Don't Be Afraid of the Dark review

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Composer: Marco Beltrami

Number of tracks: 21

Total time: 55:01

Overview:

If the film title seems vaguely familiar, it's because it is. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a remake of the 1973 TV movie of the same name that stared Kim Darby (of True Grit fame). The remake follows the story of a newly married couple, Kim (Katie Holmes) and Alex(Guy Pierce), as they move into an old Gothic manor with Alex's daughter, Sally (Bailee Madison). As usually happens in this type of film, the old mansion holds a dark secret buried in its basement that wants to get out....

The film is produced by monster and fantasy film guru Guillermo del Toro (Mimic, Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth) and scored by del Toro's friend Marco Beltrami. During production, del Toro instructed Beltrami to fashion his score in the style of the classic horror scores of Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann from the 60's and 70's.

Beltrami delivered and gives us one of the most surprising standout scores of 2011, fashioned in the classic symphonic horror style that has been missing from recent films of this genre.

Review of the music:

Beltrami wastes no time in introducing the primary theme for the character of Sally in "Gramophone Lullaby", an achingly beautiful piece on strings with the perfect undercurrent of slight unease. "Main Titles" expands on the Main theme with eerie vocals performed over a bed of racing and slashing strings, an obvious tip of the hat to the opening titles of Bernard Herrmann's Psycho (1961).

The remainder of the score keeps a mostly harmonic balance with some atonal moments when needed. The Main theme gets several great renditions in "Sally's Lullaby" where the theme moves from woodwinds to piano and finally strings. "Sally Arrives at Blackwood Manor" is a perfect Gothic piece that would fit perfectly into any of Christopher Young's work, while "Lamb Lamp Lambency" gives a somewhat eerie music-box performance of Sally's theme.

The score begins to twist into something more sinister with "Into the Basement", as a synthetic pulse buried beneath minimalist strings gives a sense of small heartbeats to the cue. Future tracks such as "Gardener Gets Snipped", "Bed Bugs", "Shrink Wrapped" and "The Library" open peacefully enough before dissonant horror writing takes over. "Goblins in the Garage" and "Goblin Trouble" are two classic examples of traditional orchestral horror/action writing at its best, bringing to mind the final sequences in both Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982).

"Return to Blackwood" opens with ominous piano before swelling into a fully orchestral rendition of the Main theme which then slowly descends into chimes, woodwinds and strings swirling before closing with a solo violin. "Voices from the Pit" closes the album with an eerie piano motif and low strings before a series of low brass notes and plucked strings ends the track... the perfect way to end a Horror score.

Closing thoughts:

So far 2011 has not been the stellar year for film scores that 2010 was, but there have been a few surprises. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is definitely one of the more pleasant surprises so far. Granted, there really is nothing new in this score (it's your traditional symphonic horror music) but for those that miss the days when this type of horror score was the norm... then this is a must buy.

The fact that the album is mostly tonal for the majority of its runtime and features a hauntingly beautiful Main theme makes it an easy recommendation to even non-horror score fans. Here's hoping that Beltrami's score to The Thing prequel in October will be as good as this....

Score:

4 out of 5