THE FRIGHTENERS

DANNY ELFMAN

Rating:

Original Review: Another spooky score by Elfman, very much in the style of Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and countless others. You know, I'm beginning to get a little tired of Elfman's music - it's high time he branched out again and did something different. My favourite of his compositions, Sommersby, was wonderful - mature, composed, emotionally heightened, well structured. Everything this score isn't. The Frighteners has all the elements that Elfman fans know and love - the racing violins, chanting female choir, high-note fanfare brasses and eccentric orchestrations (this time making admittedly good use of chiming bells and an organ). The problem really lies in the complete lack of coherence throughout the album. There is no main theme to speak of, no real binding element of any sort, and no particularly attractive cues (although 'Chilly' does have quite a nice, yearning high violin solo, and the final cue 'Heaven' sounds just like the cue title - a slow and calm bassoon melody with a semi-religious overtone). For the most part the music just meanders along honking and tooting and reaching occasional crescendos. I suppose there is a decent rhythm to it all, some of the action cues are quite exciting and, like I said before, Elfman employs many of his familiar calling cards, touches and motifs, but it never really gels together to make an enjoyable whole and more often than not ends up being a rather cacophonous mess. In fact one of the score's highlights is the song 'Don't Fear The Reaper', a real toe-tapper by The Mutton Birds which plays over the film's end credits. It's a real shame, because I really enjoyed the film itself, and I remember the music working quite well in that context, but I would have to summarise The Frighteners as one of the lesser efforts in The Dark One's filmography.

Track Listing: Running Time: 41 minutes 10 seconds

MCA Soundtracks MCAD-11469 (1996)

Music composed by Danny Elfman. Conducted by Artie Kane. Orchestrations by Steve Bartek. Additional orchestrations by Mark McKenzie and Edgardo Simone. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Ellen Segal. Mastered by Patricia Sullivan. Album produced by Danny Elfman


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.