When the day comes that Occupy Midian accomplishes their goal of reintroducing Clive Barker’s Nightbreed to the world in the form of Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut, the world is also going to be reintroduced to a score from Danny Elfman that ranks among some of Elfman’s best work. A lot of people just don’t know it yet.
So as we continue on with our weeklong mission here at SCARS to create Cabal Cut awareness, tonight we open up the scope to look at the soundtrack and how it compares to the sounds of other Clive Barker movies.
Carnival Underground, Danny Elfman, Nightbreed soundtrack
A track that tonally sets the movie for the fantastical elements that Nightbreed was intended to embody before it was erroneously marketed as a slasher with monsters. Clive Barker likes this track so much that he included it on his album “Being Music,” a compilation of his favorite songs.
Main Titles, Danny Elfman, Nightbreed soundtrack
This hits right in the Danny Elfman sweet spot. Released in 1990, listening to it you can tell right away it’s a score made in the same era Elfman did Batman (’89) and Edward Scissorhands (’90). I’d love to know the exact timeline of when Elfman did each, but I can’t seem to pinpoint it. (Please leave a comment if you know!)
Main Titles, Colin Towns, Rawhead Rex soundtrack
Rawhead Rex was Clive Barker’s second screenplay (his first being Transmutations, which Barker admits Rawhead Rex isn’t as bad as) and was an adaptation of a short story in his Books of Blood series. Although the movie was released in 1986 and largely forgotten, composer Colin Towns would continue on to have a prolific career as a British composer. At least we got this pretty awesome score. And someday we may have more. Some years ago, Clive made a wistful statement to AICN about directing a Rawhead Rex remake that sparked internet rumors abounds.
Main Titles, Christopher Young, Hellbound: Hellraiser II soundtrack
The first Hellraiser score is iconic and eerie. The score for the second is high drama at its best. Is this a case of the sequel outdoing the original?
Hellraiser, Motorhead, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth soundtrack
With 1992’s Hellraiser III, Barker’s story of cenobites took a turn from wordless, atmospheric scores to a soundtrack with KMFDM and not one, but two Motorhead tracks. Lemmy originally wrote the song “Hellraiser” with Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde for Ozzy’s No More Tears album. While Ozzy’s version may be well known, the Motorhead version wins on (at least) one important account. Clive Barker directed their video.
It Was Always You, Helen (Candyman theme), Philip Glass, Candyman soundtrack
The crème de la crème of all Barker themes. We all know it. We all love it.
Tags: Clive Barker, Colin Towns, Danny Elfman, horror scores, Nightbreed, Rawhead Rex
