By Todd Garbarini
Dan Curtis’ Burnt Offerings (1976) was the first horror film/thriller that I
saw. I was twelve years-old and its
impact on me was indelible. The rapport
between Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Lee Harcourt Montgomery was plausible
enough to make me extremely concerned when all hell broke loose on this
“perfect” family, though some have argued that this family was frightening
enough without the house!
Aside from the artful cinematic visual
style and the film’s methodic and slow build-up, the performances by the three
leads and supporting work from Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart, Dub Taylor,
Bette Davis, and the unforgettable Anthony James as the chauffer elevate the
film higher than similar genre productions. What also helped make Burnt
Offerings so memorable was Robert Cobert’s phenomenal score which fits the
movie like a glove. For years I searched
fruitlessly for a soundtrack album as Mr. Cobert’s music is perfect from its
ominous and slow beginning to the film’s sudden and violent ending. The closest that this music ever got to being
released in any known version was when a handful of selected tracks were
released on the compilation CD The Night
Stalker and Other Classic Thrillers by Varese Sarabande in September 2000.
This new and long-overdue Burnt Offerings CD, a limited edition of
only 1,000 copies courtesy of Counterpoint, contains the film’s complete score
presented in the film’s proper order, in addition to several musical tracks that
illustrate just how Mr. Cobert envisioned the film’s opening. The digital mastering was done by Doug
Schwartz of Mulholland Music, and the liner notes are by Jeff Thompson. There are a total of 32 tracks on the
CD. The CD booklet is 20 pages long and
is lavishly illustrated with never-before-seen photos taken on the set of the
film during the August 1975 production.
Could Mr. Cobert’s scores to Dan Curtis’s
made-for-TV movies Trilogy of Terror (1975)
and Dead of Night (1977) be far
behind? I have my fingers crossed…
This is one of the best horror film scores
ever written, and it’s one of those scores that is worth owning even if you
haven’t seen the film.
Order it here
from Screen Archives Entertainment.
