Behind the Couch

Released in 1999, Antonia Bird’s gruesome, satirical horror-comedy Ravenous tells of a group of soldiers descending into a nightmare of murder and cannibalism while snowed in at an isolated fort in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Referencing the plight of the infamous Donner party, aspects of Native American folklore, specifically the figure of the Wendigo, and the weird tales of Algernon Blackwood, Ravenous was initially criticised for its ‘uneven’ tone, but has since garnered a cult following. Owing to its reputation as a horror oddity is its rich and unusual score, born from the inspired pairing of minimalist classical composer and ethnomusicologist Michael Nyman, and Damon Albarn, front-man of experimental British indie bands Blur and Gorillaz. To celebrate Scream Factory’s recent release of the film on Blu-ray, and because it’s just an incredible score, Matthew Monagle and I have written separate pieces on it; Matthew ponders Damon Albarn’s contributions and how the score can...

"Death Serenades Me" * Italian composer Ennio Morricone is responsible for creating some of cinema’s most evocative and powerful scores. Widely regarded as one of the most influential and significant film composers of all time, his work spans decades and he has scored films for the likes of Sergio Leone, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mario Bava, Bernardo Bertolucci, Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Adrian Lyne, Oliver Stone, Pedro Almodovar and Roland Joffè, to name but a few. While particularly renowned for his scores for Sergio Leone-directed Spaghetti Westerns, such as Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly , Morricone has written film music for almost every conceivable genre. Though they are not as renowned as some of his other scores, his soundtracks for various horror films, psychological thrillers and Italian gialli are amongst some of the most dazzling, unusual and nerve shredding scores ever composed. Head over to Paracinem...

For this month’s Audiodrome - my music in film column over at Paracinema - I spin Michelle DiBucci's score for Wendigo (2001). Weaving together creepy Native American folklore, childhood fantasy, and nods to Algernon Blackwood’s weird tales of cosmic/elemental terror, Wendigo is an unsettling psychological tale with dark fairy tale subtext. It tells of a family beset by a chain of tragic events which may or may not be presided over by an ancient, dark force of nature that skulks through the forests surrounding their cabin in Upstate New York.  The suitably atmospheric score, courtesy of Michelle DiBucci, combines Native American percussion, chanting, flutes, strings and a children’s choir to highlight the tragic aspects of the story. DuBucci said she wanted to create a collage of sound worlds that would “ fade in and out of one another like a reoccurring dream whose images are never far from the surface of the imagination .” Head over to Paracine...

He locked away the Necronomicon with a shudder of disgust, but the room still reeked with an unholy and unidentifiable stench. 'As a foulness shall ye know them,' he quoted. Yes - the odour was the same as that which had sickened him at the Whateley farmhouse less than three years before. He thought of Wilbur, goatish and ominous, once again, and laughed mockingly at the village rumours of his parentage.  'Inbreeding?' Armitage muttered half-aloud to himself. 'Great God, what simpletons! Show them Arthur Machen's Great God Pan and they'll think it a common Dunwich scandal! But what thing - what cursed shapeless influence on or off this three-dimensional earth - was Wilbur Whateley's father? Born on Candlemas - nine months after May Eve of 1912, when the talk about the queer earth noises reached clear to Arkham - what walked on the mountains that May night? What Roodmas horror fastened itself on the world in half-human flesh and blood?'  Despite...

Sam Raimi’s low budget, splattery shocker Evil Dead (1981) tells of a group of friends who, while staying at a remote cabin in the woods, unwittingly unleash demonic forces which possess and mutilate them one by one. The combination of slapstick humour, inventive camerawork and splashy make-up effects ensured the film much controversy upon release - though it has since attained cult status. With the remake still riding high at the box office, I thought it appropriate to revisit Raimi’s original film – hailed by Stephen King as ‘ferociously original’ – and explore its creepy soundtrack by Joseph LoDuca. Utilising both analog synthesizers and more traditional instrumentation, LoDuca’s score is rife with violent, Herrmannesque strings and a diabolical mischievousness, perfectly enhancing the sadistically impish shenanigans which ooze, slosh and spatter throughout the story. Head over to Paracinema.net to read my full review and listen to an excerpt of the score. While you’re ther...

With its groundbreaking amalgamation of cyberpunk aesthetics and film noir conventions, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is one of the most revered and influential sci-fi films of all time. Just as central to its continuing appeal as Scott’s breathtaking visuals and its provocative themes of identity, is Vangelis’s ‘symphonic electronic’ score. Given that Blade Runner is essentially a story about what it means to be human; his music underpins the more spiritual aspects of the narrative, and serves as the heart of the film. It’s synthesised, effervescent soundscapes effortlessly convey the alienation and longing of the characters - ‘human’ or otherwise. Head over to Paracinema.net to read my full review of this immensely evocative soundtrack and listen to an excerpt. While you’re there, don’t forget to check out the latest issue of Paracinema Magazine , now available to pre-order. Issue 19 includes my essay on the career of Alan Smithee, as well as pieces on Kill Bill , John Carpen...

In this month's edition of Audiodrome: Music in Film , I take a look at Roy Ayer’s astoundingly funky score for Jack Hill’s 1973 blaxploitation classic Coffy . Starring Pam Grier as a nurse who turns vigilante on the dealers who get her younger sister addicted to drugs, Coffy combines exploitative thrills with sly social commentary and barbed pot-shots at police corruption. The film made Grier into a genre icon, and its psychedelic-funk score brilliantly showcases Ayers signature vibes. Head over to Paracinema to read the full review and treat your ears to a track. While you’re there, why not pick up a copy of the latest issue of Paracinema Magazine ? Inside you’ll find damn fine reading in the shape of articles and essays such as The Goriest Film You Never Saw by Jose Cruz, Marriage Bites: Lesbian Vampires and the Failure of Heterosexuality in Daughters of Darkness by Erin Wiegand and “When Single Shines the Triple Sun”: Duality and Self Discovery in The Dark Crystal b...

In keeping with Paracinema's Hitchcock Appreciation Month , this month's instalment of Audiodrome focuses on Bernard Herrmann's mesmerising score for Vertigo (1958). Hitchcock's classic tells of a retired acrophobic detective - played by Jimmy Stewart - investigating the strange activities of a friend's wife (Kim Novak). As he becomes completely bewitched by her, the film becomes a haunting rumination on the concept of obsession. Of the score, Martin Scorsese commented: "Hitchcock's film is about obsession, which means that it's about circling back to the same moment, again and again … And the music is also built around spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair. Herrmann really understood what Hitchcock was going for — he wanted to penetrate to the heart of obsession." Head over to Paracinema.net to read my article on Herrmann's masterful score and listen to an excerpt. While you're there, check out some of the reviews/articles ...

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, circa 1981. This month marks the first anniversary of the Audiodrome: Music in Film series over at Paracinema.net . As such, we wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. When the idea of producing a podcast was suggested, we decided to focus on the work of a composer who has not only a long and wide-ranging career in film soundtracks, but whose work is distinctive, original and enjoyable to listen to. John Carpenter is not only a renowned filmmaker responsible for some of genre cinema’s most influential and entertaining titles – he is also an accomplished musician. Experimenting with analog synthesizers and digital synthesis at a time when the technology was only just beginning to be explored, his trailblazing early soundtracks highlight him as a true pioneer of electronic music. Head over to Paracinema.net to download the podcast , and let me guide you through Carpenter's moody scores, film by film.  And while you're ther...

It’s that time of the month again to head over to Paracinema.net and check out my  latest instalment of Audiodrome . This month my ears have been getting rather bloody, indulging in the onslaught of Chu Ishikawa’s cacophonous industrial soundtrack for Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its equally brutal follow up, Body Hammer . Shinya Tsukamoto’s searingly visceral film is the graphic tale of a lowly salary man’s descent into a metal-encased nightmare, as his body suddenly begins to turn into scrap metal. Tetsuo combines Cronenbergian body horror with Lynchian existentialism and filters it all through a gritty, William Gibson-esque cyberpunk aesthetic. Ishikawa’s ferocious soundtrack perfectly enhances the disturbing imagery, frantic editing and dystopian vision of the films. While you’re over at Paracinema’s online lair, why not pick up the latest issue ? It’s really rather good and all the articles address the theme of revenge in genre cinema… The following article was publis...

The latest instalment of Audiodrome: Music in Film is now up over at Paracinema.net . This month I check out Carlo Rustichelli’s rather swanky and often spooky score for Mario Bava’s ravishing giallo blueprint, Blood & Black Lace (1964). Infused with the sultry rhythms of the tango, Rustichelli’s music highlights the more sensual aspects of Bava’s lurid film about a sadistic killer preying upon the models of an elite fashion house. Skip on over to Paracinema to read it and listen to a track. While you’re there, why not think about ordering yourself a copy of the brand new issue of Paracinema Magazine. With articles such as When Life Gives You Razor Blades: Bloody Vengeance in Hobo with a Shotgun by Christine Makepeace; Revenge is a Dish Best Served Raw and Wriggling: Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy by Samm Deighan; Going Back Home: Post-Vietnam Masculinity in Rolling Thunder by Adam Blomquist and Chainsawing Well is the Best Revenge: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2‘s Tex...

Head over to Paracinema.net to check out my latest instalment of Audiodrome: Music in Film . This month my ears have mainly been awash with Zdeněk Liška’s eerily beautiful score for Karel Kachnya’s 1976 curio Malá Morská Víla ( The Little Mermaid ). Melodic orchestrations, choral pieces, strange percussive arrangements, song, and pulsing oceanic sound effects all swirl together to form a highly evocative and bewitching soundtrack indeed. And banish any notion that Malá Morská Víla is a schmaltzy, Disney-esque saccharine-fest; it’s a deeply melancholy and moody meditation on identity, doomed love and self sacrifice. That it was made during a period of extreme censorship in Czechoslovakia also speaks volumes. Also! Paracinema Magazine has been nominated for a Rondo Award this year! If you're so inclined, you can head here and vote for it under "Best Magazine." And, while you’re there, think about voting for issue 11, The Women's Issue, in the write-in section ...

Head over to Paracinema.net to check out my latest instalment of Audiodrome: Music in Film . This month I’ve been listening to Paul Giovanni’s inspired score for Robin Hardy’s folk-horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man . Heavily informed by paganism and old folk music, Giovanni’s meticulously researched soundtrack combines adaptations of traditional pieces, poems and original compositions. Why not pick up the latest issue of Paracinema while you’re there? Amongst its lurid delights are articles such as Panic in Detroit: RoboCop and Reagan’s America by Andreas Stoehr; Blood on the Rubber Chicken: Horror Parodies of the Early ’80s by Mike White; and Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures from Hell by Todd Garbarini. All great stuff, written by hardcore fans of genre films for hardcore fans of genre films. The following article was published on Paracinema.net on 23rd January 2012 The Wicker Man – Paul Giovanni  Informed by ancient rituals, paganism and indigenous folk music. A ...