Musical Montage: Rob Zombie “Living Dead Girl”
Like most Rob Zombie songs, the second single off of Hellbilly Deluxe, Living Dead Girl, was jam-packed with references and homages to classic horror. Released as a single in February 1999, Living Dead Girl hit #7 on the Mainstream Rock Billboard chart and #22 on the Alternative chart. The song lyrics feature references to Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS among others and has dialogue and spoken word from movies like Lady Frankenstein and Daughters of Darkness. The most overt horror homage is definitely the music video though. Co-directed by Torque (and prolific Taylor Swift music video) director Joseph Kahn and Rob Zombie, the video fro Living Dead Girl is a tribute to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and is fully immersed in the style of early silent horror movies, including text for dialogue and narration, herky-jerky motion, grainy footage and different color tints for different scenes. Rob Zombie plays the role of The Doctor, who was played by Werner Krauss in Dr. Caligari, and Sherri Moon-Zombie plays the titular Living Dead Girl, who is actually inspired by the character Madeleine Short from White Zombie. Check it out below.
