DON'T SAY A WORD and Other Thriller Scores

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Wednesday, January 09, 2002

This Week's Recommendation

Mark Isham's tense musical score for Gary Fleder's recent thriller DON'T SAY A WORD is a compelling and disturbing work on CD. Released on Varese Sarabande (302 066 291 2), it is alternately chilling, mysterious and poignant. Isham is best known for scoring dramas such as LIFE AS A HOUSE, THE MAJESTIC, OCTOBER SKY and FLY AWAY HOME, but has occasionally dabbled in thrillers like BLADE and KISS THE GIRLS. DON'T SAY A WORD gives the composer a good workout in the action-suspense genre.

At 30:49, the CD is a relatively short one, but the music is divided into eight movements with an average 4-minutes each. The opening, "Heist," is a pure electronic and percussion action pattern that opens into a kind of progressive action riff for guitars that rolls along and gets the movie off to a fast-paced start. "Elisabeth" introduces the catatonic young girl who becomes favored by kidnapers; the music is built around a slightly off-kilter piano motif over violins, subtly pretty but unable to relax into pure melody. The cue takes on a suspenseful and apprehensive tonality in its latter half, the violins growing harsher and more dominant, the piano withdrawing, succumbing to the brooding power of the oppressive string chords; but then a menacing choir enters the mix, punctuated by thunderous crashes of synth-percussion, lending a huge power to the theme, and its reference, the girl, signifying the power and the secret that she holds. Elisabeth's piano motif will recur with much more warmth and resolution in the CD's closing cue, "The Family," where it becomes a melancholy but stable portrait of Americana.

"Kidnapped" maintains a nice suspenseful mood, neatly orchestrated with insectile-like synth effects over a low drone of sustained electronics. An apprehensive violin lends an air of mystery, with electronics (crackles, crashes, burbles) appearing at moments in the mix. As the action gets going, the cue takes on a percussive rhythm, its crackles and moans becoming more dissonant and frenzied. The cue closes out with fluid violin strains and stretches through the synth mix. "Hart Island" takes on an almost heroic character at its start before morphing into Elisabeth's piano theme over whispery synth tonalities; the mysterioso segues into a synth-rhythmic percussive beat for strident electronic notation and sustained, ominous violin strains. "Subway" consists of a persistent string motif over synthy percussion beats, a relentless wiry clacking and lightly pounding 8th drum beats, while "Mishka" introduces a kind of ghostly, high choir oscillation that heaves in & out over Elisabeth's piano motif; the cue features the sustained strings effects from before... and some spooky musical effects. Isham's concluding piano rendering of Elisabeth's Theme, in "The Family," is in marked contrast to the strident, cold plucks of earlier cues; here it resounds warmly, sad but resolved and full. A nice and varied score.

SOUNDTRAX NEWS

Speaking of Mark Isham, he reunites with director Gary Fleder for this month's IMPOSTER, a futuristic thriller about a cyborg replacement. Jeff Beal contributes additional music.

Mario Beltrami will step in to score BLADE II, taking over where Mark Isham left on the first film.

Tying in

with the re-release of the animated film in IMAX format, Walt Disney Records has reissued the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman soundtrack to BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with a number of previously unreleased and demo tracks. The extra cues include demo and work tape versions of several songs, plus a song from one sequence that was cut from the original release but subsequently animated and incorporated back into the film for its IMAX release. The Special Edition soundtrack contains all the song and score numbers from the original release plus four unreleased cues.

ROLLERBALL, John McTiernan's new adaptation of the William Harrison script, originally filmed in 1975 by Norman Jewison and using mostly classical music for its score, will feature original music by Eric Serra (THE FIFTH ELEMENT, GOLDENEYE, LA FEMME NIKITA). The film will be out in February.

John Williams is set to score Ang Lee's version of THE HULK, according to imdb.com. The film is scheduled for release in 2003.

ROSWELL, UPN's science fiction teen drama, will garner a soundtrack CD release on Nettwerk America on February 26. Unfortunately, the release will contain only songs which have become prominent in the show (such as Dido's "Here with Me," the series' theme song) and none of the score material of W. Snuffy Walden (THE STAND) or Joseph Stanley Williams (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2). But the enhanced CD will contain exclusive behind-the-scenes video footage, computer wallpaper and screensavers.

HALLOWEEN: THE HOMECOMING will burrow into theaters this March, with a score by Daniel Licht (HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE, THINNER, SOUL SURVIVORS) which is sure to make use of John Carpenter's oft-used Halloween theme music. Not to be outdone, Jason makes his return as well in JASON X, opening on the same day (March 29^th). JASON X was completed and scored last year by FRIDAY THE 13^TH veteran Harry Manfredini, who takes the franchise to... Mars!

Silva Screen Records are to re-issue the Jerry Goldsmith Philharmonia Concert CD featuring highlights from the March 1987 concert at the Barbican. The new disc titled Goldsmith Conducts Goldsmith will feature a newly mastered source compatible with HDCD and Dolby Surround with emphasis on superior bass. The new disc will feature a comprehensive booklet and cool new artwork plus a bonus track from the original score to Legend. The disc is scheduled for release in February.

Due out

this month from Percepto Records are the first-ever release of THE CHANGELING (release date: Jan. 10) by Howard Blake, Ken Wannberg and Rick Wilkins, and an expanded original soundtrack to THE BOY WHO COULD FLY (Jan. 17) by Bruce Broughton.

GDI's next Hammer music original soundtracks will be the scores to THE MUMMY'S SHROUD (Don Banks) and BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB (Tristram Cary), due out early this year.

David Newman (CRITTERS, CONEHEADS, NUTTY PROFESSOR 2, BEDAZZLED) will reportedly score ICE AGE, 20^th Century Fox's new prehistoric animated fantasy.

Christopher Franke (BABYLYON 5, THE TOMMYKNOCKERS, and former Tangerine Dream synthesist) will score the latest one-woman-saves-the-universe-from-apocalypse story, Richard Caesar's THE CALLING.

This week's [IMG4R]not-a-fantasy-score-but-nonetheless-interesting is Film Score Monthly's first-ever CD release of John Williams' score for JOHN GOLDFARB, PLEASE COME HOME, a bizarre and obscure 1965 comedy starring Shirley MacLaine. Williams' music for GOLDFARB predates STAR WARS by a dozen years, and has more in common with the pop/comedy '60s film scoring style he and others employed, but he offers up the kind of pleasing melodies and controlled rhythms that he would later excel at in such works as CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and JURASSIC PARK, plus a quirky assortment of 1960's-era Arab go-go tunes, in keeping with the film's Arabian setting.

Joseph Altruda is scoring James Robinson's comedy, COMIC BOOK VILLAINS, due for release this month. Altruda is a relative newcomer with half a dozen comedies under his belt, including additional music for CLOCKWATCHERS and the score to SLAVES OF HOLLYWOOD.

Soundtrax is our bi-weekly movie soundtrack column.