If you’re a TikTok enthusiast, you probably know a couple of songs by M and the D, whether or not you know you know it. My daughter introduced me to them, and I was hooked. They aren’t a horror-themed band in any sense of the word, but I’ve seen all of their videos, and a handful of them struck me as horror-ish in some way, and since I am unable to stop listening to or shut up about them (the song “I Am Not a Robot” got me through many a shift when I was packing boxes in a warehouse), I had to share.
5.) “Venus Fly Trap”
Marina makes a statement about defying popular conventions in Hollywood and the music industry by parodying various kinds of movie tropes, including a “Horror Flick Chick” pursued by a monster in a cheap rubber suit.
4.) “Power and Control”
A woman vies for dominance in a steadily more unhealthy relationship with her threatening partner. The background music is unsettling and there’s some eerie tricks with lighting; there’s a sense of tension and menace throughout, like something violent is just around the corner. Plus he throws a tennis ball against the wall, it’s very The Shining.
3.) “Mowgli’s Road”
The video opens with her hooting “Cuckoo!” and stamping the crepe paper flippers that have replaced her legs. She does this absolutely unsettling backwards scoot and then there are two backup dancers with the same paper legs. Cut to her having flesh and blood legs but disconcertingly long paper arms. Cut to her having normal arms and legs but an accordion-like paper torso that allows her to leap offscreen. Not to mention Marina’s distorted voice singing, “We scooped our way into your dreams.” Whaaa?
2.) “Shampain”
A jaded socialite and her hungover buddies recreate the undead dance scene in “Thriller”, making a neat statement about figurative zombieism.
1.) “Su-Barbie-A”
The title is a portmanteau of Barbie and suburbia. A housewife who may or may not have a face stands in the shadows while creepy Barbie commercial soundbites play in the background. The camera pans slowly and jerkily away from her, and then back to her, which is not a relief. It’s very reminiscent of the closing scene of a horror movie that’s seconds away from a freeze frame of something awful. “The Stepfords!” someone shouts.
Okay, bonus video. I don’t care who you are, you need “I Am Not a Robot” in your life:
GhoulieJoe 
These videos are cool! Especially the one with the paper body parts. I’ll show my daughter. I can’t do Tiktok. Everything is so… busy. The videos are 2 videos at once with somebody greenscreened ontop, plus tons of text and AI voices. As for the “Stepford” soundbite in “Su-Barbie-A, is that not Christopher Walken making a toast?
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I also do not TikTok. I cannot stand the AI voices, especially when they’re monotoning about how I’ll never guess what happens next. You’re probably right about the Stepford soundbite. I’m glad you liked the videos! I recommend most of Marina’s videos, even the other not creepy at all ones. Though the video for “How to Be a Heartbreaker” video has a split-second shot of her holding a dude’s severed head on a platter. It reminds me of that time I took art history classes and discussed paintings like Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Judith Slaying Holofernes” and Klimt’s “Salome”.
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