Lakeshore Records will release Christopher Young’s classic horror score to HELLRAISER in honor of the film and score’s 30th anniversary.
The new edition has been remixed and remastered from the original 24-Track 2-Inch Reel-to-Reel Analog Tapes, overseen by Christopher Young. The soundtrack will be available digitally and on CD on Sept. 15th from Lakeshore, which will also release a retail version in vinyl on October 6th.The retail version of the vinyl release is presented on 140g multi-colored translucent red with black smoke Vinyl with a 4-color printed disc sleeve featuring the long lost original theatrical sales sheet. The release also includes digitally restored original artwork and photography from the film’s archives.
Mondo Records will be releasing a special limited edition LP version, date TBA.
The score to Clive Barker’s directorial debut, based in his novella The Hellbound Heart, was by far Christopher Young’s most rewarding most influential scoring experience of the ‘80s. “In this project, not only did Young have a close and satisfying artistic relationship with Barker, but he was able to incorporate the unique musique concrete styles that had been deleted from his score the previous year, Tobe Hooper’s remake of INVADERS FROM MARS,” wrote Randall D. Larson for a forthcoming edition of his Musique Fantastique book series. Barker saw HELLRAISER as being a romantic film more than a horror film, and wanted Young to emphasize that aspect. “For instance, the big transformation scene when Frank comes out of the floor – my first impression was to score it with non-melodic sound-mass oriented material,” said Young. “But Clive said he wanted to create this feeling of beauty; he wanted melody and something soaring, so I suggested a kind of diabolical waltz, which he said was perfect.”
While Christopher Young is a fan of horror films and their music, and he has become best known for his work in that genre, he is in fact a seasoned composer whose proven abilities in multiple genres keeps him from being completely pigeon holed as a horror composer. “Many years ago I was very worried that I was going to be forever typecast as the Bela Lugosi of film music,” Young told Larson in a 2001 interview. “So I have broken that, but in my eagerness to rid myself of that image, I’ve spread my wings and am always trying to redefine myself.”
