ROX-TV Video and Song Review for the latest drop from Insane Clown Posse: “Wretched”

Welcome back to the ROX-TV website to the returning readers. We are always happy to have you in the mix and the door is open to anyone who wants to be here. Tonight we are going to reviewing a new song and video drop from Insane Clown Posse. Anyone familiar with ROX-TV will know that we are fans of ICP and always look forward to new content from them. Normally, I only do a few different things here at the website.

One of them is actual “reviews” and the other is typically “interviews”. There is a difference there and I will explain what that is. For interviews, we generally are introducing the readers to an artist, poet, director, etc. We are more focused on who they are, what they are up to, and where they are going. With “reviews” though, I am actually rating the movie, song, video, etc…and also adding a little bit about how the particular thing affects me. If it’s a song, I will talk about the feelings they invoke in me, this is generally true for movies and videos as well. I might talk about the vibe of the project and offer my own opinion on what I’m ingesting. So with that out of the way, lets move on to the review.

Insane Clown Posse

Video for “Wretched”

Premiered October 22nd, 2021

Video Presentation: Run time 4 minutes 6 seconds. Director Christopher Heary

The opening dialogue really sets the tone for the video. The Albert Fish cameo is actually creepy and surprisingly realistic. Whatever technology they used for this affect is pretty fucking spooky, because if you were only half paying attention, you might actually think Albert was still around and available for video appearances. This is obviously not the case considering Albert Fish was born May 19, 1870 and died January 16th, 1936.

By all known accounts Albert was a fucked up cat, who dabbled in lots of criminally insane shit. He is known to have three confirmed victims, between 1924 and June of 1928. With another five suspected victims between 1926 and 1932. His crimes were so depraved that I don’t much feel like explaining them, but he did some horrific…unspeakable shit, that no doubt brought him a first class ride to burn in Hell. Upon his capture and trial, Albert Fish was sentenced to death. He arrived at Sing Sing prison in March of 1935 and was executed January 16th, 1936 in the electric chair at Sing Sing. Oh yeah, he had stuck over two dozen pins in his body for kicks.

A dreaded looking building called “Bedlam Manor Home for the Wretched” comes into focus and you can start to understand that it houses all the most Wretched MFERS criminal history has to offer. A wacked out Al Capone is next for the visual eye, and it’s a mug shot from 1939.

It was taken on January 7th, 1939 the day after he was released from the famous federal prison Alcatraz (which was located on Alcatraz Island, about a mile or so from San Francisco). Sentenced to Alcatraz in August of 1934, he was there almost two years before a fellow inmate tried to kill him in the laundry room. Al Capone suffered from Syphilis and it slowly ate away at his brain function.

Al would spend almost the rest of the year locked up for a contempt of court charge, and by November of 1939 was paroled. His wife had filed an appeal based on his mental state and the court agreed. Al Capone needs no introduction, having run the “Outfit” in Chicago.

Although never convicted of killing anyone, it has been estimated that he could have killed as few as ten people, with other speculations ranging into the hundreds, either by his own hands or ordered. But no one knows for sure. Capone died on January 25th, 1947.

Next up on this ride is Madeleine Gagnon, who is featured in the video, with her mug shot from an arrest on August 7th, 1942. She was believed to have been involved in prostitution, back when Montreal was deemed “Vice Central”. A few more images pass, before I recognize a familiar face….none other than serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

The mug shot in the video is from an arrest in August of 1982, when Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Jeff received a $50 dollar fine and was convicted. He had already killed his first victim by then, who was Steven Hicks (1978 June). Jeffrey would not kill again until 1987, nine years since the first murder, although he was arrested for disorderly conduct in 1986 under questionable behavior that he described at just “urinating”. Dahmer recieved a year of probation and was ordered to get into counseling.

He would somehow escape serious consequence for molestation (September 1988, receiving a week in jail before bonding out and eventually sentenced to one year in jail, although he was permitted work release to keep his job at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory). Dahmer was released two months early from jail and killed again in May of 1990. In 1991, Dahmer tried to perform a street lobotomy on one of his victims, then leaving the residence for a while, Dahmer returned to find the victim with his neighbors who had called police.

The cops didn’t arrest Dahmer, who claimed the victim was a lover who was drunk…the police left the victim in Dahmer’s care and he killed the young man when the cops left. In a twist of irony, the victim was the younger brother of his molestation victim from 1988, although Dahmer claimed not to have any knowledge of the connection at the time. On July 22nd, 1991 Dahmer’s terror train was finally derailed when he botched a kidnapping. Police arrived at his residence and eventually located four severed heads in the kitchen, two hearts in the fridge, seven heads in the bedroom, a torso in the freezer, and other various body parts scattered around the place.

The video features some scary looking dolls, with one that talks and is indeed creepy. Another serial killer pops up on the screen, none other than Richard Speck, who in July of 1966 killed eight student nurses in a dorm style home in Chicago. Prior to leaving his home state of Texas, Richard had been arrested forty one times. He was sentenced to death on April 15th, 1967. His life was spared when his death sentence was commuted to eight consecutive life terms. He eventually died of a heart attack in December of 1991.

After a few more frames a German Bisque Clown Doll (Porcelain ceramic, hand painted) pops up on the screen and starts singing. The effect is unsettling and certainly looks like it belongs at the Bedlam Home for the Wretched.

After the clown doll, is the unforgettable mug of Charlie Manson. The picture is from December 9th, 1969 after indictments came down for Charlie, Tex Watson, and other members of the “family”. A year or so earlier, Charlie and his followers had been living with Dennis Wilson, drummer of the Beach Boys, during 1968.

Charlie was fucking nuts but managed to manipulate and drug his followers, to the point that they would do whatever he asked.

In January of 1971, Manson and the others were convicted and sentenced to death.

Unfortunately California abolished the death penalty the following year, allowing Charlie to stay alive until 2017, when he died at the age of 83. Another mug shot of a woman pops up, but I couldn’t identify her though (from New Castle, Pennsylvania unknown date, or story behind it if there was one).

Summary on presentation:

This video is jam packed with interesting visuals all along the way. I really dig the historical elements of the video even if most of the features are some of history’s worst bad apples. The song is called “Wretched” for a reason and these people are some of the wickedest souls to walk in organic bodies. There is a lot to take in with this video, but the concept is dope and the delivery is sharp and unique.

I’ve never seen still frames used in such a way, and believe that the work of the video director Christopher Heary did an amazing job with the camera. Albert Fish literally appears to be a living breathing guy, and the other “interactive” people in the video are down right spook city, which is probably what the aim was. I said it once, but I’ve never seen a video done quite like this. I guess we are entering an age where just about anything is possible, even re-animating killers who walked the earth going back some 84 years or so.

I dig the song as well and I’m not just saying that. This track has a definite wicked cloud floating through the landscape, but it’s right on the money. Violent J even mentions my favorite drug, nitrous oxide in the lyrics. I can’t say that I didn’t dig it. Besides the killer pictures moving and talking like they were alive, the fucking dolls added a whole other level of creepiness. The clown doll was the type of thing that would make you shit your pants if you found it walking around your bedroom. The other doll had a similar affect. These are not things you want to see at midnight near the foot of your bed….ever.

End Game:

The video and song are dope.

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Head Writer

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