Release Date:
Downloads include choice of MP3, WAV, or FLAC
DDRDG727
Includes Digital Booklet
Click Here for CD Release
Dragon's Domain Digital presents the original soundtrack to SORCERESS, starring Linda Blair, William Marshall and Julie Strain with music by Chuck Cirino.
Larry Barnes (Larry Poindexter) is on the fast track to a partnership in a prestigious law firm, and his sexy witch wife Erika (Julie Strain) will do anything to make her husband happy. But Erika makes a fatal mistake when she tries to kill Larry’s main competition for the partnership, Howard Reynolds (Edward Albert). With Howard now crippled for life from Erika’s dark magic, his wife, Amelia (Linda Blair) plots her revenge. Using witchcraft and a mystical medallion, Amelia tries to destroy everyone and everything in Larry’s Life.
Review
Munchie (1992) *** 1/2 / Sorceress (1995) ***
CHUCK CIRINO
Dragon’s Domain DDR718
23 tracks - 53:25
BSX (download)
14 tracks - 43:37
As 2020 came to a close, two Chuck Cirino soundtracks were released by Dragon’s Domain and BSX, and may have flown under the radar. These genre works demonstrate the composer’s versatility and skills working on low-budget films and using the latest synthesizers of the day.
First up is the score for the 1992 comedy Munchie (a sequel to the earlier Munchies), directed by Jim Wynorski, one of Cirino’s most frequent collaborators. The film features Loni Anderson, Andrew Stevens, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dom DeLuise (providing the voice work for the title character). It’s something of a lighter take on Gremlins, as the lead monster is a sort of lounge lizard with magical powers who comes to the rescue of a bullied kid.
Cirino captures the film’s carnival-like atmosphere with tracks that cover a wide range of styles. A lyrical melody, often preceded by bell tones, runs throughout the score and often serves as a departure point for other hijinks. Highlights include the Morricone-esque “You Need a Friend—Western Fantasy”; action cues like the “Opening Chase” and “The Chase Is On”; lyrical passages in “Funeral Fantasy—Munchie Is Gone” and “Airport Goodbyes—Finale”; and quotations from the likes of “Funiculi, Funicula,” “O Sole Mio” and “Greensleeves.” There’s also an excellent end credits suite that sums things up nicely.
The album has a couple of bonus tracks that include stingers and outtakes. Despite its source inspiration, the main theme is quite beautiful, and Cirino’s various stylistic references make for humorous, engaging elements of the score.
Coming a couple of years later, Wynorski’s Sorceress (1995) stars Linda Blair in a fantasy/horror take about a witch (Julie Strain) who uses her skills to influence her husband and others at his law firm. For the score, Cirino dives into atmospheric horror with dark synth colors, but still offers lyrical writing, as evidenced right from the start in “Prologue & The Accident.”
Alexa Anastasia is a featured vocalist whose dark tone appears first in “Larry Finds Maria in Bed,” (a bonus track uses the same material, minus her contribution) and later in the haunting “Carol’s Erotic Dream.”
The score features appropriate menace throughout, often via amorphous clusters and blocks of sound anchored by a repeating chime motive. While some of the thematic material is interesting, the horror elements dominate here.
For additional samples of these two scores, each limited to 500 units, click here. —Steven A. Kennedy
Comments regarding this review can be sent to: stev4uth@hotmail.com.
SORCERESS - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Chuck Cirino
$8.95
Downloads include choice of MP3, WAV, or FLAC
DDRDG727
Includes Digital Booklet
Click Here for CD Release
Dragon's Domain Digital presents the original soundtrack to SORCERESS, starring Linda Blair, William Marshall and Julie Strain with music by Chuck Cirino.
Larry Barnes (Larry Poindexter) is on the fast track to a partnership in a prestigious law firm, and his sexy witch wife Erika (Julie Strain) will do anything to make her husband happy. But Erika makes a fatal mistake when she tries to kill Larry’s main competition for the partnership, Howard Reynolds (Edward Albert). With Howard now crippled for life from Erika’s dark magic, his wife, Amelia (Linda Blair) plots her revenge. Using witchcraft and a mystical medallion, Amelia tries to destroy everyone and everything in Larry’s Life.
Review
Munchie (1992) *** 1/2 / Sorceress (1995) ***
CHUCK CIRINO
Dragon’s Domain DDR718
23 tracks - 53:25
BSX (download)
14 tracks - 43:37
As 2020 came to a close, two Chuck Cirino soundtracks were released by Dragon’s Domain and BSX, and may have flown under the radar. These genre works demonstrate the composer’s versatility and skills working on low-budget films and using the latest synthesizers of the day.
First up is the score for the 1992 comedy Munchie (a sequel to the earlier Munchies), directed by Jim Wynorski, one of Cirino’s most frequent collaborators. The film features Loni Anderson, Andrew Stevens, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dom DeLuise (providing the voice work for the title character). It’s something of a lighter take on Gremlins, as the lead monster is a sort of lounge lizard with magical powers who comes to the rescue of a bullied kid.
Cirino captures the film’s carnival-like atmosphere with tracks that cover a wide range of styles. A lyrical melody, often preceded by bell tones, runs throughout the score and often serves as a departure point for other hijinks. Highlights include the Morricone-esque “You Need a Friend—Western Fantasy”; action cues like the “Opening Chase” and “The Chase Is On”; lyrical passages in “Funeral Fantasy—Munchie Is Gone” and “Airport Goodbyes—Finale”; and quotations from the likes of “Funiculi, Funicula,” “O Sole Mio” and “Greensleeves.” There’s also an excellent end credits suite that sums things up nicely.
The album has a couple of bonus tracks that include stingers and outtakes. Despite its source inspiration, the main theme is quite beautiful, and Cirino’s various stylistic references make for humorous, engaging elements of the score.
Coming a couple of years later, Wynorski’s Sorceress (1995) stars Linda Blair in a fantasy/horror take about a witch (Julie Strain) who uses her skills to influence her husband and others at his law firm. For the score, Cirino dives into atmospheric horror with dark synth colors, but still offers lyrical writing, as evidenced right from the start in “Prologue & The Accident.”
Alexa Anastasia is a featured vocalist whose dark tone appears first in “Larry Finds Maria in Bed,” (a bonus track uses the same material, minus her contribution) and later in the haunting “Carol’s Erotic Dream.”
The score features appropriate menace throughout, often via amorphous clusters and blocks of sound anchored by a repeating chime motive. While some of the thematic material is interesting, the horror elements dominate here.
For additional samples of these two scores, each limited to 500 units, click here. —Steven A. Kennedy
Comments regarding this review can be sent to: stev4uth@hotmail.com.
