Undead music - Neither Living Nor Dead
Soundtracks in film serve to say what is not said on the screen. Serve to settle a sequence of events recorded separately and give them continuity and unity. In fantastic cinema music is an essential part of the narrative.
Before the undead become the most beloved monsters in modern pop culture, we had vampires as the most feared undead ones. Cesare in the Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919) was the first living dead of the screens and the vampire Nosferatu (1922) had a soundtrack composed especially for him and performed by an orchestra during the screenings of the film! Its author, Hans Erdmann, was a pioneer in the field of soundtracks.
Once the Universal had success in the 30s with his classic series of monsters, was the English producer Hammer that revitalized the monsters in color for a new generation. Then in the end of the 50s cinema had mummies, werewolves, Frankenstein and Dracula resurrected in a new series of privileged visually lush productions despite the ever modest B movie budget. James Bernard was the main composer of Hammer and his direct approach in music commentary can even be considered obvious or simple, but it is sincere and more than adequate to support climate of Gothic fantasies. Silva Screen´s Dracula, Hammer Horror Classic Scores from was an excellent collection that paved the way for a series of releases dedicated to "studio that dripped blood."
Speaking of soundtracks for Dracula immediately brings us to the remarkable John Badham´s Dracula (Dracula, 1979), starring Frank Langella and with music by pop star John Williams, then famous after Jaws and Star Wars, but not yet sanctified for ET. More ambitious was Coppola´s Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) that had music by Polish composer Woyciek Kilar. The Bram Stoker's Dracula music is Gothic in the extreme, but goes far beyond the obvious. The resolute and threatening progress in The Beggining permeates the entire score as a sound curse. And in the absence of Hans Erdman's score for the 1922 Nosferatu (which is out of print on RCA) we can have the remake made by Werner Herzog in 1976. Nosferatu in Herzog's version had music from electronic group Popol Vuh. Creating a parallel to the cadaverous cinematography of the movie, the music creates with electronic textures a scary soundscape. The effect in musical diffusion highlights Nosferatu as one of the greatest soundtracks of fantastic cinema.
Interview with the Vampire (1994) Elliot Goldenthal is also one of the most reputable scores in modern fantastic cinema and the composer is the most notable names of current soundtracks. Symphonic and of multiple musical references the score opens with the lyrical beauty of Libera Me and adds in sequence diverse macabre climates through symphonic means. It is one of those rare tracks that works perfectly in the film and get extra power away of it.
Also striking was the cult The Hunger (1982) with its 80´s video aesthetic. The Hunger is remembered by the use of the song Bela Lugosi is Dead by group Bauhaus. The song is emblematic of the Gothic movement of the 80s, but the electronic instrumental score by Michael Rubini and Denny Jaeger is even better. Another worth of note is the interesting Near Dark (1987) that integrate the "80´s pop terror“ with many virtues. One of these virtues is its techno soundtrack by German group Tangerine Dream. Near Dark´s music displays the obvious techno clichés of the period as electronic percussion and rhythmic sequencers, but Tangerine was wise enough to merge the pop appeal to the atmospheric abstraction of the old days. Simply one of the best soundtracks (among many) of the group.
In a more popular proposal we can highlight the Vampires (2000) score by John Carpenter. With its western movie look, the score takes blues and rock references in an unpretentious work and (best of all) a lot of fun. Composed by Carpenter himself, the score is in a musical place between Paris Texas and Halloween. For the recording, the Texas Toad Lickers group was formed, including Steve Cropper (guitar) and Donald Dunn (bass) two members of the legendary soul group Booker T and the MGs, besides the director himself on guitar! John Carpenter is a nice guy.
And finally, the zombies! As we have seen, the zombies are part of the folklore of fantastic cinema since Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Is worth to mention the atmospheric White Zombie (1932) as a root horror classic. In the 60's the Hammer made his attempt on undead with the weak Plague of Zombies (1966). And finally we had Night of the Living Dead (1968), by George Romero that made history as one of the first films venerated by minorities. A true cult phenomenon. For its soundtrack, Romero used parts of B movies scores kept by the studios as library music. Romero continued the living dead saga with Dawn of the Dead (1978) which had soundtrack by the Italian group Goblin, partner of the tracks director Dario Argento. Dario was co-producer of Dawn of the Dead and the inclusion of the group Goblin was natural. The score highlights the suffocating film´s atmosphere with its mix of rock and electronic. Romero did not like it much, considering the score musically distant of the action. Like it or not, is one of the best and most varied works of Goblin. In the third moment of the living dead series, Day of the Dead (1985), the music is already fully electronic and even more claustrophobic than the previous. Composed by John Harrison, integrated several sound possibilities in 80´s techno language.
Going through the 80s immediately leads to two classics: Re-Animator (1985) and Return of the Living Dead (1985). With both soundtracks conceived in the best spirit of the B/trash movie. Return of LD shows little original material and functions as a collection of punk /new wave songs. Richard Band´s Re-Animator is "inspired by" other composer's ideas (Psycho, The Omen), but it's a fun job just by its unpretentiousness.
Also is very important to mention the European incarnation of zombies. After the European success of Dawn of the Dead, which had distribution aided by Dario Argento, director Lucio Fulci made a copy-version-sequence called Zombie 2 (Dawn of the Dead was distributed as Zombie for euro freaks). Thereafter was a burst of splatter films with lots of good and lots of bad things going. The pioneer of the Euro-zombies was the Spanish director Jorge Grau that with his excellent Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974) anticipated the splatter aesthetic in one of the best zombie movies of all time. The soundtrack by Giuliano Sorgini is also notable in the genre.
Also of note in 80s splatter cinema: Paura Nella Citta Dei Morti Viventi (1980) and The Beyond (1981) both with music by Fabio Frizzi, composer who had consistent career in the Italian horror movies.
A curious shortcut was Invasion of Body Snatchers (1978). A great horror/fiction based on Invasion of Body Snatchers done by Don Siegel in 1956. But while the original was too attached to the political reading of the time, the remake took the mass behavioral as principle of its suspense. To rigor is not a zombie film, but the relationship is very close: the loss of consciousness, increasing contamination, the apocalyptic direction of events, etc. Check the soundtrack.
And the contemporary?
After some very good remakes like Dawn of the Dead (2002) movies of undead definitely invaded the contemporary pop culture and broke the last barrier by invading the residential screens with the success of The Walking Dead series. About the soundtracks, most recent compositions mix (and loses itself) within the sound design of the films in the narrative acceleration of current movies. Atmosphere or suspense construction, as in Living Dead at Manchester Morgue or Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things are almost unthinkable in the contemporary standard of cinema. Still soundtracks have given signs of recovery with very interesting work as Day of the Dead (2008) Tyler Bates, which sounds as real music and not just as climatic effect. Or Stake Land (2010), in which the apocalypse is of vampires, not zombies, but follows the living dead aesthetic closely. Stake Land still has a respectable track Jeff Grace released by Movie Score Media, label specialized in contemporary soundtracks.
Above all it is worth mention the success of 28 Days Later ( 2002) by John Murphy. A sound collage of voices, noises and musical genres including climate electronic textures and rock. His good atmospheric moments like The Search For Jim, Red Dresses and the instrumental rock Rage, highlight the composer as one of the most interesting today. Especially, In the House is a growing sound construction that almost became a contemporary classic in the genre. A sound model passed in several other productions and trailers.