Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin brought Demons to life at Liberty Hall
Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin. // photo by Nick Spacek
Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin
Liberty Hall
Tuesday, October 17
Nothing says spooky season quite like seeing a horror movie screen at your favorite theater. In this case, it was Lamberto Bava’s 1985 Italian splatterfest, Demons, with the added bonus of Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin performing the score live to picture.
If you’ve taken the opportunity to see Goblin when they’ve passed through over the last few years performing the scores to Suspiria or Deep Red, you’d think you know what to expect, but Demons allowed Simonetti and his band of Daniele Amador on guitar, Cecilia Nappo on bass, and Federico Maragoni on drums to do something a little different.
Yes, the volume of the film itself was changed so that the music could be heard, rather than dialogue and effects. The print was an amazing scan that made Demons look better than I’ve ever seen. And, as per usual, the quartet knew exactly how to emphasize certain aspects of the score to make the fact that they were a live band really come through. During the more intense action-oriented sequences of Demons‘ last half hour, the intensity of the volume combined with the frenzy onscreen was almost overwhelming but totally worthwhile.
Plus, while they didn’t do it for every song from the film’s soundtrack, Goblin did play along with Mötley Crüe’s “Save Our Souls” and the repeated instances of “Fast As Shark” by Accept, which led to full-on whoops and cheers from the audience in recognition.
After a full cinematic experience of blood, guts, synthesizers, guitar, bass, and drums, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin put on a full set of their greatest hits immediately after Demons‘ credits finished rolling. This part of the show yielded some surprises, as well. Not only did Simonetti and his band perform pieces from their storied filmography, such as Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria, Deep Red, Tenebre, and Phenomena, but Simonetti had reworked two of his favorite cinematic themes, meaning we were also treated to John Carpenter’s main title theme from Halloween and “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield, as used in The Exorcist.
Call yourself a horror nerd, but until you’ve heard Claudio Simonetti cover John Carpenter, we can all agree that you might be a bit of a dilettante in the film score world.
All photos by Nick Spacek
