When I was a kid in the early to mid 70's there was a show called Creature Feature on WGN in Chicago and each week it opened with the same montage of scenes from classic horror films set to the opening theme music from this movie. Until I saw the film a few years ago I never knew it was from this movie or that Henry Mancini composed it. If you think about it, it really fits for a montage of horror film scenes.
shareI agree. This movie has one of the best, creepiest scores of all time. Appropriate for one of the greatest movie thrillers ever made.
This is Blake Edwards best film by a country mile.
The low, monotone grumble, the minor autoharp chords...wow. Very understated and frightening.
This is by far on the top of my list of movie hidden gems. Very suspenseful with a relatively low body count and fantastic directing. The mannequin scene where Nancy Ashton is about to get it is almost unbearable to watch. And I can't imagine a scarier feeling that being inside an enclosed garage with a malevolent stranger's asthmatic breathing.
The details were great, too. Did you notice all the dust in the room where Ross Martin is keeping Stefanie Powers? One detail I would have changed is the FBI guys' desks...too neat and uncluttered for supposedly busy agents.
The theme music was also as the theme music in a Pittsburgh Saturday night monster movie show called Chiller Theater. I was hosted by Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille. It was on the air from the early 60's to the early 80's. Bill Cardille played the TV reporter in the orignal version of Night of the Living Dead which was flimed in the Pittsburgh area. There is a web site about Chiller Theater called Chiller Theater Memories at http://chillertheatermemories.com The arrangment of the theme Chiller Theater used is done by Al Caiola's. It is on the album "Ultra Lounge Vol. 16 - Mondo Hollywood" on EMI/Capitol Records. I agree it makes a great monster moive theme.
John S.
I had no idea that Chilly Billy's theme was from EIT! It fits though, since Mancini was from Aliquippa originally, just down the road a piece from Pittsburgh. Western Pennsylvanian's love Mancini! I played a lot of his music in middle school band because our director grew up with Mancini. I had no idea at the time though.
shareThe metal/jazz band Fantomas did an album of classic movie sounds, Track #3 of the CD is "Experiment in Terror"
shareFor those who have seen the movie, and I won't spoil, the music is very germaine to the theme in one other way.
The saxophonist plays notes as if the saxophone were breathing, and holds some notes as if it were having trouble breathing.
the opening music was great as was the black and white photography.
shareInterestingly, Mancini's title tune influenced none other than Don Everly to an almost obsessive degree for a spell - multiple attempts at emulating the EIT theme ultimately resulted in a muted yet haunting version of "Nancy's Minuet"; Everly completists may be even more startled to hear a chilling EIT-style arrangement applied to an otherwise "Bobby-ish" Brill Building
(Goffin-Keller) tune, "Little Hollywood Girl", which IMO gives the song a far more sinister subtext.
I think this may have been the theme music for KOCO TV Okla City Mystery Theater. Reading that other stations used it makes me think that OKC did the same. It has been so long that I am not certain. In any event, it was creepy music very much like Experiment in Terror.
shareMancini's Experiment in Terror and Peter Gunn became a favorite of many original and modern surf intrumental bands,including The Ventures.Marricone's spaghetti western themes(Think Clint Eastwood)were popular among them too.
shareI still always think of "Creature Feature" when I hear this music! Those were the days!
shareGreat score and the title sequence is among the most striking ones in any film, ever.
PS Fantomas did an amazing cover of Mancini´s main theme on their 2001 The Director´s Cut. Gotta hear that one.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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