The Night Stalker and Other Classic Thrillers

For the past 35 years, composer Robert Cobert has been working with Dan Curtis on many of his well-known horror films and television shows. Starting back in 1966 with "Dark Shadows", their collaboration has covered over twenty projects, including the "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" miniseries. Now there comes an album that focuses on ten of their horror projects, and it gives you a great idea of what Curtis sees in Cobert's work.

The album begins with a suite of music from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The music is appropriately creepy, with a dark string-based theme, and creepy percussion and tense brass. This is a hearty suite, running almost 12-minutes long. The Night Stalker suite (as well as the sequel, The Night Strangler) are also included here, with its dark piano, jazzy horns, and mild percussion. The music feels a bit dated, but it still has an endearing quality that makes it enjoyable to listen to.

A suite of music from the 1974 production of Dracula has a great theme that when played out with the orchestra reminds me of some of Goldsmith's earlier works. It's a highly enjoyable suite, and it seemed to be a project that allowed Cobert to explore more lyrical and sweeping motifs, as well as utilizing his skills at horror cues. The other cues include music from Burnt Offerings, Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night, and Curse of the Black Widow. I was delighted to hear a suite of music from the 1991 remake of "Dark Shadows", and that nearly nine-minute long suite should be enough of a reason to get this album.

Most of the music on the album is in mono, with the latter tracks going stereo as the recording technology improved. With a solid 76 minutes of score from ten classic horror productions, this is an album that should definitely be looked into. I can't say that all of the cues are ones you'll listen to time and time again, but the "Dark Shadows", Dracula and The Night Stalker/Strangler suites are solid reasons to get this album.