We're back with another horror/sci-fi news round-up. This time around, we focus on John Carpenter’s upcoming Lost Themes record release, the hiring of a new writer for one of the stand-alone Star Wars films, and an unpredictable new cast addition for Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens TV series.
It followed Laurie Strode as she was hunted by Michael Myers, rode with Christine as the flaming 1958 Plymouth Fury mercilessly pursued Buddy Repperton down a dark stretch of asphalt, and accompanied Jack Burton and his pals on their rescue mission in Lo Pan's lair. John Carpenter’s music could be listed as a cast member in his films, as they are like another character, superbly complimenting the dialogue and actions of the main players.
The nine tracks on Carpenter's upcoming Lost Themes record, however, don't come from iconic films, but they will likely have listeners watching movies of their imagination's own devising. From the creative minds of John Carpenter, his son, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, the Lost Themes album comes out from Sacred Bones Records on February 3rd, and you can now listen to its nine tracks on NPR:
"John Carpenter has been responsible for much of the horror genre’s most striking soundtrack work in the fifteen movies he’s both directed and scored. The themes can instantly flood his fans’ musical memory with imagery of a menacing shape stalking a babysitter, a relentless wall of ghost-filled fog, lightning-fisted kung fu fighters, or a mirror holding the gateway to hell. The all-new music on Lost Themes asks Carpenter’s acolytes to visualize their own nightmares.
“Lost Themes was all about having fun,” Carpenter says. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on (collaborators) Cody (Carpenter, of the band Ludrium) and Daniel (Davies, who wrote the songs for I, Frankenstein) to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.”
As is Carpenter’s style, repetition is the key to the thundering power of these tracks, their energy swirling with shredding chords, soaring organs, unnerving pianos and captivating percussion. Horror fans will be reminded of Carpenter’s past works, as well as ancestors like Mike Oldfeld’s Tubular Bells and Goblin’s Suspiria.
“They’re little moments of score from movies made in our imaginations,” Carpenter says.“Now I hope it inspires people to create films that could be scored with this music.”"
Some first saw Star Wars at the theaters in 1977 and others watched it for the first time on Blu-ray, but we'll all get the chance to experience the next wave of the epic space saga together. In addition to the upcoming new trilogy, stand-alone Star Wars films will be released in the coming years, and one of them just enlisted a new scribe.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, after completing the first draft of Gareth Edwards' (2014's Godzilla) upcoming stand-alone Star Wars film, Gary Whitta parted ways from the film and Oscar-nominated scribe Chris Weitz has joined the project in the vacated slot.
Nominated for an Academy Award for his co-writing credit on the 2002 adapted screenplay of About a Boy, writer/directoer Weitz will work on the latest draft for the currently untitled Star Wars stand-alone film that's slated for a December 16th, 2016 theatrical release.
In addition to co-scribing About a Boy, Weitz also co-wrote Antz and penned the adapted screenplay for The Golden Compass (which he also directed).
Deadline reports that Fox's Scream Queens TV series has gained a new actor in Nick Jonas, who will play a recurring role on the horror-comedy series from American Horror Story co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Recently Lea Michele (Glee), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Keke Palmer (Akeela and the Bee) joined the series, with Ariana Grande set for a recurring role. Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts will star.
An anthology series scheduled to premiere its 15-episode season in the fall of 2015, Scream Queens centers on a college campus turned upside down by a string of murders. Murphy revealed that, like American Horror Story, Scream Queens will follow a new storyline with a fresh setting each season. He also mentioned that every season will focus on two female lead roles.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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