Chadwick H. Saxelid's Blog: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties, page 44

Batman Returns (1992) - Soundtrack Collection

For those potential visitors that might be wondering why there is a hole punched in the upper righthand corner of this CD booklet. This was a promotional copy of the soundtrack the store I was working at received and I was allowed to keep.

Like the soundtrack that precedes it in this catalogue sequence, there was a expanded re-issue released that I passed on getting. Again, I am satisfied with this album presentation and do not feel compelled to get an upgrade of it. That might change, but it also might not.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #15

Last, but not least aboard the refinery starcraft is Jones, Ripley's pet cat and the ship's unofficial mascot.

Jones turned out to be the most contentious character in Alien. If my memory of all the behind-the-scenes and making-of articles, magazines, and books I have read, coupled with all the documentaries and bonus features that I have watched, is correct, it was Walter Hill that added Jones to the screenplay.
This was done so that Hill could snag a screenwriting credit for Alien. It was a gambit that failed, though, as Hill did not receive credit for the minor changes he made to Dan O'Bannon's script. Which was adding a cat and changing the names of the characters.
Changing characters names seems to have been a boilerplate maneuver when tasked with revising, polishing, or doctoring a script. A smoke and mirrors way of making minor or, in some cases, non-existent alterations appear major. 
So it goes, it seems.

Yog: Monster from Space [aka Space Amoeba, aka Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû] (1970) - Newspaper Ad

I saw a portion of Yog: Monster from Space at the Southshore Cinema, but not all of it. For whatever reason I thought it would be cool to run home, tell my mom about the giant octopus scene, and then run back to watch the rest of the movie.

Yeah, that is not how reality works, obviously. I wasted a good hour and a half, minimum, running back and forth, when I should have just stayed in the theater and watched the entire movie. So it goes. 

I really need to catch up with this one.

Batman (1989) - Soundtrack Collection

While there have been expanded re-issues and special editions of Danny Elfman's iconic score for Tim Burton's Batman, I have passed on every opportunity to purchase an upgraded variation of this original soundtrack, which I purchased way back in 1989. I am quite satisfied with what I have, thank you very much.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #17

In 1884, the abandoned town of Blair was reborn as a community called Burkittsville, named after wealthy plantation owner Peter Branwall Burkitt. A friend of Burkitt's was a railroad baron in Maryland, and while his men were laying new track he became lost in the woods and stumbled upon the overgrown road leading to what was once Blair. Knowing of Burkitt's desire to develop land, he tipped his friend off, and both men died happy millionaires.

Welcome to Burkittsville

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - Sunday, September 4, 1977
Ah, yes. Yet another ad that both fascinated and terrified me, back in the days of my childhood. Although I had no idea who Michael Berryman was at the time, his unique visage glaring out at me from this ad made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

On the lower left hand portion of this ad, you will see a listing for the Coliseum drive-in. This was our family's preferred drive-in, because of its proximity to home. I think we were seeing Star Wars, but this was playing on the neighboring screen and I kept looking over to see if anything scary and forbidden to my ten-year-old eyes might be glimpsed.

I do remember seeing the trailer attack scene and the film's ending, but the context and meaning of those silent scenes were incomprehensible to me, of course.

That would change in 1984, when The Hills Have Eyes was broadcast on one of the English language channels in Hong Kong. I recorded the broadcast and, for the next few years, that version of the film was the one I became familiar with.

Turns out that version had an alternate ending. In the domestic theatrical release the film ends with a shot looking up on the exhausted and exhilarated Doug (Martin Speer), after he has finished violently stabbing Mars (Lance Gordon) to death.

The televised version dissolves from that to a long shot of Bobby (Robert Houston) and Ruby (Janis Blythe) walking together toward a staggering Doug. Bobby is then shown introducing Ruby to Doug, it is here the film fades from this somewhat bucolic image of potential healing and the end credits begin.

I had no idea this was not how The Hills Have Eyes ended until I showed this version to a friend. Seeing it left him slack jawed and flabbergasted.

This alternate ending does help to explain how and why Bobby and Ruby are married in the shoddy misfire that was The Hills Have Eyes Part II.

Basic Instinct (1992) - Soundtrack Collection

As good as Jerry Goldsmith's score for Basic Instinct is, and it is very good, it is not the music I most associate with the film. That would be Blue by LaTour, because of its being put to excellent use in the film's trailer. That is what I first 'hear' whenever I am wont to think about Basic Instinct. Which is not all that often, truth be told.

After having worked together with excellent results on the 1991 science-fiction action-adventure Total Recall, director Paul Verhoeven and composer Jerry Goldsmith joined forces for 1992's Basic Instinct. While the creation of the main theme for the former went rather smoothly, the journey to creating the main theme for Basic Instinct turned out to be a frustrating and challenging one.

"Jerry felt the movie needed a 'heart' that would elevate it," Verhoeven shares in the liner notes. "But when he started to play music in his studio, I disagreed with it... I didn't want...a romantic heart, because the movie is too harsh and cold-blooded [for] that."

Goldsmith took it in stride, though. After a piece of music eventually caught Verhoeven's ear and was placed under a scene featuring an intimate conversation between femme fatale Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) and troubled detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), the film's elusive main theme was discovered at last.

"In a flash, it became clear to Jerry what the score should be," Verhoeven explains. "From then on, he could write the score in one run, and we were sailing with the wind."

Goldsmith's main theme is not an overtly romantic one, as requested. Instead it is a haunting and almost hypnotic one. The liner notes describe it invoking "the feeling of being mesmerized." Which is accurate.

While most of the score plays under dialogue and sex scenes, there are a few moments that allowed for Goldsmith to display his gift for propulsive and brassy action composition. This occurs during an over-the-top sequence involving a bit of reckless driving on a winding Northern California highway. 

As good as the music for the scene is, the way it plays out always struck me as being ridiculous to the point of self-parody. It is probably intentional, but I nonetheless wince at the melodramatic goofiness of the scene whenever I see it.

But that viewing experience memory does not hamper my listening experience whenever I play this expanded edition soundtrack. The music remains an icy delight to this day. 

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #14

Practically an extension of his boss, Parker, Brett rarely displays any individuality and has little to say about things in general. His favorite response is "Right".

 

The Brood (1979) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 1, 1979
This is one of those kindertrauma ads I remember scaring the daylights out me, back in the day. I also might have seen a couple of television ads for it, but cannot be too sure about that. August 1979 would be some 46 years ago, at time of writing. 
I also remember reading about the film in either an issue of Fangoria, Starlog, or, most likely, Cinefastique. This had to have been post Scanners, because I was fascinated, curious, and eager to learn of Cronenberg's early works.

When I did get the chance to watch The Brood on home video, it did not disappoint. I think it is my favorite Cronenberg film. There is a lot in and about the film that I relate to. Feel free to make of that what you will.

Bad Dreams (1988) - Soundtrack Collection

This is one from Varèse Sarabande’s LP to CD series.

While I could still vividly recall images and sequences from Bad Dreams, the only music from the film that I remembered was the use of Guns N' Roses' song Sweet Child O' Mine for the end credits. Other than that, nothing.
Well, turns out there was a very good reason for that. Jay Ferguson's electronic score for the film eschews traditional thematic or melodic structure. Listening to it brought to mind one music writer's dismissal of most 80s electronic scores as being "one long drone." 
Which pretty much describes this score. It is 30 to 40 minutes of dark tones and drones that, no matter how often I revisit it, remains unmemorable.