The holiday season is only a few weeks away. Before you rush off to pick up some presents, make sure to check out Exclaim!'s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide, which we will be rolling out in daily instalments this week.
Here you'll find some ideal gifts for the cineaste in your life — that sophisticated connoisseur of the darkened arts whose appreciation of the French nouvelle vague is rivalled only by their interpretation of German Expressionism. For that particular subset of nerd we offer some innovative soundtrack reissues and subjects of study from Herzog to Henson.
The Exclaim! Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Gifts for the Cineaste
Horror Soundtrack Reissues
In the past, it took a special kind of nerd, one with a combined love of music and horror flicks, to collect soundtracks and scores on vinyl. But thanks to labels like Death Waltz, Mondo, Waxwork and One Way Static, you don't really need to be both anymore. From the visually alluring reimagined artwork and limited pressings in themed colours (i.e., Creepshow's "meteor shit green"), to the growing influence of John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's iconic synthesizer work, horror soundtracks have become one of the most popular niches for vinyl collectors over the past couple of years. If you're looking to gift one of the more recent ones for a horror-fanatical loved one, here are a few recommendations:
Friday the 13th
(Waxwork)
Harry Manfredini's timeless score to the sequel-abusing slasher (pictured above) is a master class in seriously overwrought strings along with plenty of the signature "Ch ch ch ch, ha ha ha" whispers.
Beyond The Black Rainbow
(Death Waltz/Jagjaguwar)
Sinoia Caves' music for the 2010 Canadian cult flick is a mind-bending synth odyssey that takes a page out of Carpenter and Howarth's catalogue.
Class of Nuke 'Em High
(Troma)
For '80s fetishists, a selection of obscure hard rock, rockabilly and new wave that complements the film's overblown cheese factor.
Candyman
(One Way Static)
Philip Glass's minimally creeping orchestrations evokes the goosebumps of Clive Barker's mythical mirror murder.
Cam Lindsay
La Dolce Vita (Criterion Collection)
No true cinephile's collection is complete without a copy of Federico Fellini's groundbreaking critique on contemporary European class systems and the culture of stardom, which catapulted the Italian director into the top tier of movie theatre masters upon its release in 1960. Interview extras with critics, scholars and the filmmaker himself help put this picture's cultural pervasiveness into perspective, but it's the Criterion Collection-certified cover and crisp packaging that makes this new Blu-Ray a must-own for casual cinema lovers trying to seem cool.
Matthew Ritchie
Herzog On Herzog Revised Edition
(Faber & Faber)
By Paul Cronin
Writer, director, producer, documentarian, film legend: no mere job description can do justice to the cinematic vision of Werner Herzog, whose body of work is discussed in depth in this updated collection of full-length conversations, subtitled A Guide For the Perplexed. From his 1972 breakthrough Aguirre, the Wrath of God to sequel/remake Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and recent documentary work like Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, to know Herzog is to know 40-plus years of cinema history.
James Keast
Jim Henson's Tale of Sand box set
(Archaia Adult)
The Muppets remain Jim Henson's greatest legacy, but their success never sapped the puppeteer's imagination or ambition. Written with frequent collaborator Jerry Juhl in the late '60s and early '70s, Tale of Sand was Henson's final, unproduced screenplay, about a man who is chased across the American Southwest by a host of beasts and monsters. This new box set pairs the 2012 Harvey and Eisner Award-winning graphic novel adaptation by Ramon Perez with Henson and Juhl's original 76-page screenplay and pages of extra artwork, all housed in a slipcase box.
Ian Gormely
Need more holiday gift ideas? Then check out our other sections on music, movies, videogames, music ephemera and books, as well as gifts for the "urban hipster", folk fan and hip-hop fan in your life.
Here you'll find some ideal gifts for the cineaste in your life — that sophisticated connoisseur of the darkened arts whose appreciation of the French nouvelle vague is rivalled only by their interpretation of German Expressionism. For that particular subset of nerd we offer some innovative soundtrack reissues and subjects of study from Herzog to Henson.
The Exclaim! Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Gifts for the Cineaste
Horror Soundtrack Reissues
In the past, it took a special kind of nerd, one with a combined love of music and horror flicks, to collect soundtracks and scores on vinyl. But thanks to labels like Death Waltz, Mondo, Waxwork and One Way Static, you don't really need to be both anymore. From the visually alluring reimagined artwork and limited pressings in themed colours (i.e., Creepshow's "meteor shit green"), to the growing influence of John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's iconic synthesizer work, horror soundtracks have become one of the most popular niches for vinyl collectors over the past couple of years. If you're looking to gift one of the more recent ones for a horror-fanatical loved one, here are a few recommendations:
Friday the 13th
(Waxwork)
Harry Manfredini's timeless score to the sequel-abusing slasher (pictured above) is a master class in seriously overwrought strings along with plenty of the signature "Ch ch ch ch, ha ha ha" whispers.
Beyond The Black Rainbow
(Death Waltz/Jagjaguwar)
Sinoia Caves' music for the 2010 Canadian cult flick is a mind-bending synth odyssey that takes a page out of Carpenter and Howarth's catalogue.
Class of Nuke 'Em High
(Troma)
For '80s fetishists, a selection of obscure hard rock, rockabilly and new wave that complements the film's overblown cheese factor.
Candyman
(One Way Static)
Philip Glass's minimally creeping orchestrations evokes the goosebumps of Clive Barker's mythical mirror murder.
Cam Lindsay
La Dolce Vita (Criterion Collection)
No true cinephile's collection is complete without a copy of Federico Fellini's groundbreaking critique on contemporary European class systems and the culture of stardom, which catapulted the Italian director into the top tier of movie theatre masters upon its release in 1960. Interview extras with critics, scholars and the filmmaker himself help put this picture's cultural pervasiveness into perspective, but it's the Criterion Collection-certified cover and crisp packaging that makes this new Blu-Ray a must-own for casual cinema lovers trying to seem cool.
Matthew Ritchie
Herzog On Herzog Revised Edition
(Faber & Faber)
By Paul Cronin
Writer, director, producer, documentarian, film legend: no mere job description can do justice to the cinematic vision of Werner Herzog, whose body of work is discussed in depth in this updated collection of full-length conversations, subtitled A Guide For the Perplexed. From his 1972 breakthrough Aguirre, the Wrath of God to sequel/remake Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and recent documentary work like Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, to know Herzog is to know 40-plus years of cinema history.
James Keast
Jim Henson's Tale of Sand box set
(Archaia Adult)
The Muppets remain Jim Henson's greatest legacy, but their success never sapped the puppeteer's imagination or ambition. Written with frequent collaborator Jerry Juhl in the late '60s and early '70s, Tale of Sand was Henson's final, unproduced screenplay, about a man who is chased across the American Southwest by a host of beasts and monsters. This new box set pairs the 2012 Harvey and Eisner Award-winning graphic novel adaptation by Ramon Perez with Henson and Juhl's original 76-page screenplay and pages of extra artwork, all housed in a slipcase box.
Ian Gormely
Need more holiday gift ideas? Then check out our other sections on music, movies, videogames, music ephemera and books, as well as gifts for the "urban hipster", folk fan and hip-hop fan in your life.