Somnopolis

I recently watched the Nostalgia Critic’s Top 11 Villains songs piece and found it disappointing. I think in the main it’s because I agree with his statement that the villain generally gets the best tunes. To me though they should be show-stoppers, or slyly humourous, letting audiences in on the secret that sometimes it’s good to be bad.

Disney has come up with some classic villains and I note that the Nostalgic Critic has focused on them. I have chosen more life-action examples. Also I have stuck to songs from films, which rules out The Mighty Boosh’s Hitcher and Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog.  So while any of these lists are subjective, the songs below are in my opinion some of the more enjoyable examples of vilainous ditties.

Why did I choose only nine? Because I just couldn’t be bothered

The Return of Captain Invincible is a superhero film with a difference. Starring Alan Arkin as an alcoholic superman and Christopher Lee as the villain (of course), this is also a musical in the vein of Rocky Horror. In this scene Lee sings Choose Your Poison, breaking the morale of the vulnerable hero at the climax of the film.

Gremlins 2 is Joe Dante’s lovesong to Warner Brothers cartoons,  a life-action pastiche of Chuck Jones inspired mayhem. The director was given carte blanche to reinvent his own original movie, as the studio in question were unable to produce a suitable sequel. And he returned to them a script that featured this little number.

Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge is more than a musical. It’s a camp pop medley that segues from one ballad to another from moment to moment. What makes it for me is the evident commitment from the performers on screen. Who knew Jim Broadbent could look so good wrapped in a shawl pouting at the camera? Ok…maybe not, but it was a surprise! This take on Madonna’s Like A Virgin moves from Broadbent wildly improvising to mollify the Duke, to a full-blown song and dance number that ends with the villain morphing into Bela Lugosi right before our eyes. Great fun.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast owes a lot to Jean Cocteau’s original film. Yet the surrealist classic doesn’t feature crowd pleasing songs. Here the villain Gaston, loosely modelled on Jean Marais, whips up a mob with fear of the Beast.

Could this be the best David Bowie music video? Well it’s better than Absolute Beginners anyway. Also a neat tribute to M. C. Escher.

Now as I’m avoiding the Nostalgia Critic’s choices, it seems odd to choose the same film. But honestly while Steve Martin gets the laughs as the dentist, Audrey II’s cry of ‘Feed Me Seymour’ beats it hands down. The Little Shop of Horrors – It’s just as much fun as you remember.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker have joked that their inspiration for this song from Team America was the hope that it would get an Oscar nomination and maybe inspire reclusive dictator and film fanatic Kim Jong Il to sing it himself at the ceremony. Not bloody likely.

The Southpark boys once more. Doing what Milton couldn’t do for people who were unable to finish Paradise Lost…make Satan sympathetic.

Ron Moody’s Fagin in the 1968 film production of Oliver! also gives us a sympathetic villain. A man who uses child pick-pockets and lives off the proceeds of their crimes. And yet you still like him somehow.