Tuesday, September 14, 2010

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG - HELLRAISER SOUNDTRACK (1987)



Christopher Young was a jazz drummer who made the wise choice to bail on shitty lounge music and pursue a career in film composing, a choice that has brought him great success and recognition in the field. Although Young's finest work to date has been in the horror genre (he also scored Nightmare On Elm Street 2, The Grudge 1 & 2, The Dark Half, and Drag Me To Hell), he has also turned in work on such disparate projects as The Country Bears, The Spider Man movies, and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. So, um, yeah...

Anyway, I don't think anyone here is going to doubt the importance of Hellraiser as part of the 80's Horror-Film Pantheon, and I really think part of what made it so real and visceral was Young's organic, orchestral score, a far cry from the Casio-and-drum-machine fare so common to slasher films in the 80's. A mood of genuine fear and menace is established very quickly, and while Young's music is dynamic and varied, the tension is always there, like a hooded Cenobite crouched for attack. Super spooky shit, and sort of hard to come by. Pinhead approves.

Download HERE
Purchase HERE ($$$rare$$$)


Christopher Young Last.FM/Wiki/imdb

Trailer:



II: Hellbound



III: Hell On Earth



IV: Bloodline



V: Inferno



VI: Hellseeker



VII: Deader



IIX: Hellworld




(Anyone else noticing a trend regarding the Hellraiser films and their respective quality as the years progress?)

8 comments:

Aylmer said...

The box. You opened it. We came.

I LOVE the first two. Thanks for this, I don't have it.

Anonymous said...

essential

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

Ditto with Aylmer. Gave up after the second one. Hellraiser III was bollocks. Even Aromored Saint couldn't save it. Did you hear they have now abandoned the idea of doing a reworked Hellraiser and have settled on the cheaper option of just making another one in the series? trouble is, Doug bradley doesn't want to do it as he says the script is SHIT and the budget is a joke. UH-OH.

Anonymous said...

There was a prior soundtrack for Hellraiser that apparently wasn't used as it wasn't commercial enough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellraiser#Soundtrack

Barker is/was a fan of Coil.

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

Barker was shagging Jhonn Balance, hence them getting the commission. I met Barker once, what with him being a fellow Scouser. He was slimy and creepy, with an awful mid-Atlantic accent. I asked him to draw the most repulsive thing he could imagine, and he drew a vagina with legs.

abdul alhazred said...

EIGHT of these? Sweet merciful crap they must be awful. I too gave up after part three.

Aylmer said...

What's a Scouser?

Anonymous said...

A liverpudlian.