Behind the Couch

A couple of years back I wrote a piece about the influence of horror cinema and Gothic 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 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 a ba...

1983 Dir. Tony Scott Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) becomes acquainted with the mysterious Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve), a centuries old immortal vampire. Over the years Miriam has had many human companions to ease her loneliness. Unlike her however, they eventually begin to age rapidly until they are withered, but still conscious, corpses. Unable to do away with her lovers, Miriam keeps them in coffins in her attic for all eternity. With her current partner John (David Bowie) rapidly withering away, Miriam now has her sights set on a new partner: Sarah Roberts. The Hunger is a film seriously at risk of being crushed under the weight of its own ponderous pontificating, stylish aplomb and the extraordinary amount of dry ice it uses to achieve its beautiful look. Having said that, The Hunger is also a film that attempts to deconstruct the ‘vampire film’ and bring it out from under the shadow of more familiar cinematic depictions proffered by the likes of Hammer. It...