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Misc. Reviews

THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND (Soundtrack CD)

By • Mar 1st, 2009 •

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Hey Kids! The Mad Doctor of Blood Island invites you to join him in taking the oath of Green Blood!

Doesn’t that tagline make you want to watch THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND? This wild and fun horror classic comes to us from The Philippines. Now, the Philippines isn’t just Ferdinand Marcos or some hard to reach place. It’s the proud home of a unique film industry with stars like Weng Weng (a 2 foot 9 ass kickin’ super spy), exciting action packed horror films, and their own Batman movies (complete with a rock and rollin’ Penguin!) The Philippines has a film production industry that began in 1919, where Filipino film-makers put great care into everything they shoot and release.

This is evident in the Soundtrack CD for THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND, one of that country’s wildest horror classics. Produced by Elysee Productions and Tim Ferrante, the MAD DOC CD presents 34 tracks of gripping musical pieces from this 1968 film about the wild, insane Dr. Lorca and his legion of zombies. While “grindhouse” horror film-makers in the states were content with re-using cheap library music, MAD DOC’s directors Gerardo De Leon and Eddie Romero employed the FAMAS award- winning musician Tito Arevalo to give the film an individual score. (FAMAS, or the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences is the Filipino equal to the Oscar) With its full orchestral sound, eerie choral accompaniments, and pounding, almost jungle rhythms, Arevalo’s dramatic score is reminiscent of Japan’s music master Akira Ifukube who, like Arevalo, gave each of the Toho sci-fi films it’s own score. The CD has the primary score, and some fun Easter eggs. In the informative liner notes included in the CD, we learn that the first twenty tracks make up what is believed to be the primary score. Tracks 21, 22 and 23 are some different takes, cue variants and some studio chatter and warming up of instruments. The liner notes also tell of the wild promotional gimmicks the film’s American distributor, Hemisphere, dreamed up under the guiding hand of Samuel M. Sherman. (These promotion gimmicks, long gone in the Multiplex days, are as fun as the gimmicks indie theatre owners once used, such as the “Cute Witch Beauty Contest” for BLACK SUNDAY, or dressing the theatre staff as serial killers for THE THRILL KILLERS.)

So, it’s a CD full of rich bold music that brings you to Dr. Lorca’s zombie island. Start listenin’!

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