"Living Dead Girl" is the second single from
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...
's solo debut album ''
Hellbilly Deluxe
''Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International'' is the debut solo studio album by American musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie. The album serves as his first release outside of the band White Zombie, wit ...
''.
The line, "Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?" in the beginning of the song is from the trailer of the film ''
Lady Frankenstein
''Lady Frankenstein'' is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mel Welles and written by Edward di Lorenzo. It stars Rosalba Neri (under the pseudonym Sara Bey), Joseph Cotten, Mickey Hargitay and Paul Müller.
Plot
Somewhere in Western-Cent ...
''. The music in the beginning of the song is taken from the trailer of the
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural imp ...
film, ''
The Last House on the Left
''The Last House on the Left'' is a 1972 American exploitation horror film written, directed and edited by Wes Craven in his directorial debut. The film follows Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody), a hippie teenager who is abducted, raped, and ...
''. The spoken words "What are you thinking about?/The same thing you are" at the beginning of the verses are taken from the 1971 film ''
Daughters of Darkness
''Daughters of Darkness'' is a 1971 erotic horror film directed by Harry Kümel and starring Delphine Seyrig, Danielle Ouimet, John Karlen and Andrea Rau.
Plot
Stefan Chilton, the son of an aristocratic British family who was raised in the Uni ...
'' (a dialogue between the characters played by
Delphine Seyrig
Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...
and
Andrea Rau
Andrea Rau (born 1947 in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German actress and producer who has appeared in several German films as well as appearing in the television series ''Derrick''.
Her most well-known film appearance was in the 1971 Belgian erotic ...
). In this song, Zombie sings, "Goldfoot's machine creates another fiend so beautiful they make you kill". This relates to the villain played by Vincent Price in the 1965 film ''
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
''Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine'' is a 1965 American International Pictures comedy film, made in Pathécolor, directed by Norman Taurog. It stars Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Jack Mullaney, and features F ...
'' and the 1966 film ''
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs
''Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs'' ( Italian: ''Le spie vengono dal semifreddo'', lit. "The spies who came in from the cool") is a 1966 Eurospy comedy film, made in Technicolor and directed by Mario Bava. Serving as a sequel to two unrelated fi ...
''. Also, he sings "Operation Filth they love to love the wealth of an SS making scary sounds." This is possibly a reference to the notorious 1974 film ''
Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS''.
The song also appears on Rob Zombie's ''
Past, Present & Future'', the
greatest hits album
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
''The Best of Rob Zombie'', and remixes are contained on ''
American Made Music to Strip By
''American Made Music to Strip By'' is the first remix album released by American musician Rob Zombie. The album was released through Geffen Records on October 26, 1999. It is composed entirely of remixes of songs taken from Zombie's debut studio ...
'' in 2001 and another one on
Mondo Sex Head
''Mondo Sex Head'' is the second remix album
A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ( ...
produced by
Photek
Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
Photek has contributed music ...
in 2012. The original mix was featured in both ''
Bride of Chucky
''Bride of Chucky'' is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. The fourth installment in the ''Child's Play'' franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Ni ...
'' and
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultur ...
's 1998 ''
Psycho'' remake, appearing on the album of the latter, the "Naked Exorcism Remix" appeared on ''
The Crow: Salvation Soundtrack'' in 2000. The song was covered by Sinus Giddy for ''
The Electro-Industrial Tribute to Rob Zombie
''The Electro-Industrial Tribute to Rob Zombie'' is a tribute album completely dedicated to heavy metal musician Rob Zombie. It contains the original song "Dealt With" inspired by Rob Zombie's music.
Track listing
# " Meet the Creeper" - 2:55 (P ...
'' in 2002. Also a version of the song is played in a club in the TV show
''Angel'', while the character
Faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
tears apart a dance club. The sleeve for the CD single features an image of Rob Zombie's wife,
Sheri Moon
Sheri Moon Zombie (born Sheri Lyn Skurkis; September 26, 1970) is an American actress, model, dancer and fashion designer.
Early life
Moon was born on September 26, 1970, in San Jose, California, the daughter of William "Bill" Skurkis (1947–201 ...
.The song was featured in the trailer for the 2007 film ''
Catacombs
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Etymology and history
The first place to be referred ...
''.
A trance remix of the song also featured on the English trailer for the film
''Day Watch'' in late 2007.
Music video
The music video for "Living Dead Girl" derives its imagery from
Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a film director of the silent era of German cinema. He is particularly known for directing the German silent film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' and a succession of other German Expressionism, ...
's 1920 silent film, ''
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'', with Zombie in the role of The Doctor (played by
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...
in the original film) and Sheri Moon in the place of The Living Dead Girl, whose appearance is inspired from the character White Zombie from ''
White Zombie'' (in the original film a
somnambulist
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism or noctambulism, is a phenomenon of combined sleep and wakefulness. It is classified as a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. It occurs during slow wave stage of sleep, in a state of lo ...
named Cesare played by
Conrad Veidt
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...
). The video imitates the appearance of aged, silent films, using
intertitle
In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...
s and artificially
grainy and herky-jerky images. Like ''Caligari'', it also uses black and white film that has been
tinted sepia, aqua and violet for
Expressionistic
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
effect. The video was directed by both
Joseph Kahn Joseph Kahn may refer to:
*Joseph Kahn (director) (born 1972), a film and music video director
*Joseph Kahn (journalist) (born 1964), American journalist
* Joseph Kahn (shipping executive) (1916–1979), American businessman
See also
*Joseph Hahn ...
and Rob Zombie.
Personnel
* Tom Baker - Mastering
* Paul DeCarli - Additional Programming
* Frank Gyner - Additional Engineering
*
Scott Humphrey
Scott Humphrey is a Canadian record producer and mix engineer. He began his music career as a keyboard player and programmer. He is best known for his work with multiplatinum recording artist Rob Zombie and has co-written, co-produced and mixed ...
- Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Programming
*
Chris Lord-Alge
Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...
- Additional Mixing
*
Blasko Blasko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
* Blaško Rajić (1878–1951), Croat priest, writer, and politician
* Milan Blaško (1961–2016), Slovak ski mountaineer
*Sarah Blasko (born 1976), Australian musici ...
- Bass
*
Riggs - Guitar
*
Tempesta - Drums
*
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...
- Vocals, Lyrics, Artwork
*
Sheri Moon Zombie
Sheri Moon Zombie (born Sheri Lyn Skurkis; September 26, 1970) is an American actress, model, dancer and fashion designer.
Early life
Moon was born on September 26, 1970, in San Jose, California, the daughter of William "Bill" Skurkis (1947–201 ...
- Living Dead Girl
Charts
References
{{authority control
Rob Zombie songs
1998 singles
Music videos directed by Joseph Kahn
Songs written by Scott Humphrey
Songs written by Rob Zombie
Black-and-white music videos
1998 songs
Geffen Records singles
Songs about death