Cinefantastique Online

Long-time Cinefantastique columnist Randall Larson sounds off on the art of horror, fantasy and sci-fi soundtracks.

Film composer Maurice Jarre passed away March 29th in Los Angeles at the age of 84. One of the finest craftsmen during what is called the “Silver Age of Film Music,” Jarre left a legacy of significant and influential scores, including some notable efforts within the fantastic genre.
The French-born composer began scoring movies in his [...]

Tyler Bates’ Music for Doctor Manhattan & Friends
With his pulsating and edgy score for Scott Derrickson’s revisualization of the science fiction classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL behind him, composer Tyler Bates now reunites with Zach Snyder, his director on both the 2004 DAWN OF THE DEAD remake and the graphically-intense 300 to compose [...]

Reflecting back on 2008’s most interesting scores for science fiction, fantasy, and horror films, one can’t help noticing once again how few genre scores (and, in fact, genre films) are recognized when the Oscars come around. While Thomas Newman’s tune-pleasing WALL-E score and Alexandre Desplat’s sublime music for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON received [...]

TEETH is a deceptive movie on first encounter. The DVD box is fairly tame, showing star Jess Weixler in a bubble bath, only her head showing, her eyes gazing at the camera with subtle menace, or arrogance. “Go ahead, screw with me,” they seem to warn. Turn the DVD box over and you realize the [...]

QUANTUM QUEST, a new 3-D, computer animated, large format, action-adventure film that interweaves animated sequences with actual space imagery captured from seven ongoing NASA and NASA/ESA space missions, will receive an equally large-scale musical score from award-winning composer Shawn Clement.
A multifaceted composer, Clement’s film credits include WE MARRIED MARGO and LAST CHANCE, with notable scores [...]

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Tyler Bates’ has crafted a primarily dissonant, pulsating, and edgy score for the 2008 interpretation of the classic science fiction cautionary tale, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, one that is well in keeping with director Scott Derrickson’s epic of near-cataclysmic destruction while also sharing the film’s sense of humanity and harmony. Bates’ [...]

Composer Elia Cmiral with SPLINTER actress Jill Wagner
Composer Elia Cmiral’s recent score for SPLINTER is the latest in a dozen or more horror or fantasy film scores concocted by the composer since he emerged in 1986. While he can be equally adroit at action-thrillers like RONIN, science fiction like BATTLEFIELD: EARTH, television series like NASH [...]

Film composer Irving Gertz, a significant contributor to the music of the Universal science fiction film boom of the 1950s whose music was heard in dozens of the studios classic sf and horror films of the decade, died on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, at the age of 93.
The youngest of eight children, Gertz was [...]

Folks, I sense the need to write a big public apology to Maestro Erich Kunzel, a celebrated conductor who recently conducted the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (with themed appearances by Trek actors Robert Picardo and John de Lancie), at Boettcher Hall in Denver, Colorado while I sat at home in my paper-strewn office typing away. It [...]

New Zealand director Peter Burger’s horror film THE TATTOOIST, recently released on DVD, has a way of imprinting itself on the viewer. It’s a unique horror film that envelops itself with Samoan culture and develops a very interesting ghost story out of that culture and the spiritual aspects of Samoan tattoo. Taking place in the [...]

By Randall D. Larson
George Romero’s celebrated Dead series has taken as much of a musical evolution as it has a cinematic one. From the classic black-and-white original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with its snippets of tracks culled from music libraries that provided a surprisingly organic musical accompaniment, to the heavy rock beats and pervasive synthetic atmospheres [...]

Although often compared unfavorably to Goblin’s music for SUSPIRIA, keyboardist Keith Emerson’s score for the sequel, INFERNO, is every bit as in tune with the film, perfectly matching the mood and action. Unlike Goblin’s heavy rhythms, shrieking vocals, and shrill synthesizers of the previous film, Emerson employs a much more subtle approach, weaving a score out [...]

One of the most memorable elements contributing to the success of SUSPIRIA (1977) was the soundtrack. Combining elements of music (a synthesizer-heavy rock combo) and sound effects (heavy breathing, murmuring voices), Goblin provided something that went far beyond traditional background scoring, to become an integral part of the film. In a fashion somewhat similar to Ennio [...]