As much as I love and enjoy The Cabin in the Woods, there is little I have to say about David Julyan's score for the film. Which is probably by design.
I can, and will, say that I like elements of the score a great deal. Those elements are why I bought the soundtrack, after all.
However there are large swaths of the score that, while offering up a plethora of ominous and moody underscore for the tongue-in-cheek horrors that are playing out across the screen, lack a thematic identity or motif.
Which brings me back to that 'by design' comment I made at the start of this collection catalog post.
My formative years were awash with all manner of iconic works that were composed by the likes of Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, and even John Carpenter. It was a time when theme and motif were considered important aspects of cinematic storytelling.
Now, however, that approach is considered attention seeking showboating and, according to the late Douglass Fake, is actively discouraged by some producers during post-production. Film music, over the last two decades, has been made to move toward being an unobtrusive soundscape rather than being an identifiable element of the film. So it goes.
Julyan's score is a splendid example of this approach. While there are flashes and flourishes of theme and motif splashed throughout the score, more often than not the score comes across as something meant to be sensed more than heard. Not that there is any wrong with that, of course.
With no liner notes to quote or draw upon to identify and name the flash and flourishes, here is what my untrained ear notices whenever I give this CD a spin...
Track 1: In the Beginning... underscores artistic renditions of human sacrifice appearing in spreading pools of blood while production credits appear. It ends abruptly with a smash cut to the tonally disparate opening scene.
In the Beginning...'s phrasing returns at the end of Track 15: An Lo! Fornicus, which underscores the moment where Dana (Kristen Connolly), having grasped that they were made to choose how they die, loses her shit as the jaw-dropping scope of the potential choices is revealed to the audience. Beautiful, just beautiful.
Track 2: The Cabin in the Woods underplays the group departure from the gas station, their entrance onto the 'Killing Floor,' and arrival at the titular location. There is an aching melancholy to this mood piece that I really, really appreciate.
I'm going to jump forward to Track 6: The Cellar, where all the horror trope death traps await their discovery and choosing. The tract ends on a dramatic build heard as the group enters into an unwitting race to see which horror will be unleashed upon them. I love that bit.
Track 7: The Diary of Patience Buckner punctuates the reading of the latin passage in said diary and the resurrection of the Zombie Redneck Torture Family. Which is a completely different species than zombies, as you should know.
You can hear Track 8: Hadley's Lament more clearly on this album than in the actual film. A perfect example of what it means to be sensed and not heard. Hadley's Lament does make an audible return in Track 17: Herald the Pale Horse, when Hadley (Bradley Whitford) comes face-to-face with the merman he had lamented earlier about never being able to see. Another wonderful callback.
Track 9: We're Not The Only Ones Watching is the underscore for the film's first kill sequence.
Track 12: The Cabinets Will Have To Wait underplays the race against time for Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) to close the tunnel before the surviving members of the sacrifice group can escape. This energetic phrase makes a robust return in Track 16: 420, when the system is purged and all Hell breaks loose.
Track 13: For Jules introduces a heroic phrase that gets dramatically cut off when Curt hits the simulation wall and falls to his death. This phrase returns at the end of Track 21: Youth and underplays the rising of the angered Old Ones. It also gets dramatically cut off, this time by a smash cut to the end credits and the song Lost by Nine Inch Nails.
Wow. Although I started this post thinking I did not have all that much to say, turns out I was wrong. I also want to watch The Cabin in the Woods again. Go figure.
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