Monster House

Douglas Pipes

 
" Monster me this, House me that, Who's afraid of the big Douglas Pipes? "

Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release

Newcomer Douglas Pipes hasn't really gotten his hands dirty into something noteworthy until director Gil Kenan found him suitable enough to compose his full length feature Monster House (he scored all his short animations before that as well). A computer animation that deals with something other than cute little ants, crazy penguins or one eye monsters is of course the next best thing. The movie didn't do bad at all at the box office, even churning up more money than some respected blockbusters, showing that even a non Pixar produced animation still earns its dollars because its animation. And people love animation nowadays.

With Monster House we hear through that the first noteworthy score by Douglas Pipes, and that he makes the most of it is clear in Varèse's release. It might be what we expected of the score and yet, Pipes goes for small surprises, making Monster House above all effective. First of all with a new composer comes the inevitable new personal style and sound, which makes Monster House already unique on its part. Secondly, it's always nice how a composer understands a specific musical scene, and how he's willing to score it. And this CD pretty much sums up his intentions.

Pipes went for a personal distinguished score, and only lets the orchestra shine when the house is central and naughty. In the beginning that doesn't bring a lot of mischief. "Opening / Titles" has an eerie opening with a brief rhythmic display of brass, and even what sounds like a doorbell (very ingenious). "Eliza's Song" works on the nerves even though I think that was the general idea, and the eeriness ends with a brief fanfare in "Awesome Kite / Bones tossed Out / Construction".

The light comical horns and viola's even churn up the song melody in 5 while "Go to your Room" has Aliens like flute eeriness (check them out). It's not until track 7 that the house becomes alive and the orchestra doesn't stay behind. In "Jenny Walks Up / Jenny's Close Call" brief racing brass churns up the danger while "Ding Dong / House Comes Alive!" has a sneaky opening and a rise of gothic brass and flutes in the end, fetching and kicking in Goldenthal style, making us aware again of the bell.

It's not until "The Plan / Dummy Feed" that we get the heroic idea behind Pipes' writing. After all the central tone of the score is the darker more gothic sound that covers the house, and the heroic actions don't get time until they appear. Sadly how nice the intentions of Pipes are, it's never enough in the first part. But what is enough is the house's fanfare, blowing steam in "Cop Car Eaten", brilliance in a minute I might say.

The heroic material and action style that follows it then quite literally put mostly welcome. The Goldenthal clusters are relentless in "Cops Get Eaten" (watch out for the bell for crying out loud), piano tinkling awakens mystery in "The Flashback" and "Chowder to the Rescue" has heroics in the brass compartment. But as nice as Pipes handles the eeriness, the mystery with his flutes and violins, it's truly amazing when he combines rhythm and power in one design. "House Chase" is covering 2 minutes of the 3 percussion, raging fanfares and new tricks around every tree, it is truly a pump fest, only beaten because "The Battle" continues the action so much longer and stronger. This is really fun.

The tinkling of the mystery turns to the sweetness of the strings after that and with a couple of short tracks, the score dies out a bit on the eerie side, apart from the brief moments in "End Titles" and the heroics in "We're Back".

All together, it might not be enough for a masterful score but the moments do sure work, making especially the second part of the score to become truly alive. Douglas Pipes thereby has the honour of getting a little bit of respite. It's the first work we hear from him and the ideas do sound promising. But is it a monster score? Well, the action moments do make up for that statement and the mystery surrounding that raises the effectiveness of that action style. Making Monster House not the killer score it perhaps could have been, but a pleasing delight of mood and naughtiness, impressively orchestral in its performance and at times brought forward in Elfman / Goldenthal style. Meaning it works ;)

Tracklisting

1. Opening / Titles (1.01)
2. Eliza's Song (0.48)
3. Awesome Kite / Bones Tossed Out / Construction (3.42)
4. Through The Telescope (0.39)
5. Parents Drive Off (1.19)
6. Go To Your Room (0.41)
7. Jenny Walks Up / Jenny's Close Call (1.40)
8. Elegy (1.36)
9. Ding Dong / House Comes Alive! (2.38)
10. Cops Emerge (1.32)
11. The Chimney (0.38)
12. The Plan / Dummy Feed (3.13)
13. Cop Car Gets Eaten (0.54) Excellent track
14. Trapped / Constance's Tomb / Escape (7.37)
15. Cops Get Eaten (1.15)
16. The Flashback (3.34)
17. Chowder To The Rescue (1.18)
18. Nebbecracker Returns (2.05)
19. House Chase (3.36) Excellent track
20. The Battle (5.13) Excellent track
21. 45 Years / Tricycle (1.32)
22. We're Back (0.49)
23. End Titles (1.03)
24. The Dance (0.40)

Total Length: 49.19
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(total of 10 votes - average 3.95/5)

Released by

Varèse Sarabande 302 066 746 2 (regular release 2006)

Conducted by

Bruce Babcock

Orchestrations by

John Kull

Performed by

The Hollywood Studio Symphony