Australian singles charts:
Horror Movie entered the Kent Music Report on 23 December 1974 and was a #1 hit. The song was #9 on the Top 100 of 1975.
Album:
The song is on Living in the 70s which entered the Kent Music Report album charts on 14 October 1974. It reached #1 on 24 February 1975 and remained on top of the album charts for 16 weeks.
Songwriter:
Greg Macainsh
Producer:
Ross Wilson
Record label of Australian release:
Mushroom
Wikipedia – the Horror Movie video clip:
Countdown made an in-house video featuring the band at Luna Park, Melbourne as well as miming the song in front of an audience. It was broadcast on the first day of colour television in Australia.
In Peter Wilmoth’s Glad All Over: The Countdown Years, it was said, “Shirl here gives the distinct impression that he would rather be surfing. There’s also the (not so) small matter of the ludicrously large outstretched hand painted on the crotch of his tight satin jumpsuit); the gladiator’s hat worn by drummer Freddie Strauks; the black lipstick, white make-up and long black hair on Bob Starkie; and Red Symons who is a remarkable combination of ingénue, geisha and the devil himself.”
Biographer Jeff Apter agreed, “it was the scene-stealing – or should that be crotch-grabbing – satin sleeveless number he wore that really caught the eye of young Australia. Shirl had perfected the art of TV performance, as he bugged his eyes and stared down the barrel of the camera, pouting and preening.”
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_Movie_(song)
This song is also on our Spotify playlists Bang a Gong – the 70s and Bang a Gong – rockin’ the 60s & 70s
The B-side of the Horror Movie single was Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo), also from the Living in the 70s album.
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