THOMAS DOLBY - GOTHIC SOUNDTRACK (1986)

I'm not a big fan of Ken Russell's 1986 dramatic-horror romp Gothic. It had its head pretty far up its own ass, focusing way too heavily on the over-dramatic "ACTING!!!" of the quote unquote "THESPIANS!!!" in its cast than it did on things like story, special effects, gore, etc.
In addition (and I might be wrong here), that little goblin dude on the poster /videocassette box up there wasn't even in the movie. (Confirm/deny, anyone?). It was nowhere near Russell's earlier stuff (ahem, Altered States, ahem), and was a rare swing-and-a-miss for both him and the almost always reliable Vestron Video.

Nor am I much of a fan of British synth-rocker Thomas Dolby (above right and below left). Sure, he wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" and played keyboards on "Urgent" by Foreigner and all of Def Leppard's Pyromania, but besides that, his music has left me - for the most part - nonplussed.

But I'll be dipped in dogshit if Dolby's all-over-the-place soundtrack for this film isn't one of the best goddamn horror scores I've ever heard. Cool samples from the film weave in and out of equal layers of New Wave-y digital weirdness and formal Victorian classical pieces, while out-of-tune sitars, reverbed-out harpsichords, and creepy organ all battle for stage time on brilliant track after concise, brilliant track. There's even the gratuitous pop-rock "crossover" number: The almost unbearably corny "The Devil Is An Englishman". Cheesy, yes, but packed with enough camp value that it is nigh unto passable. This song might even be a worthy addition to your "Halloween Party Mix" CD, depending on how lame you are.




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"She Blinded Me With Science"



Gothic trailer:



What's that? You'd like another amazing Thomas Dolby-related video from the Illogical Archives? OK.