Reimagined Soundtracks | Maniac (1934)

In an attempt to purge some pent-up frustrations, I wanted to write something hard-ish and prog-ish with a blitzing solo. That was the birth of my newest song, ‘Expiation.’ Phantom of the Opera meets Trans Siberian Orchestra? Cinematic Rock at least? Not sure, but I call it fun!! I’m very happy with the music – it feels unleashed. [Fans of Steven King’s “The Mist” (which I very much am) may have a better understanding of my use of the title… ;P]

Looking for a film to match with this song, I had tried several war pictures – and they all worked fine – but I just think there is enough of that these days… Plus, this film has a wonderful look at typical grad student/professor relationships… [Admittedly, only 3 of my professors ever asked me to snatch a body… {a keen graduate student would… ;P}]

“Sex Maniac” is a 1934 film that is a very loose adaptation of the 1843 Edger Allen Poe story “The Black Cat.” Rotten Tomatoes has this film on a list of “25 movies so bad they’re unmissable” Personally, I think Bill Wood’s soliloquy and slow rise into the camera at around 3:45 is some fine acting and it’s all in his face. (I even took the time to fix the captions!!)

What happens next? (well…, we hadn’t even gotten around to the sex part yet… and those um… demons?
I guess you’ll just have to watch the film! [Which you can do on https://publicdomainmovie.net/ and many other places] I might have added some AI clowns and other random scary images in the crypt…
I just didn’t think fighting cats was sufficiently scary! And once I inverted the clowns, I scared myself!

Overall, I’ve had a LOT of fun with this and it has been pretty cathartic. This one was for me, but I hope you love it too! Let me know your thoughts!

ps. If you are playing this below volume 11, you are doing it wrong! 🙂

pps. Get a copy at https://streamingkeys.bandcamp.com/track/expiation