Hooper - Newsom Key

I made a list here.  I paired up each Hooper film in personal ranked order with a Joanna Newsom song from her four-album career thus far, and so here's a little bit of a key to my reasoning.

The Funhouse - "Sadie"

Early, significatory masterworks.  Resonant with meaning.  My favorites.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - "Emily"

Epic works, modest (almost-generic) statements.

Lifeforce - "Leaving the City"

Apocalyptic, Victorian.  In transit (Horse, buggy, and spaceship).

Spontaneous Combustion - "Anecdotes"

Gentle, intimate sci-fi.  What we have lost.  "What We Have Known.*" (* Alternate Newsom Pick: A manifesto for the future.  Make peace, not war.)

Eaten Alive - "Easy"

Sit and see how the fog from the port in the bay lays like snow at the foot of the Roanoke.

Hear the frog going courting, til the day he croaks.

Salem's Lot - "Kingfisher"

End of days.  Pastoral calamity.


Djinn - "Waltz of the 101st Lightborne"

Modern, spiritual war.  Fresh new masterpieces.  Songs for the trans-spatial age.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - "Same Old Man"

'Grandpa's a one-hitter.  He's the best!'  Sardonic country banger.

Night Terrors - "Occident"

Self-explanatory (titular contrast, Occident/Orient in terms of the picture).  Underrated and exquisitely serious.

Eggshells - "Does Not Suffice"

Beautiful mess.  Gossamer images and finery.  Melancholy over things that change.

Poltergeist - "Peach, Plum, Pear"

Commercial perfection.  Can be easily adulterated (Newsom's most covered song.  Hooper's most over-edited, over-manufactured footage.)


The Mangler - "In California"

Esoterica.  Domestic exotica.

The Heisters - "Erin"

Early & pure.


Mortuary - "On a Good Day"

This pairing makes me laugh.  They're two of these artists' happier and sad ditties.


Invaders from Mars - "Baby Birch"

Tobe Hooper goes electric.

Toolbox Murders - "Only Skin"

Graphic magnum opuses.


Dance of the Dead - "Inflammatory Writ"

Punk.


The Apartment Complex - "The Things I Say"

"If I have the space of half a day, I'm ashamed of half the things I say.  I'm ashamed to have turned out this way."  Romantic self-effacement.  Erotic projection.  Freud would have a field day.  Ideology is insecure and pathological.

The Maze - "A Pin-Light Bent"

Particle physics.


Body Bags - "Autumn"

Strident strings, mercilessly nonconforming.

The Damned Thing - "Go Long"

Amped up, steroidal - not my tune.

I'm Dangerous Tonight - "No Providence"

Sweet, feminine, but dangerous.  "You know what my mother used to call me? Dangerous."  Yeah, like Neon Demon.

Dark Skies - "Flying a Kite"

Sloppy, endearing.


Crocodile - "Make Hay"

Make hay while the sun shines.  Go for broke.

Freddy's Nightmares: No More Mr. Nice Guy - "This Side of the Blue"

Pleasant snooze.  Not gonna win any awards.


Taken - "Goose Eggs"

It's an egg.