Dan Krysa
Last Updated on March 16, 2024
I left New York City for Key West roughly eight months into the pandemic and have been on a creative tear ever since. A drastic change of scenery apparently does wonders after being locked in a shoebox for the better part of a year. I’ve been an undying fan of horror for as far back as I can remember. So, when FANGORIA co-owner Tara Ansley asked if I’d be down to score the Chainsaw Awards, I couldn’t wait to bring an extra level of fun and excitement to the show.
Immediate needs aside, I typically start scoring a project with what I perceive to be the most challenging and/or intriguing sequence. Not only does that allow for me to throw all of my fresh excitement into a “bigger” piece, but also helps to begin to create a bit of a sonic pallet moving forward. For the Chainsaw Awards, I felt the main theme was going to be the show’s musical lynchpin. Toeing the line between the traditional qualities of an awards show while keeping the vibe within a dangerous, horror-inspired realm was the goal. But most importantly, I wanted to keep it all fun, fun, fun!
After settling on an anthemic group of melodies and some nice counterpoint, I found that using some vintage, macabre organs and synths beneath an epic, chanting choir put me in the place I needed to be. I then put together a pulsing heartbeat “groove” and could definitely picture a satanic cult performing this thing in the orchestral pit at an apocalyptic version of the Oscars. There was something really fun about the interplay between the epic quality of the choir and the intimacy of that pulsing groove.
It was important to me to give each category of nominees its own unique character. From getting really close to the mic and creepily singing made-up mumbled versions of children’s songs (and pitch shifting and warping the hell out of it) to imagining what a ghoul on a typewriter would sound like (including the typewriter itself), the entire creative process wound up being a definitively weird, yet incredibly fun musical joy ride.
That said, it’s not always about playing on generic tropes. Particularly in horror music, I prefer to feel like I’m experiencing the familiar encountering the unfamiliar. If the musical backdrop becomes too expected, it takes away from the thrills we get from not knowing what’s lurking deep down in those dark cellars we tend to avoid.
For the “Best Kill” section, I shifted gears a bit and went back to my rock roots. I’d just received a new set of drums in the mail, so I threw up some mics one morning and improvised a groove. I thought there was a nice energy in there, so I grabbed a bass, then some guitars, then wrote some shrill string parts over top (so as to keep it all within that same apocalyptic orchestra vibe). Hearing the nominees with that as back drop put me in a wicked headspace, so I ran with it!
I can’t wait for the Chainsaw Awards to premiere! The genuine excitement and creativity contributed by everyone involved gushes out from start to finish (quarantine has probably helped bring that out just a bit), so go find an uncomfortable spot deep down in a dark cellar somewhere and enjoy!
While the Academy Awards are often touted as the most prestigious movie award show, some critics do find a lot of the selections to be a bit elitist. It is after all extremely seldom you will see genres like horror get much recognition from the Oscars. That is why for fans of scary movies, the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards are like the horror equivalent of the Oscars, and the nominations for 2024 are now out.
One immediate new change fans will notice to this year’s FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards is that there is a new category on the list: Best Video Game. This is a logical inclusion as many horror fans are also gamers, and there are usually plenty of popular horror games every year. This year’s nominees in the category include the likes of the Dead Space Remake, the Resident Evil 4 Remake, and the game of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Another change to this year’s FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards is an extended range of what movies are eligible, going this year from January of 2023 to June of 2024. That provides quite a lot of selection, making this year packed with some very popular horror films. Of course the big category that everyone is keeping their eye on is the Best Wide Release Movie, essentially the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards equivalent of Best Picture from the Oscars. There are 10 nominees in total, but some of the major contenders include M3GAN, Godzilla Minus One, The First Omen, and Evil Dead Rise. With so many popular options on the list, it is hard to predict which film might come out on top this year.
For those unfamiliar, another detail that makes the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards unique is that everyday fans decide the winners by voting in a poll that everyone has access to. While some critics might worry that this system could be susceptible to trolling from fans intentionally orchestrating to make a joke pick win, the Oscars system has not been without criticism either. Some on the Oscars committee have admitted to not even watching all of the nominees every year.
Other major categories in the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards include Best Television Series, which has some stiff competition this year from a variety of highly praised shows. This year that includes The Last of Us, Chucky, Yellowjackets, Interview with the Vampire, and The Fall of the House of Usher. Since the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards are a horror award show, that also elevates the importance of awards focusing on costuming since monsters are such a big part of the genre. In the Best Creature FX category, movies like Five Nights at Freddy’s, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter are some of the major nominees this year.
Lastly, the FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards also has a unique system for its Best Kill category. Since people dying happens so frequently in horror movies, it would not be practical to list all the iconic deaths that have happened in movies over the last year. So for that category, fans have to write in their choice. But if you are going to cast your vote for this year’s nominations, do so quickly, as the polls close on July 20.
Source: Fangoria
