The Beyond expanded soundtrack CD

As I said in my post about the Bloodnight LP, Lucio Fulci's The Beyond is, in my opinion, the greatest horror film of all time. ALL TIME. Given that Italian horror is essentially my lifeblood, that is a remarkably high claim to come from me. As such, when the opportunity arose to pick the expanded soundtrack released by BEAT Records in 2011, I jumped at the opportunity. This makes my second copy of this film's soundtrack, the first being a CD included with Blackest Heart Media/Rotten Cotton's graphic novel adaptation of the film from the late 90s. (When Grindhouse Releasing issues their Blu of The Beyond in February, that will be my third copy of it, and I really hope it's sourced from this edition.)

Because a lot of the expansions seem to be alternate takes of compositions that had been released on earlier issues of the soundtrack, all of the tracks will be listed below with running times so I can differentiate them as much as I can. I won't link to any songs on the soundtrack, partially because I already had in the Bloodnight post, and partially because I may end up linking to the wrong sequence of that particular track.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Oltre La Soglia (1:35)*

2. Oltre La Soglia (3:20)*

3. Voci Dal Nulla (4:25)

4. Sequenza Coro E Orchestra (2:27)*

5. Suono Aperto (3:56)

6. Voci Dal Nulla (4:16)

7. Oltre La Soglia (3:59)

8. Giro Di Blues (2:20)*

9. Verso L'Ignoto (3:56)

10. Suono Aperto (1:32)*

11. Sequenza Ritmica A Tema (1:36)*

12. Voci Dal Nulla (2:56)

13. Oltre La Soglia (1:42)*

14. Sequenza Ritmica A Tema (4:22)*

15. Giro Di Blues (2:20)

16. Verso L'Ignoto (3:21)

17. Voci Dal Nulla (1:36)*

18. Suono Aperto (1:22)

19. Sequenza Coro E Orchestra (4:30)

20. Voci Dal Nulla (1:32)*

*Previously unreleased

This is something I will say to anyone who loves Italian horror as much as I do: Keep an eye on BEAT Records, as well as any other releases of Italian soundtracks. Surprises keep on popping out all the time from there; hell, the last thing I picked up from the Italian soundtrack front was a new CD issue of the soundtrack to Antonio Margheriti's The Last Hunter, composed by none other than Franco motherfucking Micalizzi himself. I mean, there are some miracles that likely won't ever happen, like the apparently destroyed masters for Marcello Giombini's Anthropophagus soundtrack resurrecting to give us a CD release, but I've heard a CD for Fulci's Contraband is on the way from BEAT! Keep your eyes peeled, and be open to just about anything!

Bloodnight

This LP is by far one of the rarest in my collection, and one of the most interesting to boot. In 1982, this record was released as the "official soundtrack", so to speak, to the 12th Festival International De Paris Du Film Fantastique Et De Science Fiction, with a special focus on my favorite director of all time, Lucio Fulci. This is one of the earliest re-releases of any soundtrack material from any of Fulci's films after their original LP releases in Italy (if applicable), long before companies like Lucertola Media came into being or BEAT Records got to releasing anything to CD; selections from The Beyond (the greatest horror film of all time) and The House By The Cemetery are included here in warm vinyly glory, as well as original material for the festival by avant-garde musician Yan Tregger.

The tracklisting is as follows:

Yan Tregger

A1. Bloodnight

A2. Shout In The Dark

A3. Bloodnight (instrumental)

B1. Stab (Festival Overture)

Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond soundtrack)

B2. Verso L'Ignoto

B3. Suono Aperto

B4. Sequenza Coro E Orchestra

Walter Rizzati (The House By The Cemetery soundtrack)

B5. Quella Villa

B6. I Remember

B7. Tema Bambino

Because of the multiple reissues of those soundtracks on CD over the years, that Yan Tregger material is really the only reason to go after this disc, although I would think that the Fulci soundtracks are the reason this LP is so rare in the first place. Bloodnight itself is a pretty awesome dark euro-disco piece, and the best way I've ever seen it described online is "if Thriller came from Hell". Shout In The Dark would make some interesting background music for a club scene in some ultra-violent late 80s French exploitation flick, too. The festival overture that opens side B is merely a sped up rearrangement of Bloodnight, and it's pretty short.

I scored a copy of this album for about fifty dollars after an unchallenged eBay bid, from a seller in California. It came still in its original shrinkwrap, but I did end up pulling that off once I realized it was opened to pull the record out. (Cue the sounds of fellow collectors cringing.) If it helps any, I did hold onto that shrinkwrapping and keep it as an extra insert inside the jacket, in case I ever wanted to go through the headache-inducing process of putting it back on again.

I have to wonder if Fulci ever held onto a copy of this record for himself...