: (John Debney) The nightmare began
early for nearly everyone involved with the disastrous production of the
2011 thriller
. Despite the respectable history of
director and producer Jim Sheridan, the film was deemed in advance to be
so awful that the studio, Morgan Creek, decided to take over the final
editing of the project. The story tells of a publisher (Daniel Craig)
and his family who move into a Connecticut dream house only to discover
that the previous occupants had been murdered there. As the publisher
digs into the history of the home, he makes a not-so-unexpected
discovery about himself and, with the help of a sympathetic neighbor,
tries to unravel the remaining mystery before they are both targeted in
another round of attacks. The plot came under scrutiny early and often,
its revelation of the major twist in the middle rather than the end
failing reflect the better of M. Night Shyamalan's tendencies. Matters
were made worse when the initial trailers for the film exposed the twist
and basically ruined the entire picture for prospective audiences. The
director, Craig, and actress Rachel Weisz were so disheartened with the
final cut of the film that they refused to participate in press
promotion of
. After declining the show the movie to
critics, Morgan Creek was eventually blasted by those who did witness
its horrors, the critical and popular responses so overwhelmingly
negative that there was little hope that the production would recoup its
$50 million budget theatrically. Standing above this unfortunate fray is
composer John Debney, who at least did his best to take the assignment
seriously enough to provide an impressive orchestral score. Debney has
proven to be a reliable source of music for these kinds of ghostly
thrillers, his score for
was
butchered by the studio's frantic last minute attempts to make the film
presentable, but Debney's contribution does feature a cohesive flow of
development that is, at least on album, a worthy souvenir from this
otherwise messy situation. His score is dominated by the organic tones
of an orchestra, failing to succumb to electronic temptations in a genre
otherwise defined by flat and mundane synthetic music. With a vibrant
London recording, memorable primary theme, and a few truly outstanding
cues of dramatically melodic magnificence, his achievement for
In many ways, Debney emulates the format that horror
master Christopher Young utilizes to such great success in the genre,
introducing emotionally involving melodic ideas and expressing them with
alluring beauty before allowing them to dissolve as necessary for the
scary sequences in the film. This technique is also employed by John
Ottman, and
Hide and Seek could be considered something of a
lesser sister score to
Dream House. Debney explores the score's
primary and secondary thematic ideas extensively in the first ten and
final ten minutes of the work, conveying all of these melodies with an
outstanding balance of wholesome beauty and unsettling intrigue. The
main theme is a series of rising pairs of notes, usually in three
phrases and heard immediately at the outset of the opening cue, "Dream
House." Debney uses a solemn female solo voice to express this theme at
the very beginning and end of the score (as well as a short passage at
the conclusion of "Peter Searches"), a nice bookending touch. Other solo
expressions of the idea include a xylophone and piano courting each
other later in "Dream House," a cello of extremely effective lament
early and late in "Little Girls Die," a slightly obscured oboe at the
end of "Night Fever," and mid-range brass early in "Peter Saved Ann."
The cello and oboe performances return fatefully in "Redemption."
Performances of this idea by the full ensemble include a remarkable,
timpani-pounding sequence at 1:40 into "Little Girls Die" but then
disappear before beginning to develop at the start of "Peter Ward's
Story" and eventually boiling to immense proportions by the end of the
score. Despite the memorable character of the main melody's descending
pairs (which Debney can and does reference frequently because of their
simple structure), the main theme's highlighting portion may be its
interlude, a more lyrical passage repeated twice at times (and first at
0:37 into "Dream House") during the longer performances of the identity.
Several secondary themes of tender intent follow in "Dream House,"
establishing the safe and friendly suburban atmosphere that is
understandably removed from the score (at least in full performances)
until the final pair of cues at the resolution. Some listeners may find
similarities in progression between this material and Howard Shore's
conclusion to
Silence of the Lambs, though the character here is
more outwardly melodramatic. The descending pairs do steal the show in
the end, however, Debney often using them in stuttering statements, as
at the start of "Footprints in the Snow," to build suspense.
Outside of the melodic material in
Dream House,
Debney stays rather conservative, avoiding obvious electronic slashing
techniques but using common symphonic methods of creating dissonant
atmospheres. The high strings in particular play the role of spoiler in
this score, their tense and uneasy quivering in atonal formations a
frequent method of suspense. The dissonant passages in the score are
represented by "Footprints in the Snow," "Intruders," "Peter Ward's
Room," "Peter Ward's Story," and parts of "Murder Flashback" and "Peter
Saves Ann." Otherwise, Debney is content to stew in the environment of
slightly troubled ambient groaning, the ensemble sometimes tonally
pleasing in these otherwise non-descript conversational sequences.
Relatively few jarring stingers are to be encountered in
Dream
House, and there is likewise an absence of much full-blooded action
material. The latter ruckus is largely confined to a grand, forty second
outburst early in "Murder Flashback" and the majority of "Peter Saves
Ann," the former cue's short eruption matching some of the best material
Young and Ottman have ever provided the genre (the incessant violin
notes on key over rhythmic trombone blasts are extremely entertaining).
The best variations on nearly every idea Debney conjures for
Dream
House come in the six-minute "Dream House End Credits," a rousingly
powerful collection of melodramatic tonality that provides all of the
score's themes in their most evocative form. In true Young fashion,
Debney adds another phrase to the primary theme's three pairs, a
descending trio of notes that is matched by menacingly ascending bass
elements. The deep brass, bass string, and chime-banging magnificence of
these performances bracket extended, whimsical performances of the
interlude (first by violins together, then cello alone, and finally by a
rolling grand piano in extremely elegant tones). Flute performances of
the family's secondary themes in that summary suite are equally
alluring, and with the solo female voice closing it out, "Dream House
End Credits" is among the top single achievements by a composer in 2011.
Overall, the score contains twenty minutes of five-star melodic tragedy
on either end of adequate but rather tepid three-star ambience and
fragmented motific references. The choral element is tastefully withheld
for only the most poignant moments, and the score is never in your face.
The melodramatic, nearly religious shift to the major key for the final
notes of "Redemption" is the kind of touch that gives this score a
lasting attractiveness. Ultimately, those who fondly recall Debney's
Dragonfly will find much to like in
Dream House, and if
only the suspense material on the interior of the 2011 score had been
more unique, it would be an unlikely five-star triumph.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.27
(in 52 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.02
(in 45,083 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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