My Horror Anatomy: Sara Mae of The Noisy immerses in terrifying static -

Welcome to My Horror Anatomy, a terrifying series in which artists and creators dissect their five most influential horror films.

Static oozes from the speakers, and you get the unsettling sense that there’s a darkness creeping up on you. That’s the experience of listening to The Noisy‘s new song “Twos.” Sara Mae’s voice slithers like a black mamba through dusty terrain. It’s moments before the venomous strike, as they sidewind and unleash a toxic elixir.

“You come in twos / I came for you in twos,” they sing, pushing the microphone against their teeth. “Then telephoned the other one / Two glasses of sweating white.” Guitars wobble in time with the frenetic drum kit that feels like an off-kilter heartbeat. Something wicked this way comes – as the song stumbles and lurches forward directly into the eardrums.

Sara Mae wrote “Twos” like a pop song, but “wanted the production to bend towards Mannequin Pussy with sludgy guitars and twinkly keys. The music video literalizes the too much-ness of the story, Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Grey Gardens meets two dates to the prom.”

“Two” samples the forthcoming release of The Noisy’s deluxe edition of their debut LP, The Secret Ingredient is Even More Meat. In support of the project, Sara Mae walks us through the five defining horror movies that have impacted their lives and work.

Wait Until Dark (1967)

When I was much younger and still hadn’t dyed or buzzed my hair, I often got the compliment that I looked like Audrey Hepburn. My grandmother had shown me her movies when I stayed over, first How to Steal a Million, Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I loved Audrey Hpeburn and knew in my bones she was the best of the Hollywood starlets. I found Wait Until Dark on my own, and it was my real entrance into horror. I can see how this movie would translate well to the stage, given that it’s entirely in one setting. One of the greatest jumpscares in cinema. I also think it’s relatively later in Hepburn’s career, a really serious and different role for her, and it makes me think about the risks you can take in your art once you trust yourself a little more. I love what you can do in a limited scene, which makes me think of a Carmen Maria Machado lecture about stories that stand still. It allows for new plot shapes, and a deepening of characters.

Suspiria (1977)

I love my diva Mia Goth but the adaptation was like, ‘Oh, we hate color and beautiful patterns, actually. Oh actually, we just want stark beige and red.’ Meanwhile, Dario Argento was making beautiful taxi lights and street signs refract off the rainy window in the opening scene, filming in rooms with intricate wallpaper, twinkly tiled floors, inventing bisexual lighting. I was thinking about this movie obsessively going into filming my music video for “Ballerino”, which was primarily in the now-defunct Columbus Theatre in Providence, and also a little bit in the location scouting for our more recent “Twos” music video, and lucking out with a church that had a circular snowflake pattern. I feel like I’ll always be chasing that interior decorating in the visual world of my music.

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Hard not to feel influenced by this movie that plays with monster-of-the-week conceits, talks about gender dysphoria literally and metaphorically, and features a soundtrack from many of my favorite musicians of all time. When the “Hop Along” song played in the credits, I was absolutely still and weeping. So much to love about this movie. It deeply disturbed and unsettled me. It immediately meant so much to me, having seen it with my partner and my very best friend, all of us in matching baseball caps, all of us with our queer feelings. I was very upset by the monologue about burial (no spoilers.) I will forever be yearning to have Jack Haven’s haircut that was sort of skunky bleached highlights?

Pearl (2022)

I went and saw this with my best friend Josie, and she and I walked out afterwards laughing, and Josie said, “Pearl had a point.” From the stolen red dress to Pearl’s relentless need to be desired, I relate! And many of my characters in my fiction, my speakers in my poetry, my stories in my songs were able to access a monstrous voice because they were given permission by this unhinged character. People love to talk about Timothee Chalamet crying at the end of Call Me By Your Name, but not enough people talk about Mia Goth grinning at the end of this movie.

Female Trouble (1974)

If you don’t think this is a horror movie, then, honey, you’re straight! The famous scene of the cha cha heels, Mink Stole playing a character named Taffy, Divine delivering an acceptance speech before getting the electric chair. I saw John Waters give a talk recently, and I was moved by how much he was talking about civility. In this era where democrats are scared of changing candidates and Civility is God in the workplace, I love how much he talked about how his success made it seem like his work was all civility. When you go back, it literally hurts your stomach to watch. I remember seeing Pink Flamingos for the first time as someone that grew up just outside of Baltimore and thinking, ‘That was unpleasant.’ It is continually important for me to remind myself that I am not here to follow rules about what art should and shouldn’t be, but bring into the light complicated narratives and characters, who make us laugh and squirm, who make us, above all else, deeply uncomfortable.

Honorable mentions: The Wicker Man (1973), The Birds, Knife+Heart