Death Becomes Her and Blood Simple Scores Getting Vinyl Releases for Black Friday

Even if we’re still in October and have yet to cross the threshold of Halloween, some vinyl collectors are already looking forward to Black Friday, as Record Store Day will be unveiling an impressive slate of all-new pressings and releases. Varèse Sarabande looks to keep horror fans excited up through Black Friday, as they will be releasing new pressings of soundtracks for the Coen brothers’ twisted thriller Blood Simple, as well as the horror-comedy Death Becomes Her. Both releases will come in limited-edition colorways, with this marking the first time the Death Becomes Her score has been available on vinyl. You can head to the official Record Store Day website to find participating locations near you.

The Death Becomes Her score is described, “For nearly four decades, the Academy Award-winning partnership between director/producer Robert Zemeckis and composer/conductor Alan Silvestri has yielded some of the world’s most beloved films and celebrated scores, including Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, and all three installments of Back to the Future. Released in 1992, Death Becomes Her is no exception. With its satirical and ghoulish look at Hollywood’s quest for eternal youth, this comedy cult classic follows a movie star (Meryl Streep) and novelist (Goldie Hawn) as they feud over the same man — a plastic surgeon, played by Bruce Willis. At the center of the plot is a miracle potion that offers eternal youth, even after death. As things go increasingly awry, the women attempt to maintain appearances over the years, despite a series of ghastly accidents.

“In addition to its Oscar-winning visual effects, Death Becomes Her features an unforgettable score by Silvestri, who deftly captures the film’s tone: grand yet wry, large-scale and symphonic for the supernatural drama, with a lighthearted touch of the macabre. Throughout the film, a devilish fiddle reminds audiences of the Faustian bargain that the characters have made with immortality.

“The first-ever vinyl pressing of Death Becomes Her (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), this expanded edition includes seven cues not featured on the original soundtrack release, as well as an extended version of the original song ‘Me,’ performed by the legendary Meryl Streep. Limited to 4,000 copies worldwide, the soundtrack is pressed on purple vinyl with the original cover art and a printed inner sleeve.”

The Blood Simple score is described, “Another of the most iconic director/composer partnerships in film history, Joel and Ethan Coen’s collaboration with award-winning composer Carter Burwell began with the duo’s 1984 directorial debut Blood Simple. Not only an auspicious debut for the Coen brothers — whose genre-spanning, massively influential filmography includes classics like 2007’s No Country for Old Men, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture — the independent neo-noir thriller marked the feature-film debut of four-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand. Also starring John Getz, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh, the film centers on the Coen brothers’ signature mix of psychodrama and dark humor as it follows a Texas bartender embroiled in a murder plot involving the bar owner’s young wife.

“Also the first feature-film score from Burwell (then the director of the New York Institute of Technology’s digital sound department and a member of an art-pop duo called Thick Pigeon), Blood Simple draws much of its unsettling mood from Burwell’s hypnotic piano melodies and inventive use of manipulated field recordings of industrial machinery. After discovering an immediate chemistry with the Coen brothers, Burwell would go on to score most of their films to date, in addition to earning Academy Award nominations for his work on movies like Todd Haynes’ Carol and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin. Praised by Time Out New York for ‘evoking a palpable sense of dread with just a couple of piano keys,’ the Blood Simple score appeared in an abbreviated version on a 1987 release from Craft’s sister label Varèse Sarabande (which also featured selections from Burwell’s score to the Coens’ next film, Raising Arizona).

“Forty years after recording the Blood Simple score, Burwell has personally curated and produced an all-new mix of the ahead-of-its-time soundtrack. While the original Varèse Sarabande release only included seven tracks from the score (totaling just 20 minutes), this deluxe edition features 13 tracks and 35 minutes from the original multitrack session tapes, including three extended cues. Limited to 3,000 copies worldwide and pressed on Bloodshot vinyl, the LP also includes Daniel Schweiger’s detailed liner notes recounting the genesis of the project and the ever-fascinating Coens-Burwell collaboration.”

You can head to the official Record Store Day website to find participating locations near you.

Will you be adding these albums to your collection? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!