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Experiment IV – Kate Bush

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A couple of years back I wrote a piece about the influence of horror cinema and literature on the music of Kate Bush. I recently acquired The Whole Story, a ‘best of’ compilation released by Kate in 1986, and have since become rather ‘obsessed’ with one of the tracks featured on it: Experiment IV. Said track was written especially for the compilation and released to promote it. Along with the accompanying video it once again demonstrates Kate Bush’s singular vision as a musician, an artist - and a lover of horror. Taking the ‘storyline’ from the song quite literally, the video tells of a top secret and highly dubious government experiment to create a sound that can kill. That sound is, of course, portrayed by Kate in the video – initially as an alluring siren-like wraith (underpinning the notion of deadly music at the heart of the song; sirens lured seamen to watery graves by bewitching them with their irresistible but deadly voices), and then as a nightmarish spectre reminiscent of …
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Thanatomorphose

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2012
Dir. Éric Falardeau

A young woman awakens one day to find her flesh beginning to rot…

The title of this unsettling low-budget film comes from the French word meaning the ‘visible signs of an organism’s decomposition caused by death.’ Moodily shot and with very little dialogue, Falardeau’s feature debut is an unsettling rumination on the fragility of the flesh, and an uncompromising exploration of the dark realm where sex and death interlock. With it’s rather Cronenbergian concept of someone essentially trapped inside their own body as it rots away before their eyes, Thanatomorphose boasts an unflinching ‘body horror’ narrative that doesn’t shy away from depicting all manner of disturbing imagery and worrying ideas.

The plot, so to speak, follows a nameless young woman’s downward spiral into madness, as her already seemingly fragile mental state begins to unwind as her body decomposes. Kayden Rose delivers a suitably detached performance that enhances her character’s dissociative …
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A Decade of Blogging, Horror & Wine

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Behind the Couch turns ten years old today. Ten years old! I can’t believe it. That's a whole decade of watching and writing about horror films. Usually while guzzling wine.

I started blogging after I’d submitted the first draft of my first book (a guide to the films of Dario Argento) to the publisher, and I wanted to keep busy while I awaited editorial feedback. I was unemployed at the time, and while I felt a little directionless, I was keen to continue to build up a body of written work. A couple of friends suggested setting up a blog. I had a little stash of horror film reviews I’d already written for a website I was dying to contribute to, but as they never used them, I decided to make them a home of their very own. Before long, blogging became a huge part of my daily routine, and I soon found myself part of a little community of horror bloggers, some of whom I am still friends with today.

But enough about me. This blog is a decade old. While it has been fairly quiet over the…
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