Warning Sign

Original soundtrack by Craig Safan limited red & white splatter with a download card. 29 tracks of Synth heavyness over 2 pieces of vinyl. Includes 15 unreleased cues presented as bonus tracks. Liner notes by Safan and George Ginn. Remastered at Optimum Mastering.

Safan's film music is notable for its clever use of electronics, and Warning Sign is no different. Recorded using a Synclavier Synthesizer—an incredibly expensive piece of kit at the time—the score is fully electronic but no less effective than his orchestral work, and provides an entertaining and futuristic soundscape for the story of a man-made virus that is accidentally released into its laboratory, turning its workers into zombies.

Due to the science fiction and horror overtones, the Synclavier creates an appropriate atmosphere which Safan layers with different effects, from an electric piano that illustrates a desolate location in the film's early stages to the use of metallic effects as percussion for the chemically-affected staff. Safan weaves dissonant sounds to suggest chaos and paranoia, and innovatively synthesizes human voices to convey a sense of tortured souls to those infected. What follows is an intense score where the foreboding turns to reality with an eerie and uncomfortable texture, broken only by a beautiful and warm melody for the resolution and end credits, where all is well.

The release features new artwork by Marc Bessant. A comprehensive package befitting one of the scores that was an important part of the 80s craze of electronic film music.