Michael J. Lewis - Theatre Of Blood: Original Score (Official Promo Release) (1973 - 192kbps)

Although "Theatre Of Blood" happens to be a campy horror-comedy, this score happens to be one of my favorites from a horror film of any type. The composer, Michael J. Lewis, released his complete original score as a promotional release in 1973. I couldn't find any information regarding the number of physical copies he produced, but needless to say the promotional vinyl release this rip originates from is extremely rare. La La Land recently released a remastered version of the score on CD, with the slightly altered title of "Theater of Blood". While the sound quality of the La La Land release is undoubtedly superior to that of this rip, I still find this version to be superior, if only for one reason. The promo release contains each cue as an individual track, with 24 total tracks, while the La La Land version combines several of the cues, and amounts to only 25 tracks. In my opinion they made some poor decisions with their choice of combinations also, which detracts from the mood Lewis managed to establish on each of the individual tracks.

Theatre of Blood sees the legendary Vincent Price in the role of Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart, a psychopathic Shakespearean actor who fakes his own suicide in order to take revenge on the critics who snubbed him. Price's character manipulates his targets into unwittingly playing the role of various victims that appear in each of his performances of Shakespeare's plays. He then proceeds to dispatch them in an inventive yet extremely brutal manner. Theatre of Blood was considered one of the goriest horror-comedies of its era, and remains considerably gory even by today's standards. This may be the campiest film Price ever starred in. He even sports an afro at one point in the film. Price has often claimed the film to be his favorite though, as it gave him the opportunity to recite famous Shakespearean lines. Due to his reputation as an actor who devoted his career to horror films, he was never seriously considered for a role in any adaption of Shakespeare's work.

I should point out that many of the tracks contained on this release aren't exactly in the spirit of our ongoing Nightmare Before Christmas event. As with the film, much of the music heard on Lewis' score isn't strictly rooted in horror, as Lewis captures a diverse range of moods throughout his score, which frequently changes in tone as a result. Lewis captures the spirit of adventure with a few tracks, particularly "The Trojan Trail", which features a distinct military beat. He also shows a more romantic side on "Master of the Killing Phrase" and "Cymbeline" and "Edwina's Theme", all of which are beautiful tracks, dominated by sweeping strings, and highlighted by beautiful piano melodies. As the title alludes to, "Where Are My Doggy Woggies" has a comedic feel to it, and actually sounds downright downright goofy at the onset, before gradually transitioning to its suspenseful conclusion. I'm sure that some of you are thinking, why I is he posting this when so many of the tracks stand in sharp contrast to the ongoing dark theme? The answer to this is: because the remaining tracks are deliciously dark enough to warrant their inclusion in our Nightmare Before Christmas event. While they may not even make up the majority of the tracks which comprise this score, I believe they are strong enough to dominate the overall mood of the album, almost reducing the contrasting themes they share the album with to an afterthought.

Year of Release: 1973
Label: N/A (Promotional Release)
Catalog #: CD 156-192
Original Format: Vinyl
Digital Format: MP3
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Main Theme
2. Ides Of March
3. Oh Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece Of Earth
4. Friends, Romans, Countrymen
5. The Dragon Wing Of Night
6. The Trojan Trail
7. Master Of The Killing Phrase
8. Fear No More The Heat Of The Sun
9. Cymbeline
10. Sexy Lips & Swinging Hips
11. A Pound Of Flesh
12. To Be Or Not To Be
13. Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent
14. Here Clarence Comes
15. Drown In A Butt Of Wine
16. Partita Of Blood
17. Alive In Triumph
18. Fugato
19. I'm So Glad You've Come
20. Flame With Ash Highlights
21. Edwina's Theme
22. Where Are My Doggy Woggies
23. Come Fire, Consume This Pretty World
24. He Did Know How To Make An Exit

Download: Michael J. Lewis - Theatre of Blood: Original Motion Picture Score (Official Promo Release)
Download Size: 73MB

Carles Cases - H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon (Promo Score) (2001 - 320kbps)

"I have looked upon all that the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and the flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me."

- H.P. Lovecraft

With 26 days left till "Halloween Countdown 2010" comes to an end, there are still plenty of days left for me to deliver more madness and mayhem to you all. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and I love having an excuse to celebrate it all month long. In fact, I've been seriously considering having another countdown in December. Since Christmas happens to be my least favorite holiday, I thought that I could go with a sort of "Nightmare Before Christmas" countdown, and post all of the items that I didn't have time to post for the Halloween Countdown. I'm not so sure if I want to use the name "Nightmare Before Christmas Countdown" for obvious reasons, even though it would fit with the idea perfectly. However, I am certain that I would definitely be interested in following through with this if enough people wanted to see it. I know many people enjoy this blog due to the eclectic selection I provide whenever we aren't participating in a special event like Halloween Countdown, so I don't want to burn you out on horror-themed posts.

As I promised in an earlier post, I have something special for all the H.P. Lovecraft fans out there, making this the 11th such post dedicated to Lovecraft. I present to you Carles Cases promo score for Dagon, yet another Stuart Gordon film devoted to the work of Lovecraft. Dagon happens to be one of the very few films based on Lovecraft's work that I remember enjoying a great deal, although it has been years since I have had a chance to watch it, so I hope that it is as good as I remembered it being. I'm amazed at the number of films that have been absolutely terrible and cheesy. It's no wonder that Lovecraft wasn't a big fan of the film medium, and he would have no doubt been absolutely disgusted with some of the horrible adaptations of his work. During his lifetime he was adament about refusing to have his stories adapted to film, stating that the medium was incapable of portraying the sheer terror and insanity injected into a person's mind and soul when they witnessed the blasphemous perversions of nature, which played such an important role in Lovecraft's tales of cosmic-horror. While I wouldn't come close to placing Dagon at the top of my list of favorite movies, it easily ranks as one of the finest films dedicated to Lovecraft's visions.

I found Carles Cases' score to be surprisingly original upon first listening to it. While it managed to avoid many of the cliches that plague your average horror movie score, it still manages to deliver an overall feeling of dread and impending doom. One of the most striking aspects of Cases' score is the liberal use of Gregorian chants thoughtout, although perhaps Lovecraftian chants would be more appropriate in this case. They instill a sense of awe in the listener and give one the feeling that something epic is taking place. A wide variety of traditional instruments are used throughout the score, although sometimes they are used in such a subtle and intelligent manner during the calmer movements of the score that you need to listen closely to distinguish them. They drift in and out as they please, lightly complimenting the underlying textured soundscape, and serve to reinforce the feeling that the listener has entered a world that is both magical and terrifying.

This is far from a subdued score though, and when the same instruments do come to the forefront, they erupt in a very forceful manner. Blasting brass announces the arrival of some terrible presence. The string section emits violent screeching sounds with the stabbing of their bows. The percussion section pounds out tribal rhythms in a juggernaut-like fashion. Cases also does an amazing job of mixing both mechanical and organic sounding noises, blending the traditional instrumentation and chants mentioned above with some of the most foreboding sounds contained in the score. A deep bass-filled "groan" often interjects, and reminds me of a sound that one might here in some nightmarish boiler room. Deep thunderous "booms" startle the listener, demanding their attention.

Somehow Cases was able to seamlessly stitch together all the elements mentioned above, and managed to create an amazingly effective score. At the forefront it has a very uplifting tribal feel to it, supported by a foreboding textured and industrial soundscape that serves as the foundation. I think this score may have a little something for everyone, and I will certainly be keeping an eye on the talented Carles Cases in the future. I would love to hear your opinions of this score, so it you have the time, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

You can find my other posts dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft here

Year of Release: 2001
Label: NA / Promo Release
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Horror, Science Fiction
Bitrate: 320kbps

Tracklist:
1. Main Title
2. Isla de la Muerte
3. Only Sounds Over Miles
4. At the Hotel
5. Ezequiel's Story
6. Die For Dagon
7. Javier Home
8. Preparing the Sacrifice
9. Dagon Rises
10. Final-Credits

Download: Carles Cases - H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon (Promo Score)
Download Size: 78MB