Randy's Ghost Stories is an experimental anthology horror film written and primarily directed by The Residents, with additional segments by John Sanborn and Bill Domonkos, starring The Residents.
Background[]
In January 2010, The Residents premiered their Talking Light show, a moody exploration of ghosts, old age, and mortality. Each live performance featured three or more 'ghost stories,' the second of which were randomly selected each night. The stories featured live backing with a pre-recorded monologue and accompanying visuals, shown from a portable projector held by The Singing Resident as Randy Rose. The pre-recorded monologues were delivered by either The Singing Resident or a guest performer, including Residential veterans Molly Harvey, Isabelle Barbier, and Gerri Lawlor, as well as the mysterious Adan Faudoa. While The Residents directed most of the films, two were done by John Sanborn and Bill Domonkos.
Randy's Ghost Stories is a collection of the visuals presented during these segments. It was sold on the fourth Talking Light tour, which premiered on November 3rd, 2010. These DVDs also came with additional experimental films by the group, Walking Women and Mutts With Mustaches, the latter of which is a Tweedles / Tabasco 'proof of concept' music video dated 2006.
Although recordings of the ghost stories were made available to purchase along with the full concert audio, the DVD was the first time the stories were given names, except for 'Talking Light,' which was named before each performance, or 'Perchance to Dream,' which earlier had been given the title, 'Howard,' on the 2003 Kettles of Fish Box Set.
Initial DVD copies were miss-pressed; The Cryptic Corporation had included an incomplete sound mix, notably featuring no vocal track on Domonkos' Unseen Sister video.[1] On December 15th[2], a corrected version was released as an on-demand DVD-R through the group's CreateSpace page.[3][4]
In January of 2011, The Residents released 'Chuck's Ghost Music,' a companion album which featured instrumentals inspired by the eight segments, it can be 'considered a soundtrack,'[5] followed by a DVD version released through MVD Visual on March 25th, 2011, containing the correct sound mix and much higher quality than the DVD-R. This version also featured bonus footage of The Residents performing 'Hop A Little' live in 1985.[6]
Ratings[]
- Discogs: 4.25 / 5
- Amazon: 3.5 / 5
- RateYourMusic: 4.50 / 5.0
Segments[]
- Talking Light
- Perchance To Dream
- The Sleepwalker
- Ghost Snake
- Florence
- Milton
- Pudding In Disguise
- The Unseen Sister
- Walking Women
- Mutts With Mustaches
Credits[]
- Stories & Music By The Residents
- Video By The Residents
- The Unseen Sister By Bill Domonkos
- Ghost Snake By John Sanborn
- Stories Performed By The Residents
- Perchance To Dream Performed By Molly Harvey
- The Sleepwalker & Pudding In Disguise Performed By Adan Faudoa
- The Unseen Sister Performed By Gerri Lawlor
- Florence Performed By Isabelle Barbier
- Produced By: The Cryptic Corporation
Further Reading[]
- ↑ The Residents – Randy's Ghost Stories (2010, DVD) - Discogs
- ↑ The Residents - ""Randy's Ghost Stories" DVD is now available for order here"
- ↑ HOME (Archived December 23rd, 2010)
- ↑ The Residents – Randy's Ghost Stories (2010, DVDr) - Discogs
- ↑ Faceless Forever (2022)
- ↑ The Residents – Randy's Ghost Stories (2011, DVD) - Discogs