true but that might be why this song (which plays over the end credits) hits so hard. It feels like a big hug or when you finish a really stressful video game and there’s a celebration screen at the end. I’m thinking of the end of Super Mario Bros. 2 where Mario is sleeping. That’s how I’m starting to feel with this October. I might need to sleep for all of November. I horrored really hard, knowhatimean?

Song: “Over at the Frankenstein Place”
From: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Artist: Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon & Richard O’Brien



In honor of the film’s 50th anniversary, I’ll use my last pick this Scary Movie Month for an underrated tune (by comparison with some of the others from the movie, I mean) that I’ve always liked a lot. How does Susan Sarandon look even more beautiful with a newspaper on her head/covered in rain? Does anyone know when that Strange Journey doc is supposed to be streaming/rentable? I think it’s making the rounds in theaters still, but I missed it in Chicago and want to see it before October ends, knowwhatimean?