Eternity Chaos' Artistic Inspirations

One of the newer Haunted Mound affiliates, director and editor Eternity Chaos, has taken the group's videos and overall aesthetic to exciting new visual places. This mysterious director, who is Ghost Mountain's longtime friend as well as rumored partner, has proven they have a strong grasp on a unique visual style that fits perfectly within the weird, etemally autumn, Haunted Mound universe.

By looking at their Tumblr as well as the name Eternity Chaos itself, we can get better understanding of some of the possible inspirations behind music videos like: "Apollon," "Dark Harvest," "Stalks," and more.

Julien Donkey-Boy (1999): The name "Eterity Chaos" comes from a scene in Julien Donkey-Boy, a film by Harmony Korine. In this scene, Julien, a young schizophrenic man, is reciting a"poem" he wrote.

In the poem he repeats, "midnight chaos, eternity chaos" over and over again. His father, played by legendary German director Werner Herzog, hates it and calls it "artsy fartsy," while his sister Pearl, played by Chloë Sevigny, defends the poem.

This Dogme 95-certified film is one of my personal favorites and its handheld, DigiCam look resembles some of the shots in the video for EC and GM's single, "DIE4U." Sematary also sampled a scene from this movie in "God's Light Burns Upon My Flesh."

Out of the Blue (1980): As of July 30, the most recent post on Eternity Chaos' Tumblr account is a frame of Dennis Hopper in Out of the Blue, an independent film he also directed. This movie is a cult classic that went largely unseen for a long time but has experienced a revival in recent years.

Out of the Blue is a tale of broken homes, teenage delinquency, trauma and tragedy. Many of the film's rural Vancouver backroads and scrapyard locations look like perfect backgrounds for a Haunted Mound music video. This film is great and Dennis Hopper always gives a spectacular performance but it is far from an easy watch.

Trainspotting (1996): A year ago on their Tumblr, EC reblogged a frame from another bleak, cult-classic film: Danny Boyle's Trainspotting.

This scene is one of its most infamous as it shows our protagonist, Renton, crawl into an absurdly disgusting toilet to retrieve a heroin suppository that he just shit out. Upon falling into the toilet, we see him swimming around in the depths of some kind of ocean.

This movie is full of similar surreal imagery to portray the physical and psychological lengths an addict will go not only for their fix but to withdraw as well. Although hard to see a direct visual connection between this film and an EC video, the film is full of superbly-directed, haunting moments that surely inspire HM members. It isn't always about how a film looks, it's about how it makes you feel.

These are just a few of the films of which Eternity Chaos is definitely a fan. Over the years, their Tumblr page has also posted images from 28 Days Later (2002), Elephant (2003), Heaven Knows What (2014), and Gummo (1997) - all of which are also bleak, independent/low budget, visually-rich films.

Some say the account used to belong to Ghost Mountain but I cannot confirm this. Haunted Mound and its members/affiliates are known for referencing films and frequently citing them as inspirations.

Eternity Chaos and their taste seem like a great fit for the group and its aesthetic. Haunted Mound's visuals are in good hands.