White Zombie - More Human Than Human (1995)
*** (of four)
I couldn't stand this fucker when he was popular. Even more so than Kiss and Alice Cooper, it was patently obvious White Zombie's image was theatrical, cartoonish and phony, meant to bilk the dollars of the Evil Equals Cool teen market. Besides, my little brother was in love with the band and couldn't resist playing La Sexorcisto and Astro Creep 2000 at top volume over and over and over and over. And over and over and over and over.
But it slowly became obvious over the years that, if Rob Zombie had cultivated a phony image, at least he had fun with it and filled his videos with images on the camp side of horror. The man was an entertainer. I haven't seen Zombie's two recent slasher flicks, but this is the most thorough viewing I've ever given his "More Human Than Human" video. Which seems to turn the medium of 1960s home movies into a sinister collection of robots, clowns, jack-o-lanterns and giant albino rats.
The whole letterboxed video has phony film scratches applied to it and lots of manically cut stock footage, but the centerpiece is performance footage of Rob and his band. Who seem to be bouncing around someone's basement or garage in a universe of hyper-color. The cumulative effect borders on sensory overload, but it's completely accessible. I mean, how underground and demonic could it possibly be when its frontman is wearing a fucking jean jacket?
I couldn't stand this fucker when he was popular. Even more so than Kiss and Alice Cooper, it was patently obvious White Zombie's image was theatrical, cartoonish and phony, meant to bilk the dollars of the Evil Equals Cool teen market. Besides, my little brother was in love with the band and couldn't resist playing La Sexorcisto and Astro Creep 2000 at top volume over and over and over and over. And over and over and over and over.
But it slowly became obvious over the years that, if Rob Zombie had cultivated a phony image, at least he had fun with it and filled his videos with images on the camp side of horror. The man was an entertainer. I haven't seen Zombie's two recent slasher flicks, but this is the most thorough viewing I've ever given his "More Human Than Human" video. Which seems to turn the medium of 1960s home movies into a sinister collection of robots, clowns, jack-o-lanterns and giant albino rats.
The whole letterboxed video has phony film scratches applied to it and lots of manically cut stock footage, but the centerpiece is performance footage of Rob and his band. Who seem to be bouncing around someone's basement or garage in a universe of hyper-color. The cumulative effect borders on sensory overload, but it's completely accessible. I mean, how underground and demonic could it possibly be when its frontman is wearing a fucking jean jacket?
posted by daytime at 12:52 AM
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