ichard Band has taken a lot of flak over the years for his accompaniment to the film Re-Animator, with some soundtrack enthusiasts claiming the cues are too lighthearted and others alleging that major themes are copied from Bernard Herrmann's legendary Psycho score. A fresh release of the 1985 picture's original melodies proves that these assertions are not entirely incorrect. In fact, the 15 cuts on the disc, plus a lengthy audio interview with Band and extensive explanatory liner notes, reveal that the composer embraced and celebrated precisely those attributes that have most incensed intransigent fans.
"Prologue/Main Title" offsets eerie elements with a bouncy motif, suitably establishing a twofold tone for the tale's tantalizing balance of humor and horror. Weird electronic sounds and deep woodwinds dominate "Meg Looks for the Cat" and "Halsey Grabs the Boys," delivering a terrifically chilling ambiance, with tracks such as the mischievous "Body and Soul" and "West Tries Parts," which accelerates the adventure's chief string theme to an almost comical tempo, providing comparatively genial moments. The film's closing cut, "Meg Is Gone. ... Well, Maybe Not/End Credits," once again draws together witty and worrisome components, bringing the primary musical portion of the CD to a dynamic yet oddly dualistic conclusion.
In his remarks, Band expounds upon the role played by the music in accentuating the movie's amusing and appalling aspects, along with his conscious decision to emulate both the Psycho leitmotif and, in part, a key theme from Jerry Goldsmith's score for the 1962 motion picture Freud. Director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna and star Jeffrey Combs add additional comments within the eight-page booklet accompanying the album.
An honest-to-goodness Herrmann homage
As if the misplaced perceptions of soundtrack buffs weren't enough of a burden, inside the liner notes the producers of this project also playfully placed the term "Plagiarist!!" in graffiti-like script underneath the beleaguered composer's text interview. The one-word commentary is obviously a tongue-in-cheek declaration, as Band readily proclaims, in both his print and audio discussions, that the similarities between this work and the music of Psycho are "no coincidence." Equally as important, the cues—presented for the first time on this recording entirely in stereo—belie any accusations of outright theft, exhibiting a winsome "wink-and-a-nod" familiarity with Herrmann's signature opus while, at the same time, supplying myriad innovative sequences.
"Corpses Just Want to Have Fun" is a bravura piece, utilizing warbling woodwinds, deep percussion and, of course, shrieking violins to generate an atmosphere of true tension and terror. Juxtaposing anxious rhythms with panicky tones and, at times, jovial harmonies, the tune is by turns apprehensive, abhorrent and appropriately absurd. "The Turning Point/First Reanimation/First Reanimator" is similarly effective, furnishing diverse variations of the picture's suggestive motif, just as shorter cuts like "Halsey Back to Life" and "Searching Hill's Office" offer relatively subdued breathers brimming with panic and peril.
Though the Psycho influence is obvious, it never becomes overbearing, with the screeching strings and terrifying tempos serving more as a loving Herrmann homage than out-and-out thematic theft. Band's lengthy dialogue—the recorded interview runs for nearly 15 minutes—further outlines the foundation and intent of the music, making Re-Animator: The
Definitive Edition a genuinely fantastic and fascinating disc.
