Customer Reviews

Legendary Horror Films (Original Soundtracks)

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If you are a classic horror film buff, like me, you'll love this CD containing ORIGINAL soundtrack recordings from the films. Taken from isolation tracks from the masters ( that means music and sound effects only, no dialogue), this is the only CD I know of that has the music directly from the films, NOT re-recorded! Ok, some tracks definitly show their age, but fascinating to listen to none the less. The wolf man is probably the strongest and most recognizable of the tracks, but once you start listening, all those dark, creepy Saturday nights watching Creature Features will come back to you...wonderful!

Reading the two reviews was helpful. The Salter/Skinner Son of Frankenstein cd is a favorite of mine. Now we need to see new symphony recordings of Karl Hajos' Werewolf of London score and Heinz Roemheld's Invisible Man music. Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon borrowed from both of these, and fans of Universal Studios horror/suspense music know how great all the music was on that 1930s serial. You can access some great music clips at Tony LoBue's Flash Gordon web site.

Growing up and watching the great Universal horror movies on late night TV, I as most kids did, became infatuated with the classic movie monsters of the 30's and 40's. Now, here in one collection are most of the opening soundtracks from these legendary horror films. The creepy swan lake suite from Dracula to the thunderous music of impending doom that started most of the Frankenstein movies. And, who could forget that classic score from The Wolfman with Lon Chaney. Most tracks are lifted directly off the movie soundtracks, so slight background sounds can be heard, but that just adds to the enjoyment. The opening to Dracula, is NOT the original from the movie, it seems the first few bars have been edited and a different version added in. All in all, this is a MUST for classic horror fans. Try puttting on this disc, and guessing what movie each track is from, it will bring back haunting memories of stormy dark nights where the monsters truly roamed our imagination...

Do you want to hear all of that wonderful soundtrack music that Universal Studios used in their monster movies of the 1930's and 1940's? Then there are some fine recordings now available on CD. I particularly recommend the Moscow Symphony Orchestra's recording of the Monster Music of Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner, featuring music from Son of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man Returns, and the Wolf Man, three of the finest examples of the genre. One soundtrack that does not seem to be available is from the Invisible Man, which as I recall was also used as background for the old Flash Gordon serial. That particular music tempted me to buy "Legendary Horror Films", even though there was only one track from it on the disc. Apparently, whoever made this disc simply copied the music from a recording of the film, sound effects and all. Despite the copyright warning on the label of this Spanish import, I wonder how the folks at disconforme.com managed to get the necessary approvals. In any event, it would probably be more pleasurable to put the DVD's of these movies in your player and leave the TV screen dark than to play this album.