Film Scores for October

I'm one of those obnoxious Halloween-obsessed types, and all I want to do all month long is watch Halloweenie movies and listen to Halloweenie music. Obviously what counts as "Halloweenie" depends on who you ask, but here are some of my personal favorite film scores to listen to during this time of year. Of course this is in addition to the obvious choices (John Carpenter's score to Halloween, anyone?), and here we go!

The Addams Family, music by Marc Shaiman

I know this film so well that I could probably tell you exactly what dialogue goes with each part of the score. It's playful and fun, and it's not complete without MC Hammer's "Addams Groove."

Coraline, music by Bruno Coulais

Ah, Coraline, my favorite horror movie for children. The score is wonderful, with lots of singing in some kind of gibberish made-up language. It sounds weird but it totally works.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice, etc., music by Danny Elfman

You can't really go wrong with a Danny Elfman/Tim Burton movie score. TNBC is the obvious choice, but I really love the Sleepy Hollow soundtrack too.

The Double Life of Veronique, music by Zbigniew Preisner

The film itself isn't scary or anything, but the music is haunting and melancholy...perfect for listening to on a gloomy day.

Suspiria, music by Goblin

If you don't have the Suspiria theme on your Halloween playlist, you're doing it wrong.

The Haunting, music by Humphrey Searle 

It's, well, haunting.

 

Dracula, music by Philip Glass

This new score for the classic 1931 Dracula is performed by the Kronos Quartet and it's great as a stand-alone album.

Bram Stoker's Dracula, music by Wojciech Kilar

Yes, another Dracula. And full disclosure, I actually don't really like this movie. But the score is really awesome and scary. 

The Woman in Black, music by Marco Beltrami

The movie isn't perfect, but it has a good old-fashion horror movie score that I love, with a creepy music-box-sounding theme that's sprinkled throughout. I love it.

The Witch, music by Mark Korven

Bone-chillingly creepy. There is no warmth in this score, and the whole thing (especially the end) is truly creepy. I think if I blasted this music on Halloween, nobody would come to my door. Or maybe I'd get trick-or-treaters in droves!

Happy hauntings, everyone!

Soundtracks Of My Life: Beyond The Valley of the Dolls

Apparently in the early days of working on the script for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, director Edgar Wright and his co-writer Michael Bacall toyed with the idea of not actually showing any performances by the various bands in the film. Similar to what Gareth Edwards did this year with the fight scenes in Godzilla, you'd see everything ramping up, and just as things were about to get good, BAM! it would cut to the aftermath. This way they could avoid having to produce musical numbers that lived up to whatever fans of the books imagined Sex Bob-omb or The Clash At Demonhead to sound like. And let's face it, most bands in movies are crap, right?

While that statement might be true of most movie bands, one of the most notable exceptions is The Carrie Nations from Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Written by Stu Philips, performed by studio musicians and belted by the awesome Lynn Carey (accept no substitutes), these songs truly ROCK! Barn burners like "Find It" and "Sweet Talking Candy Man" have easily accumulated more plays in my iTunes library than songs by some of the more respected artists of the period. Slap one of these babies on a mix disc and you're almost certain to be asked, "Who's that awesome band?" And once you've hooked them with the music, then you can subject them to the weird world of Z-Man, Bentleys and mayonnaise.

Key Tracks: Find It and Sweet Talking Candy Man

All That Jazz

I kind of let my Soundtracks Of My Life series fall by the wayside as I became fixated on my Home School series. Sorry. Don't know if/when I'll get back to that. In the mean time, please enjoy this little piece which is kind of a hybrid of the two columns in that it attempts to educate AND features some great recommendations for film scores that also work as great albums. Enjoy!

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Picking music for a film is a very delicate process. Film music has gone through so many different phases over the years. It has evolved from simple piano accompaniment for silent films to soaring orchestral pieces and pop music collages. The right choice can make an average film into something more and the wrong choice can make a great film a chore to sit through. Though I am a big fan of properly used source music, my favorite scores tend to be jazz scores.

Whether performed by a large ensemble or by a single musician, Jazz has the ability to stir a wide range of emotions. It is incredibly diverse and workable music. It can be loud and bombastic for an action sting or it can be barely perceptible for a scene of deep introspection. However it is used, jazz can give most any film a real pulse.

Sadly not many filmmakers today are taking the jazz route. The only two that leap immediately to mind are Woody Allen and Spike Lee. Allen uses songs from his personal record library and Lee employs scores composed by skilled trumpeter Terrence Blanchard. Though both of these filmmakers have at times made period pieces, the bulk of their output is contemporary. Jazz does not have to be exclusively for period films.

Perhaps the days of jazz in film has simply passed. Hollywood is a notoriously fickle industry. But who knows? Perhaps the pendulum could swing back the other way. I can tell you one thing though: If I ever get the chance to make a film, you can bet your ass there will be some jazz in there.

Here are some of my favorite jazz scores:

Do The Right Thing by Bill Lee

Bamboozled by Terrence Blanchard

Taxi Driver by Bernard Herrmann

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud by Miles Davis

Alfie by Sonny Rollins

Blow Up by Herbie Hancock

Anatomy Of A Murder by Duke Ellington

The Pawn Broker by Quincy Jones

Soundtracks Of My Life: Jackie Brown

Yes I'm already doing another Tarantino soundtrack. So what? My column, my rules. And boy does this soundtrack rule. When Art Laboe dies, I want Quentin Tarantino to replace him. Sacrilege you say? Just give it a spin! This album is 100%, rock-solid proof that QT would take to the job like a duck to water. It's the ultimate slow-jam sampler. Perfect for all occasions: perfect for a slow cruise down the boulevard, perfect for a chill evening with your friends, and of course perfect for baby makin'! Simply owning this album will instantly turn you into the baddest ass on your block. And when you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.

Key Tracks: Across 110th Street, Strawberry Letter 23, Midnight Confessions, Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)

Soundtracks Of My Life: Amores Perros

Every time a great soundtrack comes out I am faced with a dilemma: Do I buy the album and get stuck with doubles of a bunch of songs I already have, or do I just pick up the individual tracks off of iTunes? What about the songs that are "album only"? Sure I could probably track it down somewhere as a free mp3, but I guess I'm old fashioned and still believe in paying for things. Fortunately this is not really a problem with foreign film soundtracks.  Soundtracks like this one (and the one for City of God) can serve as a wonderful entrée to a whole new sonic world. It makes perfect sense that Alejandro González Iñárritu was a DJ prior to becoming a filmmaker. Not only are the songs perfect for the film, they're perfect for life! Even the 2nd disc which consists entirely of music inspired by the film is great. You no longer have to listen to NPR for world music!

¡Viva México, Cabrones!

Key Tracks: Si Señor, La Vida Es Un Carnival, Dame El Poder, Me Van A Matar

Soundtracks Of My Life: Magnolia

I'm aware that the idea of using a single artist for a film's soundtrack was nothing new in 1999 (Harold and Maude, One From The Heart, Good Will Hunting and numerous others had all come before) but to me this pairing goes much deeper than any of the others. Before a single line of script was written, Magnolia and the music of Aimee Mann were one and the same. The entire screenplay was written to her songs. Lyrics like "Now that I've met you/Would you object to/Never seeing each other again," found their way into the dialogue and other scenes were filmed to musical playback creating a seamless union of music and image. This film should have been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay rather than Best Original, because this is a faithful adaptation of the highest order.

Key Tracks: One, Momentum, Save Me, Wise Up

Soundtracks Of My Life: Pulp Fiction

When it comes to juxtaposing image and music, Quentin Tarantino is a master. Time after time, he is able to find precisely the right moment to drop that needle. Who else but Quentin would have thought to set a gangster movie to mostly surf and rockabilly tracks? This isn't some slap-dash compilation of radio hits or a jumble of songs from the studio's music division. Each song is selected with the utmost care. The album therefore becomes an abridged version of the film. A necklace of little moments holding together the big ones. Peaks and valleys. Here it makes perfect sense for Kool & The Gang to lead right into Al Green. Oh and the dialogue clips are insanely useful when making mix discs for people.

Key Tracks: Misirlou, You Never Can Tell, Flowers On The Wall, Surf Rider

Soundtracks Of My Life: Trainspotting

The fist album I ever bought with my own money was the soundtrack to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3. And while my tastes have definitely changed since the days of listening to Tarzan Boy on an endless loop, my love of soundtracks has not wavered an inch. A good soundtrack can cause you to relive your favorite cinematic moments, a great soundtrack can become your favorite album.

This is the first entry in what will hopefully become an ongoing (monthly?) series paying tribute to the art of crafting a great soundtrack. And we begin with...

TRAINSPOTTING

Though the book was set in the 80s, director Danny Boyle didn't want to make a period film. But he also didn't want to make a contemporary one either. So he ended up splitting the difference and set it in a nondescript time period where the 70s, 80s and 90s all come crashing together. And as a result he ended up inadvertently setting the film in the future! It's all there: the Holy Trinity of Iggy, Lou and (on volume 2) Bowie, New Wave, Brian Eno, techno, etc. The perfect soundtrack for our post-modern now.

Key Tracks: Lust For Life, Born Slippy, Perfect Day, Temptation

What's your favorite soundtrack?