H13 – Kurt Dirt
Written by Gaz E
Thursday, 30 October 2014 03:33
We’re almost there; almost ready for our Halloween All-Nighter at the Market Hall Cinema. It seems appropriate, then, that Uber Rock’s 13 Days of Halloween should sleaze out on the silver screen with today’s H13 victim coming straight outta Tromaville. Kurt Dirt wrote music for the soundtrack of Troma’s Return To Nuke ‘Em High, and now the electro punk maniac writes of his bloodlust for horror and Halloween…..
1.) What are your most vivid childhood memories of Halloween?
So many! To me it was better than Christmas, the trick or treating, the gaudy and gory masks and decorations you could buy in the shops and the late night Horror marathons on TV. Every Halloween I used to spend what money I had left from buying plastic spiders, flashing Frankenstein badges and pumpkin rings on a pack of blank VHS tapes so I could fill them with movies.
2.) Why do you think that the worlds of horror and metal/punk have always been so closely linked?
I think it has to do with appealing to the outsider/rebel in us. As a little kid I identified with the Universal Studios monsters the same way I’d go on to relate to controversial musicians as a teenager.
3.) Has there been a horror remake yet that has bettered the original movie?
Yes, The Thing by John Carpenter. The ’50s version is great but Carpenter really brought out the claustrophobia and body horror that’s in the original book.
4.) What’s the greatest ever horror movie kill?
Ahh, thats a hard one. Straight off the top of my head I think maybe Tom Savini’s head getting blown off with a shotgun in Maniac. It gets a cheer every time!
5.) Who is the baddest ever horror movie villain…and why?
One of my favourites is Drayton Sawyer from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, even though he doesn’t technically kill anyone he’s just the cook but the way he goes from seeming to feel sorry for Sally and chastising his brothers to then jumping up and down like a kid going “Yeah! Get her, Grandpa! Get her!” is creepy as hell.
6.) Who is the greatest ever Scream Queen?
Linnea Quigley. Her Horror Workout Video gave me lots of viewing pleasure as a teenager.
7.) Name your Top 5 favourite horror movies of all time…and tell us why!!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Evil Dead both scared the crap out of me but then also have a great black humour to them. Toxic Avenger I could watch over and over, it’s a great twist taking the slasher set up but having the monster be a kind of super hero. Bride of Frankenstein is the one which probably started it all for me, so many great characters, set pieces and Karloff’s performance is heartbreaking. Finally I’ll say Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things – it begins as a campy horror comedy but then unexpectedly turns in to a really tense zombie movie towards the end.
8.) What underrated horror movie would you recommend to our readers just in case they have never seen it?
I Drink Your Blood – it’s about a Manson family style cult who arrive in a small town and are given rabies by some poisoned pies. I love the ’70s gore and the jarring early synth score.
9.) What is your guilty pleasure, the trashy horror flick that you hold dear but everyone else runs away from?
Probably the majority of Troma movies! I’ve been a fan since I was a kid growing up on the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and then renting Maniac Nurses Find Ecstasy, Troma’s War, Class Of Nuke ‘Em High, etc, getting to work on Return To Nuke ‘Em High was a dream come true. They might not have big budgets but they throw everything at the screen and break all the genre rules.
10.) What is the greatest ever horror movie poster?
It’s got to be one of Graham Humphreys’ posters. His work is amazing, the lurid colours just reach out and grab you, I used to copy his Evil Dead artwork on to all my school note books
11.) Have you ever had a ghostly supernatural experience?
I don’t want people to think I’m a kook or anything but one night I was fucking this corpse and I swear down its eyes moved…
12.) What ‘star’ of the music world would you like to see slaughtered in gory horror movie style?
Haha, too many to mention. Maybe one direction drinking some viper from Street Trash.
13.) What are your plans for Halloween this year?
It’s mine and Mrs Dirt’s wedding anniversary so we’ll be eating junk food, taking our little one trick or treating and then watching loads of horror movies. I also have two gigs, one at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern with David Hoyle on the 30th October and the West Coast rock cafe, Blackpool on the 31st.