The Chosen [aka Rain of Fire, aka Holocaust 2000 (1977)] - Soundtrack

Seeing The Chosen on the big screen in 1977 or '78 was one the many memorable experiences I had at the Southshore Cinema in Alameda. The rudiments of the plot were easy enough for my ten-year-old brain to follow, a well-meaning industrialist (Kirk Douglas) becomes plagued by prophetic visions warning that the nuclear power plant he is building will become the biblical beast the book of revelation describes as empowering the Anti-Christ.

This is the literal embodiment of...

If that were not horrifying enough, Douglas learns that his character's beloved son Angel (Simon Ward) is the Anti-Christ itself.

THIS!!!

As far as cash grab knock-offs go, The Chosen is a decent enough one of The Omen. It has a smattering of gruesome, heavy-handed 'accidents' dispatching anyone and everyone that dares even consider getting in the way of the plant's construction. It also beats The Final Conflict (1981) to the mass infanticide punch, with a really twisted sequence set in a maternity ward.

Fabio Babini's liner notes for this expanded release, which are in both Italian and English, lavish praise upon Ennio Morricone's atmospheric, albeit a tad repetitious, score.

Babini describes the "key warning signs of the tonal Morricone: the serial rhythm and pressing of the piano pedal, the minor-key orchestral introductions, yearning to touch the soul but keeping a safe distance from any temptation toward cloying sentimentality, the harmonious crescendo almost it leading [sic] to a clash of sound masses, sometimes supported at a distance by a kicking bass." Damn, that is one hyper-descriptive mouthful of lavish praise there.

Mention is also made of Morricone "retaining the traits absolutely recognizable at first listen." Something to which, as undereducated as I am in the parlance of compositional technique and style, I heartily concur. There are rhythmic flourishes that I can hear echoed in Morricone's scores for The Untouchables (1987) and Phantom of the Opera (1999), as well minor-key orchestral passages that likewise echo sections of Morricone's scores for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Orca (1977), and The Island (1980).

I am not saying these echoes feel or sound as if Morricone were reusing or recycling material, an approach that James Horner admitted to, only that I can recognize his compositional style. Morricone's is scores have become as easy for me to identify as those written by either John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. 

The Cat O' Nine Tails [Il Gatto A Nove Code (1971)] - Soundtrack

Dario Argento's second film has often been dismissed as one of the writer-director's lesser efforts. Argento himself long considered it to be the worst of his films. However Argento's post-Opera critical and commercial missteps have opened the door for its reevaluation, with opinion of the film and its place in Argento's body of work becoming more favorable over time.

Although Argento and Ennio Morricone were well acquainted with each other on a personal level, neither really understood the other professionally when they first worked together on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [L'uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo] (1970).

But when they re-teamed for The Cat O' Nine Tails [Il Gatto A Nove Code] Morricone had a much better understanding of what Argento liked and wanted in a film score and thus was able to deliver an impressive piece that was, in Morricone's own words, "bold, dissonant and traumatic."

With the one exception of the title theme, Ninna Nanna in Blu, Morricone eschews melody in favor of a five-note motif for bass guitar accompanied by drums. A motif that is colored and enhanced with strings, woodwinds, piano, tremolo, electronic guitar, and, of course, voices.

Ninna Nanna in Blu is used sparingly in the film, but only for moments that directly involve Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) or her influence. Which accounts for its sounding, again in Morricone's words, "simple [and] nearly childish."

While Morricone's score for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage might get more attention from critics and fans, what he composed for The Cat O' Nine Tails is every bit as good and deserving of an attentive listen.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [L'uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo] (1970) - Soundtrack

There was a healthy stretch of Christmas mornings wherein I was gifted with a plethora of horror, science fiction, and fantasy stuff. One such item was the soundtrack album for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage released by Cerberus Records in 1981. I still have that album, in fact.

But today's subject will be this expanded release from Cinevox, which presents the complete score in stereo, for the very first time.

The liner notes for the Cerberus album describe Morricone's score as "innovative and effective," to which I agree. The notes also point out how the score "is more modern in contrast to what was the more conventional 'gothic' style [of the time]" and "laced with ominous sighs and the constricted breaths of fear."

About that latter example. Both albums feature a one minute and twenty-or-so second(s) long track titled The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which features a woman's 'constricted' gasps of fear and desperation, underplayed by a thumping percussion that starts off slow, but gradually quickens.

While I can understand what Morricone was attempting to achieve, that does not prevent me from thinking the track sounds less like a woman in duress and more like a woman, um, working herself up to a rather satisfying la petite mort.

If you know I what I mean, and I think you do.