As a collector in general, it can be pretty tough (and expensive) to keep up with some of the amazing things coming out that you want to add to your collection. Horror soundtracks is one thing that I’m a sucker for. Ever since seeing Jaws and realizing then just how much a great score can have an effect on the viewer, soundtracks have been on my brain. They can take you on a musical journey that transport your brain to the film playing in your head, as well as triggering the memories and feelings you had during certain sequences.

Star Wars was the first soundtrack I ever bought, but more followed. Every time I am working at my computer or reading, I have a soundtrack playing in the background. There are scores that I buy because I remember the score being effective. Then there are others that I simply buy because I can’t believe someone is actually releasing it on CD! I think “who else is going to buy this release besides me?!?!”

Here are some of the titles that have been recently announced for release, most of which I have already pre-ordered!

The Golden Age of Horror Vol. 1
Released from Dragon’s Domain Records, this CD contains scores from Hammer’s 1963 film Paranoiac, and Amicus’ Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors and The Skull, both from 1965. All were composed by Elisabeth Lutyens, who was Britain’s first female feature film composer, so it’s great to see a little attention being given to her!

Retail price is only $17.95, with a total running time of 75:31. If this is anything like their Golden Age of Science Fiction releases, this will not only be a great addition to any collection, but since this is Vol. 1, one can only dream of what might be coming next!

Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Also from Dragon’s Domain Records is their release of Tom Savini’s 1990 remake of the George Romero classic. This score had been previously released on CD by Numonorean Music back in 2002, but it became pretty tough to come by. But now thanks to Dragon’s Domain Records has brought it back out, being newly remastered by James Nelson and contains a booklet of liner notes by author and composer Brian Satterwhite. It amazes me on some of these scores that become so scares once they come out, so it is always great to see a follow up release to help fans that missed out the first time around.

The composer is Paul McCullough, who actually wrote the story for George Romero’s The Crazies (1973). Retail price is $17.95 and has a running time of 62:08. Always nice to see a rare release getting another one for fans that might have missed it the first time around.

I, Desire (1982)
Now here’s a complete and bewildering surprise! This was a made-for-TV movie starring David Naughton and Brad Dourif about a female vampire on the loose in modern day Los Angeles, directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. I don’t know if this title ever got a VHS release let alone a DVD or Blu-Ray release, or that many people even know or remember it. I do, so this was pre-ordered the minute I saw that it was coming out. Again, just for the oddity of this rare title getting a CD release.

Don Peake was the composer, who also did Wes Craven’s Hills Have Eyes (1977). The retail price is $17.95 and has a total running time of 44:03.

Dragon’s Domain Records has been doing some amazing work lately, especially with a lot of their releases priced under $20. As a collector of soundtracks, they can get a bit expensive, so kudos to them for keeping the cost down a bit.

The Food of the Gods (1976) / Frogs (1972)
Talk about a killer double feature! Quartet Records brings us two of the most famous killer animal films from the ’70s. First, we have The Food of the Gods from composer Elliott Kaplan, who mainly worked on television series, but here gives us one of his few horror films he worked on.

Then we have Les Baxter’s score for Frogs, one of even more strange killer animal films from the ’70s. Baxter was a staple of AIP films, from the Corman / Poe films to scoring the American releases of a lot of the Mario Bava films that AIP imported for US releasing.

The retail price on this release is $19.95 and has a total running time of 65.06.

The Other (1972)
This is yet another score that I never thought we’d see a release for, mainly because it doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. That might be because of the very dark tone of the film. Based on the book by Tom Tyron, it deals with twin boys on a farm that like to play dirty little tricks on their family. Very dark and demented tricks.

The music was composed by the one and only Jerry Goldsmith, so I’m excited for this release. It had been previously released in an extended suite by Varèse Sarabande alongside The Mephisto Waltz in 1997, but his new deluxe edition has the complete stereo score, with a new audio restoration!

The retail on this one is $24.95 and has a total running time of 45:01.

You can order these from Screen Archives Entertainment by clicking HERE, or wherever you get your soundtrack releases from. I’m sure you’ll see reviews of these coming here at the Krypt at some point in the future!