April Fool's Day is one of my favorite slasher movies from the 80's, and recently I was delighted to finally obtain a copy of this wonderful score, composed by the great Charles Bernstein. Although April Fool's Day may not register very high on the rewatchability meter (not because it's a bad movie, but because of it's twist ending), the soundtrack is capable of creating a frightful atmosphere upon each listen.
Bernstein is best remembered for composing the score to the original Nightmare on Elm Street. With Nightmare Bernstein experimented heavily with synths, creating thick layers of noise over eerie melodies, which could almost be described as industrial on certain tracks. You won't find synths here, and it certainly doesn't sound industrial at any point, but Bernstein doesn't shy away from experimenting with both traditional orchestral and exotic instruments, and the result works much better as a horror score than that of Nightmare. It is very minimalistic in it's approach at times, yet when the slashing begins on film, Bernstein mirrors it with the slashing of strings to create a truly terrifying sound.
This masterful horror score ends on a very silly note with a truly zany bonus track, "Too Bad You're Crazy", by Jerry Whitman. The addition of this track is puzzling to me, but I suppose there must be some reasonable answer as to why it was included. Personally, I prefer to listen to the score without the addition of this song, however I'm sure that some of you will appreciate it's inclusion.
To my knowledge this score is out of print now, and as the years go by it is becoming increasingly rare. For those of you who love horror, or simply enjoy great movie scores, this would make a great addition to your collection.
Track List:
1. Intro
2. Main Title
3. Choke And Dagger
4. Pier Pressure
5. All´s Well That Ends
6. Snakes Alive
7. Stab In The Dark
8. Hanging Around
9. The House
10. Trick Or Threat
11. Nan In Danger
12. Nightwatch
13. Sitting Duck
14. Night
15. Getting The Point
16. Little Miss Muffy
17. Muffy Attack
18. First Victim
19. Hack-In-The-Box
20. Too Bad You're Crazy (Bonus Track)
Download: Charles Bernstein - April Fool's Day OST
Download Size: 45MB
3 comments:
http://easydreamer.blogspot.com/2008/10/digital-meltd0wn.html
I love the movie (I watch it at least once a year) and the soundtrack is a classic!
The inclusion of "Too Bad You're Crazy" was great! It was the music going along to the end titles after the movie was over. I love playing it to my friends...ater all they're all loony as hell. :)
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