Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you'd enjoy hearing a new composer to mainstream horror transform her novel instrumental ideas into a massive jungle-worthy horror score. Avoid it... if you have adverse reactions to horror scores that use a sheer wall of orchestral sound to scare you and instead prefer those that haunt with thematic development and harmonic tragedy. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid: (Nerida Tyson-Chew) It's fitting that the blood orchids of jungles of Borneo only bloom once every seven years; perhaps this means that we'll get another Anaconda movie once every seven years as well. The original 1997 film in the series was actually quite reasonable, with a decent cast and one vicious giant snake posing itself as the ultimate villain of the jungle. For the 2004 sequel, a hokey line of coincidental events causes the need for a large group of city-dwellers to go to the lair of the giant snakes once again. If you want to have any fun with the film whatsoever, you have to dismiss the dozens of completely illogical aspects to the film's premise, and simply accept that these people really are motivated, although underequipped to go search for another blood orchid sample and face the treacherous snakes. And this time, of course, there are lots and lots of these foul creatures, so the film can pace itself nicely by having one of its large cast eaten at regular intervals. Composer Randy Edelman provided a decent score for Anaconda, but with the nearly complete change-over of cast and crew for Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Dwight Little (whose mostly television background has obvious impacts on the film's camera movements) hired relatively unknown Australian composer Nerida Tyson-Chew for the scoring duties for the sequel. Involved mostly with Australian television projects since the early 1990's, Tyson-Chew received considerable acclaim and awards recognition for Richard Franklin's Hotel Sorrento, and has been involved as a music editor, orchestrator, producer, conductor, or composer in a wide range of genres, from Ferngully 2 to Alien 3. Tyson-Chew's best known work for American audiences is likely for Batman: The Animated Series on television, and Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is her first major solo assignment for a front-line motion picture. Her credentials hail from USC in Los Angeles (having studied under the likes of Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, and Bruce Broughton), and she is known for her experimentation with unorthodox methods of combining orchestration, choir, lyrics, and solos into her personal style of scoring. Tyson-Chew's ability to stir up a new sound for a tired, cliche-driven genre of film is remarkable. After you've heard six or seven low-grade horror scores involving giant monsters, you realize that there are only a certain number of ways in which you can create an appropriate musical atmosphere for that situation. How Tyson-Chew handles it is by creating a score centered largely around the ethnic elements of Borneo, with nohkran and shakuhachi flutes fluttering in the higher ranges while diverse arrays of percussion --both in drums and in non-traditional metallic elements-- constantly rumble in the lower ranges. A full orchestral ensemble performs with considerable power in Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, distinguishing the score by it sheer presence of depth in the moments of anticipation as well as, of course, the magnitude of force that the ensemble can create during pounding and strikingly rhythmic action sequences. Also of interest is how Tyson-Chew has layered the score, with the overwhelming Asian drums resonating deeply in the background while the woodwinds dance wildly in the mid-ranges, and the chopping strings and crystal-clear brass occupy the forefront. Other spine-tingling percussion meanders through those three levels, and the resulting wall of horrifying sound is strangly enticing even during its most brutal moments. The score has a very subtle thematic construct at the start (heard in brass in the first cue) that is not established further, although the relentless ambition of the score --either to represent the snakes or the search for eternal life (it doesn't really matter)-- is what causes the score to transcend its genre. Several downright kick-ass sequences of rhythmic mayhem allow the drums and brass to intermingle at rates of speed and levels of brutality that will impress you with their ability to make convincing noise without really going anywhere or accomplishing any larger musical construct. A well balanced mixing causes even the low-level groans and snarls of percussion and base strings --presumably the sounds of the snakes in preparation of a nice meal-- to be easily audible despite the best efforts of the brass section to steal the show. In the end, Tyson-Chew's score follows the formula development for the genre, lacking theme and mellowing to a somewhat comforting finale. On paper, it may very well have been an average horror score, and if you don't care for constant chasing and sudden strikes of the full ensemble, then definitely skip this one. But Tyson-Chew has done something here that needs recognition: her score sounds as though it was performed and recorded in a jungle, creating an authentic and distinct sound with her varied specialty instruments and mixing process. The talent and quality of ideas in the Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid score, regardless of the fact that the work will probably be lost in a forgotten film, promises a bright future for Tyson-Chew if she's given the opportunity to experiment further in this and other genres in Hollywood's mainstream. This particular effort is a rare horror score that's enjoyable because of its noise-factor rather than its high-profile themes. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 61:05
All artwork and sound clips from Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid are Copyright © 2004, Varèse Sarabande. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/4/04, updated 9/6/04. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
