REMEMBERING A HORROR QUEEN

It was with no small sadness that I heard of the death of the actress Hazel Court. While many might be unfamiliar with her name, all fans of vintage Gothic cinema should be familiar with her work, acting opposite such legends as Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff and Peter Cushing, in classics like The Curse of Frankenstein, The Raven and The Premature Burial. More than a mere Scream Queen, the English-born beauty appeared in a host of American TV shows in the 70s, but it was her horror roles that brought her an enduring following. Ms Court, with her distinctive flame-red hair and bewitching emerald eyes, gave as good as she got in her Gothic roles, playing feisty femme fatales rather than swooning victims. I remember when I first sawThe Masque of the Red Death as an impressionable teenager, when Vincent Price’s Satanic Prince Prospero picked the virginal Jane Asher over Hazel’s delectable, demonic temptress in , I thought he’d clearly lost his senses!

As is so often the case with horror performers, who are frequently cultured and erudite individuals when they are not being menaced or menacing in front of the camera, there was a great deal more to Hazel Court than met the eye. In addition to her prodigious talents as an actress, she was an internationally acclaimed artist and sculptor, a career she pursued after she abandoned acting in the 80s. With her passing, we have lost a true icon of horror cinema, another of a generation it sometimes seems we can never replace. On the positive side, she had reportedly finished her autobiography, Hazel Court: Horror Queen, shortly before she passed away, and I shall be purchasing a copy as soon as it hits the shelves later this year. In the mean time I plan on watching The Masque of the Red Death again tonight to lose myself once more in those bewitching feline eyes…

ALCHEMY 1977 / ALCHEMY GOTHIC Spring New Releases 2008

ALCHEMY 1977 / ALCHEMY GOTHIC Spring New Releases 2008

Alchemy are very excited about their latest new releases for Spring 2008, which will be being delivered to most stockists, everywhere, about now. This stunning collection was very well received on premier showing at the latest season of trade exhibitions, where retailers and distributors were the first people to get to glimpse these amazing pieces before choosing what they should stock on behalf of their customers. The trade shows around this time include LondonEdge, the NEC Spring Fair and Las Vegas’ MAGIC.

One very successful theme at the heart of this collection has been carefully developed under the name of SALIGIA. To describe in a nutshell what this is all about, SALIGIA is a sinfully beautiful range of jewellery and giftware with a unique, seven-sided theme, each facet symbolising one of the seven deadly sins, feared and venerated by our Medieval forbears.

To explain its evolution, this new SALIGIA collection of Alchemy’s was first inspired by an exquisite, late Medieval, seven-sided glass, spotted recently by an Alchemy designer in the Gothenburg museum, in Sweden, which then presented a challenge to see if the effect could be replicated in pewter. Of course, Alchemy is very proud to say that they did indeed manage to achieve this effect with spectacular results, which then lead-on to more ideas… Seven is such a wonderful number!

In 1485, Hieronymus Bosch painted one of his lesser known wonders, ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’, depicting the Church’s doctrine of moral righteousness to the masses. These ’sins’, collectively named ‘SALIGIA’ after the first letter of each sin, in its Latin form, are now incorporated into each pewter piece in Alchemy’s new collection, and both the pendant and the buckle also feature ‘God’s Eye’ in Swarovski crystal, with its accompanying scroll reading “Caue, Dus videt”, (Beware, God sees), again, all from Bosch’s numinous painting.

The mnemonic SALIGIA is made-up of the first letters of each of the Latin names of the Seven Deadly Sins, as follows:

Superbia(Pride), Avaritia(Greed), Luxuria(Lust), Ira(Anger), Gula(Gluttony), Invidia(Envy) and Acedi(Sloth).

Above – The unique SALIGIA collection, including pendant, bangle, ring, buckle, goblet, tankard and flask. Other new items: Jewellery, (or Jewelry, to our American friends!); An unbelievably unique and exotic range of jewellery with diverse themes, such as the ‘Amberdragon’ pendant (P509), so named because amber was, at one time, thought to be solidified dragon’s tears, and ‘Currigueresque’ (P514), an elaborate, traditionally styled Spanish cross, in the extravagant fashion of the Churriguera family, sculptors and architectural decorators there between 1665 and 1725, stunningly created from Swarovski crystals. Also, the best-selling necklace ‘Queen of the Night’ (P503), reflecting the antipathy of the ancient Iranian prophet and sage Zoroaster’s ‘Moral Order’ and instead representing opulence and decadence. Another example of a design with a difference is the ‘Winter Garden Crystal’ ring (R137), again made from a large Austrian crystal, but with creeping ivy trailing across its two-finger span. This whole collection of new releases can be seen online, here at the Alchemy 1977 new releases page.

Above - Pendossuary necklace (P505), and Winter Garden Crystal ring (R137) Metal Wall Signs; Some of Alchemy Studios’ most famous, detailed and effective Gothic artwork, as well as some of the new contemporary, ‘urban Rock ‘n Roll’ and 50’s retro style Alchemy UL13 art, is now available as superb quality, highly desirable, traditionally styled enamelled metal wall signs, made under license by The Original Metal Sign Company. This collection can be seen here in the Alchemy Gothic online catalogue.

Above – ‘To Win Without Risk’ metal wall sign. T-Shirts; Continuing the success of the previous lady’s skinny shirts and the men’s fitted shirts, we have released four fabulous new designs that will take you straight into the summer season, seen online here.

Above – Fin De Siecle,

Girl’s Skinny T, (BTS338); a turn-of-the-century fairy, capturing the hedonism and morbid fascinations of the European intelligencia, struggling to throw of the strict morality of the nineteenth century.

AlchemyPOKER

HOW LONG DO WE TOLERATE INTOLERANCE?

HOW LONG DO WE TOLERATE INTOLERANCE?

It’s seldom good news when the mainstream media turns its attention to Goth. Everybody from the alternative scene is familiar with the intermittent, ignorant jibes from the press. Right-wing rags print stories warning worrying parents about the telltale signs to watch out for to prevent their offspring becoming Goths, while left-leaning broadsheets mock the Goth scene for its lack of ‘social relevancy’ and failure to exhibit the working class or ethnic roots that excite white, middle class commentators. And woe betide the Goth scene if a high profile crime is committed, where the perpetrator happens to dress in black. Open season is swiftly declared on the subculture, with bigoted editors printing pictures of tenuously-associated bands, while hacks comb their albums for out-of-context lyrics that ‘prove’ that everybody who’s ever worn a black leather jacket is Evil.

Recent media coverage of Goth has been even more troubling, though for altogether different reasons. The horrific murder of Sophie Lancaster, in a Lancashire park on August 11^th, 2007, and subsequent trial, gripped the British media’s attention. In part, because of the truly appallingly brutal nature of the attack on a defenceless young girl, but also because the only motive for the wholly unprovoked assault appears to have been the alternative style of Sophie, and her boyfriend Robert Maltby who she was trying to protect when she was murdered. Her mother made the brave decision to make public pictures of Sophie in a coma in the days before she lost her fight for life. Even the most stony-hearted cynic couldn’t fail to be moved by the sight of this lovely, vulnerable young girl, her precious life brutally extinguished by vermin.

The press reacted with sadness and sympathy, particularly in light of the humbling dignity of Sophie’s mother, who expressed a hope that her death might not be in vain, hopefully serving as a horrific reminder of the consequences of intolerance. The media also reacted with anger, reflecting more closely the attitude of Sophie’s boyfriend Robert, who understandably couldn’t find words for how he felt about those who had robbed him of his soul mate in such an unspeakably vile and cowardly fashion. When pictures of the two killers were published last week, there was a certain depressing predictability about the identity of the moronic duo. Both, of course, were chavs, members of the sportswear-clad packs that plague Britain’s streets in the 21^st century. Some commentators saw the attack as a symptom of the conflict between chavs and Goths among UK youngsters. Few cared to mention that this ‘conflict’ is almost always one way, that one of the many contrasts between Goth and chav culture is the essential pacifism of the former and the gratuitous, feral aggression of the latter.

There has been a call to extend hate crime legislation to extend to ‘protect subcultural people’ among sections of the Goth community, with an on-line petition to that effect being presented to parliament. But is this appropriate? Why is a crime worse if motivated by ‘hate’? One of the most disturbing aspects of the Sophie Lancaster case was the almost total lack of motive, hatred included. Besides which, we’d end up in the absurd position of lawyers trying to prove in court who was, or was not, legally a Goth. Such laws only feed discrimination and underline difference, while criminalising free speech, without deterring offenders who clearly have no concern for legal consequence. A murder is a murder, and while there is a case for increasing penalties for motiveless crimes like the Sophie Lancaster tragedy, it shouldn’t matter whether the victim or the perpetrator was a Goth, a Mongolian, or a Mormon. That’s what justice is about surely? A charity has been set up in Sophie’s name, the acronym translating as Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere. While the sentiment is admirable, the practicality of such an ambitious campaign is surely questionable. Not least because, sad to say, sometimes negative emotions are justified – who could possibly begrudge Robert Maltby his hatred towards his attackers, or condemn the prejudice of anyone who opts not to walk past gangs of chavs alone?

If there is anything positive to be taken from this truly tragic crime, it is that it has obliged the British media to take a look at some of its own ill-informed prejudices. It was impossible to look at Sophie Lancaster without seeing beyond the piercings and dyed hair to see a loving, beautiful young lady, who died trying to protect the man she loved. Or to look at her attackers without wondering why we are feeding and sheltering such creatures when there are still shortages of donor organs in this country. We should be wary of blaming any art for the actions of individuals, but perhaps some of the media could look a little harder at the ‘urban’ music beloved of the baseball cap brigade, and cut a little more slack for the music and culture created by the black leather jacket contingent. Goths like to look different, and difference attracts suspicion. It’s simply human nature. But we would do well to remember that the world has always suffered more at the hands of those, like chavs, who are violently obsessed with everybody looking the same, than those, who like Sophie, just liked to look different.

Gavin Baddeley (Alchemy press officer)

THE BROODY BRIDES OF DRACULA

The inspiration for this little piece is odd in that it came to me in a very vivid dream last night. However dreams have inspired many a notable notion, not least Count Dracula, conceived after a troubled night’s sleep, brought on, according to original author Bram Stoker, by a ‘too generous helping of dressed crab’. Curiously, my dream concerned the exact same scene inspired by Stoker’s nightmare. It is the close of the third chapter of the novel, where Jonathan Harker – increasingly reluctant guest in the Count’s Transylvanian castle – is discovered by a trio of Dracula’s undead brides. He is just about to fall victim to their lethal ‘kisses’, when the Count enters in a fury, saying the Englishman belongs to him. The thwarted vampiresses complain that Dracula never loved them, and by way of response, he gives them a bag containing a baby.

It’s a controversial scene, and many film adaptations opt to ignore it, only the boldest directors daring to depict the unholy beauties feasting upon the infant (which Stoker himself only implies). It was this sequence that featured in my dream. Specifically, I was having a spirited debate about the significance of the scene, putting forward a new theory which I remembered with curious clarity when I awoke. What if, I suggested, the baby hadn’t been some kind of consolation prize for the brides, but exactly what they actually wanted? Perhaps they only threatened Harker in order to force the Count’s hand, and oblige Dracula to give them something they wanted but he had always denied them? Something that would prove he loved them… In short, the brides of Dracula were broody!

Think about it. Vampires don’t reproduce like humans, but create new members of their race via an infectious bite. So, a vampire wanting a baby would bite a baby, as Dracula’s three brides presumably did in the story. Vampires don’t age, so this would be a vampire infant for all eternity. They retain many of their human characteristics, so this baby would have no teeth, hence no fangs with which to draw blood. It would also presumably cry like a baby, incessantly if it had no means to assuage its hunger, though as an immortal it would never die. Once you consider this you can quite easily see why the Count would be reluctant to welcome an immortal, eternally crying baby into his castle. Indeed, in my dream I realised, this was the real reason he fled Transylvania and headed to England. And I hadn’t even eaten any dressed crab!…

Gavin Baddeley

In addition to helping out with press and publicity at Alchemy, Gavin Baddeley is an author, journalist and broadcaster specialising in the arcane and macabre. Gavin’s perhaps best known for his books in the area, ‘Lucifer Rising’, ‘Dissecting Marilyn Manson’ and ‘Goth Chic’.

His latest book, ‘The Gospel of Filth’, an exploration of the dark side written in collaboration with Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani, is due out in 2008. Gavin’s also been employed as a consultant by most of the major UK TV networks, from the BBC to Channel 4 and MTV, offering expert opinions on subjects as diverse as renaissance alchemy and the devil in rock music. He’s no stranger to controversy, and in 1995 was ordained as an honorary priest by American arch-Satanist Anton LaVey, and has since delivered addresses on Satanism to institutions as prestigious as Cambridge University and far flung as the University of Wisconsin.

www.churchofgoth.com

Welcome to the Church of Goth.

This blog is sponsored by Alchemy Gothic. The views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Alchemy.