The thing in October (part VII).

One thing I've never really minded about the music of Richard Band is his tendency to, shall we say, borrow from other scores to augment his own work. Tourist Trap made appearances in Puppet Master and The Day Time Ended. First Blood popped up late in Ghost Warrior, as did Star Trek: The Motion Picture in Metalstorm. Also, there was The Amityville Horror's theme reborn as the music box theme of The House on Sorority Row, and (my favorite) "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back utilized in Zone Troopers. Perhaps his most (in)famous borrowing occurred in his score to Re-Animator.

Med student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) has hit upon a way to re-animate dead tissue. However, there are some...complications. Easily the best film produced by Empire Pictures, this is a gross, distasteful (and quite funny) movie, enlivened by Combs's wonderfully deadpan performance.

Band got into a lot of hot water when he appropriated Bernard Herrmann's music from Psycho for this. I don't see the big deal. a) While Psycho is a classic score, it's also one of the most parodied in the history of ever; AC/DC used the string motif from "The Murder" in Maximum Overdrive and no one said jack shit about it and b) Band did try to have Herrmann credited, but missed the deadline to have the credits altered, so it's not like he didn't try*.

Still, independent of the pop-augmented Psycho borrowings, this is an exceptional Band original. The main Psycho theme recurs throughout the score (sounding its most Bandian towards the end of "Parts, Whole Parts"), but Band does work in an amusing electronic take on "The Murder" in "Halsey Alive", "Corpses Re-Animated" and "First Corpse to Be Re-Animated".

As ever, Band proves a master of atmosphere apart from the effects-laden set-pieces. "The Cellar" pulses with creepy strings and a synth backbeat, while "Body and Soul" is characterized by a hypnotic string arpeggio. A wavering melody for chimes pops up in "Searching for a Body in the Morgue", "The Lab", "Where's the Cat?" and "Stinger - Version 2".

As West's formula gets loose, a descending, chaotic motif for piano, winds and strings (likely underscoring the re-animated) makes itself known. The theme enters the score in "The Cat Experiment", returns in "First Corpse..." and dominates "Corpses Run Amok".

There's also a lovely flute melody underscoring the relationship between West's unwilling associate, Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and his girlfriend, Meg (Barbara Crampton) that figures into "Halsey Grabs Meg" and "Meg Re-Animated".

This is the fourth release of the score (following a Varese LP, and CDs on Silva Screen - paired with the electronic Bride of Re-Animator - and LaLaLand). The now out-of-print Intrada release saw this paired with Band's lush and exciting score for easily one of Empire's worst, Ghoulies. However you get this score, it's worth it.

* - Perhaps my all-time favorite film music anecdote involves this film, when Band recalled the experience of recording the score with the Rome Philharmonic to the now-defunct Music from the Movies, he likened it to Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal: "When I say that chairs flew across the stage and fights broke out, I'm not kidding! It was Orchestra Rehearsal. The only thing missing was the wrecking ball crashing through the studio."