Stelvio Cipriani
Born Aug. 20th, 1937 – Died Oct. 1st, 2018

For some reason this name might not be that familiar (which is a shame), but if you’re a fan of Italian movies, then you’ve most likely heard his work. Cipriani is a composer that has written music for over 200 films. Working in many different genres, he created his share of horror film scores. He worked with Mario Bava on quite a few films, such as A Bay of Blood (1971), Baron Blood (1972) and would later score Rabid Dogs (1974). He also did the music for Riccardo Freda’s Tragic Ceremony (1972), Luciano Ercoli’s Death Walks on High Heels (1971), as well as films like Tentacles (1977), The Great Alligator (1979), Nightmare City (1980), Piranha 2 (1981), and a few more.

When he scored Tentacles , he re-used the main theme from one of his earlier movies, La Polizia sta a Guardare (1973), which apparently a young filmmaker named Taratino liked the film so much that he used it in this film Death Proof (2007).

With all the great Italian films out there, the music is usually very effective as well as important to the whole feel of the movie experience. That is why these hard working composers, like Cipriani need to be noticed and remembered.