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Terror Tract: (Brian Tyler) Every popular composer has
a story about breaking into the industry at some point early in his career,
and, for Brian Tyler, the 2000 television film
Terror Tract was
instrumental in the recognition it would provide him when moving on to the
other horror films of the early 2000's for which he made his name. Finishing
his second year of scoring films and television series, Tyler was
recommended to the directors of
Terror Tract, which finally aired on
the USA cable television network in the fall of 2001 and was based upon
three separate short horror stories. Real estate agent John Ritter
introduces the three stories by showing you the homes in which they take
place and serving as the overarching connection between the supposedly
unrelated tales. Directors Lance Dreesen and Clint Hutchison are soundtrack
collectors themselves, and had used some of Hollywood's most famous horror
scores as temp music in
Terror Tract. They recognized that their film
would need an orchestral sound in order to distinguish itself from the
plethora of poor, B-rated television horror flicks, but their budget
wouldn't allow for a large orchestral endeavor. Here enters Brian Tyler,
still a newcomer, but talented enough to make a small orchestral ensemble
sound gargantuan. As Tyler states about the directors, "We all had
subversive senses of humor," and through their optimistic attitudes about
producing a symphonic score to suit their needs, Tyler managed to do it.
Recording in Utah, Tyler would write three mini-scores with a small ensemble
and assemble them with one common theme. It was an exercise in layering and
editing, and Tyler was able to ultimately provide a sound worthy of a
feature cinematic film through a base-heavy mix and the wise utilization of
every instrument available to him.
Normally, the only reason a score like
Terror Tract
would garner any attention would be if its composer would later go on to
become famous. Tyler is halfway there, with 2003 serving as his breakout
year. While some mainstream fans contend that his two well-known scores (for
Children of Dune and
Timeline) were full of cliches and
indicated average talent, the work that you hear in a score like
Terror
Tract is a better indication of talent and hustle in adverse conditions.
While Tyler has indeed been primarily a horror score composer,
Terror
Tract is different from his other works in that it was both smaller and
zanier. With a touch of derangement between the composer and directors, the
score masks its size by being outrageously conceived and/or masterfully
layered. The main titles are a fine example of both these techniques
together; Tyler takes a zippy horror theme (seemingly devised on the chord
progression of Toto's
Dune title theme) and lets it rip into a
rhythmic crescendo of superhero proportions. While he does this, he makes
sure that every instrument has something to perform at every moment. The
flute is a funny highlight of the theme, fluttering around and making noise
nearly uselessly while the brass blare in the foreground. And yet, that kind
of activity causes the score to become deceptively large in stature. The
majority of the underscore, meanwhile, relies of Tyler's consistently
harmonic nature to keep it listenable. The stories all have some sort of
'pleasant' situation gone horribly wrong, so you end up with cues like
"Bobo" and "The Lake," which offer nothing less than soothing piano and
guitar work. On album, Tyler's
Terror Tract is more of a curiosity
than anything else... a glimpse at a score that probably did not warrant a
widespread release if not for the name newfound name recognition of the
composer, although the title theme performance is worthy of compilation
inclusion. An interesting, sometimes fun, but not overwhelming experience.
***
| Bias Check: | For Brian Tyler reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.3 (in 11 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.25
(in 8,722 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes extensive information about the score and film (written by the composer, producer, directors, and an Elfman nut).
