It's really too bad that Halloween has come and gone, because Taylor Swift in her music video for "Blank Space" would have made the perfect costume. Her red lipstick, mascara-soaked face and crazy eyes are the perfect combination of stylish and scary.
If you made it through Swift's four-minute video when it was leaked on Nov. 10, you know what I'm talking about. The Joseph Kahn-directed spot plays like a mini-movie set in a beautiful but isolated mansion. The story goes like this: Boy and girl are in love. Boy neglects girl, probably by constantly ignoring her for his smartphone. Girl gets upset and gets even by destroying his portraits, stabbing a cake and demolishing his sports car with a golf club. Girl meets new boy to terrorize.
You got all that? This was the most provocative video we've seen from Swift yet. As you can tell from my brief description, things get wild during the video as Swift assumes the role of "crazy ex-girlfriend." Accordingly, many people, myself included, drew comparisons between this video and David Fincher's recent film adaptation of Gone Girl, which is an extremely dark, tense thriller.
That's why I was so thankful to see Ellie Skrzat over at Slate give Swift's "Blank Space" video the horror movie treatment it deserves. Remove all of the music from the video, and you've got yourself a bona fide psychological thriller on your hands.
All of the makings of a horror movie are basically there for us in the original "Blank Space" video, anyway. You've got your remote mansion, the eyes and grin of a psycho, fire, blood, pointy objects everywhere and a weird scene involving an apple. "Blank Space" was nightmare inducing enough. Sit down and watch a full-length "Blank Space" film, and you will most definitely be scarred for life.
Image: TaylorSwiftVEVO / YouTube
