Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2013 August 19 • Monday

The 280th Sountrack of the Week is Gino Marinuzzi, Jr.'s score for Mario Bava's Terrore nello spazio, a.k.a. Planet of the Vampires.

This music is great. A lot of is weird electronic sounds, very ambient and creepy. Out of nowhere will come some conventional instrument like a flute, for instance, playing a dreamy sort of melody, or the orchestra will come crashing in with some dramatic underscore. There's also great use of vibes.

Some cues, like "Another Macabre Discovery/Ship's Abandoned Bridge", remind me of Akira Ifukube's work. A cue like "Astronaut Lands on the Surface" could fit into a few other Italian horror movies from the same time.

But mostly it's the weird and atmospheric stuff that stands out: the main titles music, "The Living Dead", "Inside the Starship", "Evil Spirits" and so on.

I love the movie, too. It's influence on Alien is pretty clear. For some reason a lot of people can't watch it without laughing, however. That's the kind of thing that keeps me from going to the Film Forum more often than I do.