I don't know why it occured to me to post this, but I don't think there's a topic for it and this forum seemed like a good place for this odd thread about a wrestler.
I used to love the Undertaker and Paul Bearer back in the early '90's. I was in my late teens and early 20s when they first appeared. The spookiness of these fiendish characters really caught my attention because they had a vintage horror vibe. I mean, for all intents and purposes, the Undertaker was a supernatural, undead creature who seemed unable to feel pain, wore 19th century undertaker's clothing,sat up like Dracula when knocked down, was deathly pale with dark circles under his eyes, moved methodically and slowly but suddenly snapped into quick, preternatural movements such as grabbing his victims by the throat, entered the arena to tolling bells and funereal pipe organ music, and delivered ominous, mysterious speeches about death and decay in a deep, sepulchral voice. His manager Paul Bearer was a bizarre, histrionic character who carried a mysterious urn and spoke in a weird, ghostly voice about macabre and unsettling things. They were always surrounded by coffins, fog, eerie lighting, etc. Shockingly, they tried to murder the (annoying) Ultimate Warrior by stuffing him into an air-tight casket. I also remember really liking the short-lived dark, unholy alliance between the Undertaker and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, who was sinister, completely diabolical, and liked referencing his connections to the devil.
My interest in these characters completely disappeared when the Undertaker became a biker, thus destroying the fun notion that he was somehow one of the living dead. I believe he went back to the undead stuff later, but the mystique was ruined for me at that point.
At any rate, I wonder what kind of horror influences these guys were pulling from for these striking characters. Surely, Mark Calloway (The Undertaker) must be a horror fan. Just curious if anyone knows what influences went into all of that.
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There are other horror-themed wrestlers too, like the vampire character Gangrel and the Voodoo priest Papa Shango, but none of those guys ever really grabbed my imagination the way Undertaker and Paul Bearer did.
I used to love the Undertaker and Paul Bearer back in the early '90's. I was in my late teens and early 20s when they first appeared. The spookiness of these fiendish characters really caught my attention because they had a vintage horror vibe. I mean, for all intents and purposes, the Undertaker was a supernatural, undead creature who seemed unable to feel pain, wore 19th century undertaker's clothing,sat up like Dracula when knocked down, was deathly pale with dark circles under his eyes, moved methodically and slowly but suddenly snapped into quick, preternatural movements such as grabbing his victims by the throat, entered the arena to tolling bells and funereal pipe organ music, and delivered ominous, mysterious speeches about death and decay in a deep, sepulchral voice. His manager Paul Bearer was a bizarre, histrionic character who carried a mysterious urn and spoke in a weird, ghostly voice about macabre and unsettling things. They were always surrounded by coffins, fog, eerie lighting, etc. Shockingly, they tried to murder the (annoying) Ultimate Warrior by stuffing him into an air-tight casket. I also remember really liking the short-lived dark, unholy alliance between the Undertaker and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, who was sinister, completely diabolical, and liked referencing his connections to the devil.
My interest in these characters completely disappeared when the Undertaker became a biker, thus destroying the fun notion that he was somehow one of the living dead. I believe he went back to the undead stuff later, but the mystique was ruined for me at that point.
At any rate, I wonder what kind of horror influences these guys were pulling from for these striking characters. Surely, Mark Calloway (The Undertaker) must be a horror fan. Just curious if anyone knows what influences went into all of that.
There are other horror-themed wrestlers too, like the vampire character Gangrel and the Voodoo priest Papa Shango, but none of those guys ever really grabbed my imagination the way Undertaker and Paul Bearer did.
statistics: Posted by Penny Dreadful — 5:03 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 0 — Views 127