‘House of 1000 Corpses’

By Andrew Smith

“Howdy, folks, you like blood, violence, freaks of nature?” Well if you do, then the soundtrack of “House of 1000 Corpses” should satisfy your appetite.

Country lovin’? I think not.

Good ol’ boys? Try again.

The great American pastime of sadism and dark clown loving? Now you got it.

“House of 1000 Corpses” may turn the level of dark humor up a notch. The fact that the disclaimer printed right on the CD says “strong sadistic violence/gore” may turn most soccer moms away, but I loved every minute of it.

-Throw a clown, Rob Zombie, a few knives, a couple of rabbits and a traveling freak show into a glass of whisky, shake it up and drink it. Then you will get an idea of what this soundtrack will do for the entertainment industry.

Even though only 10 of the 25 tracks on this album are actual songs, it definitely does what it intends to do: thrill you.

The title song “House of 1000 Corpses” by Rob Zombie, definitely sets the theme with the first lyrics of the album stating, “She’s got a corpse under her bed/ She’s had her fun but now he’s dead.”

Rob Zombie also has taken what seems to be an old horror show theme song and made it into a new track called “Everybody Scream,” and it has a very clever remake of “Brick House.”

Strangely enough, the tracks that are too old even for your grandmother to remember seem to fit in here.

Helen Kane’s track “I Wanna Be Loved By You” is the oldest of the bunch. Kane got her start with the Marx Brothers; that is how far back she goes.

“Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass?” by Buck Owens and “I Remember You” by Slim Whitman were both produced in the ’60s.

But if you put those tracks on an old record player when someone’s pulling a Freddy Krueger on a cheerleader, you’ll see the horrific qualities of these happy tunes.

Even The Ramones couldn’t keep their noses out of this soundtrack with their original song “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” fitting in with the rest of the bunch.

The rest of the soundtrack finishes painting the morbid picture with clips from the movie. It has everything from screams and dark sound sequences, to funny, yet disturbing clips of the characters talking, like “saddle up the mule boys and slide me some grits, I’s got to get me some education,” and, “ain’t the only thing tasty in this house.”