Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction Films
Long-time Cinefantastique columnist Randall Larson sounds off on the art of horror, fantasy and sci-fi soundtracks.
2007 was the year of the magical fantasies. With such high fantasy offerings as STARDUST, MR. MAGORIUM’S MAGICAL EMPORIUM, HARRY POTTER 5, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, among others, displaying their outlandish landscapes and magic kingdoms, an especially evocative array of memorable film scores came with them. Their scores were more than the predictable magical tonality and …
Read More “The Score: 2007’s Oscar-Worthy Fantasy Film Music”
The Star Tribute alerts us that actor George Takei (Sulu on STAR TREK) has been scheduled to replace Leonard Nimoy as host of an orchestral music program in Minnesota that will include interplanetary excerpts from STAR TREK, STAR WARS, and other outer space movies – not to mention Gustav Holtz’ The Planets: Takei will appear …
Mark Isham has concocted one of the most otherworldly, alien, and mist-ifying scores you’ll ever hear for Frank Darabont’s creepy and disturbing adaptation of one of Stephen King’s most inventive novellas, The Mist. Incorporating sound textures and atonality for a sense of maximum unfamiliarity, Isham’s music eschews melody completely and incorporates a movable stratum …
Is Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” an alternate soundtrack for the climactic Stargate sequence in Kubrick’s science-fiction masterpiece? By now, almost everyone has heard the urban legend that Pink Floyd’s 1972 progressive rock album DARK SIDE OF THE MOON is a sort of substitute soundtrack for MGM’s classic film THE WIZARD OF OZ. There’s even been talk …
For the better part of the last quarter century, composer Richard Band has composed quality scores for frequently less than quality science fiction and horror films. While he certainly has made music to some genre classics, like RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND and the cheesy yet entertaining PUPPET MASTER series, Band’s music has also accompanied a …
Read More “The Score: The Return of Composer Richard Band, Master of Horror”