THE NIGHTCOMERS (REISSUE)

Remastered release of complex Jerry Fielding horror score! Michael Winner directs eerie, chilling take on characters from famous novel “The Turn Of The Screw” by Henry James, set in Victorian England, scripted by Michael Hastings, presented by Joseph E. Levine, with Marlon Brando taking center stage in front of the camera as Peter Quint. In this newly imagined “prequel”, gardener Quint corrupts both children at the center of the tale, ultimately is slain by an arrow shot from the crossbow of teenage boy Myles. Violence and sadism rear, and even sadomasochism has a role in the horror. Jerry Fielding, frequent composer of choice for director Winner, tackles extremely challenging assignment: The music must rest comfortably in the period English vernacular and it needs to underscore the graphic horror and perverse sex taking place within this idyllic countryside locale. It does both in spades! Fielding uses crisp brass fanfares to bookend the story, with swirling consonant musical figures in tow. It is pleasant, even imposing. But lurking ahead are dark, complex sequences for strings that feature memorable sliding lines moving about in opposite directions with a degree of dissonance, ultimately cadencing on chords that exploit bitonality and even polytonality. This is serious interior writing! It is not a lengthy score, running just under 40 minutes, but offers more music for thought than many a longer work. One really cool highlight out of several: After Fielding brings back his opening herald and returns to the English vernacular, he reveals some deception and wraps instead with the dark, shifting string lines as the “Postlude” plays under the brief end credits. Fielding brilliantly ushers us in theory to the storyline in the novel. Trivia: The novel itself was filmed before in 1961 as The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton, with Deborah Kerr in the lead. Courtesy of StudioCanal, the entire score has been remastered and otherwise features the same contents as our previous CD release, long out of print. Booklet design by Joe Sikoryak, original 2008 liner notes by Nick Redman included. Score recorded, mixed by Richard Lewzey at Cine-Tele Sound Studios (CTS) in London. Greig McRitchie, Lennie Niehaus orchestrate, Jerry Fielding composes, conducts. Intrada Special Collection CD available while quantities and interest remain!