Italian cinema redefined horror in the 1970s and 80s, with auteurs with names like Bava, Argento and the incomparable Lucio Fulci becoming masters of the dark art on the silver screen to a new generation of cringe-loving voyeurs.
Fabio Frizzi was Fulci’s right hand man, providing the sonic backdrop throughout some of his biggest genre accomplishments, from The Beyond, City of the Living Dead and Manhattan Baby, to the timeless video nasty Zombi 2 (known as Zombie here in North America).
Now, Frizzi revisits the gore-filled epic decades later with Zombie: Composer’s Cut(available July 28th through Cadabra Records) which sees the master of auditory suspense carefully orchestrate new music to this timeless score, infusing new elements to accent specific scenes in the film in the listener’s mind, while adhering to Fulci’s monstrous film.
The complete uncut score of of Frizzi’s Zombie: Composer’s Cut is available in a plush vinyl edition, pressed on 150-gram colored vinyl in multiple variants, packaged in a deluxe heavyweight tip-on gatefold jacket, adorned in newly commissioned art by Jeremy Hush that starkly resembles the look of the original film and movie artwork. The inlay features brand new essays by Stephen Thrower and J. Blake Fichera, as well as liner notes from Frizzi himself.
Decibel caught up with the Italian maestro for a deep dive into his career and relationship with the prolific Fulci, a deep analysis into building a creepy score and a re-examination on all things Zombie.
Zombie has an incredible cult following. Score aside for a moment, what’s your thoughts on the film and how it’s latched on to generations of horror fans over 40 years after its release?
I think that every work of art has its own destiny, certainly linked to the quality of whoever built it, created it. But in a certain sense independent. And the charm of this film is something undeniable and eternal. If we then want to try to analyze why, the story, the performers, the photography, the director’s hand and his solutions… In short, without knowing exactly why, we all have the feeling that Zombie is a unique film.
How has the process been reexamining these iconic scores from your career in recent years? From Zombie to The Beyond and Dark Chamber. It must be a fascinating process tackling these pieces with the benefit of decades of hindsight?
Yes, it’s fun to re-appropriate what was born from yourself many years ago and reinterpret it, make it relive in new, different ways. Dark Chamber, for example, was born from my need to bring some cornerstones of my production to the keyboard of the classical guitar (actually two), while The Beyond Composer’s Cut was my first attempt to reinvent an entire score, with the primary purpose of bringing on stage a live performance, sonorizing with my band the old film. For Zombie the bet was even stronger, the bar moved even higher.
In short, for imaginable reasons, I considered the old score as a canvas on which to draw new musical images, creating a completely different and contemporary soundtrack. For example, the themes contained in the tracks of the original album, “Zombi 2 – Seq 2″ and “Zombi 2 – Seq 3,” have practically become the the backing tracks on which I have written new themes, exploiting the inviting triplet rhythm to direct me towards new emotions, with the help of my fantastic Frizzi 2 Fulci band, who interpreted everything perfectly.
Much has been made about your relationship and chemistry with Fulci. What do you think it was about the pairing that created such magic?
I have told it many times, surely there was a good empathy, between Lucio, a true cinema professional with a long and varied militancy in all sectors of creativity destined for the big screen and me, an enthusiastic young musician almost incredulous of actually being in the place and in the role he aspired to, from the beginning. I believe that good working relationships arise from a common way of feeling and from a form of mutual respect.
I had a lot to learn and certainly a lot to give, in terms of freshness and enthusiasm. He got on well and fueled my creative vein. If even today the union of image and music in those creepy films to a large part of the audience means that that artistic encounter was truly special.