October 11, 2019
Alan Howarth’s ZOMBIE NIGHT Soundtrack Premiere, Richard Band’s MUTANT Soundtrack Reissue, Announced
Dragon’s Domain is releasing a pair of frightfully fun horror scores on CD and digital. 2013’s ZOMBIE NIGHT features music composed and performed by Alan Howarth (former John Carpenter associate on the HALLOWEEN movie sequels and others. 1984 science fiction/horror film MUTANT is being released as a 35th Anniversary Edition, featuring the music composed by Richard Band (THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, RE-ANIMATOR, THE PUPPET MASTER films) and performed by England’s National Philharmonic Orchestra.
The SyFy channel TV-movie ZOMBIE NIGHT was produced by The Asylum and directed by John Gulager, known for his FEAST trilogy of vastly entertaining monster movies (2005, 2008-09). Alan Howarth’s music combines a propulsive rhythm for the assailing zombies along with unusual musical textures that convey tension and terror. “It wasn’t just a synth score,” Howarth described the score. “I used a lot of sampled orchestra and abstract orchestral tones for discord and unease. The third act [when] the zombies are everywhere, I really kicked the score into some almost zombie-horror-jazz.” The release includes liner notes written by noted author Randall Larson, including insights by composer Alan Howarth on the creation of the score. For more details including sample tracks, see buysoundtrax .
MUTANT was directed by John ‘Bud’ Cardos and starred Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins, and Jody Medford in a story in which local townsfolk are turned into ravenous, mutant killers after being infected by toxic waste dumped from a nearby chemical facility. Richard Band composed a thoroughly orchestral composition that gave the film a sonic breadth that escalated it far beyond the standard B-movie stigma it might otherwise have been saddled with. “I’ve always put a big emphasis upon thematic material as opposed to ambiance,” said Band. “90% of the scores I have done are thematically based – very few have been motivically based or ambiance based. That’s always been my mainstay. I just believe that themes are what creates a sense of continuity within a film, dramatically. You have to assign themes to certain characters or situations so that the audience has something to come back to or to look forward to or to recognize on an emotional level. It’s especially important in a horror film to use themes.”
With Band’s score newly mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland, the MUTANT soundtrack album includes comprehensive liner notes updated and expanded from the score’s long sold-out 2007 release, written by author Randall Larson from his interviews with the composer as well as director Cardos and producer Igo Kantor. For details and sample tracks from MUTANT, see buysoundtrax
Both albums will be available in limited editions of 500 units each. Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, expects to begin shipping these the week of October 21. Both CDs come with free digital download/digital booklet; and the first 50 copies or either album sold through the BSX website will include an autograph by the composer.
