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| Elfman |
Nightbreed: (Danny Elfman) Based on his novella
titled "Cabal," horror writer Clive Barker teamed with horror director
David Cronenberg to make
Nightbreed, though the film's mortal
mistake is the fact that Barker was directing his adaptation of his
script and Cronenberg was in a lifeless acting role in front of the
camera. To try to describe the plot of
Nightbreed would do
injustice to the metaphysical division in the film between the living
and the undead, though it should suffice to say that
Nightbreed
is a significantly less gory and slightly more romantic variation on
Barker's
Hellraiser ideas that were translated to screen just a
few years earlier. While the plot and acting of
Nightbreed was
certainly not destined to win any awards, the visual effects and make-up
were, as usual, top notch... with monsters of all sorts existing in the
nether regions between Hell and the land of the living. The music for
Barker's universe was clearly defined with great success by Christopher
Young for
Hellraiser, though Danny Elfman's take on the Barker
universe in
Nightbreed was comparatively decent, if not even more
interesting in its diversity of instrumentation. Elfman was in "sucker"
mode in the late 1980's and early 1990's... a clear sucker for any
project dripping with both tragedy and blood, and
Nightbreed
would extend this fascination to the martyr-related genre as well. One
problem that Elfman was facing in his orchestral writing was the massive
dominance of
Batman in his early career, with every project
thereafter (until
Edward Scissorhands) serving up some small
level of disappointment for Elfman's newfound fans by comparison to the
music for Gotham. Compounding the problem was a mundane score for
Darkman, a work that repeated many of the motifs from
Batman with little infusion of style or individuality. While
Nightbreed is no classic either, it is a rather unique entry in
Elfman's career, for the composer rarely ventured into the large-scale
horror before
Sleepy Hollow finely tuned his skills there.
Whereas
Sleepy Hollow was a frightfully huge
horror score, Elfman's
The Frighteners was a far less creative
and straight-laced attempt to scare an audience. By comparison,
Nightbreed has much more humor and beauty in its ranks, with a
core of themes and motifs that remain largely harmonic and tonal from
start to finish. Instead of using standard dissonant slashes and
orchestra hits for its horror, Elfman establishes propulsive rhythms and
overbearing orchestrations to achieve the right atmosphere. In the
process of doing that, he carries over many of the funky instrumental
elements from his mid-1980's efforts, making
Nightbreed a far
more entertaining score for his fans than his other horror works.
Utilizing a full choir and generous percussion section, Elfman's title
theme rolls with elegance as it builds to its thematic fright, all the
while we hear memorable plucking motifs for strings and the cascading
four-note female choral effect from
Scrooged. The title theme
(also four notes) is cleverly constructed for easy reference throughout
the score. By the "End Credits" cue, Elfman serves up performances of
these themes and motifs that are downright beautiful in their harmonic
mix, especially with the male and female choirs alternating performances
in subtle fashion. One of the more intriguing elements of
Nightbreed is that it exhibits a stylish usage of pan flutes,
often echoing with success in the fog of mystery; it's a great usage
that Elfman fans would not hear again. Other instrumental uses of note
include a standard flute fluttering with great skill in "Carnival
Underground," the monstrously brutal percussive display (especially for
seemingly uncontrolled timpani) in "Meat for the Beast," and the rolling
piano under the title theme in "Rachel's Oratory." While
Nightbreed features bombastic horror exhibitions for most of its
length, it has about fifteen minutes of truly beautiful writing by
Elfman, often including a plucking harp, especially in the more somber
character cues and the opening and closing credits. True Elfman fanatics
may be bothered by the heavy borrowing in choral usage from
Scrooged, however, as well as a needless country song at the end
of the album. Still, an ever intriguing work.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.22
(in 76 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.31
(in 132,540 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
