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Ok kids, let's talk about
another unnecessary horror film remake. No, it's not
The Omen (an all-time favourite
of mine, I can't imagine it without Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and, above all,
the classic Jerry
Goldsmith's score). Now I'm talking about
When a Stranger Calls: the
original is a 1979 film whose first act concerned about a babysitter (Carol
Kane) who, tormented by a sadistic anonymous caller, discovers that the
threatening calls are coming from inside the house and narrowly escapes with
her life. Creepy huh? This one is not my all-time favourite, but it's a well
crafted, moody thriller that delivers some genuine chills and, of course,
served as inspiration for a memorable sequence of
Scream.
Now cames this retelling directed by Simon West (the guy behind
Con Air and
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), starring Camilla Belle as the terrified
(and hot) babysitter. In this new version, the entire plot revolves around
the memorable first act of the original film.
When a Stranger Calls broke the
box office record at its opening weekend, but also earned a lot of bad
reviews being labeled as "frightless",
"indifferent",
"boring",
"noisy"
and the list goes on.
The score is composed by James Michael Dooley, most known by his game (Socom
3, US Navy Seals) and animation (First
Flight, Over The Hedge,
A Christmas Caper) works;
however he's not exactly a ‘newbie’ in the thriller genre, since he had
previously collaborated with
Hans Zimmer on
The Ring score. Loaded of good
intentions Dooley began the recording sessions in Prague, starting with a 50
piece string session, and later with a 32 piece string session for celli and
basses only. The rest of the score was recorded in Seattle with the North
West Sinfonia's 85 musicians.
For the scores' first tracks, like "The Carnival", "Fateful Drive", "The
House" and "Exploring", Dooley delivers some intriguing music that intends
to build an ambience of fear and lurking menace,
mostly based on sound
samples with the traditional orchestra, showcasing strings and piano, on top.
Despite the lack of a greater variety on harmony, that's a promising start
and the material showcases some nice composer's ideas. Unfortunately, after
20 minutes of this kind of ambience music you start to get bored - there
comes the same notes on piano over strings, with some metalic sounds here,
an electronic sample / heartbeat there, and
again and again...
But don't worry, since this is a Simon West movie – what means "the louder,
the better" – throwed away at the second half of the score is a generous dosis of the
obligatory, shapeless and noisy horror music. It is obvious that West asked
to Dooley a series of chaotic music cues to match his cheap tricks,
compensating his incapacity of generating even the tiniest amount of
suspense with loud cliché music. What we hear has no element of cohesion,
the music goes nowhere. There's no development, no resolution - just bumps
and jarring string sounds.
Consequently, Dooley’s score is repetitive, intrusive, overblown and
relentless for most part of the CD's 60 minutes of lenght. The last cue, "Aftermath",
offers the best rendition of the babysitter's strings / piano motif, and for
me is the best piece of the album. After hear it I wonder if
Dooley could do a better job with the material he got, and with the kind of
director’s input that he certainly received. In my opinion what we have here
is a prime example of how a bad director may be a negative element for a
composer’s work. Better luck next time, Mr. Dooley. |
