Around my house, it’s sort of a running joke that the best monster in all of classic horror is “the mad scientist.” I'm pretty sure it started out because mad scientists are, you know, not really themselves monsters, and that makes them an ostensibly poor choice for an answer...but the more I’ve pondered it, the more I’ve come to appreciate mad scientists. Mad scientist literature is at least as rich a source of inspiration as that of, say, vampires--consider not only Frankenstein but more underrated horror works like The Fly or The Island of Dr. Moreau. And isn’t the mad scientist being the most dreadful creature of all, while also being the most unbearably and inescapably human, the answer whose implications are the most horrifying? On that note, here’s a special theme playlist for my favourite monster.
Happy Halloween from Passionate Reply!
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO & THOMAS DOLBY - “FIELD WORK”
KATE BUSH - “CLOUDBUSTING”
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK - “GENETIC ENGINEERING”
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG - “THE OPERATION”
OPPENHEIMER ANALYSIS - “SCIENCE”
HELDEN - “YOUNG AND SCIENTIFIC”
OPPENHEIMER ANALYSIS - “MEN IN WHITE COATS”
