STRIDULUM (THE VISITOR)

Quartet Records, in collaboration with GDM and Universal Music Publishing Italia, presents a remastered and expanded reissue of the 1979 sci-fi-horror classic score by Franco Micalizzi for STRIDULUM (aka THE VISITOR)

The film, directed by Giulio Paradisi (aka Michael J. Paradise) is the genre-bending Italian cult film that mixes together a wide range of influences from ROSEMARY’S BABY to THE OMEN, from THE FURY to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Powerful wonder-child Katy Collins could be a force for good and evil as two rival factions of otherworldly entities battle for her soul. After paralyzing her mom with a gunshot, Katy is torn between the two sides represented by a diverse cast that includes John Huston, Franco Nero, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen, Mel Ferrer and Sam Peckinpah.

Franco Micalizzi’s masterful score is as colorful as the many jazz and funky source materials the film builds upon. The overpowering main theme is repeated for each new step in the battle for Katy, while other elements include electronic textures for the supernatural powers at play, distressing moments for bird attacks and energetic montage cues for the hospital sequences as Katy’s mom is to be saved.

The soundtrack album released by RCA in 1979 was a big success, and it was reissued on CD by Digitmovies in 2011 with a good amount of previously unreleased tracks. For this new, remastered edition we located the original master tapes that contain not only more material and unreleased film versions but also a great discovery: three versions of the song “Sadness Theme” (performed by a studio singer in New York and composed by Micalizzi) that was originally written for the main titles but ultimately not used.

Claudio Fuiano has produced this new CD under the supervision of maestro Franco Micalizzi;  Chris Malone has restored and remastered the audio. The lavishly illustrated 12-page booklet includes notes by Gergely Hubai that discuss both film and score.

Stridulum Theme (4:29)

Here’s the Dream (2:36)

Running Away From Jerzy (3:29)

Sadness Theme (3:28)

Distressing Sequence (2:42)

Hospital Sequence (1:56)

Voices For Sadness Theme (1:43)

Jerzy Again (4:27)

Sadness Theme (Second Part) (1:12)

Atmosphere (2:40)

Back in the Hospital (2:27)

Distressing Sequence (#2) (1:12)

Stridulum Theme (#2) (1:13)

Distressing Sequence (#3) (5:10)

Jerzy Again (#2) (1:03)

Atmosphere (#2) (2:27)

Sadness Theme (2nd part-take2) (1:00)

Stridulum Theme (#3) (4:52)

Atmosphere (#3) (3:08)

Jerzy Again (#3) (1:32)

Sadness Theme (Vocal) (3:23)

Atmosphere (#4) (6:17)

Stridulum Theme (#4) (1:44)

Sadness Theme (Vocal #2) (2:01)

Atmosphere (#5) (3:18)

Sadness Theme (Vocal #3) (2:53)

Total Disc Time: 74:40