My Favorite Themes - Part VI

Score: Warlock by Jerry Goldsmith

About the film: A warlock (Julian Sands) escapes capture in 16th century New England and travels to modern-day (well, as modern as you can get for 1988) Los Angeles. His plan: collect the pages of the Satanic Bible and destroy the world. Hot on his trail is a witch hunter (Richard E. Grant) who allies himself with a flip waitress (Lori Singer). Though it fell through the cracks in its limited release (in 1991!), this is an underrated little thriller from genre vet Steve Miner (Friday the 13th 2 and 3, House, Lake Placid). If you can get past the cheesy special effects and Singer's uneven performance, you may well come away entertained. Note to animation buffs: look for Rob Paulsen.

Title: "Main Theme". (Yep. That's it.) This is a creepy, predominately electronic six-note theme associated with the malevolent title character. (Interesting note: this score was recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. As good as this score is, maybe it's not the score one should show off when bragging about the MSO. The electronics are at the forefront, here.) However, in the climatic "Salt Water Attack", the brass blares the melody as the warlock comes close to achieving his goal.

Other themes of interest: There's a quietly noble theme for Grant's witch hunter, at its most beautiful in the finale, "The Salt Flats". In addition to the exciting action melody ("The Weather Vane", "Salt Water Attack"), there's a minor theme for Singer (the end of "Nails").

Availability: Released by Intrada Records in 1988, the CD is now out-of-print and goes for ridiculous prices on the online market. My recommendation is a cautious one. This is, by no means, one of the Goldsmith classics; I grew fond of it watching the movie. If you must have it, I wouldn't recommend eBay, although, if you have a friend with a copy and a CD burner, I say go for it.