Unsung 80s Soundtracks

Plunging into the 1970s Berlin underground, this unforgettable portrait stands as one of the most harrowing films ever made about drug addiction. Based on the true story of Christiane Felscherinow, whose shocking memoir made her the face of a generation of troubled German youth, this bracing dramatization follows the alienated thirteen-year-old Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) as she goes from popping pills to shooting heroin amid West Berlin’s infamous club scene. An instant cult sensation on account of its authentically grimy location shooting and electrifying soundtrack by David Bowie, Christiane F. (original title: Christiane F.: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo) remains a haunting vision of a young life in free fall. As part of our Unsung 80's Soundtracks series, we will be presenting Janus Films' new 4K digital restoration, approved by director Uli Edel, featuring a new 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The soundtrack album is essentially a David Bowie compilation created around the film, rather than a conventional original film score. Bowie also recorded the German-language version of “Heroes,” “Helden,” specifically for the German market/film connection. Bowie also appears as himself in concert footage, and his music is deeply woven into the film's atmosphere and Christiane's obsession with him. This film contains mature themes and intense subject matter that may be triggering for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Released in 1982 to near-instant cult status, Slava Tsukerman’s Liquid Sky is a surreal collision of new wave, fashion, drugs, and extraterrestrial weirdness, and easily one of the strangest movies to emerge from New York’s downtown scene. Anne Carlisle stars as both Margaret and Jimmy, a pair of androgynous club kids whose chaotic lives are upended when a tiny alien spacecraft lands on the roof of their apartment building. Leaving a trail of increasingly bizarre encounters in its wake, as well as a few dead bodies, the alien has come to Earth in search of a mysterious substance produced during human sexual activity. Shot on the streets and in the clubs of early-’80s Manhattan, and on an extremely low budget estimated at approximately $500,000, Liquid Sky nevertheless exudes a look and attitude that feel remarkably ahead of their time. Released during the height of the early-’80s New York new wave scene, Liquid Sky has become a cult touchstone for anyone interested in the intersection of underground cinema, electronic music, NY fashion, and queer nightlife. The soundtrack to Liquid Sky is as strange and distinctive as the movie itself. Composer Brenda I. Hutchinson and director Slava Tsukerman built the score around primitive synthesizers, electronic textures, and the sounds of New York’s downtown club scene, creating something that feels less like a conventional movie score than music beamed in from another planet. A slight cheat in our Unsung 80's Soundtracks series in the sense that Liquid Sky's sounds are more of a score, its entirely synthetic soundtrack, mirroring the film’s icy visual palette and alienated characters, felt like an essential for the era.

Described as a "Rock & Roll Fable" by its director Walter Hill, 1984's Streets of Fire is an essential inclusion in our Unsung 80’s Soundtracks series. Michael Paré stars as Tom Cody, a tough-as-nails mercenary finds himself pulled back into a life he left behind when his former girlfriend, rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane), is kidnapped by motorcycle gang leader Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe). Enlisted by Ellen’s manager Billy Fish (Rick Moranis), Tom joins forces with his former partner McCoy (Weapons Oscar-winner Amy Madigan), and sets out into the neon-lit, rain-soaked streets of the city to rescue her. Blending rock & roll, comic-book melodrama, and 1950s street-gang mythology, Streets of Fire features original songs mixed in with 80's staples such as Dan Hartman’s “I Can Dream About You," as well as performances by the Blasters, Ry Cooder, and others, ultimately earning its cult status as something of a rock concert wrapped around a plot.