Night Shadows (1984)

Composer(s):
Richard Band

Released in:
1984

Reviews

How can anyone write such a FANTASTIC score for such a mediocre film?
by Alex (July 2, 2007)
Richard Band never fails to boggle my mind. From the darkly beautiful themes of "From Beyond", to the beautiful main title of "The ALchemist" and the orchestral majesty of "House on Sorority Row", this composer has proven to be one of the most talented working today, with a nack for beautiful themes and dynamic writing that always surpasses the films he writes them for. "Mutant" was a blind buy--it was one of the few 80's horror films I hadn't seen, but right away I was blown away by the music: I think this is possibly THE best horror score I've ever heard. The action writing in tracks like "Car Attack" and "Mutant Onslaught/Finale" are exemplary, but what really makes this score great is that it contains THE most beautiful love theme I've ever heard in a film. I'm serious, it's just gorgeous. The love theme is hinted at early amongst the more horror-inclined musical passages of "Main Titles" as a haunting piano motif, but it is given it's first orchestral rendition in a sad, elegiac form of sweeping strings and harp in the last minute of "Mike's Death". The theme is further explored in the first minute or so of "Billy Gets it/Josh and Holly Escape", but it explodes into an elegant orchestral rendition in "Josh Walks through Town", one of the three best tracks on this disc. In "Josh and Holly", the theme begins quietly with solo woodwinds, piano, and (xylophone?), with an air of hesitance, but as the harp and french horn pick up the theme, it soars to a beautiful crescendo. It is the "End Titles", however, where the theme gets its best rendition in a majestic, lyrical fashion. It's a GORGEOUS piece of music, colorful and lyrical, and hands down the most beautiful piece of music I've EVER heard in a horror film.
The fact that Richard Band is stuck scoring TV shows nowadays is a sin. "Mutant" is truly one of the best horror scores you'll ever hear, and along with Band's other orchestral output--The Day Time Ended, Troll, From Beyond, The Alchemist, and House on Sororrity Row, to name but a few--and it's simply unbelievable that anyone can write such beautiful, emotive music for such an uninspired horror film. Fantastic scoring.
BUY IT!!! NOW!!!

Reviews on other sites:

KQEK.com (Perseverance CD)

suggested by:
Mark R. Hasan

Film Music Magazine (Perseverance release)

suggested by:
Robert DiMucci

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