Salem's Lot Soundtrack

I have waited for this score ever since I saw the entire film screened at the Television Academy (Emmy) in 1979. It was so great to see it projected off a 35mm show print from the original negative, and Harry Sukman's score was a standout! (Nobody left at intermission--the show ran over 3 hours--and it got the loudest screams I've ever heard in a theater, even from ALIEN, which was released a few months earlier. Sukman was, according to Tobe Hooper, Bernard Herrmann's "arranger" (probably copiest/proofreader would be more accurate, as Herrmann always wrote his scores IN INK and did his own orchestrations.). Hermann once commented words to the effect that to let somebody else orchestrate your music, it was like having another artist color in the colors on your painting.Anyway, Sukman obviously had studied Herrmann, and both the producer Richard Kobritz and Tobe Hooper wanted an "old fashioned Bernard Herrmann score" and they got one--in spades. The opening title has all the drive of NORTH BY NORTHWEST (and even foreshadows some of Danny Elfman's earlier scores) and there are plenty of unusual orchestrations and tonalites to delight the ear. The "floating vampire" cues are absolutely inspired and terrifying and COMPLETELY unique. The perfectly match the unnatural movements and physics of the vampire movements. And if you listen closely, you will hear Sukman pay homage to Herrmann in the cue where Barlow gets staked. After a long held note, the famous three note PSYCHO theme comes in. It's covered up by dialogue on the composite soundtrack, but here alone you can appreciate the nod to both Hitchcock and Herrmann.And I hear some distinct nods to Bob Cobert's score for DARK SHADOWS as well.The love theme for Susan is both haunting and tinged with sadness. Somehow we know this romance isn't fated to be, and the music tells us this in heartbreaking terms. The dark reworking of Susan's theme when she is led off to her fate with Barlow is particularly striking, and in my opinion the cue for the fire at the Marsten House is one of the most terrifying pieces of horror music ever written.....the shrieks and wails of the orchestra truly do summon the sound of Hell. Sukman also uses the Dies Iraes as a obstinate bass line which, if you know classical music, is another nod.There are some fun extras at the end, including the Feature film versions of the Main and End Titles. Sukman uses a large orchestra, and the sound quality is SUPERB and stereo. It is hard to believe this was recorded nearly 40 years ago, yet it sounds like it was recorded last week.This is an absolute gem.

the late harry sukman delivers what was meant to be with a great horror film by tobe hooper creepy, scary strings with a old fashioned orchestra and cues that terrify. a good old school winner in scary music. a 10 out of 10.

I absolutely love this soundtrack with Halloween just around the corner ! Only thing I didn’t like was the plastic 2 cd case it came in that broke when reaching for disc 2

Movie is awesome & this soundtrack is creepy as hell

I listen to this over and over. I had made a copy of this music years ago from the VHS movie, that is how much I loved this music. My copy was 45 minutes long. This clocks in somewhere like twice that long. The quality is great and the liner notes are what i expected from such a classic set.As a Horror write myself, I would love to have such a great soundtrack to a movie of one of my stories. I think this is every bit as great as Psycho, if I am being honest, I like it much better. If I could talk Stephen King into letting me remake this film and to retell the tale he originally wrote that both versions screwed up in their own ways, I would seriously consider using this soundtrack again. This music is as vital to the story as the soundtrack music from Psycho and Halloween. I am so thrilled they released this terrorific soundtrack at long last.

What a pleasure to have this on vinyl. Firstly I been a fan of Salem’s lot for years always thought it was a creepy film from the master Stephen king, the one thing that stuck out was the music score. For years I tried to find it eventually getting the intrada version on cd which I think that’s been discontinued now. So couple of years went by and happened to notice a vinyl version on YouTube and was blown away just by the art work cover. The album comes as a double vinyl the version I got from amazon was the moonlight blue, which I though looked more effective. There is a yellow and black splatter version. The sound quality is really good and what you’d expect from a TV movie from the 70s. This is certainly a must for collectors I’d say this is the last version to be released in physical format

Well after waiting for 40years it's finally here. I've been waiting that long.It's a double vinyl LP album and it's still hasn't lost any of its power to be as creepy as it was back in the day.Brilliantly done under the baton of Harry Skuman.The two LP's are both picture discs and look fabulous BUT the LP's are prone to pops and clicks. Disappointing in that department I'm afraid.

He sido un devoto fan de Salem's Lot (1979) desde que la ví por primera vez estrenada en cines en version recortadísima de 112mins. Por suerte ya podemos disfrutar de la versión íntegra de más de tres horas tanto en dvd como en blu ray, aunque aquí la sigan titulando estúpidamente "Phantasma II"La banda sonora de Harry Sukman es absolutamente magistral, en la línea de los grandes compositores de la época dorada del cine como Bernard Herrman. Escalofriantes sonidos, con un tema memorable y unas orquestaciones plenas de percusión y lirismo gótico a partes iguales.Ésta edición en disco doble de vinilo es un sueño hecho realidad. Waxworks ha hecho un trabajo excelente con el artwork, de hecho el más bonito que he visto sobre éste material y los discos también preciosos con ése look de luna azul. Pena que al tintar los discos se aumenten un poquito los clics y cracks aquí y allá pero vaya, nada demasiado molesto para un fan de los vinilos.Recomendable al 100%

Aun a pesar del precio... Solo el diseño del estuche y de los discos hace una maravilla esta digna compra.

Tal como lo esperaba !!!