Halloween Countdown: October 31 – though your music lingers on

All Hallows' Eve is upon us, dear readers, and with it, the final installment of this year's Halloween countdown. So which track has earned a place of honor at the top of the list?

In the 2006 countdown, I had a last minute change of heart and decided to go with UK Decay's ghoulishly trancendental "Unexpected Guest" over my original choice, Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead," because as much as I love that seminal piece of gothica, it seemed too darn obvious. This time around, I've settled on a selection that, while familiar to most, perfectly captures (for me, at least) the feel of this haunted time of year. That track is...

The Cure - A Forest (from Seventeen Seconds, 1980)

I posted the entertainingly absurd Creaming Jesus cover of the song during last year's countdown, but nothing, nothing captures the melodic minimalist desolation of the original. It's the musical equivalent of a late October frost; though arguably the perkiest track on Seventeen Seconds, there is a coldness to "A Forest" that can induce gooseflesh even on the most opressively humid dog day in August.

For those hoping for something a little more visually terrifying, here's a joyous little gem culled from the pages of Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #9 (January-February 1973):


It comes from "The Head of the House," a horrid little tale that combines racist and sexist overtones with hamfistedly telegraphed plot twists. The moral of the story is "if you are going to ask an indigenous tribe for their secret of eternal beauty, you probably shouldn't insult and/or murder the members of said tribe prior to the administration of the process." Oh, and "unattractive women who bully their husbands will end up with a shrunken head."

And so concludes this year's Halloween countdown. I hope you've all enjoyed it and will perhaps stick around when AT resumes its normally scheduled programming, starting tomorrow. I'd also like to extend a big thanks to all those who've made with the linkage and kind words over the past thirty-one days.

I guess all that's left before I go off to binge on Z-grade 80's horror films and fun size boxes of Milk Duds (because my dentist could use the extra work) is to draw the curtains, kill the lights, and cue the end theme music...

Paul Williams - The Hell of It (from the Phantom of the Paradise OST, 1974) - The superior 70's glam rock horror flick: Rocky Horror or Phantom of the Paradise? I'm going to go with Brian De Palma and Paul Williams over Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, if only because Phantom of the Paradise lacks the stigma of an overly rabid fan base. I call that "evoking the Joss Whedon Principle."