Creepy, Scary TV Music

This wonderfully moody music accompanied the 1979 TV miniseries that was delightfully atmospheric and well-done, especially for TV's usual low-rent reputation.

Composer Harry Sukman not only did a great job of creeping us out, he tapped into a long musical tradition of including the Dies Irae theme in his music.  This is a practice also followed by Franz List, Hector Berlioz, and Sergei Rachmaninoff in classical music, and Jerry Goldsmith and Gerald Fried for the movies.

This is a bootleg of sorts in that the story goes that Sukman just had a cassette tape or two rattling around in an office drawer and pulled them out when someone asked him out of the blue about this work.

I added one or two tracks dubbed from the soundtrack of the commercial DVD release.

1     Ximico, Guatemala        (0:24)

2     We Must Keep Going and Main Titles        (2:10)
3     Two Years Earlier         (1:28)
4     The Town and Antique Store         (1:39)
5     Susan      (0:44)
6     The Marsden House and Straker   (1:01)
7     Good Evening         (0:57)
8     Mike's Graveyard and Ben's Notes       (0:45)
9     The Lake  (1:06)
10   Straker Leaves the House (1:15)
11 Straker Anxious (1:05)
12 Straker Closes the Store (0:57)
13 Beer With Jason (5:51)
14 The Crate Moves (0:33)
15 Mark's Room (0:32)
16 That Thing Is Movin’! (0:28)
17 Straker and the Body Bag (1:49)
18 Shotgun (1:17)
19 Ralphie at Danny's Window (2:37)
20 Crockett Stinger and Finding the Dog (0:51)
21 Hospital Window (2:37)
22 Straker Delivers His Suits (1:03)
23 Ben at the Window (0:20)
24 Glick Funeral Begins (0:23)
25 Glick Funeral End (2:11)
26 The Grave Digger and the Grave (1:23)
27 Open the Window, Mark (3:06)
28 Jason in Bed (1:10)
29 Trouble at Jason's House (0:37)
30 Rocking Chair (0:41)
31 Jason's Heart Attack (1:31)
32 Jail Cell (0:20)
33 Barlow Visits the Petries (0:24)
34 The Priest and Barlow (1:48)
35 Marjorie Glick Rises and Staking Barlow (2:00)
36 Empty Town (3:35)
37 Susan Looks for Mark (2:08)
38 Norton's Demise and Straker's Death (1:34)
39 Barlow Disintegrates (0:35)
40 Marsden House Burns (0:49)
41 Two Years Later -They've Found Us (0:44)
42 Susan's Second Death and Full Moon (1:11)
43 Commercial Break Stinger (0:05)
44 The Marsden House (1:38)
45 Main Titles Alternate (Bonus) (1:33)
46 End Part 1 (Bonus) (0:27)
47 Trailer Music (Bonus) (0:59)
48 Series End Credits (Bonus) (0:51)

 

So prepare for deliciously trembly fun!