HOWARD SHORE - VIDEODROME SOUNDTRACK (1983)

Right: Ahhh, the subtle symbolism of David Cronenberg.

Voyeurism. Gore. Snuff films. Perversion. Paranoia. TV sets full of guts. Questionable reality. Video as metaphor for separation from the self. Debbie Harry's boobs.
Videodrome was without a doubt Cronenberg's finest hour, featuring James Woods at his creepiest in a plot that reeked of pure, uncut Dick.
But I digress. We all know about the movie already. Let's talk soundtrack.

Howard Shore has scored all but one of Cronenberg's films, being D.C.'s go-to guy since way back in 1979. Shore is probably best known for his work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy (ewww), but has composed music for such varied films as The Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Ed Wood, Se7en, The Cell and Big. He's taken home Grammys, Academy Awards, and Golden Globes (mostly for his work on the aforementioned Rings), but his compositions for Videodrome were some of his edgiest and most daring.
Trading in the traditional studio orchestra for a synthesizer, Shore put together some unsettlingly sparse, robotic pieces for the film, and was panned by critics for his efforts (see also: John Williams - Heartbeeps, Basil Poledouris - Red Dawn). Seems that film soundtrack "aficionados" couldn't quite wrap their heads around the concept of an artificial, electro-centric score for an artificial, electro-centric movie. Their loss.
Shore obviously learned this lesson well later in his career, but for all the rest of you I offer a simple piece of advice: If you want to please critics and win awards, NEVER GO FULL ROBOT.


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Trailer:




And in completely unrelated news...


Those of you in and around the Bay Area this weekend should go check this show out. It will most certainly not suck.

THE GRANNIES
THE CORRUPTORS
EVERYTHING MUST GO
DALTON


And now, a joke:

What is a zombie's favorite basketball team?


That's right, the SEATTLE SUPERSONICS. Brilliant. Can you tell I GIMPed the picture myself?

Naked Lunch

I'm not a statistician, but based on the crude, haphazard and half-assed surveying that I've done, I'd be willing to guess that the average IllCon reader has some interest in William S. Burroughs and/or David Cronenberg. As far as my lazy research tells me, there is only one place where the two overlapped, 1991's Cronenberg directed film version of Naked Lunch. The director's early work in the 70's and 80's essentially founded a whole new way of looking at monster horror, namely in which the monster is within ourselves and hence, Burroughs seems a nice fit. Cronenberg has since branched out into new genres but the theme of internal transformation still runs through his work.

While it included many aspects of its titular source, the film Naked Lunch also included biographical material from Burroughs' life. Still, I don't think one necessarily has to be a fan of Burroughs' writing to appreciate the movie. As an exercise in oddity it can stand alone just fine. In truth however, despite my ascribed area of "expertise" here at IllCon I have no intention of talking about the film. I haven't seen it in over a decade. No, what I want to tell you about is the Naked Lunch soundtrack by Howard Shore. Shore got his start working with Cronenberg, and has scored almost all of the director's films (including Videodrome.) Obviously it's a partnership that works, and this Naked Lunch soundtrack is ample proof. Still, I'm not even here to talk to you about the soundtrack to Naked Lunch, merely to point out that it is awesome and encourage you to listen.

Buy yourself some Naked Lunch

Lunch

Lest you think that Howard Shore is some kind of one director pony however I offer this other awesome selection. In addition to the above, in the same year he scored the phenomenal  psychological crime/horror Silence of the Lambs for director Johnathan Demme. (He also did some Twilight ST's, but whatever, gotta pay the bills right?)

Buy Yourself some Silence of the Lambs

Silence