how to hack off body parts with a horror soundtrack

Just stumbled upon this wondrous mix of retro horror film music from Mike Butcherfinger.

Tracklist:

1. Herschell Gordon Lewis – Official Warning

2. Herman Stein – Introduction (Tarantula)

3. Pino Donaggio – Main Title (Carrie)

4. Lalo Schifrin – Amityville Love Scene (The Amityville Horror)

5. Carlo Maria Cordio – The Last Game (Absurd)

6. Carlo Maria Cordio – Darkside (The Bite Of Fear)

7. Stelvio Cipriani – Piano Diabolico (Rabid Dogs, Mario Bava, 1974)

8. Basil Rathbone – Alone (Edgar Allan Poe Collection)

9. Don Davis – Dana And Christopher (The Beast)

10. Jerry Goldsmith – The Visitor (Poltergeist II: The Other Side)

11. Tim Krog – Nightmare (Boogeyman)

12. David Storrs – Invaders From Mars (Invaders From Mars, 1986)

13. Herschell Gordon Lewis – Gruesome Twosome Radio Spot

14. Nico Fidenco – Porno Holocaust Seq. 4 (Porno Holocaust, Joe D'Amato Joe, 1981)

15. Rick Wakeman – Doin' It (The Burning)

16. Giorgio Moroder – Night Rabbit (Cat People)

17. Michael Hoenig – Main Title (The Blob, 1988)

18. Jay Chattaway – Stella and the Beast (Silver Bullet)

19. Fabio Frizzi – Verso L'Ignoto (The Beyond)

20. Budy-Maglione – Rudy And Gloria Get Screwed (Cannibal Ferox)

21. Goblin – Tenebre (Tenebre)

22. The Stuff Trailer (1985)

23. Stelvio Cipriani – Un Cadavere Nel Lago (Twitch of the Death Nerve, Bava, 1971)

24. Fabio Frizzi – Face the sea of Darkness (The Beyond)

25. Carlo Maria Cordio – Magnetic Field (Absurd)

26. Budy-Maglione – Jaywalkin' Iguana (Cannibal Ferox)

27. Basil Rathbone – The Raven (Edgar Allen Poe Collection)

28. J. Peter Robinson – Boils/Spiders (The Believers, 1987)

29. Brad Fiedel – Spying (Fright Night)

30. Carlo Maria Cordio – Killing Time (Absurd)

31. Fabio Frizzi – Suoni Dissonanti (City Of The Living Dead)

32. Hermann Kopp – Supper (Nekromantik)

33. Rick Wakeman – The Fire (The Burning)

34. John Carpenter – Prologue from The Fog (The Fog)

35. John Carpenter – Ghost Story (The Fog)

36. John Carpenter – Seagrass Attack (The Fog)

37. Lalo Schifrin – Screams (The Amityville Horror)

38. Carlo Maria Cordio – Transformation 1 (The Bite Of Fear)

39. Michael Kamen – School Days (The Dead Zone)

40. Jay Chattaway – A Little Knife Music (Maniac)

41. Fabio Frizzi – Falling for Emily (The Beyond)

42. Stelvio Cipriani – Una Città deserta (Nightmare City, Umberto Lenzi 1980)

43. Jay Chattaway – Inner Voices (Maniac)

44. J. Peter Robinson – The Exorcism (The Believers)

45. Modern Man – The Dead Walk (Day of the Dead)

46. Harry Sukman – Straker's Place (Salem's Lot)

47. Dana Kaproff – Cool Ants (Empire Of The Ants)

48. Stelvio Cipriani – Ecologia Del Delitto (Twitch of the Death Nerve)

49. Stelvio Cipriani – L'Attesa (Nightmare City, Umberto Lenzi 1980)

50. Franco Micalizzi – The Curse (The Curse)

51. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – This Is Not A Dream (Prince of Darkness)

52. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – Cross Bar (Prince of Darkness)

53. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – Hell Breaks Loose (Prince of Darkness)

54. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – Halloween Montage (Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Announcer: Tommy Lee Wallace)

55. Carlo Maria Cordio – Transformation 2 (The Bite Of Fear)

56. Claudio Simonetti – Cruel Demon (Demoni)

57. Joseph LoDuca – Bridge Out (Evil Dead)

58. Rick Wakeman – Campfire Story (The Burning)

59. Christopher Young – A New Man's Destiny (Def-Con 4)

60. Meat Beat Manifesto – She's Unreal (Blair Witch Project)

61. The Thing Trailer

62. Joe Renzetti – It's Only A Doll (Child's Play)

63. Howard Shore – Seth And The Fly (The Fly)

64. Herschell Gordon Lewis – Tongue Torn Out

65. Keith Emerson – Inferno (Inferno, Dario Argento, 1980)

66. Gary Scott – Sweet Young Girls (Final Exam, 1981)

67. The Pain Of Being Dead (Return Of The Living Dead)

68. Fabio Frizzi & Rok Opera – Zombie '98 (Cannibal Ferox)

69. Jay Chattaway – Apocalypse New York (Maniac)

70. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – I Have A Message For You (Prince of Darkness)

71. Van Der Veer's Demise – James Horner (Wolfen)

72. Karl Hardman – Helen's Death (Night Of The Living Dead)

73. Howard Shore – Scanners (Main Title)

74. Scott Valdimir Licina – The Killers Are Eating The Flesh (Night of the living Dead)

75. Fabio Frizzi – Introduzione, Paura, Liberazione (City Of The Living Dead)

76. Trash's Fantasy – (Return Of The Living Dead)

77. Goblin – Ai margini della follia (Dawn of the Dead)

78. Alexander Blonksteiner – Dreadful Night – (Cannibal Apocalypse)

79. Giorgio Moroder – Leopard Tree Dream (Cat people)

80. Bruno Nicolai – Seq. 1. (The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, Sergio Martino, 1971)

81. Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab – The Lions And The Cucumber (Vampyros Lesbos, 1971, Jess Franco)

82. Michael Holm – Liebesthema (Hexen bis auf das Blut gequält, 1970)

83. Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust) (Cannibal Holocaust)

84. Stelvio Cipriani – Fine Di Una Incubo (Twitch of the Death Nerve, Bava 1971)

85. Nico Fidenco – Porno Holocaust Seq. 9 (Porno Holocaust)

86. Walter Rizzati – Chi sta arrivando? (The House by the Cemetery, Lucio Fulci 1981)

87. Rick Wakeman – Sheer Terror (The Burning)

88. Christopher Young – Ghost Planet (Def-Con 4)

89. Elliot Goldenthal – Sour Grounds (Pet Sematary)

90. Rubini, Jaeger – Sarah's Panic (The Hunger)

91. Marcello Giombini – I morti si Svegliano (Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, Joe D'Amato 1980)

92. Riz Ortolani – Adultress' Punishment (Cannibal Holocaust)

93. Riz Ortolani – Seq. 5 (Don't Torture a Duckling, Lucio Fulci 1972)

94. Fabio Frizzi – Fatti Misteriosi (City Of The Living Dead)

95. Fabio Frizzi – Oltre La Soglia (The Beyond)

96. Stelvio Cipriani – Fantasia Tragica (Death Walks on High Heels, Luciano Ercoli 1971)

97. Pino Donaggio – The Tuxedo Shop (Carrie)

98. Billy Goldenberg – End Game (Duel, Steven Spielberg 1971)

99. Budy-Maglione – Mike Flips Out (Cannibal Ferox)

100. Make Them Die Slowly (Cannibal Ferox)

101. Red River Valley (Cannibal Ferox)

102. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – Regeneration (Christine)

103. Howard Shore – Scanner Duel (Scanners)

104. Herschell Gordon Lewis – Blood Feast Radio Spot

105. Alexander Blonksteiner – Jane (Cannibal Apocalypse)

106. Ennio Morricone – Emmetrentatre (Short Night of the Glass Dolls, Aldo Lado 1971)

107. Charles Previn – Wolf-Bane (The Wolf Man, 1941)

108. Johan Soderqvist – Eli's Theme (Let the Right One In)

109. Jerry Goldsmith – The Calling (Poltergeist)

110. Michael Kamen – Realisation/Destiny (The Dead Zone)

111. Sante Maria Romitelli – Tessere Di Un Mosaico (Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Mario Bava 1970)

112. Jay Chattaway – Blast Him (Maniac)

113. Ennio Morricone – Magia Mera (A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Lucio Fulci 1971)

114. Fabio Frizzi – The Dead On Main Street (Cannibal Ferox)

115. Nico Fidenco – Zombie Parade (Zombi Holocaust)

116. Fabio Frizzi – Zombi 2 (Zombie Flesh Eaters)

117. Marcello Giombini – Larry e Fiona (Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, 1980)

118. Stelvio Cipriani – Scotch For Two (Tentacoli)

119. Nico Fidenco – Seq. 11 (Porno Holocaust)

120. Jay Chattaway – Subway Terror (Maniac)

121. Scott Valdimir Licina – This Radio Station Will Remain On The Air (Night of the living Dead)

122. Stelvio Cipriani – Seq. 4 (Voices from Beyond, Lucio Fulci 1991)

123. Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab – Necronomania (Vampyros Lesbos, Jesús Franco 1971)

124. Rick Wakeman – End Title Theme (The Burning)

125. Harry Bromley Davenport – Shreds Of Evidence (Xtro)

126. Goblin – Zombi (Dawn of the Dead)

127. Fabio Frizzi – Seqence 1 (Zombie Flesh Eaters)

128. Frank John Hughes – The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (The Twilight Zone)

129. James Horner – Wall Street And The Wolves (Wolfen)

130. Christopher Young – Original Intro & Main Title (Invaders From Mars)

131. Goblin – Profondo Rosso (Profondo Rosso)

132. Herschell Gordon Lewis – She-Devils On Wheels Radio Spot

133. Richard Band – Main Title (Re-Animator)

134. Scott Valdimir Licina – Boy, You'll Be Damned To Hell (Night of the living Dead)

135. Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave – Intro and Main Title (Phantasm)

136. Goblin – Suspiria (Celesta And Bells) (Suspiria)

137. Goblin – Suspiria (Suspiria)

138. Libra – Transfert I/Hypnos/Transfert II (Schock)

139. Tomandandy – Forbidden Zone (The Hills Have Eyes, 2006)

140. Stelvio Cipriani – Solitude (Nightmare City, Umberto Lenzi 1980)

141. Krzysztof Komeda feat. Mia Farrow – Main Title (Rosemary's Baby)

142. Francesco De Masi – Fay (The New York Ripper)

143. Bruno Nicolai – Seq. 3 (A Virgin Among the Living Dead, Jesús Franco 1973)

144. Michael Holm – Das Grosse Glück (Hexen bis auf das Blut gequält, 1970)

145. Jay Chattaway – Hookers Heartbeat (Maniac) 

146. Ennio Morricone – It Begins… (The Thing)

147. Charles Bernstein – Fountain Of Blood (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

148. Fabio Frizzi – Something Dead (Zombie Flesh Eaters)

149. Fabio Frizzi – Seqence 2 (Zombie Flesh Eaters)

150. Fabio Frizzi – Seqence 8 (Zombie Flesh Eaters)

151. Jay Chattaway – Cemetery Chase (Maniac)

152. Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab – Droge CX 9 (Vampyros Lesbos)

153. Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab – The Message (Vampyros Lesbos)

154. Nico Fidenco – Make Love on the Wing (Zombi Holocaust)

155. Pino Donaggio – Sue's Dream (Carrie)

156. The Go – Blue Eyes Woman (The Hills Have Eyes)

scary movie themes

To get you in that Halloween mood.



Psycho - Bernard Herrmann






Phantasm - Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave




The Fog - John Carpenter




Carrie - Pino Donaggio




The Thing - Ennio Morricone




A Nightmare on Elm Street - Charles Bernstein




Creature from the Black Lagoon - cue by Henry Mancini




Alien - Jerry Goldsmith



Poltergeist - Jerry Goldsmith




Jaws - John Williams




Suspiria (so scary!) - Goblin




Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) - Goblin




"End Theme from Friday the 13th" - Harry Manfredini






The Amityville Horror - Lalo Schifrin




"Tubular Bells" (from The Exorcist) - Mike Oldfield




Halloween - John Carpenter





Body Double - Pino Donaggio (love the synths on this)

who goes there? - the power of paranoia: a guest post by jerome murphy

Our favorite weird hothouse flower H.P Lovecraft - in all his florid Poesque overwroughtness, with a prose style like wrought-iron curlicued gates - got it right: "“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” With this solid premise, he built dream-castles on rock.

But where the concept really resonates, is in everyday life - where the unknown is not between human and alien, but between Self and Other. A most frightening truth is this: all others are alien. At some level, no one can fully know or trust anyone else. This is why Halloween masks scared me as a kid - they embody this basic insecurity of our experience. Children are still learning how much they can trust parents and teachers, where the boundaries are. Yeah - for me Halloween masks threw a match right on that gasoline.

"Who's there?"- the immortal opening of Hamlet, the prototypical paranoia play. There is a ghost who may or may not be Hamlet's real father, a mother he cannot trust, a play-acting uncle, a play-within-a-play; Hamlet himself pretending madness and innocence (or is he) - and you see? everyone winds up dead.

And so, the Lovecraftian "Who Goes There," a 1930s pulp sci-fi story by John Campbell Jr, has proved endlessly durable, almost adaptable as The Body Snatchers. The shared concept of the alien who mimics the everyday Other handily embodied Cold War-era paranoia, and in later adaptations, our distrust of the military-industrial complex; then fears of infection in the HIV era. Politically, physically, sexually, you can never tell what's inside your neighbor just by looking at them. The strength of The Thing, versus Body Snatchers, was the isolation factor: the characters had to do battle with this basic insecurity in a remote, confined space.

The latest adaptation, a slickly reverse-engineered prequel based on the doomed Norwegian team referenced in Carpenter's version, is itself a shapeshifting blob in the process of digesting earlier influences - particularly Ridley Scott's Alien. The influences are showing clearly in the films transparent digestive tract, kicking and screaming. You've got a no-nonsense female protagonist, a wrecked spaceship, a claustrophobically isolated crew, and flamethrowing. No, really - lots and lots of flamethrowing. You will be hungry for s'mores by the end of this movie.

What this Thing, with its elegantly chilly setting and distended CGI budget fails to tap into, is the power of paranoia. It sits on top of a rich reserve of paranoid storytelling, from Hamlet on down, without striking any oil. The creatures' appearances are not supposed to terrify in and of themselves (and they don't); what terrifies is the swift, sudden revelation of who is not to be trusted.

Enough plot holes for fishnet fetishwear - where do the vehicles come from after being disabled, why is the ship able to work again, how is clothing replicated by the thing - don't matter if you can tap into the elemental power of paranoia, as John Carpenter did. Carpenter's flick made enough gestures (hastily, yes) toward distinct personalities that we had characters we thought we knew. On which pivots the whole enterprise. You had Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley and Keith David on one Arctic team, and you didn't want any of them to be Thinged.

The Thing can only replicate organic matter, but there needs to be organic matter in the first place. Where's the wisecracking ("but it's a dry heat!") from Aliens or any of the necessary touches of eccentricity to show us we're dealing with real live people?

In this gleaming Coors Lite can, few of the interchangeable Norwegians seem human to begin with, so who cares who's the Thing? Oh, that was Lars? Go ahead and torch him, he won't be missed. Yeah, there's the arrogant hubristic professor type. Yeah, there's a token black guy, whose personality is -  the token black guy.

To be fair, like the team members with their fumbling flashlights, the scriptwriters vaguely grasp the resonance of this theme. A clever touch like a radio playing Men At Work's "Who Can It Be Now" signals their awareness. They simply miscalculate how pivotal an element it is to this story's effectiveness.

Attention, horror filmmakers: you're showing too much. More masking. Let our minds interact with the unknowns. That's why Rosemary's Baby works. Why Body Snatchers works. Why flashy CGI is less effective than long hallways, howling wind and subtly suggestive soundtracks, and close ups of faces which may hide something unspeakable. You don't need to assault our senses with orchestral surround-sound. Don't let the monsters wear out their welcome. It's all enough to send you back to Lovecraft and his subtly suggestive tales of masked shapeshifters ("The Thing On the Doorstep," "The Whisperer in Darkness"). Or to the many successful horror flicks which successfully play on the insecurity between the known vs unknown Other, like Carpenter's own They Live, in which the aliens are all around us, wearing attractive human faces. What a nightmare to be one of the few who can see through the exteriors!

Indeed, this is the fundamental, underlying power behind the phrase trick or treat. Which is which?

Or, as a scared child once realized: who needs Halloween, when faces are masks already? The best horror flicks are those that recognize that when it comes to human societies, Halloween is all year round.


-Jerome Murphy

if you have ghosts: shared cinematic experiences

I asked If You Have Ghosts to share some of his horror favorites. (They are all favorites of mine as well!).

Many of the films that impacted me at an early age were introduced by older cousins who did an amazing job not only in selecting which to introduce to an impressionable young person but made each viewing an event as well. Not all of those films were horror, but I was asked to write a list for Halloween / October so these are.

The theme of this list--aside from every film being great to watch at any time of year--is shared cinematic experiences. Whenever I show people these movies, they are usually accompanied by a story of the first time I saw them.

These are fairly obvious selections, but they hold up and I'm not trying to be hip about it. Also, not a “top” anything, just what I thought of first.

Dawn of the Dead (1978):

I could only hope to have somebody as badass and resourceful as Peter Washington (Ken Foree) around in an apocalyptic-survival scenario. Romero's zombie films attempt to make a cultural statement (this one on consumer culture making us all zombies) but are successful beyond that due to their quality. Horror, humor, a great score by Goblin--no question this would be on the list.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935):

I love the original as well, but Bride is my favorite of the two. The atmosphere of the original Universal horror films was beautiful and holds up wonderfully. To think that there was a time when a movie could be marketed and fill theater seats simply by hinting that the "monster" would speak...

The Shining (1980):

One could watch this during a snowstorm at any time of the year and be horrified. I wonder if the audience is truly supposed to sympathize with the Torrance family, as I did not. For me, the saddest character death was that of Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers). He just went to the hotel to check up on everybody.

The Thing (1982):

Many consider Halloween to be John Carpenter's masterpiece, but I have never held it in such high regard. Certainly, it introduced an iconic mask and score, but as a horror film in its entirety, it is not so significant for me.

The true masterpiece in his career would come just a few years later with The Thing. Location, amazing practical effects, a cast interacting perfectly and absolutely convincingly given the story's scenario and a great score by Ennio Morricone. Not to mention Carpenter's films with Kurt Russell were his best. The blood-test scene still features one of the greatest uses of tension I have seen in any film, horror or otherwise.

An American Werewolf in London (1981):

I can only name two truly great werewolf movies and though I love the original The Wolf Man, I prefer this one. Great use of practical effects, intelligently selected and placed music cues and humor. The nightmare sequences and victim visits still have the ability to inspire a "What the Fuck!?" moment from new viewers.

Night of the Living Dead (1968):

Some things, you don't have to explain. This one is truly horrific and aside from films such as White Zombie, which introduced the Voodoo Zombie, was the first to introduce the type of zombie we all know today, the Living Dead, to a broad audience.

That's it for now. Time to load up on pumpkins, candy and head to the crafts store to make some hanging ghosts for the balcony.

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