Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Supernature Shouldabeen



The other day, a friend and I were discussing '70s disco act Cerrone. He told me how he had been catching up on some of Cerrone's current work and how the artist had been chooglin' along ever since his career-defining single, "Supernature" from his third album, hit huge back in 1978.

Well, I had no idea. None at all. In fact, all this time, having not researched Cerrone, I thought he was another one hit wonder.

I first discovered "Supernature" on one of those bargain bin disco compilation cassettes (you know, the $3.99 specials) in the late '80s. I instantly dug the track for it's Goblin-esque driving synth sound and, more importantly, it's macabre storyline: mutated creatures (the supernature crowd), evolving throughout time and eventually rising from the contaminated muck to exact revenge on the cause, mankind. Now, why this wasn't tied to a film, is beyond me. Very Dr. Moreau-ish. Reminds me of THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE and especially the army test site sequence from Joe Dante's PIRANHA.

Anyhow, I finally got around to looking up the original promotional video on YouTube and here it is:




Total cheese and ultimately a disappointment compared to one's imaginative visions inspired by the lyrics. Seems to be a frequent problem with videos, although nowadays, they're all too literal and not in a good way.

Of course, I wouldn't want to see "Supernature" adapted to film today. The concept would have worked well in it's time, but a current attempt, I think, would fall flat. It certainly wouldn't feature practical creature effects. Also, it would probably be too preachy, hence dispensing of any exploitable aspects.

But, since this is all "what if?" fodder, I thought I'd throw together a little mock movie poster of my own for the movie that should have been. (You like?)

2 comments:

Jan said...

Fun video, great post, and (most of all) astute observation. Love what you're doing here.

Nathan Martin said...

Thanks for reading, Jan! Glad to have ya'!