Various Artists - 'Driller Killer' : first ever CD release of soundtrack for controversial 1979 film | out 30th October 2026 on Cold Spring

It has taken almost five decades for the long-lost original soundtrack to the 1979 Abel Ferrara-directed grindhouse/video nasty ‘The Driller Killer’ to finally be released. The score was composed by Joe Delia, but also features contributions from Tony Coca-Cola And The Roosters, plus two pieces by J.S. Bach.

“'Driller Killer' was a crash course in real time to scoring music to picture. We sat around the Steenbeck scoring directly to a 2 track Tandberg cassette deck, using two ARP synthesizers...an Odyssey and a String Ensemble"

(Joe Delia)

THE DRILLER KILLER 1979 film images

Sourced from the original film master tapes, approved by the composer and director (and with creative input from Abel Ferrara), this remastered edition of ‘Driller Killer' was issued on LP for the very first time in May 2026 via Recently Deceased. It now receives its first ever CD release on Cold Spring.

"Putting these tracks together is like field recordings, but instead of the deep south it's the crossroads of 18 St. and Broadway, a loft building next to the firehouse with a lot of this music played on an abandoned floor where we weren't squatting but were not far from it. Most of the people on this record are ghosts to me now, dead or just gone, but the ghost of Tony Coca-Cola rides again with his head still on his shoulders looking straight ahead with the sounds of 77/78 NYC all over the tracks" (Abel Ferrara)

‘The Driller Killer’ was low budget, extremely violent and transgressive, provocative and genuinely shocking. At the time of its release it was only shown in the fleapits, grindhouses and exploitation venues associated with 1970s underground cinema. Appearing on the ‘Video Nasties’ list in the UK, the film was banned soon after its 1982 VHS release and only released in its uncut version almost twenty years later.

Designed with the art of Douglas Metro's paintings from the film, the deluxe fold-out CD digipak release on Cold Spring includes lyrics and liner notes from Joe Delia and Abel Ferrara, as well as a poster featuring the original theatrical release art.

DRILLER KILLER TRACKLIST

1 Man In The Church (1:56)

2 Fool For You (1:55)

3 Bach Invention #1 (0:45)

4 Ballad Of Nicky & Nadine (1:19)

5 Driller Killer - Lobby (3:55)

6 Pizza Pizza (0:37)

7 Driller Killer - Max’s Kansas City (8:17)

8 27th Spirit (0:47)

9 Nobody’s My Girlfriend (1:34)

10 Baybi Daye Crying (1:59)

11 Stromboli Shuffle (1:35)

12 Driller Killer - Death Of The Art Dealer (3:04)

13 Grand Street Stomp (1:28)

14 Bach Invention #14 (0:59)

15 Driller Killer (2:20)

16 Louie’s Murder (0:50)

17 Abel Metro Mac Grand Street (2:33)