Il cacciatore di squali

Beat Records is proud to present the world premiere on CD of the complete original motion picture soundtrack for the movie Il cacciatore di squali, directed in 1979 by Enzo G. Castellari. Superstar Franco Nero is Mike Di Donato, an Italian-American with a mysterious past dominated by a terrible event from which he is probably fleeing, leads the life of a good savage on a deserted island with his own version of Friday, played by Marta Miller, the gorgeous Argentinian actress with a prolific career in genre cinema. There are obviously many differences between this and Defoe’s Crusoe, as this is a contemporary story that merely takes some aesthetic inspiration from the aforementioned novel, mainly the isolation from civilization and immersion in nature. In this movie, we have a lot of modern-day elements such as the struggle against authoritarianism, technology, bullying attitudes from the not-too-specific organization with which Mike was employed, and the search for a lost treasure hidden inside a plane 120 meters below the surface of the ocean which apparently can only be retrieved by the protagonist. 

To accomplish this feat, Mike seeks the collaboration of Acapulco (Jorge Luke) and faces a series of inconveniences and hostility, with everything playing out in the presence of the sea's most dangerous predator. Also notable is the remarkable performance by the director as a mysterious killer who is operating in the background while evil (or would-be evil) criminals such as Ramon (Werner Pochat), Donovan (Michael Forest), and Gomez (Eduardo Fajardo) pursue their agenda aided by their minions.

The soundtrack was composed by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis during a deeply influential period in music history, as 1979 was the moment in which the disco music phenomenon was spreading like wildfire across the world, infusing every creative endeavor with its powerful energy, and the brothers Maestro were no exception. The main titles burst from the speakers with great skill, creating a musical transition from a quiet seaside scene into Mike's dynamic fight with a shark. Pulsating grooves, nervous guitars, derailing brasses, breaks artfully edited into sync, and the general musical tension creates a magnet for the spectator, glued onto the screen with both eyes and ears.

We have plenty of orchestrations of this theme, literally everything. In one version, the rhythm section hits like Sylvester, another time with strings in the style of Sister Sledge, then here comes the brass as if it were a Bee Gees cue, but holy Mary, it's undeniably the De Angelis bros, and you recognize them in the details, accents, and overall orchestration. If only I had them here while writing these notes, I would hug them gratefully for the umpteenth fucking cool emotion popping up from this time capsule. Two other musical themes in the score lend a hand, one for lighter, more comedic situations and everyday life, and a series of tense electronic cues accentuated by a few live instruments.

In December 2025, during Music Day Roma in the presence of Guido De Angelis and Enzo Castellari, we presented the soundtrack in a special vinyl release of only 50 copies featuring the signatures of the composers and the director. An the event, Enzo confirmed something he's never tried to hide, which is his enormous love for this movie, and it’s not difficult to understand the reasons: his (as always) notable and inspired direction, the performance of one of his most faithful collaborators, Franco Nero, the story itself, developed with great taste and skill, the Caribbean setting, the intrigue, the underwater adventures, and the presence of one of the ocean's most fascinating predators, the shark, directed like a true actor in many scenes, including the fights.

I'm convinced that the main reason for the affection that Enzino (as my father used to call him) has for this movie lies in the epic scene where Franco Nero is knocked out by the character he was playing. I wonder how many times the director has pulled his friend's leg for that amazingly-filmed knockout punch he gave him on the set of Il cacciatore di squali. For all lovers of genre cinema, it's such a cult scene that crowns an amazing movie featuring a crazy score that reminds us, once again, why we still love genre movies and the music by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis.

The LP is offered in a coloured (Blue) version. Graphic layout by Daniele De Gemini, mastering by Enrico De Gemini.

Limited edtion to 450 copies.