Cults Become Deadly Charming Characters in Surrealist Comedy Music Video ‘Onions'
How do you like your Onion soup? In this new music video for Cults, "Onions" Alice Fassi plays with surrealist comedy, death irony and joyful strangeness. In an ‘80s country house, an average housewife is not the sweet homemaker she seems. Under Alice's vision, Madeline & Brian - Cults members - become two very peculiar and deadly charming characters.
Alice Fassi opened up about the project, stating, “When I first got the brief for the "Onions" music video, I felt like I’d been waiting for something like this forever. Spooky horror with a touch of irony and absurd? That’s my kind of thing! Then I listened to the song, and it all clicked—the cheerful vibe was just a mask for something much darker. One thing was for sure, "Onions" wasn’t about a cooking recipe. It was a metaphor of life troubles, something deeper. Like the angelic voice of a mermaid luring you to your darkest death.”
“I wanted to play with that contrast—what you expect versus what you actually see. That’s how I came up with Madeline, the sweet housewife making her special onion soup, only to reveal she’s actually a psycho killer. And then there’s poor Brian, in a semi-comatose state, likely drugged by one of Madeline’s brews—though, of course, he doesn’t remember a thing.”
“Working with Madeline and Brian was an absolute blast. They entered the roles so easily, I was amazed—it felt like we had hired professional actors specifically for this shoot. Now I’m sure I’d never want to run into Madeline in the middle of the night with that creepy smile or Brian nonchalantly crunching his fingernail again. That one was so gross, my editor couldn’t even watch it all the way through! Brian had such a rich background in film, and I was relieved that both of them were totally down for every wild idea I threw at them. It was truly perfect match and I’m so happy they trusted me. Also, everyone of the team and production poured their heart into it and my DOP support made all the difference in the final result. I couldn’t have brought this vision to life without any single them.”
