I should point out that I think Goldenthal's PET SEMATARY is the scariest horror soundtrack ever composed. Which is why I've listened to it maybe 2-3 times in the 15 years I've owned it. Freaks me out!
MY TOP 10 STEPHEN KING FILM SOUNDTRACKS 10. THINNER 9. PET SEMETERY 8. CHRISTINE 7. FIRE STARTER 6. SALEMS LOT 5. IT 4. CUJO 3. CARRIE 2. MISERY 1. SHINING ALSO I ALWAY'S THOUGHT THE TOMMY KNOCKERS WAS A GREAT TV MINI SERIES.
1 The Stand - W. G. Snuffy Walden 2 Firestarter - Tangerine Dream 3 The Running Man - Harold Faltermeyer 4 The Green Mile - Thomas Newman 5 The Tommyknockers - Christopher Franke 6 The Langoliers - Vladimir Horunzhy 7 Silver Bullet - Jay Chattaway 8 The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman 9 The Dark Half - Christopher Young 10 Children Of The Corn - Jonathan Elias
1. The Dark Half (Christopher Young) 2. The Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman) 3. Pet Sematary (Elliot Goldenthal) 4. It (Richard Bellis) 5. The Dead Zone (Michael Kamen) 6. Salem’s Lot (Harry Sukman) 7. Dolores Claiborne (Danny Elfman) 8. Salem’s Lot (Christopher Gordon) 9. The Stand (Snuffy Walden) 10. Needful Things (Patrick Doyle)
Most of those are already mentioned in this thread and instead of focusing on the best scores I thought it might be fun to highlight some underrated and mainly unreleased scores (in official capacity anyway):
1. Sometimes They Come Back (Terry Plumeri)
The recent passing of Plumeri made me revisit the movie and I would love to see a release for the score.
2. Secret Window (Philip Glass & Geoff Zanelli)
Diabolically delicious score with material by Glass and Zanelli came in later to 'fix' the gaps .
3. The Tommyknockers (Christopher Franke)
What little material we have in the form of a 30 minute promo is only a teaser given the miniseries is 3hrs long and features plenty of solid cues.
4. Storm of the Century (Gary Chang)
A 3 disc promo exists with what I presume is the complete score. I'm sure an album release could be compiled with highlights. This is a great score by Chang who also scored the Rose Red miniseries.
5. Creepshow 2 (Rick Wakeman)
Quirky synth score but it also has orchestral cues (though they might be library tracks like they used in the first one).
6. Riding the Bullet & Desperation (Nicholas Pike)
Two Pike scores for two Garris directed King adaptations. Not particularly memorable but perhaps good enough to put the highlights on one album.
There are other scores that I honestly have no idea if they are worth putting out; "Graveyard Shift", "The Mangler", ... it's also a crying shame there isn't a CD release for "The Shining" score. The Wendy Carlos mostly unused material is put out on the 2 volumes of Carlos' music, but this movie is long overdue for a proper soundtrack CD. And scores like Dreamcatcher and Dolores Claiborne would benefit greatly from an expanded release. I'll also add "The Dark Half" of course.
Jay Chattaway's SILVER BULLET and Harry Sukman's SALEM'S LOT are my favourites. :-)
I have to give some props to Silver Bullet. I've always loved this score. Jay Chattaway had such a great creepy theme, but also a really lovely softer theme. I was happy to get this bad boy when Varese released this in there club series.
I locked in on CARRIE from the first moments of the main title when it came to TV in the late 1970s. That was an LP I had to have. Loved it. And the Kritzerland expanded CD is even better.
Whenever I see these threads now, my first reaction is 'sh!t, is he dead'. I'm glad to see my favourite author is still topside.
Some great music scores have come from his film adaptations over the years. My personal faves are (in no particular order) ..
CARRIE (Pino Donaggio) DEAD ZONE (Michael Kamen) CUJO (Charles Bernstein) SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Thomas Newman) SILVER BULLET (Jay Chattaway) SALEM'S LOT (Harry Sukman) NEEDFUL THINGS (Patrick Doyle) DOLORES CLAIBORNE (Danny Elfman) THE STAND (Snuffy Walden) THE DARK TOWER (Junkie XL)
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