Dr. Satan's Lair

My introduction to Mr. Zombie came through Twisted Metal III. One of the coolest features of both Twisted Metal 3 & 4 wasn't just that it feature Rob's songs, but you could play them in your stereo as music CDs. I would eventually hear Dragula and Living Dead Girl along with it's music video accompaniment via MTV. You know, when they actually played music. It ticked off two boxes for me at the time: heavy metal and horror. The only other band that had that magical concoction for me was Iron Maiden. But this was...modern. And it wasn't downtuned rap rock. 

I can't recall what movie this teaser trailer was attached to. One video rental later, I was reminded of the music video for Dragula. Lots of colors. You could tell right away this was a movie made by a music video director who still hadn't quite found his style. He was a director in a funhouse of all the things that would later characterize his future efforts. Profanity laden dialogue, serial killers, a love of 70's exploitation, his wife. Above all of this though was just how funny the movie was and still is. It's a directorial debut whose opening moments of on screen dialogue consist of a story about a guy getting a Dr. Zeyus doll stuck up his ass.

The comedy would guide me through the Firefly house, through the woods and into a deep dark well of muck and grime leading to catacombs. Wherein, the director would unleash his greatest creation: Quinton Quail a.k.a. Dr. Satan. Captain Spaulding gives a backstory about him as a mad scientiest who worked in an insane asylum. High off the likes of Blair Witch and folklore, the scene tickled my fancy. 

The mechanical arms attached to his own arms and the breathing mask make this thing scary as hell. More than any Firefly. It's up there with the Chatterer cenobite as one of my favorite creature designs. His assistant, the Professor is as menacing a presence. 

The film is at it's weirdest when we get to Dr. Satan's Lair which is saying a lot. We don't see the Doctor in Rob's next film but there is a deleted scene in which he makes him presence known amongst a nurse at a hospital. Rightly so, as it's a character that belongs in House of 1000 Corpses and not Devils Rejects.