Back in stock, super limited quantities.
    

For many children of the 80's like myself, Mary Lambert's 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary was a psyche-wrecking blast of cinematic nihilism that's haunted us ever since. A nasty riff on the classic short story "The Monkey's Paw", Pet Sematary would go down as the bleakest of King's works, and while the film version was far from perfect, it certainly had it's moments of skin-crawling dread and nightmarish horror, as well as moments of utter soul-crushing sadness. All of this was accompanied by an often terrifying score from contemporary classical composer Elliot Goldenthal, which has been reissued by the folks at Mondo in a new twenty-fifth anniversary vinyl edition. And his score is stunning, incorporating many of the experimental techniques that his work had been known for, blending piano and orchestral strings with searing electronic synthesizers and the terrifying sound of the Zarathustra Boys Chorus; the score shifts like a darkening dream from the early. lighter pastoral pieces into sequences of soul-blackening dread as guttural cellos are scraped and strangled beneath sheets of dissonant strings, while stretches of jet-black synthdrone unfurl beneath the childlike schoolyard children's chorals and plaintive, sorrowful piano arrangements. There are parts of Goldenthal's score that, removed from the horrifying visuals of Mary Lambert's adaptation, sound like some terrifying fusion of modern classical and industrial ambient; it gradually builds in intensity as the story makes its way to the pessimistic, disturbing climax, with blasts of industrial-strength percussion and atonal strings injecting harrowing sonic violence into the proceedings, utilizing noise and atonality. Some of this is somewhat reminiscent of Philip Glass's work, but while one can also hear echoes of Hermann, Jack Nitzsche's work on The Exorcist, and Penderecki, but this never sounds derivative. And all of this would be perfectly perfect all in its own, but this reissue plops a big old cherry on top by including the two key Ramones songs from the film at the end of the record, their theme song being one of my all-time favorite Ramones songs.

     A high point in the intersection of modern avant-garde music and horror soundtrack work, and quite enjoyable on it's own as a particularly frightening piece of contemporary orchestral music, especially in this gorgeously re-mastered reissue, which includes a bunch of tracks that were never previously released on vinyl, and all sounds absolutely stunning on 180 gram vinyl. Something of an unsung gem in 80's horror cinematic music. One of my top favorite Mondo horror reissues so far. And the artwork - man, this has one of the coolest Lp designs I've seen out of the recent soundtrack resurgence, Mike Saputo's newly commissioned art is 100% eye-poppingly amazing, utilizing spot varnish printing and geomancy references to create a highly original and creative visual presentation. Please note, however, that several of the copies we received from the distributor have slight creasing on the top right corner.