Soundtrack Review: Cold Skin

Cold Skin (2017)
Released by Quartet Records (2017)
14 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 37 min.
Music Composed by Víctor Reyes

We stumbled across this movie while scrolling through Netflix one night. It sounded interesting so I gave it a try. I wasn’t expecting a well made film with a little bit of a Lovecraftian feel to it. But then a few months later and I discover that there was a soundtrack actually released for this! Of course, I immediately ordered my copy. The more I looked into the career of composer Víctor Reyes, the more I realized that I had already heard some of his previous work. In fact, quite a few. Such as Buried (2010), Grand Piano (2013), and even the more recent Down a Dark Hall (2018). But let’s get to the review of this little beauty.

Soundtrack Review: House of Usher

House of Usher
Released by Intrada
15 tracks with a total running time of 1:02:39 min.
Music composed and conducted by Les Baxter

Les Baxter has made so many great scores to so many great movies, it really hard to comprehend. Just look at all the work he did for Roger Corman and AIP alone, not to mention all the other genre titles he scored, and see that it is very impressive. There were quite a few Italian pictures that AIP acquired for US distribution that Baxter was hired to re-score. So if you’re a fan of AIP and Corman’s work, then you’ve heard his work… several times I would guess.

Soundtrack Review: Crawlspace

Crawlspace
Released by Intrada
16 Tracks with a total running time of 35:54 min.
Music by Pino Donaggio

This movie has been a favorite of mine ever since my first viewing, being just blown away not only by Kinski’s underplayed psychotic performance (at least on the screen), but also the pretty deep terror that is hidden underneath the layers. So when we got this soundtrack and started to play it, images from the film immediately came to mind. Donaggio created such a unique but very familiar sound with the “Main Title” theme, mainly with the use of the keyboard. But what really makes an impact with the score is the opening track, “Falling From Grace With The World”, which comes into play several times throughout the score. Pretty haunting, really.

Soundtrack Review: The Devil Rides Out

The Devil Rides Out
Released in 2000 by GDI Records
28 tracks with a total running time of 1:01:26 minutes
Music composed by James Bernard

Any fan of Hammer films should know the name of James Bernard. If not, start taking notes. Bernard was one of the main guys responsible for making Hammer films sound like they did. He created the music that surrounded the incredible colorful images that we were watching. Probably his most famous score was that of Horror of Dracula (just Dracula in the UK) where he would use the name of the film to create the main theme. The music is one of the things that let audiences know they were watching a Hammer film.

Soundtrack Review: Absurd

Absurd aka Rosso Sangue (1981)
Released by Severin Films, 2018
Music by Carlo Maria Cordio
23 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 69 min.

The movie this score is from has been called more than a few names in its history, from Monster Hunte, Anthropophagus II, to Horrible, to the title it has been recently released here in the states under, simply Absurd. The original title of the film is Rosso Sangue and was directed by the one and only Joe D’Amato, with George Eastman in the lead role, as well as writing the film. Plenty of gore and a nonsensical plot, it is a fun ride for those fans of European cult cinema. But this soundtrack, by Carlo Maria Cordio is way better than it has any right to be, especially when it is for a film like Absurd! If fact, if you are a fan of Goblin then you will pretty much enjoy this score since Cordio follows the same musical path. Call it ripping off, homage, paying tribute, or whatever you want to, but it is still a great score.

The Sentinel Soundtrack Released

Never before available (officially, that is) in any format, Gil Mellé’s score for the 1977 Michael Winner film The Sentinel is finally getting a release, all thanks to La-La Land Records and Universal Studios, in their latest title in their Universal Pictures Film Music Heritage Collection. This release will have the complete score, which is 56:27 minutes, with an additional 16:33 minutes of bonus and musical effects cues. Jeff Bond and James Phillips wrote the exclusive and in-depth liner notes.

Limited to only 3000 units, you may want to order yours now to make sure you get a copy. I know I just did. And while you’re at La-La Land Records site (by clicking HERE), check out their other discs, because I found quite a few great titles at some really good prices!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula 3-CD Special Edition

This really must be the year for special edition soundtracks for Dracula films. Recently Varèse Sarabande had released a 2-CD special edition set of John Williams’ score for the 1979 version of Dracula, which we promptly pre-ordered the minute we heard that news since that has always been a favorite score of mine. And now, thanks to the fine folks at La-La Land Records, they will be releasing a 3-CD set for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), giving us fans almost 3 1/2 hours of this incredible music from Wojciech Kilar.