On a Deadman's Chest
This isn't what's meant by letting someone get under your skin.
Crypt Keeper: (dressed as Elvis Presley and playing a guitar, using a severed ear as a pick; singing) Don't be cool. (speaking to the viewers) Greetings, poison girls. Are you ready to rock and roll? Good. Then slip into your gore jacket and prepare to sing along. Can't carry a tomb? That's okay. I'm just playing by ear myself. (snickers) Tonight's terror tune concerns a young headbanger who lets a woman get a little too far under his skin. I call this decomposition: On a Deadman's Chest.
Exorcist is one of the hottest rock groups hitting the music circuit, but despite the band's success, tensions between band members are at an all-time high. To Danny Darwin (Yul Vazquez), the wild, hard-partying, and utterly restraint-free lead singer, the problem is Scarlett (Tia Carrere), who recently married Nick Bosch (Paul Hipp), the band's lead guitarist and songwriter, while on their latest tour, and she has been driving a wedge between the pair, telling Danny that he's bringing Nick down to his level and that Nick is better off applying his talents to either another band or a solo career. Danny is backed up in his beliefs by Vendetta (Sherrie Rose), his chief groupie, who similarly dislikes Scarlett for not being down with her and the other groupies. She decides to calm Danny down by introducing him to Farouche (Heavy D), who has a reputation for creating tattoos of objects and people that get under his customers' skin. To this end, the artist gives Danny a huge tattoo of Scarlett right on his chest. Ultimately, after one crack too many, Danny flies into a rage and brutally murders Scarlett, which causes his tattoo to begin itching furiously and change into a bloody version of her. He tries to get the tattoo removed via laser surgery, but it just won't go away, almost as if it has a mind of its own and is out to torture him for what he did.
Tropes:
- Animated Tattoo: Danny's tattoo changes after he kills Scarlett, showing her as dead and bloodied. The end of the episode even has the dragon depicted on it burst out of Danny's chest and attack him.
- Vendetta got a tattoo from Farouche before the episode began, hers being a snake that flicks an actual tongue.
- Big Bad: Vendetta, who clearly orders Danny around and gives him the idea to get the tattoo, and then orders him to kill Scarlett, in her moments of reckless flippancy.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Vendetta seems to be the reason why Danny hates Scarlett so much, as she's the one who gives Danny the idea to get a tattoo, then gives him the idea to get rid of her. The end of the episode has her turning on him after he beats her, telling Nick that he killed Scarlett by himself.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Danny and Scarlett hate each other with a furious passion, but both of their arguments carry valid points:
- Danny claims that Exorcist is the biggest rock group in the country, and with Nick leaving, their popularity would surely plummet.
- Scarlett argues that Nick is being brought down to Danny's level so long as he's staying his friend, and decides that his talents for the guitar and songwriting would be better off being used for a solo career, or at least another band.
- The Cameo: A good amount of musicians have cameo appearances.
- Gregg Allman plays Toland, the owner of the club where Exorcist performs.
- Rudy Sarzo plays Exorcist's bassist.
- Steve Jones plays Hulk, the band's roadie.
- Chest Burster: The dragon on Danny's tattoo manages to tear itself out of his chest and attack him at the climax of the episode.
- Cold Ham: Vendetta hardly changes her blunt and stoic tone of voice when she talks Danny into killing Scarlett, showing how carelessly, recklessly evil she is.
- Creepy Changing Painting: In Danny's insane eyes, the tattoo of Scarlett on his chest returns after he gets it removed via laser surgery, now showing Scarlett viciously smiling at him. After he kills Scarlett, it changes again, showing her as a dead and bloody corpse.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Scarlett is strangled and beaten to death against everything in her bathroom by Danny.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Farouche got his eye taken out by a salad fork after one of his customers, techno artist Baby Doc, wasn't happy with the tattoo he gave him.
- Establishing Character Moment: Danny makes his burning hatred for Scarlett blatantly clear by introducing her to the audience, insulting her in the process, and telling the hot girls in the crowd that Nick is officially off the market, publicly hoping that Scarlett doesn't pussy-whip him.
- Evil Wears Black: Vendetta is always seen wearing black, showing that she's the true villain of the story.
- Eye Scream: Farouche wears an eye patch to cover his missing eye, which was stabbed with a salad fork by techno musician Baby Doc after he was angry with the tattoo he was given.
- Flaying Alive: Danny manages to finally get rid of the haunted tattoo by using a large glass shard from his broken dressing room mirror to slice off the skin it's painted on.
- Foreshadowing:
- Vendetta's tattoo of a snake flicks a realistic tongue straight out of her skin, hinting at what Danny's tattoo does near the end of the episode.
- Danny glimpses a ceramic dragon in Farouche's tattoo parlor, which later gets painted onto his chest.
- His murder of Scarlett is given brief glimpses as he gets the tattoo.
- For the Evulz: Vendetta persuades Danny to murder Scarlett, partially before she takes Nick away and breaks up the band, and partially for a "What the hell?" moment of flippancy.
- Gilligan Cut: As Vendetta unzips Danny's pants to give him a blowjob, the episode cuts to him after having his tattoo removed.
- Groupie: Danny's groupie, Vendetta, sets the plot in motion by introducing him to Farouche.
- Hate Sink: Scarlett is never portrayed in anything but a negative light as far as Danny is concerned, given that she shits on him, rebukes his friendship with her new husband, and seems to verify his claims that she's breaking up the band. Despite this, her claims about Danny have their own merits.
- The Hedonist: Danny and Vendetta are absolute hedonists, craving nonstop sex, drugs, booze, and hard rock music on a daily basis. The latter is also shown to play Danny like a fiddle, giving him the idea to go to Farouche's place, then giving him the idea to kill Scarlett For the Evulz.
- Homage: Danny's tattoo reappearing and changing its appearance after he kills Scarlett, as well as tormenting him with agonizing itching, clearly borrows a thing or two from The Tell-Tale Heart.
- Hypocrite: Despite the fact that Danny loathes Scarlett for marrying Nick and taking away everything that made him fun, Danny is shown to be firmly wrapped around the little finger of Vendetta, the woman of his life.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Vendetta tells Danny that she and the rest of Exorcist's slutty groupies share his hatred of Scarlett because she treats them like a bunch of sluts.
- Karma Houdini: Vendetta gets away with convincing Danny to kill Scarlett. The worst she gets is a pair of smacks across the face.
- Laughing Mad: Danny ends the episode being driven insane by his ordeal, giggling to his friends about what he did to Scarlett while holding the flayed skin of his chest for them to see, the tattoo having not changed at all.
- Male Frontal Nudity: During his and Vendetta's opening sex scene, a very slight portion of Danny's dick can be seen at the top of the screen. This is very notably the only time in the whole series that male frontal nudity managed to get past the censors.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Did Danny's tattoo really come to life and try to kill him? Or was the whole thing in his head after he killed Scarlett and permanently lost his mind? The episode's ending hints that it's the latter.
- Meaningful Name: Danny's groupie is named Vendetta, and she persuades him to embark on his (largely) one-man crusade against the loathsome Scarlett.
- Musical Episode: It doesn't follow the typical format, but this episode is loaded with musical references. The Crypt Keeper dresses up as famous musicians in both of his framing segments, the episode itself focuses on a hugely popular rock band undergoing a tense situation, and famous musicians appear in various cameos.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Vendetta gets very noticeably turned on by Danny admitting that he followed her advice and killed Scarlett, nearly getting it on with him right then and there.
- No Ending: The episode ends right as Nick finds a Laughing Mad Danny holding the flayed skin from his chest, the tattoo appearing as though it never changed, and admitting that he killed Scarlett twice. How this impacts the band and their friendships with Danny is left up to the viewer, though it's likely that Danny died from blood loss and the rest of Exorcist split up.
- No Indoor Voice: Danny screams over half of his dialogue, cementing him as certifiably insane after years of rock and roll stardom.
- Nothing Is Scarier: How do Farouche's tattoos come to life? What he does to them that allows them to rip themselves out of peoples' skin is ever revealed.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Scarlett gives a huge one to Danny as she throws him out, telling him that Nick can't think of him as the high school rebel he used to worship anymore, and further stating that Nick is taking on the brunt of the band's workload since Danny's usually showing up at sound checks and rehearsals drunk or high, if he even shows up at all.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As Danny insults his new wife in the opening scene, Nick throws down his guitar and walks offstage.
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Danny is the quintessential burnout rock star, with no cares whatsoever, a continuous hunger for drugs, booze, and groupie sex, and a flaming temper combined with an onset of psychopathic tendencies, easily allowing him to be manipulated by his villainous groupie.
- Sex for Services: Vendetta makes Danny sleep with her in exchange for leading him to Farouche's tattoo parlor.
- Scary Musician, Harmless Music: Exorcist's music is largely hard rock and heavy metal, and they play it safe when they're onstage. When offstage, Danny is borderline insane, the years of rock stardom, his toxic relationship with Vendetta, and Nick's own relationship with "that bitch" Scarlett having clearly taken their toll on the guy.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Danny drops several f-bombs during his opening scene alone, and he keeps dropping more and more throughout the episode.
- Shout-Out: The band who orchestrates the plot of the episode is named "Exorcist". Given that the episode is actually directed by the film's director, it's very likely that this was an inside joke.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The end of the episode hints that Danny's ordeal with the dragon, and possibly everything regarding his haunted tattoo, was him going through a severe case of Sanity Slippage.
- Visual Pun: Danny's tattoo of Scarlett truly allows her to get "under his skin". The dragon bursting out of his chest near the end also turns it into a Literal Metaphor.
- We Used to Be Friends: Before Nick got married, he, Danny, Vendetta, and the rest of the band would go out and party all night, every night. Ever since Scarlett entered the picture, Danny and Vendetta think that she took away everything that made Nick a fun guy to hang with, and that she's plotting to break up the band.
- Witch Doctor: Farouche is heavily hinted to be a new-age witch doctor, given the amount of voodoo supplies he has in his tattoo parlor, and the fact that his tattoos can apparently come to life.
- World of Jerkass: Every character in the episode is a jackass at one point or another, given that the majority of them are the feuding members of a burned-out rock group and the toxic women they love.
- Yoko Oh No: Scarlett is a pretty blatant expy of Ono (even resembling her in appearance), given that she married Nick while Exorcist was on tour and has Danny and Vendetta believing that she's trying to break up the band. Their beliefs have some merit when it's revealed that Danny's been crashing at Nick's place and Scarlett wants him to get the hell out.
Crypt Keeper: (dressed as John Lennon, with skeletons dressed as the rest of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band behind him) Well, Nick might have been the group's guitarist, but Danny turned out to be the real ax man. (snickers) Still, you've got to like where the band is going. Any day now they'll be appearing on America's Chop 40! (cackles) So till next time kiddies, me and my gore-age band have got to jam. You know what they say: "You're never too cold to rock 'n roll!" (wails on his guitar)
