A little over a year ago I got the chance to see an Italian horror flick called The Beyond. It came out in 1981, well, it didn't reach the United States until 1983, but regardless, it belongs on any list of must see horror films. Not because of how good it is, but all the ways it tries to be great and fails.
Also known as Seven Doors of Death, this movie is a clear attempt to make something artistic, I dare say surreal, but those attempts ultimately end up producing, what I like to call, a beer & a pizza movie. Horror is best known for these kind of films: the ridiculous over the top flicks that are laughably bad, allowing friends to get together for group viewing and mocking. The slashers in these tales cause smirks not dread. The nightmarish entities come across as clowns. Crack a beer, enjoy some pizza, and have a good time at your own private Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Some of the best times of my life have been spent drinking and giggling at bad horror/scifi movies.
Sure, there's a degree of schadenfreude, but think of it like this: no one sets out to make a comically bad movie. Watch the documentary Best Worst Movie Ever, and you'll see the makers of Troll 2 insisting, to this day, they made a quality film. And those few who try to intentionally make bad movies, such as the insufferable Sharknado series, rarely hit the mark. So those few flicks that are laughably awful are rare gems in their own way; the intention may not have been to make comedy, but the outcome is comedic gold and should always be appreciated as such.
Now this song is inspired primarily by one scene in particular. I leave it here for your perusal.
Also known as Seven Doors of Death, this movie is a clear attempt to make something artistic, I dare say surreal, but those attempts ultimately end up producing, what I like to call, a beer & a pizza movie. Horror is best known for these kind of films: the ridiculous over the top flicks that are laughably bad, allowing friends to get together for group viewing and mocking. The slashers in these tales cause smirks not dread. The nightmarish entities come across as clowns. Crack a beer, enjoy some pizza, and have a good time at your own private Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Some of the best times of my life have been spent drinking and giggling at bad horror/scifi movies.
Sure, there's a degree of schadenfreude, but think of it like this: no one sets out to make a comically bad movie. Watch the documentary Best Worst Movie Ever, and you'll see the makers of Troll 2 insisting, to this day, they made a quality film. And those few who try to intentionally make bad movies, such as the insufferable Sharknado series, rarely hit the mark. So those few flicks that are laughably awful are rare gems in their own way; the intention may not have been to make comedy, but the outcome is comedic gold and should always be appreciated as such.
Now this song is inspired primarily by one scene in particular. I leave it here for your perusal.
After seeing the film, on the walk home, some friends I was with remarked how great it would be to have a garage band and just jam away singing, "Attack Dickie Attack!" That became the rough draft of this song, and over the last year I've been coming back to it now and again trying to make it work. In-between other projects I dabbled with settings, or tried different lyrics. It never really seemed right until recently. Sure, the content, to a degree, might seem a bit, shall we say, esoteric? But if there's one rule to art it's to create something using what you love. Well, I love horror movies. So here it is, not to be taken seriously, but have fun rocking out to Attack Dickie Attack!
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