Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2009 Track Two - Jackie Mittoo's "Hot Blood"

Welcome back to the Spooktacular! Today's groovin' spooky tune comes to us from the Keyboard King Jackie Mittoo and it's called "Hot Blood" and comes from his 1977 album of the same name released on the Third World label.

Mittoo started his career as one of the founding members of the legendary Skatalites and served as a mentor to many up and coming artists when he served as musical director at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One.

Today Mittoo provides sensational musical accompaniment for the wonderfully melodramatic alarmist trailer to the 1963 low-budget, cult film Blood Feast directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and considered by many to be the first splatter film. Blood Feast is the story of a Fuad Ramses, the deranged Egyptian caterer who takes to brutally murdering people so that he can use their body parts in his cooking and satisfy his desire to offer sacrifices to his goddess Ishtar.

Blood Feast's direction, acting, camerawork, screenplay and even its musical composition were all attacked by critics but future slashers like Jason Vorhees and Michael Meyers had a lot to owe to Fuad Ramses. Maybe if the director had hired Jackie Mittoo to score Blood Feast they could have guaranteed one aspect of the film would have been well received... I know I would've loved it!

I'll be back on Monday with more of the Spooktacular but unlike years before I am attempting to post something non-reggae related on the weekends as well! So cruise on by Saturday and take a look at what I come up with!

Spooktacular Track Two