Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,120
Written 1/23/00, Revised 1/20/08
Invert Colors
Buy it... if you seek a somewhat campy but ultimately rewarding
early horror score from Mark McKenzie, with two lovely melodies to
sustain your interest.
Avoid it... if the underwhelming ensemble performances and abysmal
recording quality in parts are too much of a detriment to an otherwise
fine composition.
 |
| McKenzie |
Warlock: The Armageddon: (Mark McKenzie) Sometimes
the sequels to dumb and campy horror films take a stab at a serious
follow-up to the obvious stupidity of the original. Luckily, director
Anthony Hickox makes no such attempt with 1993's Warlock: The
Armageddon, the sequel to 1989's Warlock. Actor Julian Sands
returns for more hilarious overacting as a son of Satan, anxiously
awaiting the opportunity to amuse himself at the expense of mortal
humanity. His torment of innocent people is really the highlight of the
film, but his acts are destined to be disrupted by the Druids who
historically have contained his evil. In this case, two unsuspecting
youngsters turn out to be the warriors meant to destroy the warlock, and
along their adventures to save the world from doom, with magical
transformations and ceremonious maturation, they fall in love. Violence,
gore, sex, nudity, and profanity all grace Warlock: The
Armageddon, but perhaps its greatest asset is its sense of humor
regarding its own B-grade production characteristics. Whether you try to
make your horror film campy or serious, a melodramatic score can't hurt,
and young composer Mark McKenzie stirred up a frenzy of orchestral power
for the occasion. Only the second feature film score of his career,
Warlock: The Armageddon was the composer's second obscure horror
project, which, at a time a decade later when he is typecast as a
provider of fluffy Hallmark-style music, may seem odd. Already well
known as an orchestrator, McKenzie was still testing the waters with his
compositions and, needless to say, his talents were already clearly
evident. His score for Warlock: The Armageddon exceeds anything
you would expect from a second-time composer for a low rate horror film.
Performed by an orchestra and choir of reasonable size, but suffering
from occasionally questionable sound quality, it is McKenzie's melodic
mastery that makes this score and album shine, ranking among the best of
his career. Operating on an extremely tight budget, McKenzie had just a
matter of days to assemble a makeshift studio for the recording and only
a matter of hours in which to record it. Between copying mishaps,
confusion amongst the players, and the warehouse that was ultimately
transformed into a scoring page, the situation was a near disaster.
Distracting stage sounds do plague the score's album.
By a miracle, though, McKenzie not only managed to get
the music recorded, but he produced a remarkably enjoyable score. The
sound quality, most likely due to its recording location, is suspect in
parts, but the substance of the music well compensates for this
occasional deficiency. Contrary to its genre title,
Warlock: The
Armageddon is not a pure horror film. Of McKenzie's several themes,
the title piece for the warlock is an obvious tip of the hat to Jerry
Goldsmith's establishing of relentlessly propulsive orchestral power and
Latin chanting for
The Omen. McKenzie opted not to copy
Goldsmith's style for the original
Warlock, however. The choral
sequences are a tad light to be completely believable as religiously
frightening, though they weave effectively in the mix with the orchestra
during several cues. For the Dies Irae sequences (from the Latin
Requiem), McKenzie provides haunting lyrics for the Catholic mass and
utilizes them throughout the score as well. The score opens with a
bombardment of orchestral majesty that attempts to muster the energy of
Christopher Young's more robust, over-the-top horror scores. The attempt
by McKenzie to produce the same level of fright is admirable, but even
with the Latin chanting, the cues for the warlock far squarely in the
corner of cheesy campiness. A re-recording with a proper ensemble and
studio would make this music legitimately terrifying. The other two
themes are beautiful melodies representing first the Druids and then the
love story. The theme for the magical Druid element is downright
gorgeous, introduced in "Ken's Magic" and expanded upon in "Samantha
Becomes a Warrior." The somewhat muffled recording makes the muted solo
horn in these cues sound like a fugelhorn or deep sax, and subsequent
upbeat, faster tempo high brass performances are a little too upbeat in
a silly, heroic sense, but the theme still deserves to be resurrected by
McKenzie for a far better film. A separate theme for the love story is a
string affair, with lovely whimsy in its performances; a few of those
violin statements whine in the treble region, however. As usual,
McKenzie (a firm believer in suites from his scores) took the time to
compose a suite of the themes from
Warlock: The Armageddon,
appearing at the end of the album. Overall, this score is quite
commendable given the circumstances of its creation. A re-recording by
an accomplished ensemble in a suitable studio would be welcomed.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Mark McKenzie reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.9
(in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.38
(in 4,299 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
