H13 : Richard Lindsey – Lynzee
Written by Gaz E
Sunday, 24 October 2010 06:00
Horns up to Richard Lindsey for turning in a classic set of answers to the Devil’s dozen of Über-questions even though he was the last to be asked, and short notice at that! But I’m so glad that I took the time to ask Richard because this interview is one of the most in-depth and entertaining splat chats that figures in Über Röck’s 13 Days Of Halloween, and also features a suitably horrific video at its end!
Formed in 1985, heavy arena rockers Lynzee took their brand of rock ‘n’ roll to Hollywood and, if you despaired at the thought of dirty grunge acts killing these types of bands in the 1990s, scroll down for an epic album cover that will certainly tickle your fancy……..
What are your most vivid childhood memories of Halloween?
Well, I have two very vivid ones… good and EVIL!!!
My first is actually a very traditional one. I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba and us Canadians are too damn nice for our own good! Halloween and autumn were a very special time (Winter was coming as well as 10 foot snow drifts and the inability to do anything); Mom would deck the house (not this buy it at Wal-Mart thing… real crafty). But most of all I remember one Halloween where it was a MAD snowstorm, but we got in our full snowsuits, insolated to the teeth, and proceeded to go door to door. Unlike today… every single door opened welcomed you and gave you a treat. It was a special time.
…NOW for the CREEPY story. My Grandmother read Tarot cards; the Ouija board was as common as a drink coaster. My family is Ukrainian from the Old country and very superstitious. My Grandmother always pointed out the ghosts in her house to me and I saw things as a kid I can NEVER explain. Anyway one Halloween we were at the Grandparents’ and it was the traditional Halloween Ouija get together. We would get paper, write large letters, cut them out, use the kitchen table with a waxed bottom glass as the pointer and create a Giant Ouija board (you could put 8 to 10 people around it). My father’s friend Glenn was very skeptical, at my family’s house we could get things to move and if you understand a Ouija board imagine one that the pointer moved UNNATURALLY FAST. So Glenn proceeds to torment the “spirit” contact with taunts and mockery as we asked questions and watched the glass move in a very “spirited” fashion. Finally Glenn was pissed drunk and called the whole thing a sham… he thengrabbed the glass off the table filled it with whisky, downed it, slammed it on the table and said “There ya go Ouija, a drink on me!”
This is the troubling part we then placed our hands on the glass it immediately moved quickly in a very agitated way… It then spelled W.H.O….G.O.T….M.E….D.R.U.N.K…..
It then began to pull at us as it gained speed, spinning in a circle as it hit its maximum velocity it flew in a straight line off the table 3 feet HIGHER than the table and missed Glenn’s head by inches shattering into pieces. Let’s just say we didn’t have a Halloween Ouija party ever again…
Why do you think that the worlds of horror and metal/punk have always been so closely linked?
Defiance, anger, frustration, fear of having no voice and never being heard, darkness, shadows, the unknown. Both these genres encompass these general similarities. Take any of these qualities away and what do you have? To face a horror movie is to face fear, to get on stage and bare your soul through your music is fear. It’s pretty much the adrenalin rush. Also historically metal bands have embraced images of darkness and defiance. The number one reason… it’s Freaking Cool Shit!!
What are your thoughts on the state of horror movies at the present time? With all the remakes and rehashes there doesn’t seem to be much original thought going on at present…..
We are in a sad state these days, slash & gash, just how far can you take it? OK we stripped em naked, hung her upside down (check) and peeled her flesh with a wire cheese cutter and pan-fried it like bacon… OH WAIT then we fed it to her… DO you see what I mean? Is that creative horror or just pure sadistic exploitation? Watch the original version of The Haunting… they use only sound and shadow to scare the crap out of you. I like classic horror, I think as the internet exploded and people became so desensitized we have lost our wonder of the fear of the unknown… but someone will save the day, just when you think you’ve seen it all everything changes, let’s just hope it is in time!
Has there been a horror remake yet that has bettered the original movie?
Two of them:
1. The Thing. Carpenter’s remake set the standard for Sci-fi Horror.
2. Savini’s remake of the Original Night of the Living Dead was a excellent revamp that paid homage to the original.
John Carpenter’s Halloween or Rob Zombie’s Halloween?
Easy question: Steak or Hamburger? Without question Carpenter’s original film changed the face of Horror, I like a hamburger as much as the next guy and Rob’s version was a great film, but I prefer a good STAKE… I mean steak! John Carpenter’s version was the BOMB!
Fast zombies or slow zombies?
I believe in tradition, I like em slow and tedious. The whole concept of the zombie is not speed and agility, they are DEAD… it’s called RIGORMORTIS. They’re decomposing, from what I understand there is no nutritional value in brains (I could be wrong), the bodies are stiffening up, what is so hard to figure out? The “fast” zombie is product of trying to revive the zombie into something else due to a diminishing attention… span… what were we talking about?? No, seriously, for me keep them slow, it’s the sheer NUMBER of zombies that always overcome the poor victim that make my skin crawl. Suffocation by dead flesh that wants to eat you while you watch… Mmm, Mmm, Mmm nice and slow I like to make sure I chew my food completely. If I want a fast kill there are plenty of other monsters for that job.
What’s the greatest ever horror movie kill?
Wow… That’s a tough one. There are SO many, but one film stands alone, the first kill scene that always comes to mind is the chest burster scene in the 1979 film Alien. When they throw John Hurt on the table as he is screaming in pain and his chest exploded we ALL were in a state of shock! Here’s the reason why it stands above the rest… All of the reactions on the actors faces are REAL. They had NO idea that this was going to happen, Ridley Scott set them all up and every reaction of shock and fear is SINCERE. That is why I consider this Number #1.
Who is the baddest ever horror movie villain…and why?
Ohhhh… A tough one, well my personal favorite is Dr. Edward Pretorius from the classic Stuart Gordon fear-fest from 1986 From Beyond. As his humanity disappears this villain is FRIGHTENING. Motivated by pure sadistic desire no one would want this guy visiting in the middle of the night. Also I am a HARDCORE H.P. Lovecraft fan and this may be a bastardization of the original story, all for the sake of giving you a nightmare.
Honorable mention: NOW everyone mentions Pinhead from 1987’s Hellraiser, BUT fact is the REAL villain in this Classic is “Larry” played by Andrew Robinson. The sadist who will do ANYTHING for a cheap thrill. Hellraiser is the tale of a man and wife who move into an old house and discover a hideous creature – “Larry”, the man’s half-brother, who is also the woman’s former lover – hiding upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of S&M demons, the Cenobites, he is brought back into existence by a drop of blood on the floor. He soon forces his former mistress to bring him his necessary human sacrifices to complete his body… Yep truly a villain, incapable of empathy for any human, you know his favorite pick-up line was “You have beautiful skin, let me try it on”.
I have to give a runner-up to the villain that changed the landscape of bad guys forever. It’s not a horror film but DAMN he stands as one of the best… Darth Vader.
Who is the greatest ever Scream Queen?
Without question that title belongs to Jamie Lee Curtis.
Name your Top 5 favorite horror movies of all time…and tell us why!!
John Carpenter’s the Thing : If you had never seen it, the first time it was shocking. It was so visceral, it pulsed, and it was completely ALIEN. The casting was brilliant, the level of paranoia created in the camp was magnificent. Finally someone realized a creature like this would be completely inhuman, it answered the question “if something could actually alter its flesh AND bone structure to assume another shape, what would it look like if you could see the complete process.” More importantly could you maintain your composure and not completely lose your mind knowing full well YOU HAVE NO CONTROL or ESCAPE. It had it ALL, the ultimate untraceable monster, a crew of men isolated and cut off from the world. This movie created tension currently lacking in today’s horror cinema… the result was PURE GENIUS.
Evil Dead 2 : From the mind of Sam Raimi, this is the movie that gave us the GREATEST hero in the history of horror, Ash, portrayed by the legend himself Bruce Campbell. Also this established the perfect blend of horror with a vaudeville twist, it seemed like it shouldn’t work… but Abbott & Costello proved back in the 50’s that comedy and monsters is perfect 
blend. IF DONE RIGHT. Problem is NOBODY seems to be able to get it right! Please Sam come back to pure horror.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes : Fact is I am the MOST HARDCORE Vincent Price fan you can find… literally FANATICAL. This incredible, beautiful horror classic stars Vincent Price in the title role of Dr. Anton Phibes, a genius who specializes in organ music, theology, and concocting bizarre executions for anyone who has wronged him. Discovering his motivation is half the fun, let us say Phibes is a little mad and very, very PISSED OFF. With his beautiful assistant, the silent Vulnavia, Phibes begins executing his gory vengeance through London’s medical community. Phibes is a FEAST for the eyes – stunning art direction and a macabre sense of humor – but the real treat is in watching Price at work, he literally chews the scenery when on screen. Whether he’s playing a funeral march on his organ, facing his victms, or quenching his thirst through his neck, this is Vincent Price is at his pinnacle. Foreboding menace and dry comic delivery reveal both Phibes’s maniacal obsession and justified delusion of his own genius. Settle in for an evening of the BEST example of elegant gore to ever grace the screen and if a silent hot, delivery woman knocks at your door, don’t answer!
The Bride Of Frankenstein : As I said I am a classic horror buff so I must hold up the greatest of the Universal Monster Movies from 1935 – I present the UNTOUCHABLE Bride Of Frankenstein. Light up the torches there are Monsters afoot. This film, the best of all the Frankenstein movies, begins with Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley’s wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester, who also portrays the Bride) engaged in morbidly inspiring conversation. Byron mocks Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel – Frankenstein. Mary insists that her tale was not one of horror. It exposed the fact that man was never meant to dabble in the works of God. Mary expulses the fact that her story did not conclude with the death of the Frankenstein monster. She then sets the stage for the engrossed Byron and Percy taking them and us into the twisted world of the Bride. Having survived the fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a end, the Monster (Boris Karloff) lived through the event only to go on another rampage of death and destruction. As for his recovering creator, Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is mortified to discover that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (frighteningly portrayed by Ernst Thesiger), has plans to create another monster – this time a woman! After a classic laboratory “creation” sequence, her bandages are unwrapped, and the soon to be Bride of the Monster arises. Sadly, the Monster’s tender attempt to connect with his new mate are rewarded by her revulsion and terrifying screams. Wonderfully acted and beautifully directed, The Bride Of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the haunting Franz Waxman musical score and the stunning cinematography. Even though the film throws logic and continuity out the window at times (it
was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after its initial preview) these quirks are oddly endearing. This film was director James Whales’s greatest achievement, even though he would always beg to differ. Do yourself a favor, throw out your preconceived notions of today’s horror mindset, grab your best friend, pretend CGI is the abbreviation for a food packing company, it’s 1935 and you are ready for the BEST HORROR FILM of its genre and time!
Poltergeist : Now this one is here because it SCREWED me up… We went to see another film that was sold out. We lived 40 miles from the city and DAMMIT it was sold out so we settled for this “Poltergeist” movie. History has credited Poltergeist as a Steven Spielberg film, as most viewers don’t catch that it was Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, behind the camera. (Production and writing credits went to Spielberg.) Hooper’s eye for gore and the macabre coupled with Spielberg’s ability to convert anything into a family-friendly vehicle made this a smash horror hit – and it’s rated PG. (for its time it is AMAZING it managed to squeak by with this rating.) The story Spielberg crafted did for “televisions” what Psycho did for showers. Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke)’s hauntingly memorable line “They’re here…” was the beginning of the end for this poor family. The end sequence when the graveyard exposes itself is still troubling to this day, when Jo Beth slides into the unfinished pool… I had nightmares, GLORIOUS Nightmares. As scary as this film was in 1982, I found it hasn’t lost ANYTHING over the years and still makes me jump out of my seat!
What underrated horror movie would you recommend to our readers just in case they have never seen it?
I love classic horror from the golden age of cinema first but there are many forgotten & hidden treasures, The Old Dark House (1932), The Raven (1935), The Mad Magician (1954) and so on but I concluded this one may top the bill for your consideration…
DEAD and BURIED (1981).
From 1981, I give you a return to classic horror, what may be the most underrated horror flick that many missed. From the mind of Dan O’Bannon we offer Dead and Buried.
The opening scene is shocking. A ‘photographer’ is seduced on the beach by Lisa Blount (A blonde-Gothic beauty that earned the nickname Death Nurse on-set). Convinced things are going to get hot and heavy (and indeed they do get hot, but alas no action for this poor lad) as he is then attacked by a gang of locals who viciously beat him up, then ensnare him in a fishing net, before calmly setting him on fire, smiling and taking pictures of his death just like it was a beach party family reunion. NOW I could continue but SERIOUSLY many speak of M Night Shyamalan as the king of the story “twist”, well he must have seen this one because the final solution is one of the best undiscovered twists in the genre!
What ‘star’ of the music world would you like to see slaughtered in gory horror movie style? How and why?
Barbara Streisand. Because I am a hardcore South Park fan and they have brainwashed me to the point that she is the first musician that comes to mind when you say slaughter.
What are your plans for Halloween this year?
Well, a little grave robbing, toilet paper a house or two, stalk some innocent bystander and really freak them out, you know the normal stuff everyone does on Halloween.
Peace to all my Ghoul Fiends,
Sincerely & Violently,
Richard Lindsey
LYNZEE