H13 : Rob Lane – Teenage Casket Company
Written by Gaz E
Monday, 24 October 2011 04:00
Day 6.66 of Uber Rock’s 13 Days Of Halloween and suddenly we’re faced with the inexplicable horror of the man of many faces! Yes, you might see Rob Lane playing bass for Teenage Casket Company, but you might also see him playing bass for about a million other bands too, from The Black Mollys to Bulletboys, from DIP to..err…Let Loose. His record collection is said to include all manner of audio terror, thankfully his movie collection does too – this gruesome guy certainly knows his stuff when it comes to horror and Halloween. He even helped arrange some of the interview victims for H13! Go ahead and scream…it won’t help you now…….
What are your most vivid childhood memories of Halloween?
My earliest memory I have of Halloween probably goes back to about 1981. My Dad lives in the USA and I used to spend my summer holidays there. This would have been the first time I ever went over there. I remember The Empire Strikes Back was still the big thing and I was lucky enough to get the ultimate kids toy back then which was the AT-AT!
Anyway, I’m rambling… It was October so everywhere was getting ready for Halloween. Sure in the UK you associated this time of year with Witches, Ghosts and stuff but that was about as far as it went. Here though it was totally different, I was scooped up and taken along to the local mall (one which has long since disappeared) and taken to Walgreens where I had my pick of a million different costumes for this thing they were calling Trick or Treat. Immediately I swiped a Boba Fett costume and I was in business!! Me and my step sister went out Trick or Treating that year and I was hooked! Coming back to the UK I waited for things to catch up but it’s only been the last few years that things have started to happen… we are so frickin slow with all the cool stuff!!
One other thing I remember (which separates me from thinking it was 1981 and not 1980 when ‘Empire’ was released) was a movie which premiered on the TV that year, ‘Dark Night of the Scarecrow’. I’ve not seen anything about it since that day but I hunted the trailer down on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMFsfvtpSmM – it was a TV Movie and I recall it being a big deal back then. The film probably blows but it might be worth a re-visit?!
Why do you think that the worlds of horror and metal/punk have always been so closely linked?
Good question! I guess it’s something in our DNA I’m not sure, but I don’t know many rock fans who don’t like horror movies! The first metal band which I became a big fan of was Iron Maiden and that was initially through the Eddie artwork and imagery. Also I guess as a kid, monsters and demons are always a big draw and pretty much any ’70s or ‘8
0s horror had some killer tune on the soundtrack so perhaps it’s just subconscious and infects us that way?!
Last year I asked if remakes and rehashes were killing horror, now it seems to be the in-your-face turkey that is 3D – what are your thoughts on this money-grabbing gimmick that is souring cinemas and the state of current horror in general?
I’m not a fan at all to be honest. I’ve seen a few 3D films over the past few years and nine times out of ten I simply don’t see the point – it totally screams ‘Cash In’ to grab some extra ££s and $$s. You know what, and you can hang me up by the nuts, but I’ve only seen trailers for two movies that seem to utilize the 3D to the max and that’s the upcoming ‘3 Musketeers’ film and wait for it… the frickin ‘Glee Concert Movie’! That shit looks amazing! If KISS or Poison were to harness that then everyone would have their minds blown and I would be the biggest 3D nut swinger out there!
As for 3D in horror movies it’s gotta be pretty tough. I thought the Piranha film used it in a fun way but that would have still been a blast with or without it. Most horror films are in the dark anyways so it’s tough to make good use out the visual aspect. As much as I loved the recent Fright Night remake, the 3D just wasn’t necessary, and what they did do was very much old school – spraying blood with knives and arrows coming through the screen.
Has there been a horror remake yet that has bettered the original movie?
This is the ultimate horror debate right? It just depends which way you look at it from. If I knew nothing of the history and you put the original Tobe Hooper Texas Chain Saw Massacre alongside the remake then I’d probably say the remake outdoes it. That film took a great story and made it better. You’re never gonna recreate that sweaty, overcooked brutality of the original which just contains something special, but I thought the remake was amazing. They really went to town on that one and for me I never felt cheated and thought I was seeing something new and cool.
As for others, I enjoyed the Rob Zombie Halloween – the guy is a fan so you knew he was treating it with respect. I didn’t really enjoy the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot though. Those originals were staples of my youth and whilst I went in with an open mind and I kinda dug Haley’s take on Freddy, the story just didn’t hold up for me. In today’s world they seem to try and make things a little too realistic some times. In the originals we knew Freddy as a child killer…. sure you probably figured there was something a little more disturbing to it than that, but we didn’t really need it spelling out to us like the remake did in places. Just a little too creepy maybe?
What’s the greatest ever horror movie kill?
Tough call. When the ‘Elm Street’ movies really began to take off around Part 3 there was a shit load of inventive stuff in those like the Puppet Kill and the Roach Motel in Part 4 which were a lot of ‘fun’! Brain Dead also has some insane stuff going off but I think the last one to really leave me with my jaw hanging open was the opening kill in Wrong Turn 2 where the girl is sliced perfectly in half and you just see each side fall to the ground then dragged off. That was just ridiculously wrong but so, so awesome!
Who is the baddest ever horror movie villain…and why?
I’m gonna hit him again but as I mentioned earlier, Freddy Krueger was my main guy whilst growing up. The first time a killer really had a personality and ‘sense of humour’?! If you walked into my bedroom around ’88/’89 then you’d have seen my walls plastered with nothing but Freddy posters. Looking back it was probably kinda odd – some may say not as odd as two years later when it was nothing but pictures of Bret Michaels, Nuno Bettencourt and Warrant but whatever! I totally bought into the Krueger craze and scoured Fangoria and any other magazine that I could find with a Robert Englund interview in there. I hung in through to Part 5 when the formula began to get a little silly. I still struggle with Freddy’s Dead (talking of 3D!!) but I loved Wes Craven’s return with New Nightmare. That for me was pretty groundbreaking and probably when horror started to crawl back into the mainstream. That said though, the kid in that movie has to be one of the worst and most annoying actors to grace a movie screen, right?
Who is the greatest ever Scream Queen?
I never totally bought into the Scream Queen thing. I guess you had to really fancy one of them, right, and I never did… sure I guess Linnea Quigley was the one back in the day but even though she got her kit off in Return of the Living Dead, I had more of a thing for the girl who played Tina. I guess I always went for the safe, squeaky clean option! I’ve always had a thing for Sheri Moon Zombie who is great and be good to see her in some other films other than those her husband works on. I think it’s pretty awesome too though to see someone like Danielle Harris doing so well in the horror genre these days with stuff like Hatchet and Stakeland. The fact she was in the early Halloween movies and is now a bonafide Scream Queen means she probably gets my vote!
Name your Top 5 favourite horror movies of all time…and tell us why!!
‘Cause I perhaps have too much time on my hands once in a while we ended up doing a ‘Top 10 Horror Movies’ on Twitter (@laney74) sometime back so I guess I oughta stick to that….
5) The Blair Witch Project (1999) – People mock at this film these days in the same way they do stuff like Paranormal Activity but if you saw it before the hype this was truly groundbreaking! No one spoke when leaving the cinema! Total class!
4) Fright Night (1985) – For me this was the perfect mix of old school vampire horror and ’80s teen flick! The characters where great and the story totally solid. They even managed to not screw up the remake, this was so good!
3) Gremlins (1984) – Some might say this isn’t a horror movie, if so then what is it? Perhaps a little lightweight for an interview along these lines but I LOVE it and always will. For me, this film – with Back To The Future and Ghostbusters – are pretty much some of the most perfect movies EVER!
2) Dawn Of The Dead (1978) – I was such a late arrival to the party for this one and probably didn’t see it till the mid ’90s (zombies used to scare the crap outta me!) but it stands up so well with a killer story… this sucker just broods along with so many great scenes. Pretty darn timeless!
1) An American Werewolf in London (1981) – Landis wins hands down! You get everything here – horror, fun, US meets UK, that wood dream sequence & Jenny Agutter in the shower! Amazing! Please don’t do a remake. The era this was set makes it all the more awesome!
What underrated horror movie would you recommend to our readers just in case they have never seen it?
Underrated or unknown? Hmmm? Tough call sir… I’m very much big budget and ought to spend more time hunting down some hidden gems which are out there. Off the top of my head I’d go for ones that perhaps horror fans know of like Behind The Mask, Trick R Treat and Frozen which for me, over the last few years, really delivered. There was a movie I saw called Shuttle a few months back which really blew me away and then there was House of the Devil which was a recent movie but done totally in the style of late ’70s /early ’80s horror, credits and all – that was pretty awesome!
What is your guilty pleasure, the trashy horror flick that you hold dear but everyone else runs away from?
My friends know me too well on this one but I’m always gonna pitch at Jason X! That film is quality and I say that with zero irony! It’s just so much fun. YES, the story is totally insane, stupid, whatever, but you go into it knowing it’s gonna be Jason Voorhees in space. Live with it, if you’re not gonna buy into it then don’t watch the movie. Great film, great kills… totally frickin’ mindless!!
What is the greatest ever horror movie poster?
Wow… let’s see. Horror movie posters are the greatest posters ever – simple as that. It’s what made us rent a film in the first place back in the day and the poster/video cover was usually ten times better than the film itself. I’ll be honest and say I had to do a search to jog my memory but some that deliver the goods and always stick in my head would be Friday 13th Part VI, Re-Animator, the original Fright Night and I always kinda dug the Evil Dead 2 poster which now kinda looks a bit rubbish!
What ‘star’ of the music world would you like to see slaughtered in gory horror movie style? How and why?
I think you’d have most celebrities and stars queuing up to do this, I know I would be! Let’s see, it’d have to be someone hot so I think maybe someone like Katy Perry would be bang up for doing something totally over the top. It’d have to be the blatantly unnecessary, naked shower scene followed by some over the top decapitation. Wanna give her a call and see if she’s up for it?!
What are your plans for Halloween this year?
Me and the wife are very lucky to have some awesome neighbours and the last couple of years at Halloween have been really cool for all the kids in the area with the whole Trick or Treat thing which seems to be finally catching up with the USA. We just do the houses up and really try to get into the whole vibe of things and make it fun for kids and parents when they come round. We’re on a mission to make this year’s the best yet so fingers crossed we can deliver! Wanna come round for chilli dogs?