Monthly Archives: September 2016

Music Video of the Day: Lightning Crashes by Live (1994, dir. Jake Scott)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

When I was a kid, this was one of those music videos that never seemed to get played that much, but when it did, I would stop to watch it. I guess there was just something moving about it that I couldn’t resist. I always had a fondness for the books on the floor part. Watching it today, it doesn’t do a whole lot for me except to send me on a bit of a nostalgia trip.

Whenever I listen to the song, it sounds like the story of a an old woman who dies in one room while a woman gives birth in another room. According to Ed Kowalczyk, the music video created a misinterpretation that the new mother died:

“While the clip is shot in a home environment, I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody’s dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you’re seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.”

I never really thought of it as having a happy or sad ending, but something sadly inspirational. A mystical experience if you will. I think that aspect is captured well in the music video. You could say that the books represent a lifetime of accumulated knowledge haunted by ghosts of people who have come and gone in the form of the band members who seem to either be ghosts or pass on just as the baby is removed and held high before being given to the young mother.

The music video was directed by Jake Scott who seems to have been drawn to this type of music video seeing as he also did Everybody Hurts by R.E.M., Wonder by Natalie Merchant, and When You’re Gone by The Cranberries. He seems to have directed 50 or so music videos.

Salvatore Totino shot the music video. He seems to have shot around 15 music videos usually directed by Jake Scott. He went on to shoot some well-known films such as The Da Vinci Code (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), Everest (2015), and the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).

Patrick Sheffield edited the music video. He seems to have only worked on a handful of music videos.

Ellen Jackson produced this music video, and that’s all I could find. I highly doubt that is all she has done though. She probably worked for their record company. That’s my best guess.

Enjoy!

Here’s The Trailer For The Autopsy Of Jane Doe!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I don’t know much about The Autopsy of Jane Doe but there are a few people, with whom I casually interact on twitter, who saw this film at TIFF two weeks ago and they swear it’s the scariest thing that they’ve ever seen.

Take that for what you will.  I’ve lost track of how many horror films have been described as being “the scariest thing that has ever been seen.”  Go read a few of Stephen King’s reviews and you’ll notice that he apparently thinks everything that has ever been written and/or filmed is “the scariest thing that he’s ever seen.”

Beware of hyperbole, I’m saying!

That said, here’s the trailer and it looks like the movie might be pretty scary…

Here’s The Latest Trailer For Luke Cage!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Don’t worry, we won’t!

Speaking of which, here’s the final Luke Cage trailer!  The show itself will be available on Netflix starting on September 30th.

Did You Know That Herschell Gordon Lewis Predicted The Future?

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s true!

Just check out this trailer for his 1972 film, The Year of the Yahoo!

RIP, to Herschell Gordon Lewis.  Here’s a few of the Lewis films that we’ve reviewed here on the Shattered Lens:

Something Weird

The Gore Gore Girls

Scum of the Earth

The Gruesome Twosome

2,000 Maniacs

Blood Feast

Over on his own site, Trash Film Guru Ryan has reviewed The Wizard of Gore

And here’s Gary’s tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis.

There’s no way that I can do a post about the passing of Herschell Gordon Lewis without including this famous scene from Scum of the Earth.  If you’ve ever gotten a DVD from Something Weird Video, you know this monologue by heart:

RIP Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

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Mention the name Herschell Gordon Lewis to film fans and you’ll get two responses. They either love him or hate him. I fall cleanly into the first camp, as I’ve always loved the demented cinema of Mr. Lewis, who passed away Monday at age 87. Whether watching a triple feature of terror at the old Capital Theater on a Saturday afternoon, or later rewatching his movies via the magic of VHS, Herschell Gordon Lewis’s blood soaked no-budget epics provided hours of gruesome entertainment for me, and helped warp my impressionable little mind (like it needed any help!).

Blood Feast (1963)                                                                 Blood Feast (1963)

Lewis got into the film business in the late 50’s, teaming with sexploitation king David F. Friedman to make a series of nudie-cutie flicks like BOIN-N-G! and GOLDIELOCKS AND THE THREE BARES, before creating their first masterpiece, 1963’s BLOOD FEAST. The film’s about Fuad Ramses, an Egyptian caterer who slaughters young women in order…

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Hottie of the Day: Sharon den Adel

Posted on by Arleigh

SHARON DEN ADEL

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Today’s mini-trifecta of Sharon den Adel ends with her as the latest “Hottie of the Day.”

We started this trifecta with the latest “AMV of the Day” (Moonlight Requiem) with an anime music video using the Within Temptation song “See Who I Am” which she sings. Then followed up with the song itself as the latest “Song of the Day” (already profiled has been two past Within Temptation songs: “Faster” and “A Demon’s Fate”).

Now we have Sharon den Adel herself. She joins the other two metal songstress featured before with Simone Simons of Epica and Doris Yeh of Cthonic.

Sharon is not just a beauty, but a classically-trained mezzo-soprano which lends Within Temptation it’s overall melodic sound. She’s more than able to hold her own in the male-dominated heavy metal scene. She’s also one of the band’s main songwriters (her longtime partner Robert Westerholt being another) and an accomplished fashion designer. Her fashions lean toward the gothic and one can see her wearing any one of said designs onstage during their global tours.

Sharon den Adel is another example of the gems one can find in the raw and brutal world of metal.

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PAST HOTTIES

Song of the Day: See Who I Am (by Within Temptation)

Posted on by Arleigh

within-temptation

Symphonic metal stalwarts Within Temptation was first introduced to me not by resident metal expert necromoonyeti, but through an anime music video first witnessed at Anime Expo 2010. The video was “Alchanum” and while the anime used, Fullmetal Alchemist, was entertaining enough it was the song used that hooked me in. That song and the latest “Song of the Day” is “See Who I Am” from Within Temptation’s full-length album The Silent Force.

From that moment forward I’ve been an ardent follower of Within Temptation. There’s just something about the melding of metal and that of an orchestral symphony that just makes perfect sense. I’m more than satisfied with the raw, brutal, speed and guttural melodies of what many outsiders consider heavy metal (how wrong they can be), but symphonic metal just does it for me.

And for those who think heavy metal (and all it’s many subgenres) are all about angry dues with long, unwashed hair or tatted up to no end should be surprised to see that Within Temptation’s singer is a classically-trained mezzo-soprano by the name of Sharon den Adel.

See Who I Am

Is it true what they say?
Are we too blind to find a way?
Fear of the unknown
Clouds our hearts today.

Come into my world,
See through my eyes.
Try to understand,
Don’t want to lose what we have.

We’ve been dreaming
But who can deny?
It’s the best way of living
Between the truth and the lies.

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let’s show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands,
This is not the end.

Fear is withering the soul
At the point of no return.
We must be the change we wish to see.

I’ll come into your world,
See through your eyes.
I’ll try to understand,
Before we lose what we have.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands
This is not the end.

We just can’t stop believing
Because we have to try.
We can rise above their truth and their lies.

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let’s show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.

This is not the end.

I hear their silence
Preaching my blame.
Will our strength remain
If their power reigns?

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.

This is not the end.

AMV of the Day: Moonlight Requiem (Sailor Moon Crystal)

Posted on by Arleigh

moonlight-requiem

It’s almost that time of the years when Through the Shattered Lens switches gears and goes into full dark fantasy and horror. While there will be the smattering posts that doesn’t dabble in all things dark and scary, it’s a month that’s become a yearly tradition and one that several writers on-site seem to enjoy. Though no one enjoys October at Through the Shattered Lens more than co-founder Lisa Marie Bowman. She’s the dark mother to all the writers at the site.

While it’s still not that month of darkness here’s a small taste of the sort of dark themes many of the posts will end up having during October.

The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of video creator Chiisus. The video manages to take the dark aspect of what too many outsiders to the anime scene as a light and kiddy cartoon: Sailor Moon Crystal.

This particular amv (anime music video) is titled Moonlight Requiem and combines the more dark fantasy side of Sailor Moon Crystal with the symphonic metal band’s Within Temptation and the melodic vocalizing of it’s frontman Sharon den Adel. The song chosen by Chiisus is one that many other amv creators have used in the past: “See Who I Am.” In fact, it’s the song to one of my all-time favorite anime music video: “Alchanum” by Rider4Z.

This time the song is used for Sailor Moon Crystal and, boy, if the song doesn’t fit in well with the scenes chosen for the video.

Anime: Sailor Moon Crystal

Song: “See Who I Am” by Within Temptation

Creator: Chiiisus

Past AMVs of the Day

From “Seven To Eternity”

Posted on by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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It’s the general consensus among comics fans these days that Rick Remender is absolutely killing it on his various and sundry creator-owned Image titles, and while his unique combination of four-color personal psychotherapy session/homage to fill-in-the-genre is a bit more hit-or-miss for me as a reader (Deadly Class being the only one that, for my money, never misses) than it is for many , even at their most clunky and heavy-handed titles like Low and Black Science remain thoroughly readable affairs whose earnestness is, at the very least, honest — even when it’s laid on a bit too thick. And he always gets the best artists to work with him, doesn’t he?

The recent wrap-up of Tokyo Ghost (and speaking of the best artists, how about Sean Gordon Murphy’s work on that book?) has left a gap in Remender’s apparently-24/7 production schedule, but fear not : no sooner does…

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