Although I had gone and seen the first Child's Play movie on the big screen, it had not impressed me all that much. So when Child's Play 2 arrived between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 1990, I gave it a pass. On the big screen, at least. But when I snagged a look on home video, I was made to regret skipping that big screen viewing. Because screenwriter, and Chucky creator, Don Mancini and directer John Lafia had delivered a sequel that, unlike the first film, was both entertaining and surprising. Until Seed of Chucky popped out, I think Child's Play 2 might have been my favorite entry in the franchise.
Composer Graeme Revell, flush from his success scoring Philip Noyce's breakout hit Dead Calm, had emigrated from New Zealand to the United States, in the hope of launching a career as a film composer. It was Don Mancini that brought Revell to the attention of producer David Kirschner.
And it was Revell that suggested an orchestral score for the film. When asked if he had any experience composing for orchestra, Revell lied and told them, "Yes!"
"When the orchestra played [the Main Title] the first time," Revell says in the liner notes for this La-La Land release, "it was a total mess." Dismayed at how the composition sounded nothing at all like he had intended, Revell thought, "my career was over."
Walker conducted another read of the Main Title and, this time, it sounded perfect.
While I don't find this score to be as memorable as some others, it nonetheless does find a way to balance between the serious aspects of the film and its tongue-in-cheek self-awareness. Even if Revell himself had his doubts, back in the day.
"At times I felt like I was trying to be [Looney Tunes composer] Carl Stalling and failing," he says in the liner notes. Well, he did not fail. He nailed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment