Music Composed by Laurie Johnson
Rating: *** 1/2

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter is one of the few non-Christopher Lee Hammer vampire films that has actually attracted a large fan following. One might argue that it’s because it’s more imaginatively shot and staged then most of the 1970s Hammers (not the studio’s Golden Age by any means), but I personally think that it’s largely due to Captain Kronos being such a quintessential badass. Everybody loves vampires, but what could be more bad-ass than a guy who goes out of his way to hunt down vampires, right? Man, just one shot of Kronos drawing his double swords before an angry mob, and just about every guy in the audience is sold. Those were the days my friends, those were the days.

But the music, as BSX has pointedly demonstrated with this wonderful release, wasn’t chopped liver either. Composer Laurie Johnson crafted a deliciously gothic and malevolent musical yarn for the film, one that is now sure to bring much joy and excitement for old-school horror music fans everywhere. Johnson isn’t exactly well-remembered today, but he was a reasonably big genre-composers in his day. He’s probably most famous for his theme for The Avengers, but he also scored a number of cult classics, including First Men in the Moon, And Soon the Darkness, and Kubrick’s immortal Dr. Strangelove (ok, I suppose that isn’t a “cult classic” per se). So he had more than enough musical chops for tackling Hammer’s outstanding musical tradition, and the resulting score is a worthy successor to James Bernard’s immortal vampyria.

There are two basic ideas running behind the score. The first is a yearning and pastoral love theme, the sort of innocent music that could only really come in the 1960s/70s film scoring scene. We hear it first in “Innocent Maidens/Drained of Life” as an auspiciously gentle start to a score that will very quickly turns malevolent. It pops up intermittently throughout the rest of the score, and serves as a welcome respite from the surrounding bleakness. The other driving idea is a pitch-black fanfare for the hero himself. In many respects, it plays like hard-ass cousin of Korngold’s flamboyant swashbuckling scores, functioning as a thrilling hero fanfare and a relentlessly bleak dirge at the same time. The theme finds its best treatment in the score’s outstanding “Main Title.” Here, Johnson thrills us with a racing arrangement of the Kronos theme, augmenting the wailing trumpet fanfare with deep Herrmanneque brass rumbling and a soaring string countermelody. The score is worth the purchase for this track alone.

In fact, the only unfortunate aspect of this thrilling cue is that it allows the score to peak early – while the rest of the score that follows is excellent, the nature of the film never allows for quite the thrilling rush of that “Main Title.” The bulk of the score is comprised of music for skulking around villages, occasionally offset by a solemn restatement of the Kronos fanfare or a dissonant release for a vampire slaying. Certainly we get a few thrilling exceptions, such as for Kronos’ aforementioned bad-ass moment in “Angry Mob, Magic Sword,” and the climatic “Fight to the Death – God’s Blade.” But the score is primarily made up of subtler chills, which may keep it just a shade shy of becoming a must-have on CD.

Still, any fan of Johnson, Hammer music, or Golden Age throwback horror music in general should not pass this up. Add thorough and fascinating liner notes by Randall Larson and bonuses like the separated instrumental sweeteners (put them together and you can build your own cue!) complete an overall winning package. The score may be out of season at the moment (future readers should note that I’m writing this in December), but it’s never too late to go vampire hunting.

Music Composed, Conducted and Produced by Laurie Johnson; Recorded by Eric Tomlinson; CD Produced by Ford Thaxton and James Nelson; Label: GDI / BSX, (BSXCD 8831); Availability: In-print; U.S. Release Date: September 6, 2007.

01. Innocent Maidens / Drained Of Life (2:06)
02. Captain Kronos Main Title (3:11)
03. Carla Released From Stocks (1:01)
04. Birthday Victim (1:34)
05. Victim Returns (:59)
06. Kronos Meets Doctor Marcus Evil In The Church (1:38)
07. Vampire Hunters Start Work (:58)
08. Doctor Is Refused / Toad In The Hole (1:44)
09. Carla And Kronos (:53)
10. Couple Kissing In The Woods / Girl Attacked Going Home (2:24)
11. Doctor Rides To The Castle / Doctor Enters The Castles (1:27)
12. Enter Sarah / Mother In Bed (1:19)
13. Bar Confrontation (1:16)
14. Surprise! (:24)
15. Doctor Sees Figure (1:09)
16. Doctor Returns To Kronos / Setting Trap (1:28)
17. Girl Attacked By Bats (1:14)
18. Doctor Hears Noises (:36)
19. Doctor Is A Vampire / Peace At Last (4:23)
20. Angry Mob, Magic Sword (3:50)
21. Vampire At Door / More Victims / Sarah At Father’s Grave (1:41)
22. Kronos Is Protected (1:47)
23. Kronos Goes To The Castle / Carla Is Bait (1:34)
24. Stalking The Prey (3:00)
25. Bloom Of Youth / Father Returns From The Dead (3:40)
26. Fight To The Death - God’s Blade (2:48)
27. The End Of Lady Durwood (1:09)
28. Kronos Leaves / Captain Kronos End Credit (1:48)
29. FX #1 - Spooky Cymbals (Bonus) (:36)
30. FX #2 - Spooky Strings (Bonus) (:33)
31. Trumpet (Bonus) (:34)
32. Tymp Sweetner (Bonus) (1:00)
33. Tymp Sweetner #2 (Bonus) (:08)
34. Sound Effects #1 (Bonus) (1:03)
35. Sound Effects #2 (Bonus) (:15)
36. Tubular Bells (Bonus) (:38)
37. Captain Kronos Theme Edit (Bonus) (3:33)

Total Playing Time: 59:21