Tangerine Dream — Strange Behaviour OST

In the wake of the eruption of new cinema emanating from Australia in the 1970s (Cars that Ate Paris, Mad Max, Long Weekend, Patrick and Wakes in Fright to name, but a few) New Zealand had gotten left behind a little but felt the need to get in on the Ozploitation trend. The result of this was the release of Strange Behaviour aka Dead Kids or Smalltown Massacre, a 1981 slasher film that fell foul of the UKs video nasty hunt, even though it was never included on the DPP list. Written and directed by Michael Laughlin, the film remains underground, never receiving the furore that surrounded films like Cannibal Holocaust or The Evil Dead, however it remains an effective and at times brutal underground gem.

Furthermore, the film rather bizarrely featured a soundtrack by German electronics pioneers, Tangerine Dream. Having already scored a German, made for TV film called Vampira in 1971 as well as moving into more mainstream cinema by composing a score to William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977) and Michael Mann’s Thief (1981) which was released in the same year as Strange Behaviour. They would continue to work with the great and good of Hollywood during the 1980s scoring the likes of The Keep (1983), Firestarter (1984) and Near Dark (1987). Interestingly, Strange Behaviour has always been missing from their available discography, never having been released in any format until now. Thanks to BSX Records we can finally enjoy Tangerine Dream’s Strange Behaviour in all its glory on compact disc for the very first time.

So, the burning question is, what’s it like? Firstly, it isn’t your typical Tangerine Dream album, the tracks, for the most part, are fairly short and are designed purely as musical cues for the movie. That said, there is enough atmospheric electronica to identify this as a Tangerine Dream album, although its atmosphere is claustrophobic and more than a little unsettling at times. The album can however really go for the jugular at times, Horror in the Bathroom crescendos into noise rock territory before it fades away to nothing leaving the listener desperate for more of the same. Tracks like Experiments in Terror continue to meld the typical kosmische synth of 70s Tangerine Dream with something darker and more experimental. So much of what followed this soundtrack owes a huge debt of gratitude to Tangerine Dream for giving them the blueprint of how to create complete and utter atmospheric dread with a bank of synths. Elsewhere the album takes some unusual turns, The Romance Theme features warm synth sounds, flamenco guitar and even some whistling, while Pete Goes in for the Kill is made up largely of percussive elements with some sparse synth creeping in to help out here and there, and the album closer, The Wedding Song, is a gentle ballad of warm soft synth and acoustic guitar. 

Overall, the soundtrack is outstanding, the vast majority of the tracks follow the creepy, atmospheric electronic blueprint that has come to symbolize some of the very best horror soundtracks of the 80s and beyond. As a fan of Tangerine Dream and horror cinema it is a dream come true that I can finally sit here and discuss this album at length, other than discussing its availability. Thank you BSX, you have made this kosmische and horror fan very happy, and I would assume many more besides me.