Tony Isbert – Rest in Peace

Soundtrack Review: Symptoms

Symptoms (1974)
Released by Dragon’s Domain Records
10 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 38:59 min.
Music Composed by John Scott

The violin has always been one of my favorite instruments when it comes to setting an eerie mood, which is the first thing we hear when the score starts. Then composer Scott takes it up a notch, using some wind instruments (maybe a clarinet?) to further add some suspense, before going into some slow and echoing piano notes. All of this in the first track.

This isn’t a score that is going to fill you with a sense of terror or dread. But what it does hit is a lot of different levels of mood. There are several pieces that are very somber and almost peaceful, but then we’ll get a change where it almost tells the listener that something is about to upset that mood. The way the bass tones, sounding like from either a standup bass or maybe a cello, gives that deeper and darker sound to give more depth into what we’re feeling.

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Episode 9 of Discover the Horror Podcast Now Live!

Larrez. Rollin. Franco. Do those names mean anything to you? And if so, what images come to mind? For those that are aware of those names and their work, you might have an image of a vampire or two floating through your mind. In this episode, we take a look at 3 unique vampire films that are quite different than what most would consider a traditional genre entry, and each from a different director. We cover Jose Larrez’s Vampyres (1974), Jean Rollin’s Fascination (1979), and Jess Franco’s Vampyros Lesbos (1971).

Movie Review: Vampyres (1974)

vampyres_1974_poster_03-1Vampyres (1974)
Directed by Jose Larraz
Starring Marianne Morris, Anulka Dziubinska, Murray Brown, Brian Deacon, Sally Faulkner, Michael Byrne, Karl Lanchbury

In our continuing journey to help dig up some lost or forgotten films to new viewers, we offer up this vampire morsel that is a little different your normal blood sucking fare. While it is probably not like many vampire films you’ve seen before, it will give you something that most fanged features don’t give you…something that will sink into your brain, as well as your neck.

Vampyres is a film that no heterosexual male could watch and not remembered; especially if they saw it at a young age, like I did. At face value, the film is filled with intense scenes of eroticism, coupled with brutal acts of violence and bloodshed. Did I mention there is a bit of nudity in the film as well? 

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