Perth Voice Interactive

ANYONE up for a head-banging Nosferatu or Frankenstein?

Perth muso Ben Penfold-Marwick has been writing and recording black metal scores for silent horror films made in the 1920s, giving them an eerie and frenetic new lease of life.

A horror buff and black metal guitarist, Penfold-Marwick especially loves old horror movies and has played in extreme metal bands over the years.

In 2022 he combined his two passions for the 100th anniversary of Nosferatu.

“I thought it would be fun to try and write and record a black metal score for the film,” he says.

“It was a really different way to write music for me, trying to make pieces of music fit the length and feel of different scenes.

“I also matched some sound effects to certain parts of the film, to further tie the audio to the visuals. The difficulty was matching sounds that didn’t seem too comedic or silly and kept the gloomy tone of the film.

“When I was younger, I used to watch silent horror films with the sound turned down and listen to black metal CDs while watching. I preferred the heavy guitars and drums to the generic organs and orchestral scores the films came with.”

The multi-instrumentalist had so much fun, he did another black metal score for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, a classic silent German horror film from 1920.

“This time around, I created a few themes and motifs for different settings and characters, and some sections of the score use these themes with different arrangements and tempos, to match the character or setting on screen,” Penfold-Marwick says.

“It’s a time consuming project, but I enjoy it and plan on recording one silent horror film a score year, all released under the 100 title through my Demon Sin project name. I play guitar, bass, drums and keys for Demon Sin.”

Aside from his horror soundtrack work, Penfold-Marwick runs his own extreme metal label Rassilon Records, writes and plays everything on Celestial Shadows – a black metal project inspired by science fiction – and hosts Nightbreed Metal Radio, a weekly audio and video podcast where he interviews metal bands.

But horror is his main muse, especially Italian movies directed by the late Lucio Fulci.

“The Italian horror of the late 70s and early 80s just has its own feel and style like nothing else,” he says.

“Films like Profondo Rosso, The Beyond, and Demons feel otherworldly and extreme in a way American cinema never quite nailed in the same way. I’m not only into old horror though. Just this year, Sissy and Talk to Me, two new Aussie horrors, really blew me away.”

Perth cinemagoers will get a chance to see The Cabinet of Dr Caligari on the big screen with Penfold-Marwick’s black metal score on the opening night of the Perth Horror Film Festival on Friday August 18.

After a highly successful debut last year, the three-day horror festival returns to Backlot Perth cinema with an even bigger programme that now includes a session devoted to international shorts as well as tons of homegrown movies.

“We have some phenomenal WA films this year and they are all fantastic in their own right, but I’d have to say that the two films which really stand out to me personally are The Guard Station, directed by Matt Zappala, which has a sold-out screening on opening night and The Quiet, directed by Radheya Jegatheva, which is a visual masterpiece set in space, screening during our sci-fi night,” says festival director Vanessa Gudgeon.

Tix for the Perth Horror Film Festival (August 18-20) at perthhorrorfans.wixsite.com/perthhorrorfans and to hear Penfold-Marwick’s ‘Demon Sin’ music check out rassilonrecords.bandcamp.com.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK