What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969) *** 1/2
NOVEMBER 21, 2025
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GERALD FRIED Dragon’s Domain DDR874 24 tracks – 77:19
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In 2021, Dragon’s Domain released its first album featuring scores by Gerald Fried (Roots, The Cabinet of Caligari). The composer’s work has surfaced sporadically over the past few decades, going back to the 1990s when the FSM label issued a two-disc collection of his scores. Earlier this year, Dragon’s Domain released two scores from the 1958 Roger Corman crime thrillers Cry Baby Killer and Machine-Gun Kelly as part of the Gerald Fried Crime Dramas, Vol. 1 set. Now comes this single-score release, premiering the music from What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969).
The movie is one of those oddball dark comedy-thrillers, blending horror and psychological tension in the vein of several “hag films” of the era. Starring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon, it remains a guilty-pleasure favorite for many viewers. Fried’s score guides the audience through the story’s manic swings of grief and menace, signaled immediately by the opening prologue’s organ-hymn motif. From there, the composer charts a path from sorrow to psychotic breakdown, hinted at early on through sharp string punctuations. Fried’s atonal writing creates an astringent, intimate unease, with close string figures anchoring the descent into madness depicted in the story.
The opening titles introduce lively rhythmic material—bongo drums and off-kilter patterns that lend an almost dance-like quality—while fleeting tonal harmonies and melodic fragments attempt to surface. What follows is Fried’s signature blend of taut dramatic scoring and quirky instrumental touches that underscore the film’s darkly comic undertones. Synth keyboards add another layer of strangeness, complementing his unusual instrumental combinations in cues such as “Snooping Around,” while more lyrical material surfaces in tracks like “Falling in Love.”
Despite the film’s low budget, Fried turns the limitation into an advantage: The intimate sonic palette heightens the score’s plaintive motivic writing and reinforces the protagonist’s psychological unraveling. Fans who own FSM’s earlier collection of Fried’s 1950s and ’60s B-horror scores will find this a welcome companion release. It also serves as an excellent introduction to the composer’s dramatic instincts and his command of instrumental color.
The album includes a selection of diegetic source cues, including the opening song “Come With Me,” performed by Sherlie Mathews. An alternate version and a French-language take featuring Lilyan Chauvin are also included as part of another 36 minutes of bonus material. The score can be sampled at the BuySoundtrax website. —Steven A. Kennedy
Comments regarding this review can be sent to: stev4uth@hotmail.com.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) ** 1/2
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DON PEAKE Dragon’s Domain DDR 874 20 tracks – 36:24 |
The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Wes Craven’s third feature film, follows an unfortunate family whose car breaks down in an isolated area populated by violent savages. The movie, along with the director’s earlier The Last House on the Left (1972), helped lay the foundation for his emergence as a major voice in horror. Guitarist Don Peake was one of the elite members of the Wrecking Crew, the legendary group of session musicians; he can be heard on countless iconic recordings of the 1970s and worked with a wide range of pop artists. Peake also built a solid career as a composer, scoring numerous films and television projects, including extensive work on Knight Rider. He later collaborated again with Craven on The People Under the Stairs (1991).
Previously available on CD through Hitchcock Music, this rare Peake score is available once more thanks to Dragon’s Domain, now in a program greatly expanded from its original eight-minute running time. The music has also been remastered, and the tracks have been given more descriptive, narrative-based titles to better guide listeners through the score.
Among the unusual instruments Peake employed here is the Blaster Beam—best known to fans from Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture—prominently featured in the “Opening Credits.” This is combined with bone necklaces and other unconventional acoustic and electronic soundscapes that underscore the film’s brutality. Peake also explores quarter tones, enhancing the score’s unsettling sonic character. Pianist Michael Lang performed on the sessions as well.
The brevity of the original score is offset by a selection of bonus tracks that amount to just over six minutes of additional music. The result is a playlist rich in atonal experimentation, punctuated by moments such as the action material in “Dog Scare…,” which foreshadow stylistic elements Peake would later refine in his Knight Rider music. Fans of that series, in particular, will find this an intriguing and effective experimental horror score. The music can be sampled at the BuySoundtrax website. —Steven A. Kennedy
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