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Salutations, Earth-beings. It’s Part 4 of the Halloween Guitar Series and today we’ve got a bundle of guitars paying tribute to the horror movies that made the slasher genre what it is today, so return those seats to their upright position, fasten those seat belts, and let’s crash and burn in a fiery blaze of glory into of gruesome guitars as a train coincidentally collides right into us exactly upon impact during an earthquake as the planet careens into the sun.
Yeah. It’s gonna be awesome.
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May as well start chronologically with this. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Pictured above are three Schecter guitars donning the Texas Chainsaw style. In fact most of the horror related guitars have been and are on Schecter guitars. The blue guitar features a picture of the original box art… which is kind of demented if you think about it, though I personally prefer the grey guitar mostly because it’s tastefully done original artwork, but also because the lack of color seems to contribute to the darker feel of the movie. Looking at it makes me curious as to what Leatherface just finished doing in the cellar he’s coming out of or what might be hidden in the cabin in the back. The women inlays earn a few extra brownie points.
As for the Beginning guitar… well… I have no idea why they decided that movie was worthy of a line of guitars, but there it is all the same and for what it’s worth it looks good. I think I liked the remake in the same way I like Rob Zombie movies. Visually there’s a lot of good attention, but overall there just isn’t really much done with the source material that allows it to stand on its own feet. Jessica Biel as the lead actress also kinda screwed it up for me. She always looked too hot to be believable in that role. Also there was no Franklin in the remake. What was up with that?
Next up we’ve got Halloween. Possibly the greatest slasher movie ever. The guitar above has Michael Myer’s infamous mask on it, though I’m not sure if I like it or not. He kinda looks like he’s smiling a bit and I just can’t get past the idea of a happy Michael Myers. The movies have been analyzed to the nth degree so there’s not much I can say that hasn’t been said by pretty much everyone else. Great lighting and great work at leaving the real horror to the imagination.
And from Halloween on the slasher genre really snowballed into an entity of its own. Soon after Friday the 13th was trying its luck, and I’ll be damned if that isn’t a particularly curious franchise on its own, but first the guitars. The one is a Strat knock off that was used as a project for repainting and features a few autographs, but it’s the Jackson that really takes the cake with signatures from each guy that played as Jason as well as a plethora of other actors from over the years.
The movies themselves were pretty much the slasher genre down to the point. The body count. How many promiscuous, drinking teens, obnoxious rednecks, and crabby old dudes can meet their untimely end without using the same tool twice? Either you’re gonna love it or you’re gonna hate it. I think my preferences in the franchise are pretty predictable. Kane Hodder is the man. I liked the earlier Friday movies when Jason had more of a lumbering jog to his stride, but the presence of Kane’s Jason coupled with excellent costume design and stunts were a great direction to take the movie too.
And finishing this off is Nightmare on Elm Street. We’ve got two pictures of the scorched wise-ass on display. The make of the Les Paul style is currently unknown to me, but the painting was airbrushed by a guy that goes by the name Svee and does excellent work. If you’re curious give his portfolio a look. [www.sveeart.co.uk]
And I’m going to fold my hand on the other Krueger guitar. I know absolutely nothing about it. Hell I can’t even figure out where I found it. I guess I’m supposed to put on a show like I’m the be all end all of resources and knowledge, but in this case I’ve dropped the ball. On the plus side the guitar still looks cool. Freddy Krueger always looks cool… well… usually. I think Nightmare’s among my preferred franchises. Dreams abide by no laws of reality so there’s a lot of freedom for creative design that they’ve exploited that idea well.
