Tim Korg - The Boogeyman(OST) [Howling Wolf Records - 2014]Here we have the 2014 reissue of the synth based soundtrack for The Boogey Man- a 1980 horror film that blended together elements of slasher & supernatural horror, to create a often muddled though no-less entertaining B-movie. The film was director by infamous German born director Ulli Lommel, who over the years has created some pretty terrible & unrewardingly bad lo-budget movies. I think it’s fair to say that The Boogey Man is one of his more focused & worthy films, and it has somewhat of a cult following. The films sort of blends together key elements of Halloween & The Exorcist, with hints of The Amityville Horror, The Omen, and Carrie- with a fairly big pitch of gore & sleaze. The plot revolves around a possessed mirror, and the people connected with it. The film is far from masterpiece, but as low budget early 80’s horror movies go it’s a satisfying enough mesh-up of different horror genres. This reissue is present in the form of CD- which comes in a clear jewel case, this features a 16 page glossy full-colour inlay booklet. And it takes a good selection of informative texts( featuring a introduction, original linear notes, track-by-track discussion, and a selection of page long write-ups from the director, and others), and a good collection stills from the film.
The reissue takes in fourteen tracks in all, and features (along with the OST) rare & unreleased remix & suite of the films main theme. The whole disc has a running time of just over forty three minutes, and it’s fair to say it’s not the most varied of soundtracks, but for what it is there are some memorable themes & atmospheric 80’s synth scaping on display here. The main theme blends together swirling ‘n’ dragging low-end synth, with pulsing music box like higher end-keyboard. It has quite an up-beat Goblin like feel, with a definite nod towards the more synth based takes on Carpenter’s Halloween theme. Other tracks are more brooding 'n' throbbing blends of low-end synth swirls/ ebbs, with sudden higher pitched screams. Or more ornate & quite jolly sounding mid-range marches, through to church organ like dirges. But really the soundtrack is mainly made up of variations on the main theme. This is the soundtracks premium on CD, with past version either coming on vinyl or cassette form. So it’s great to have it in a accessible form, and the presentation Howling Wolf Records is nicely done- with informative linear notes & colourful artwork. So in summing if you are a fan of 70’s/ 80’s synth horror soundtrack this certainly is worth a look. Roger Batty
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