VOTD 3/24/2024

 Roberto Donati: Cannibal Ferox (Original 1981 Motion Picture Soundtrack) (One Way Static)

Purchased used at The Attic

Here I go again. I've tried to limited my spending/collecting habits due to the accumulation of stuff I have. I continue, if anything, to indulge my love of vinyl, and less often CDs. Nonetheless, when I make the rounds to the local record stores, I always say to myself: you don't have to buy anything. Don't buy it if you don't want it. And more often than not I go home empty handed. 

But you know, when the floodgates open, and there are multiple interesting or weird things for sale, one tends to lead to buying several. On this trip alone I purchased a soundtrack LP by Goblin, a Prurient picture disc, a PBK/Wolf Eyes LP (I'm opening for Wolf Eyes in April), Cecil Taylor's Unit Structures, a Black Leather Jesus 7", and the above listed LP. I'll make some future blog posts about some of those.

Once again I'm writing about the music for a disreputable film (to say the least): Cannibal Ferox AKA Make Them Die Slowly. On the cover there's a black bar across (the illustration of) a woman's breasts, reading "BANNED IN 31 COUNTRIES". In this case it might not be an exaggeration.

I've found I have a taste for Italian horror films, and sometimes I think I can identify one just on sight without knowing its origin. Some of it can be pretty strong stuff though. One thing they're not known for is humor. Italians apparently like the horror horrifying, their humor light, and never mixing the two. I'm sure there must be exceptions, but I can't think of one at the moment.

While I can take a lot visually, I've more or less drawn the line with Italian cannibal movies. They are particularly ugly. I've written on here previously about the soundtrack to Cannibal Apocalypse, another Italian horror film. Oh it's pretty bloody, but I don't regard it as actually a cannibal film. It's closer to The Crazies or 28 Day Later: a contagious disease gives you a desire to bite into another person's flesh.

Good taste it ain't, but films like Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust are at least a step or two further. Americans find themselves in a tropical jungle, and encounter a tribe of cannibals. They do something dumb or violent, and the tribespeople exact bloody and violent revenge. Notable in atleast one of these are scenes of animals being slaughtered for meals. No thank you. 

There's an Italian flavor to the music, at least insofar as it's similar to other Italian soundtrack music I've heard. The "NYC Main Title" is funky and isn't too far astray from the Cannibal Apocalypse music. The band sounds like a small studio band: guitar (maybe two), keyboards (maybe two), occasional horns, drums. There's some grimy synth here and there, more-or-less rock instrumentals. Some of it is well played, occasionally it's sloppy. I'm sure the tracks were done quickly with few takes. The mix is a little odd, clear but poorly balanced at times.

When I'm gone, assuming I haven't eventually sold off or donated my record collection, someone's going to look through my soundtrack vinyl and I suspect will wonder about my mental health. Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Apocalypse, Autopsy. I've seen one of those, though I shouldn't have to defend that. It's all about the music, regardless of the source! Perhaps, I'm writing this both as a confession and a defense. I'm not insane, really. I guess.

I see the composer has another discogs.com credit, which I guess is another Italian cannibal movie soundtrack, Eaten Alive. Don't know it, will probably never watch it.

I was catsitting for my daughter recently, and found Lucio Fulci's The Beyond* on a free streaming network. (More Italian horror, if that's not obvious enough.) Even though I've watched it before, I sat and viewed the second half of it. It's weird, doesn't make much sense, but has an atmosphere of paranoia and dread. There's a scene with a man's face getting eaten by tarantulas for no reason anyone could explain to me. It might be disturbing if it wasn't so patently fake.

The final scene finds the main couple basically trapped in Hell. Hell in this case wasn't a fiery pit so much as a frozen wasteland, with bodies lying around in the landscape. What I found ridiculous is that those bodies were blurred, because I guess they were nude. It's so distant that it's hard to tell if you watch the unedited version. Earlier in the film, a teenager's head gets blown open with a shotgun, quickly but very graphically. That doesn't get edited, but some distant breasts and pubes can't make the cut. 

We are so screwed up sometimes.

*My biggest issue with The Beyond: not the lack of plot, not the fake effects, not the "Do Not Entry" hospital sign. My biggest problem is that there are NO BASEMENTS in New Orleans.