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Vinyl Review: Martin OST

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70s_Fisher_Price_toy_record_player_playing_Stairway_to_Heaven

 

In 1977, George A. Romero released Martin, a modern vampire story. The film follows a young man, who is believed to be an 84 year old vampire, as he goes to live with his cousin in a small town in Pennsylvania. The film plays with the idea and mythology of vampirism wonderfully, portraying Martin as both evil and innocent throughout the film. We see him kill, we see he recount his evil doings, and yet the audience is always left questioning whether or not he is truly evil. What drives this point across in the most spectacular way is Donald Rubinstein’s score. A beautiful mix of classical inspired pieces mixed with jazz and haunting vocals, the soundtrack for Martin is a gorgeous example of film scoring. Now, thanks to the fine folks over at Ship to Shore PhonoCo, A Light In the Attic, and One Way Static we can experience the score in one of the best ways possible.

Martin Artwork

Official artwork for the Ship to Shore PhonoCo. Martin vinyl.

 

Right off the bat, the artwork captures the look and feel of the film. Gothic, modern, and very playful with the theme of Martin being a fake vampire. The contrast between the cheap fake vampire teeth and the bloody razor are a simple and elegant way of portraying the film, and its score, playful nature with its very serious content. The soundtrack is printed on a thick 180 gram vinyl and is taken from the original negative print of the score, ensuring great sound. The sleeve includes liner notes from both Donald Rubinstein and actor John Amplas. Rubinstein’s notes paint a picture of what he went through composing the score. He talks about writing the score, basing it mostly of the script alone, his influences, meeting George, where he was at at that point in his life and career, as well as talking about the stark contrasts in the score. It is always great getting more perspective from the composer years after the score has been made, and Rubinstein is a great storyteller and very insightful. Now its time to run some wax.

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The opening theme “The Calling”, sets the tone using a slow beat with gothic tones. This, with the operatic singing, help establishes the film with one foot in the past as a reminder of early vampire films like Nosferatu and Dracula. At the same time the piece is very hypnotic, like the voice is calling out to someone. I love this because it reminds me of Dracula quite a bit, how through out the novel his calls out to Jonathan and his fiance. It is a very hauntingly beautiful piece and the score does a great job of reprising this piece at key moments. But the soundtrack doesn’t just play haunting music, alot of the soundtrack is jazz.

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There are pieces from this soundtrack that make me forget I am listening to a soundtrack, “Back To Me” is one of them. The jazz pieces are a large reason why the film is considered hip and modern. It helps establish Martin and the viewers in the now and at times helps to add fuel to the chaos happening on the screen. When the jazz is mixed with the gothic pieces it helps to create an environment of chaos, innocence, but also of a man of two times. As John Amplas said in the liner notes: “It moves from gothic romance to operatic heights swirling into chaotic jazz filled with tension and soul. Its original and it motivates the story.”

One way to judge a soundtrack is if the piece works on its own, and Donald Rubinstein’s score for Martin not only drive the films major themes, but its stand on its own two feet. This is a beautiful soundtrack that has been given a fantastic and worthy release. I would highly recommend this not only for fans of horror soundtracks, but fans of music in general. MOJO Magazine named it as one of the “Top 100 Coolest Soundtracks Of All Time” and it is very true. There are multiple variants of this record being sold in addition to regular 180 gram black being sold by different companies and they are:

Ship To Shore PhonoCo is selling a black & white swirl called Transylvanian Flashback. Limited to 500

Light in the Attic (US) and One Way Static (UK) are selling a Marble “Blood” Red. Limited to 500.

All three are selling 180 gram black was well and those are limited to 1000.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Calling / Main Title
A2. Train Attack
A3. Phased
A4. Tat Cuda’s House
A5. Martin At The Butcher Shop
A6. Antique Chase With Villagers
A7. Garlic Chase #6
A8. Martin Goes To The City
A9. Christina Leaves
A10. Halloween
A11. Modern Vamp

B1. Chant
B2. The Calling (Reprise)
B3. Braddock / Chase
B4. Back To Me
B5. Crawling Sequence
B6. Martin Martin Martin
B7. Marie – Interlude
B8. Evocation
B9. Fly By Night
B10. Exorcism / Classical Funk
B11. Stake, Well Done!

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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