With Halloween just around the corner and all the Amic schools decorated with pumpkins and ghosts, I’ve definitely had horror on the brain. There’s just something about this time of year that makes you want to grab a pumpkin spice latte, eat an apple cider doughnut, and watch something so scary you can’t sleep at night. I will admit that I’m a huge scaredy-cat; I usually end up watching horror movies with my ears plugged and my head buried in my lap! Lucky for those of us that can’t stand the suspense of a standard 175 minute slasher movie, there’s music videos! Yes, there have been music videos created that are so disturbing that MTV refused to air them (I’m looking at you, Mr. Bungle). The beauty of scary music videos is that they are small works of art in themselves; high quality production without the cheesy dialogue. 

So without further ado, here are my top 5 scary music videos, in no particular order. Watch at your discretion.

Basement Jaxx- Where’s Your Head At

An aggressive chorus! Monkeys with human faces! Human science experiments!  An attempted escape! Despite being nearly 18 years old, this music video fills me with dread to this day. 

UNKLE- Rabbit in Your Headlight

After watching this video, I’m always left with so many questions and theories. My top theory is the man is actually an angel that’s gone mad witnessing brutality on Earth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Radiohead- Burn the Witch

What starts off innocently enough in “Thomas the Tank Engine” land ends on a much darker note. 

Aphex Twin- Come to Daddy

I think Aphex Twin may be the music video king of horror. The children wearing masks of Richard D. James’ face live in the uncanny valley. I just hope that dog is okay. 

Tool- Stinkfist

Maynard James Keenan makes some of the creepiest videos around. His mind is a dark place. 

Thoroughly creeped out yet? What are some of your favorite scary movies or music videos?

Run away

• Meaning: Flee by running
• Example: The crowd had to run away from the burning structure with only the clothes on their backs.

Run away

• Meaning: Leave home
• Example: The little boy was unhappy about having to take a bath every day and decided to run away from home.

Run away with

• Meaning: Leave secretly with another person
• Example: She ran away with my best friend.

Run away with

• Meaning: Steal and get away with it
• Example: The robber ran away with some valuable paintings.

Run away with

• Meaning: Be misled
• Example: Don’t run away with the idea that this money will solve all your problems.

Run away with

• Meaning: Overwhelm, get the better of
• Example: He allowed his emotions to run away with him.

Run away with

• Meaning: Be superior or outstanding in something
• Example: Team USA ran away with the medal count.

Run back

• Meaning: Take someone home by car; to give someone a lift to their house
• Example: If you can wait a couple of minutes, I’ll run you back.

Run back

• Meaning: Rewind a film or cassette
• Example: Can you run it back to the beginning, please?

Run by

• Meaning: Inform someone briefly of the main points of an idea
• Example: Let me run that idea by the board before we spend too much time on it.

Run by

• Meaning: Briefly stop at a location for a particular purpose
• Example: Can you run by the store for milk?

RUN DOWN meaning – Phrasal verbs with RUN

Run down

• Meaning: Hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them
• Example: He was run down while crossing the main road.

Run down

• Meaning: Criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly
• Example: My sister is always running me down in front of my friends.

Run down

• Meaning: Find something or someone after searching for a long time
• Example: I finally managed to run down that report. I had filed it incorrectly.

Run down

• Meaning: Lose power slowly
• Example: If you don’t switch off the car lights, you will run the battery down.

Run down

• Meaning: Read quickly a list or other short text
• Example: Running down the list of suggestions, I can see three we can discard immediately.

Run down

• Meaning: Reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure
• Example: The board of directors have decided to run down the stocks held in storage prior to offering the company for sale.

Run for it

• Meaning: To run very quickly in order to escape from someone or something
• Example: As soon as he looked the other way, we ran for it.

My favorite film genre is probably the documentary. In particular, I like ones that introduce me to some sort of underground world or subculture I didn’t previously know about, or those that take some everyday thing I’ve never really thought about and explain its history.

I don’t watch them as often as I’d like, but here are some of the most memorable docs I’ve watched over the past few years:

A Map For Saturday (2007)

There was a time in my life when I was obsessed with the idea of quitting my job and going backpacking around the world by myself. Around that time, I watched A Map For A Saturday, an indie documentary that prepared me for the realities of long-term travel: the ups and downs of making new friends then having to say goodbye, the lack of a real sense of ‘home’, and the difficulties in navigating a place where you don’t speak the language. Having now done this type of trip, I appreciate the film even more as it paints an incredibly accurate picture of the backpacker lifestyle (and is a great way to relive it when it you can’t get back out on the road). 

Icarus (2017)

I love documentaries that seem to start down one road then take a completely unexpected turn down another. In Icarus, filmmaker Bryan Fogel enlists the help of Russian doctor Grigory Rodchenkov to try and win a challenging amateur cycling race by using undetectable performance-enhancing drugs. Shortly after, Rodchenkov reveals he was the mastermind of a state-sponsored doping program that allowed dirty Russian athletes to go undetected at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. From there, the film shifts from sports doc to geopolitical thriller as Rodchenkov spills the details of the scandal while trying to avoid being ‘silenced’ by the Russian government.

I Know That Voice (2012)

It’s basically 90 minutes of voice actors doing their characters’ voices on camera. For that reason alone, it’s awesome. 

The Barkley Marathons: The Trail That Eats Its Young (2014)

There’s nothing like watching a movie about insanely fit people while you sit on your couch eating snacks. The Barkley Marathon is an invitation-only ultramarathon that consists of five 20-miles laps through the hilly and wooded Tennessee countryside, all in less than 60 hours. The race’s charm comes through its quirks: the race’s entry fee is $1.60, a personal essay, and a license plate from the runner’s home; the waypoints hidden along the course are old paperback books the competitors must tear the assigned page out of; and the run is initiated by race founder Gary Cantrell lighting a cigarette. The race is so difficult that in its 32-year history, only 18 runners have finished in time. 

The Search for General Tso (2014)

In America, there’s probably not a town of decent size without at least one Chinese restaurant. The reason why I had never really thought about, but after watching this film I learned the interesting history of how Chinese food (well, the Americanized version) spread throughout America, the history of the fortune cookie, and why you’ll never find General Tso’s chicken served anywhere in China. 

I usually troll the main page of Wikipedia to find inspiration for my weekly blog post. Today, I felt totally uninspired while clicking through articles. I’ve been working on a list of sad songs, because sometimes you just want to listen to a sad song and have a good cry. Sadness can be evoked by different things in different people, but some things are universally tragic: heartbreak, death, rejection, loss, loneliness, the list goes on and on. What I’ve noticed about my top favorite sad songs is that despite having an upbeat melody, the lyrics tug at the your heart in a way that only truly poignant words can. 

Manu Chao- Dia Luna Dia Pena (“Moon Day Pain Day”)

Radiohead- How to Disappear Completely

No sad song list would be complete without a song from Radiohead.

Florence + The Machine – Ship to Wreck

Kings of Convenience- Toxic Girl

Scandinavian melancholy at its finest.

Sufjan Stevens – A Loverless Bed (Without Remission)

Of course, these all are open to interpretation. What makes me want to curl up in a ball and wail won’t necessarily make you feel the same way 😛 What is your favorite sad song?