Resting heart rate

For many gamers, video games are a more immersive form of film. We enter other worlds and experience stories by playing them ourselves. As with films, there are mainstream titles that everyone knows, and smaller productions that fly under the radar. Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse falls somewhere in between. A game that, despite its uniqueness, has probably only been played by a select group of people, but may be familiar to many because of its iconic look and premise.

The game was originally released in 2005 and is described on Wikipedia as a “reverse horror action-adventure,” meaning that we ourselves are the horror terrorizing the game world. We do this in the form of the eponymous Stubbs the Zombie, who rises from the dead in a retrofuturistic city and, complete with striped suit and fedora, turns humans into the undead.

That sounds like an interesting premise in itself. In 2021, Stubbs even got a remaster, which I tried out about two years ago thanks to Epic Games' free game promotion. I don't think I played for more than five hours, because despite the darkly humorous role reversal, I found the game very outdated and... boring. I didn't get past the third level. So, when it comes to the game's qualities, you should stick to contemporary reviews; unfortunately, I can't recommend Stubbs.

The score

What I do welcome, however, is the release of the accompanying score as an original soundtrack. In keeping with the style of the game, which depicts a futuristic version of 1950s and 1960s America, the album does not feature any of Michael Salvatori's in-game tracks, but rather 13 pieces from that era, reinterpreted by well-known and lesser-known alternative bands: The 1958 evergreen Lollipop by The Chordettes is sung in this version by indie rocker Ben Kweller. Earth Angel (The Penguins), on the other hand, is performed by the rock group Death Cab for Cutie.

Other noteworthy bands include Cake (Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra), The Flaming Lips (If I Only Had a Brain from The Wizard of Oz), The Dandy Warhols (All I Have to Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers), The Raveonettes (My Boyfriend’s Back by The Angels), and Phantom Planet (The Living Dead, written specifically for the soundtrack). As with most music albums, personal taste is key here, so I don't want to be too judgmental.

Meanwhile, I can only understand the level of euphoria on the Stream product page from a marketing perspective:

No disc jockey’s collection is complete without the Stubbs the Zombie-official soundtrack! Take any party from dullsville to far out with modern takes on the classics you know and love.

I'd rather call this marketing pitch "far out". But well, they got to make money somehow. The tracks are worthwhile, but they're not milestones in music history. Since I'm not personally a fan of covers, I'll stick with the universally popular but meaningless verdict: You can give it a try, but just as well don't.