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While the general genre of Send Help may not stir imaginative musical approaches in the mind, Elfman concocts a wonderful balance of contemporary instrumental stylings with his typical weirdness and vintage orchestral mannerisms. Every moment of this music bleeds Elfman in its tone. His electric bass and synthetic effects are well balanced against a nicely mixed ensemble, the woodwinds and brass really shining in the melodic and action portions, respectively. Wet vocal usage ranges from solo female presence to gothic ensemble and child-like, la-la farce. Outright hilarity ensues when the metallic tones throughout "Castration" are so appropriately threatening. The score doesn't take itself seriously but instead flows with wildly deceptive emotional swings. Each of its components is effective, and the whole is saturated with a feel of defiance. The narrative sometimes goes astray, but Elfman wraps the beginning and end together brilliantly. The lead woman's journey from victim to vindication couldn't be clearer, an interesting consideration given the composer's own legal battles involving aspects of the Me Too movement during this era in his life. There are some interesting choices along the way, some perhaps by Raimi after the score was strategized. The late 1960's Moondog instrumental "Theme" is dropped seemingly in the place of an Elfman cue. The opening plane crash goes unscored, the score thus moving from the office portions straight to the survival setting. The thematic core revolves around a main theme for the lead woman and several offshoots of that idea that inform secondary devices. That primary theme for Linda is rooted in a lovely lullaby of innocence that is adapted heavily throughout the picture, modeled intentionally after Krzysztof Komeda's lullaby for Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby and exuding the same breathiness. Utterly gorgeous in "Linda at Home," the solo voice on the theme is joined by woodwinds and acoustic guitar, the flowing winds and percussion hinting at the survivalist element. The quietly propulsive and confident tone is an excellent preview of the character's future capabilities, its slightly irreverent and coolly knowing undertones with very modern stylings and a tinge of sadness around the edges yielding one of Elfman's best and easily recognizable themes in many years. It's simply a spectacular identity.

The initial performance of the main theme for Linda in "Linda at Home" is deconstructed throughout Send Help and then reassembled into a valiant form by the work's end. It's shredded into pieces to make a different, melancholy melody on piano in "Linda Shamed," but it defiantly overcomes the action of "Underwater" with typical Elfman morbidity and beauty. The idea stutters at the outset of "The Waterfall," eventually transitioning to choir over a celesta and piano, these latter elements providing false daintiness to the character. Undercurrents toy with the thrill in the first half of "Hiking Together," and the theme is elusive for a moment in "Cuddle Cave," which only barely accesses the actual melody. It bubbles along lightly in slight unease during "Getting Along," influences the brass of "Poison Raft," and claims victory over the score's nightmare motif with the lovely voice and piano in "Castration." Barely influencing the gloomy choral and synthetic suspense of "Diamond Ring," Linda's theme gains more confidence in a variant during the last minute of "Jungle Fight" with banging percussion and weaves into the mysterious ambience of "Home Invasion." It shifts to sickeningly upbeat harp, woodwind, piano, and puffing choir in "Saving Yourself" and finally completes its personality change with the electric guitar and drum kits of "End Credits," where Elfman follows the super-triumphant rendition with a push of the idea to gothic horror and beauty in the latter half of the cue with the solo voice along once more to resolve nicely for closure. On album, "Bonus Track" plays like a straight alternate version of "Linda at Home." The melody is rearranged but recognizable, perhaps suggesting an iteration in development, and it's equally pleasant with the same contemporary tones and female voice. The main theme is given something of a twist into a villain motif when the character goes totally rogue as a killer, the prominent, highest four-note phrase pulled from the melody. Emerging especially late in score and begging the question of who the villain of this tale truly is, Elfman's dark twin of the theme threatens in "Hiking Together," staggers into "Diamond Ring," becomes repetitively muscular on brass at 2:38 into "Jungle Fight," and is melodramatic on choir in the latter half of "Home Invasion." It's all the same theme at the core, but the usage is so disparate that you might miss the change if not listening closely. Beyond these adaptive moments, Elfman extends his mileage from the main theme even further in Send Help.

Elfman uses the theme's chord progressions and fragments to define secondary interpersonal material in the less ominous parts of the story, too. This usage struggles on piano in "Linda Shamed" against hints of the theme proper, meandering in the latter portions of "Alone." Bouncing along with buoyant optimism and a touch of sour mystery in "Building Shelter," the idea barely toys in the second half of "Hiking Together." Silly acoustic guitar, string, and woodwind romance flourishes along such lines in "Toilet Wine." With less gusto, a solo cello conveys hazy thematic fragments throughout "Sick Day," and Elfman takes them in a new direction on piano and strings during "Strategy and Planning." On the other side of the score, a nightmare motif applies a pitch-altering, bass theremin-like effect for a distinctly sinking feeling. Defining the ambience in "Alone" with almost Vangelis-like results, this technique augments strings with the synths during "Waiting to Die," a deep choir coming later. The bass effect harmonizes beautifully with the main theme at the end of "The Waterfall," opens "Hiking Together" deceptively on strings, and strikes with power in "Poison Raft" for a reality-altering experience before returning to deep synth slurs late in the cue. It's brutally raw on the synths in "Castration," strikes the highest level in the abrasive "Linda's Nightmare," and punctuates the main theme in the dramatic second half of "End Credits." You also hear full action bombast, ambitious sequences for tonal orchestral force led by resounding, deep brass that start with the Herrmann-inspired explosion at the outset of "Underwater." Frantic chase percussion with choral taunting in "The Hunt" is akin to Elfman's Planet of the Apes remake and hits with impressive brass tonalities at moments in "Poison Raft." He exhibits a moment of Alan Silvestri-like percussive mayhem in "Diamond Ring," and that mode, including double hits from the ensemble, continues in "Jungle Fight." Finally, there is some stock horror, full-blooded dissonant explosions highlighted by the electric guitar-laden wailing in "Linda's Nightmare" and slashing its way to victory at the end of "Strategy and Planning" with Herrmann still in sight. Altogether, the score for Send Help is a creative blast of Elfman's personality from across the musical spectrum in an unlikely place. Even when not enjoyable, it's interesting and in character. The album presentation is of perfect length to sustain the quirky mood without tiring, though the grim final third before the credits isn't as uniquely strong. The main theme is an absolute winner, and the composer's enthusiasts will unequivocally love the flippant disregard for convention.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 97 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.24 (in 160,597 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 47:58