Burning the midnight oil to finish a detailed pitch I’m putting together. Honing, honing, honing. Dusted off my old soundtrack to THE AMITYVILLE HORROR by Lalo Schifrin (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, BULLITT, DIRTY HARRY, ENTER THE DRAGON), who won an Academy Award nomination for his 1979 score. Not only was this magnificent score one of the first I owned when I started collecting soundtracks, this was the *first* rated-R film I ever saw. Convinced my dad to take my friend and I to the Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater after I had read Jay Anson's book. Well, the film scared the 12-year-old crap out of me. My friend and I had to read Pink Panther comic books all night to try and forget the terrifying images imbedded to our brains. One thing I never forgot was the chilling, atmospheric score. When the film came on television years later, I recorded the whole CBS broadcast on cassette tapes and freaked myself out listening to the movie over and over down in my parents' gloomy basement. And Schifrin’s hypnotic music—bliss! Later, I acquired the record album, which even had a “disco” track on it called "Amityville Fever." Apparently the producers were trying to secure some radio airtime with the demonic, bouncy single. Didn’t happen. Now, I’m working up a project that in some ways is parenthetical to TAH. And so, continuing to write into the night until it’s done, and done well. #amwriting #theamityvillehorror #laloschifrin #horror #movie #soundtrack #knowthescore #1979 #musicisthemuse #atmospheric #october #halloween #mfdrivein