Dylan Dog Night @ La Kana Bar

It's gonna be epic!

>>> Danse Macabre vs. Marso with music culled from the Dylan Dog comics!
>>> Showing of Dellamorte Dellamore and Duck Soup
>>> Suggested dress code: red shirt and jeans
>>> Surprises!

Thursday, 23.12.2010 @ La Kana Bar, Skopje
Start: 21.30

Zombie Info Chart

Probably you've seen this one already. After all, it's a Yahoo! Movies promo pic. If you haven't, then great, we've just made your day! :) In either case, this one's a classic that shouldn't be missed, and if you're a zombie novice, it also serves as a great introduction, containing all of the really must-see movies in this gruesome subgenre. Well, click on the chart for bigger version and enjoy!

DM Season 3 = Hardcore

The new season of Danse Macabre kicks off tonight at midnight CET, and trust us when we says this: the following 30+ shows will bring you horror in its purest form! Yes, we will discuss horror film, music and literature like we always do; yes, we will play some of the heaviest and scariest tracks known to mankind like we always do; but this season we will also press way deeper than ever before on the truly awful stuff: the real terrors of our collective past, present and future. Serial killers, doppelgangers, corrupt politicians, conspiracy theorists and hones-to-God fear-mongers are all on the plate this season along with your shady neighbors and ultradark men that roam through the shadows as you sleep. Of course, there will be monsters dying to kill you on our way through this bizarro-world but more often than not, these monsters will take human shape just the way it usually is. So, without further delay... let the horror begin!

It's STILL Alive!

Hey there! Just to let you know, the blog is still alive: it was merely resting over the last couple of months as other duties (some horrible, some quite pleasant) took hold over our collective lives. Among other things, we had a few parties organized under the Danse Macabre banner playing mostly surf rock, psychobilly and post-punk while showing flicks such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Monster Squad. In any case, as summer draws towards fall, the show gears up for a new season, which will require some cleaning up of the blog (erasing old links, adding new posters here and there, collecting all episodes etc.) and a proper kick-off on Friday, 20 August! Until then, enjoy the following clip from the Bass-Rankin animation The Flight of Dragons, which may be naive, but is truly scary and accurate in its estimation of the modern world. Until the 20th then, cheers!

One Year Later

Danse Macabre Radio is turning one today! As we blast the speakers in a balls-out monster mash, we feel like we have to share a few thoughts to mark the occasion:

a) We fully appreciate all visitors that have stopped by this dark corner of the internet, and yes, we do understand that many of you are more concerned with surviving the night than writing comments on our posts :)

b) If anyone would like to buy us a gift, this is what our wishlist looks like (but pay attention to the Madballs first, hint, hint, nudge, nudge)!


c) The best gift of all, though, must be the leak of the official trailer for the latest Hammer movie! You have no idea how pleased we were when we turned on our PCs this morning and saw the following clip.



So yeah, I suppose that would be it for now. We're a bit more focused on attending to our respected guests (most of them wear very impractical masks!) than on what we are saying but you don't mind, do you? :) If anything else pops up during the rest of this glorious evening, we will most certainly be here to write it down! In the meantime, enjoy your Saturday evening!

Dracula Dog Forever!

I'm not proud of this post, but damn it: it's perfection come to life... or should I say death?

Zombie Identification Field Manual

It's only a promotional tool for George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead but this "Zombie Identification Field Manual" is quite fun. So, just in case you were wondering how to separate zombies from your neighbors now you can read this little .pdf here and prepare yourself for the next zombie apocalypse.

Tonight: Batman vs. Zombie!

Still Thinking about Von Trier's Antichrist

Let's get one thing straight from the very beginning: Lars von Trier's Antichrist is a seriously faulty movie, both in its execution as a story and the muddled message it is attempting to convey. I fully understand the heavy criticism the film has received for its misogyny but knowing von Trier I wouldn't take any of it without a heavy dose of salt. The man has a long history of prankster-like behavior, especially when it comes to his audience, so to a large extent - and despite the clear symbolism involved - the film's goriest scenes (both involving genital parts) are really just bad jokes. That said, Antichrist also presents a great field for discussion and mental gymnastics on such topics as "nature as Satan's church" and the host of rich symbols the film presents but fails to exploit to the fullest (how often do you really think about a horror film the day after?). Well, today I found an interesting blog post meditating on the film's symbols against ideas by Feuerbach and Heidegger and while I don't fully agree with what it has to say, it still has my highest recommendations. Note, though, you need to have watched the film before reading the text.

For the Record

After a sudden break in posting due to billion circumstances, we're back on the bloody trail with a flurry of postings coming your way in the next couple of weeks. To begin with, we're documenting the first Danse Macabre DJ set at the underground bar La Kana in Skopje via the ever-present Plagij.at team. The House of 237.4 Corpses took place on Saturday, January 9th and included a fine mix of psychobilly, noise rock and darker indie pop affairs while we screened The Raven (1963) and Creepshow (1982) in the background. Fun, huh? Well, expect many more news about similar events in the weeks and months to come :)

Have a Bloody New Year!

2009 is dead as dead can be, which can mean only thing: 2010 better be a good year or we'll sure as hell send it back to wherever it came from! :) Joking aside, 2009 was a good year for Danse Macabre and horror in general and if 2010 has anything more to offer, we're in the driving seat, man, and there's no one stopping us but ourselves. This year over the course of 8 months we aired some 26 episodes of our blood-splashing show covering basic stuff such as witches and ghosts next to more complex issues such as the philosophy behind torture porn and Twin Peaks; but note: THAT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING!

2010 will see us honoring literary luminaries of the highest order (King and Barker at one end, Ballard and Palahniuk at the other) while also delving deeper in the realms of sheer weirdness and exploitation horror (think of The Thing with Two Heads), branching out to films from countries such as Norway and Russia, and covering as many comic books as we can get our hands on (EC Comics, Hellboy, The Walking Dead)! Well, these are just some of the topics that are coming your way in 2010. We could tell you everything we are planning but that would be spoiling it, don't you think? Besides, we have to run: the monster party is about to start!

Oh, and by the way: Bloody New Year is a real film and it's ripe with camp value so do give it a try whenever you have nothing better to do!

Holidays in Hell Ad

Well, by now the internet is flooded with these ads, and there's a good reason for it. The damn thing is funny, that's all. Well, I wish you all a Black Christmas!

Top 5 Halloween Movies

There is a very good reason why I was waiting 'till after Halloween to present my list of best movies for this special event. Namely, I first wanted to go through at least one more movie marathon before I put my stamp on any list - and what a marathon it was! Even though none of the films I watched yesterday appear on the list below, they are all interesting in one aspect or another, and they were all heaps of fun, which is precisely what I want from my Halloween movie experience. In this manner, me and my buddeis went through parts of Howling and Poltergeist, as well as the entire length of Jeepers Creepers, The Hunger (1983) and My Bloody Valentine (2009), a total amount of some 6 hours of film! Add to this Thursday's warm-up party and Friday's radio show, and I think I've had quite the perfect holiday. On to the list...

5. Creepshow (1982)

Written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero, this flick is everything it says on the posters: fun, unpretentious and scary in the old school EC Comics sense. An anthology of five stories that come alive out of a comic book during Halloween, this film gets progressively better with each passing minute, combining dark comedy with true gross-out moments and some very effective lightning effects. If you're looking for films that have the feel of comics, look no further: this is it, and it predates Sin City by 23 years! Out of the five stories my favorite would have to be "The Crate" what with its campfire three-step development, the mysterious monster that finally gets out and the sequences of wishful thinking that would become the staple of Six Feet Under much later. The film is slightly uneven and it has dated a bit but if you ask me, it only gives it additional pulpy charm. A must-see!

4. Halloween (1978)

Yes, only fourth place on this list, and there are two reasons why. 1) It is not the scariest film of all time and it's not that well-made either - the Loomis storyline is shabby at best and a disaster at worst; 2) It is not really about boogeymen or Halloween - the events happen on the 31st October but they are not necessarily tied to the holiday itself. That said, I really like the film as it carries a certain amount of subdued mystery all the way through, translating the quiet at the eye of the storm to the big screen with unexpected nuesance. While its closest-related films may be scarier (Black Christmas from 1974) or gorier (Friday the 13th from 1981), this is certainly the best of the bunch and I recommend it is seen before any of its competitors, sequels or remakes for the best effect (a difficult feat nowadays but one that needs to be aimed for). Cudos to John Carpenter for making it out of almost nothing.

3. Evil Dead II (1987)

I must admit I watched the Evil Dead films in reverse order, starting with Army of Darkness (1992), which made me well-prepared for the kind of over-the-top slapstick humor this series is known for but not the ahead-of-its-time graphic horror that marks the original film. Evil Dead II, then, is the perfect balance of the two extremes and may be one of the best 85-minute films I have ever seen. Sam Raimi vision here is so sharp and strong, the film doesn't side-track for a single second and only takes a break for 5 minutes at the end of the first act - before Raimi assaults his main hero Ash and the viewers with everything he's got. Bruce Campbell goes nuts in the role of Ash, jumping around with anger, running around from faceless monsters, or laughing maniacally as he cuts off his right hand - and all of it is as hysterically funny as it is monumentally involving. If you like your Halloween movies to be roller coaster rides full of wacked out monsters like I do, you will definitely agree with me on this pick.

2. Donnie Darko (2001)

Yes, Donnie Darko, a film that may not be horror or scary in the traditional sense but contains all the mystery, ominous foreboding and masks you're normally looking for in Halloween films, plus its key event takes place on Halloween and it references The Evil Dead in a major way. Let's call it a Halloween film with brains, then, because that's precisely what it is. I'm not sure which version to recommend - the original or the director's cut - because they are quite different in tone, and the soundtrack, which here plays a huge part in the definition of emotional cues, is shuffled from one version to the other. One thing I'm 100% sure in, however, is that the journey of the titular character has never left anyone cold, and in this time and age when we see the various media for the corporate product that they always have been, it is nice to know that there still exist narratives that escape our logical judgement and make us appreciate them with our hearts.

1. Trick 'r Treat (2009)

Nevermind the hype: it won't matter in a couple of years when this film's production history will be largely forgotten and the film will already have the status of a Halloween classic. What separates Trick 'r Treat from any other choice on this list - and any other film in the world - is that it lives and breathes the holiday, taking stabs at it from all angles, including pumpkin carving, ghost stories, street parades, candy bars with razors in them, and a few supernatural creatures here and there. The only other film that comes close to capturing the Halloween spirit as well is actually Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween, which is sadly dragged down by bad hack'n'slash script. Trick 'r Treat, on the other hand, never drags: it is simple, free-flowing and engaging at all stops of the five stories it includes, its characters interacting with each other beyond their native narrative archs in the most complementary ways, making enough room for Sam - the holiday spirit - to do the damage where it is really needed. What I find interesting about Trick 'r Treat is that it naturally extends from Creepshow, using the comic book format as a starting point as well as similar techniques to introduce tropes that originate in the 1950s, but unlike Creepshow, its moralism is strictly tied to the holiday itself. What can I say, I truly love this film!

Halloween Warm-up Party!

Halloween might not be a traditional holiday in Macedonia - we have April the 1st for masks, and elections for true horror - but who cares, traditions do have to start somewhere and I really don't see any reason not to start it here and now. So, if you're in Skopje on Thursday, 29 October, make sure you check out Laika after 21.30 for a swell Halloween warm up party with your very own Serdarot behind the speakers! The House of Horrors will feature your favorite psychobilly, post punk and dark indie tracks, as well enough energy to carry you through the epic weekend that's coming our way. See you there, and in the meantime, sing along, "This is Halloween!..."

Caligari and Hellraiser: A Lineage

For the 100th post, a little treat for the Hellraiser fans out there. It's a short but very interesting essay that links the ultra-classic film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Clive Barker's cult creation. In near future, I will probably expand on this, but for now, enjoy!

Start of the New Season!

The summer break is finally over, which means that the new season of Danse Macabre is starting tonight at midnight! As much as we covered throughout the first 13 episodes of the show, it was just an introduction to the truly hardcore stuff that's coming in the following weeks and months. To begin with, we'll be focusing 100% on body horror by the way of David Cronenberg in the very first episode titled "Tetsuo and the New Flesh". You're wondering what Tetsuo we're referring to and what it has to do with the bigshot Canadian director? Well, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is probably one of the 10 most important Japanese films ever and certainly the industrial film of the 20th century, quite infamous for the way it combines body decay with sexual activities - which is what Cronenberg's 1980s output is known for, too.

The next three episodes will follow in similar vein, covering themes related to transformation or transfiguration of the human body. The schedule looks quite a bit like this:

>>> 04.09.2009 ep.15 "Faust and Pinhead"
>>> 11.09.2009 ep.16 "The Z Word"
>>> 18.09.2009 ep.17 "The Greatest Hits of the Marquis De Sade"

The new season will also bring some very interesting guests. The guest scheduled for tonight is none other than Gorand, the Macedonian comic book legend known for his bizarre characters, transgressive plots, and unflinching persistence on the unwelcoming scene in the last 15 years. Make sure you visit his devArt page!

EDIT: Unfortunately, Gorand had to cancel his appearance tonight due to personal reasons. Make no mistake, we will hear from him sooner rather than later! :)

Last but not least, the new season will bring a lot more updates and musical suggestions so to keep in line with everything that's going on, check out our Facebook and Last.fm pages. In the meantime, enjoy the show!

3 Micromixes

This is a weekend of cleaning up the backlog. The first thing on the menu is a set of three older micromixes made around the beginning of 2009. The music is similar to what is usually played on the show even as it sports a bit more melancholic touch to it, especially on the first mix, appropriately titled Melancholia. Each of the three sets is envisioned as a journey through the murky parts of the night, the dark alleys where no one should go, yet we all do at various points throughout our lives. Well, here you go, enjoy!

1. Skinny Puppy – Splasher
2. Liars – Sailing to Byzantium
3. Burzum – Rundgang um die transzendentale Saule der Singularitat
4. Tangerine Dream – Sequent C
5. Portishead – Threads
6. Sunn O))) + Boris – Akuma No Kuma
7. Neurosis – A Sun That Never Sets
8. Radiohead – Melatonin
9. Deerhunter – Twighlight at Carbon Lake

>>> DOWNLOAD MIX!


1. John Cage – Part Four (to End)
2. CocoRosie – Lyla
3. Boris – Farewell
4. Can – Sing Swan Song
5. Amon Düül II – Yeti Talks to Yogi (improvisation)
6. Liars – Drum and the Uncomfortable Can
7. Goblin – Witch
8. Om – At Giza
9. The Residents – The Festival of Death
10. Bauhaus – Severance (studio version)
11. Dungen – Samtidigt 2
12. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Adaptation of the Koto Song
13. Death in Vegas – Dirge
14. Throbbing Gristle – Whorle of Sound
15. Clock DVA - Non

>>> DOWNLOAD MIX!


1. The (Hypothetical) Prophets - On the Edge
2. King Crimson - Starless
3. UNKLE feat. Ian Brown - Be There
4. Sofa Surfers - The Low Roider
5. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - The Companions
6. Quiet Village - Gold Rush
7. Goldfrapp - Slippage
8. Bark Psychosis - Shapeshifting
9. David Bowie - Neuköln
10. Nine Inch Nails - La Mer
11. Atlas Sound - Bite Marks
12. Primal Scream - MBV Arkestra (If They Move Kill 'Em)
13. The (Hypothetical) Prophets - Wallenberg

>>> DOWNLOAD MIX!

"Hail to the King, Baby!"

I love Duke Nukem 3D almost as much as I hate it. The big problem I have with it is that every other game I have played since topping the final boss with Duke has paled in comparison. Duke Nukem 3D was scary as hell (the level design, the sounds, the monsters!), it was as involving as any scene with Bruce Campbell in it (after all, the Duke's personality was based on Campbell's Evil Dead Ash character), and it was also incredibly silly from time to time (the pole dancers, the shrinking gun, and let's not forget the short videos). Still, Duke Nukem 3D also had something special which cannot be described in simple words - the smell, the taste, the allure of what people call zeitgeist. There probably have been better actioneers and horror/sci-fi adventures over time (Resident Evil, Halo) but I don't think that any of these has been as bloody legendary / ludicrously attuned to its times as the Duke was. In any case, here's to a trip down the memory lane, and note this: 13 years on, it still feels amazing!

Oh, and if you would like to download the game and experience it again (or maybe for the first time), just go to this site, scroll a bit down and then hit the button that needs some proper hitting. Enjoy!

Public Domain Classics

After a full work week of no updates, now comes a torrent of movies, music and news, ranging from the sublime to the absurd. First, I have a treat for all of you that like oldies: three classic horrors that belong to the public domain and are available for you viewing pleasure right here.

1. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

It is suffice to say that Night of the Living Dead redefined gore and high concept in horror movies. Made on a shoestring budget and guided by the unique vision of George A. Romero, it introduced the zombie archetype as most know it nowadays and infused it with the kind of social commentary that is usually reserved for arthouse flicks. Those shots at the very end of the movie are worth gold.

2. The Last Man on Earth (1964)

If you ask me, any film with Vincent Price in it is a must-see purely because of the Man's charisma. The Last Man on Earth is much more than a Vincent Price film, though, especially since it is the first adaptation of the classic novel by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend, remade twice more with Charlton Heston and Will Smith, accordingly. This classic features Vincent Price as scientist Robert Morgan in a post apocalyptic nightmare world. The world has been consumed by a ravenous plague that has transformed humanity into a race of bloodthirsty vampires. Only Morgan proves immune, and becomes the solitary vampire slayer. Enjoy!

3. The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

If I must pick one moviemaker as my idol, it would have to be Roger Corman. Yeah, his movies are rooted deeply in B territory and cannot be compared with more worthwhile fare such as Psycho or Peeping Tom (both made in 1960) but given Corman's personal development from screenwriter to producer to director to mentor of Everybody That Was Worth Something In Hollywood During The 1970s And 1980s, this guy was a pure legend. The Little Shop of Horrors, for instance, is an OK movie in itself but it also contains the film debut of one Jack Nicholson who will continue to work with Corman on several films as an actor and co-director!

Werewolf Movies

When I was a kid, I found werewolf movies unbearably scary. Late at night, I would have sneaked quietly in the living room to watch some movie, say Silver Bullet (1985), and then spend most of the running time with my eyes covered by a sweaty piece of blanket. I was scared of the werewolves even when they were in their "normal" human shapes - there was something wrong about them.

This fright of mine might have had something to do with the mega-impressive poster for The Company of Wolves that hung from the walls of my neighborhood video store, adding fuel to my fantasies every time I'd drop by to rent a VHS. "How did that wolf get in there?" I was thinking. "Is it possible for the man to have eaten the wolf?" I was shocked, my already weak grasp of human anatomy completely shattered by the remote possibility that there could be enough space for a full grown wolf in the adult man's body.

Well, years passed, and at some point I finally watched The Company of Wolves only to realize that I had known it all along as the Little Red Riding Hood story. Nowadays, having read so much additional literature, I also know what the wolf-inside-the-man poster really signifies (Mr. Hyde, please say hello). Does any of it help? No, not at all. I still feel rather uncomfortable with werewolf movies, more so than with any other subgenre, and if you ask me why, the following list is what I would have to offer instead of an answer: 

1. The Company of Wolves (1984)

As someone somewhere said, The Company of Wolves is not really a horror movie but a complex psychologically charged tale about growing up into adolescence. Your preferred analyst - Freud? Jung? - gets an invitation as well, as most of the story is told through dreams that often go in unexpected directions. Brought to the screen by director Neil Jordan along with masterful design and transformation scenes, this movie is rather hard to find but it is a truly unforgettable experience that will change your outlook on folklore fairy tales and scary movies.

2. Howling (1981)

Forget slashers, the Michaels and Jasons of the world. If you want to know where scary movies really were at in the 1980's, just check out The Howling, a film that single-handedly brought back the werewolf to the mainstream, all while presenting a critique on the werewolf tale and some of the media issues that would define the rest of the decade. Forever tied through the special effects department to that other werewolf film that hit cinemas only months later in 1981 (see below), The Howling is slightly weak on characterization but it completely makes up for it with a plot that is both fast-moving and neatly layered, and of course, the transformation scene that would set the standard for ever and ever. Oh, and please disregard those wrecks that pose as sequels - the people behind them have been punished enough.

3. Dog Soldiers (2002)

Dog Soldiers is a beast of the best kind: a tabloid werewolf version of Predator (1987) on steroids! That director Neil Marshall knows what he's doing can be picked up from the start, especially as we get to know the main characters of the ride that follows, the British soldiers sent to a disastrous training mission in the Scottish wilderness. Apart from the frenzied action sequences that run through the second half of the film, what really sets Dog Soldiers apart is the strong attitude and cheeky humor that cut deep through its bones. The film isn't boring for a single second and that last shot is bloody brilliant both in its irony and the double meaning that few people have really picked on - was everything in the film just a retelling of what the guy has said in the paper?

4. The Wolf Man (1941)

a. Before The Wolf Man and Lon Chaney Jr. there were no werewolves in movies, but only hairy men pretending to be werewolves - just check out Werewolf of London (1935) for comparison; b. Before The Wolf Man there was nothing anywhere about silver being used to hurt or kill werewolves, so this is really where all modern stories began; c. "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright..." 'Nuff said.

5. An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Trailing The Howling by four months, and thus becoming that other werewolf movie of the year, was probably distressing for director John Landis who had worked on this film as a pet project for no less than 10 years. Luckily, non of the tension-behind-the-scenes shows in the final product, and the film won lots of money upon its release, as well as an Oscar for best make up. What's more important, the serious footed horror comedy combo that Landis re-introduced to cinema works really well 28 years later, even as the special effects - as amazing as they were at the time - have aged significantly. However, one thing has always bugged me about the American Werewolf in London: it is a damn dark movie, maybe too dark, given how likable the main character is and how the humor surrounds his tragedy. Should I mention the transformation scene again? :)