World War Z
Marco Beltrami
" World War zombie music Marco Beltrami Style "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
I saw them rise through night, dawn and day,
I saw them run through cities and malls
But I think I will have seen everything
When I see zombies run on walls
Yes Zombies are roaming the earth again. In fact zombie films have always been popular with movie viewers, often resulting in run of the mill B-movies that try to shift the balance of psychics (aka zombies crawling on ceilings like the recent Day of the Dead dribble) or by making them lame and slow as hell (like every single Romero film). However, when done right zombies can run as hell as well, scaring the bejeezus out of us (like the amazing remake of Dawn of the Dead). And when Max Brooks (son of director Mel Brooks) wrote an apocalyptic horror novel called World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, it was time to take it to the next level. Now zombies would not only run as hell, but they would storm large walls like a herd crawling on each other to get to safety. Making for probably some of this year's biggest scenes on screen.
The movie had numerous reshoots, going seriously over budget in the end. And yet somehow, World War Z turned out to be a spectacular, entertaining and often thrilling action / horror movie that found a perfect balance between entertainment, drama, action and horror. Enough for the studios to continue with their plans for a trilogy of zombie movies.
For the music, good old Marco Beltrami was chosen. After all, horror is his niche (alongside Christopher Young) and experimental instrumentation is his weapon. And seriously, he went gruesomely overboard with World War Z. Using actual animal skulls opening and closing to mimic the sound of the bite sounds of the zombies was definitely one of the most unique challenges of this score, another one was re creating sounds that would enhance the fear and disbelief of the characters with a basic 2 note tune that would sound as an emergency SOS signal. And putting all that animal, almost surreal tone in an epic orchestral tone was probably the biggest challenge of all. But Beltrami prevailed, and when everything is put seamlessly together, you get an often thrilling emotional rollercoaster ride that aids the movie experience tremendously.
It all opens with "Philadelphia", hardly the most innovating cue of them all. In fact, pretty standard stuff if you compare it with Marco's broad selection. But the growling brass is simply put awesome, and put alongside the standard rhythmic suspense makes for thoroughly delicious and entertaining music. A lot more rhythmic chase and escape music continues to fuel the horror in "Ninja Quiet" after that, aided by helicopter blades when the rescue choppers arrive in the midst of the chaos. And our favorite brass returns (slightly less powerful) in "Zombies in Coach" when the rhythm is really pushing us over the edge of our seat (and out of the plane). By far, the most nerve wrecking action cue of the bunch.
Of course the cinematic eye opener of the storming of the walls gets feisty music too. In "The Salvation Gates" you literally hear when the storming begins, and what the outcome is. Again, nothing too fancy, but the rhythmic intensity is enough to get the blood boiling, Beltrami style. Sadly, this cue should have continued for a couple of minutes, considering the actual chase was about to commence the moment the cue ends.
Luckily there's room for dramatic development as well, and here it's highlighted by emotional strings and an electric guitar that's fitting and poignant ("The Lane Family). Not like the recent mis-use in Man of Steel, this electric poignancy does tend to move you emotionally. And besides that emotion, we get a wink to one of the movies World War Z is based on, namely 28 Days (or Weeks) Later. In "Wales" it opens with John Murphy's hypnotic rhythm and electronic soundscape, enough to tell us what kind of temptrack was placed on which specific scene. But it works. And what really works is the final track, the resolution, the finale where there could be some shred of hope. "Like a River around a Rock" works wonders in the film and shows us an emotional satisfying conclusion to a score that's in a way pretty straightforward in its musical intentions, but innovating in its instrumentation and ideas.
World War Z might not be Marco Beltrami innovating himself, but it's pretty enjoyable and effective in all the right places. Sadly some tracks (the extremely moody ones) are hurting the listening experience more than they should, while a couple of entertaining action tracks are left out for whatever reason. I mean, surely some 6 minutes of extra action music wouldn't have hurt the experience at all would it?
I heard a clicking noise, I saw animal skulls
I picked up SOS radio calls
But I'd be done see'n about everything
when I see zombies run on walls
Favorite Moment - Like a River Around a Rock (3.28 - 5.06)
An emotional goosebump feeling in the film, no matter how cliché must always survive on disc
Track Listing
1. Philadelphia (4.03)
2. The Lane Family (2.47)
3. Ninja Quiet (2.54)
4. Searching for Clues (5.33)
5. NJ Mart (4.01)
6. Zombies in Coach (3.43) Excellent track
7. Hand Off! (2.49)
8. No Teeth No Bite (3.25)
9. The Salvation Gates (4.24)
10. Wales (5.22)
11. Like a River Around a Rock (5.08) Excellent track
Total Length: 44.09
I saw them run through cities and malls
But I think I will have seen everything
When I see zombies run on walls
Yes Zombies are roaming the earth again. In fact zombie films have always been popular with movie viewers, often resulting in run of the mill B-movies that try to shift the balance of psychics (aka zombies crawling on ceilings like the recent Day of the Dead dribble) or by making them lame and slow as hell (like every single Romero film). However, when done right zombies can run as hell as well, scaring the bejeezus out of us (like the amazing remake of Dawn of the Dead). And when Max Brooks (son of director Mel Brooks) wrote an apocalyptic horror novel called World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, it was time to take it to the next level. Now zombies would not only run as hell, but they would storm large walls like a herd crawling on each other to get to safety. Making for probably some of this year's biggest scenes on screen.
The movie had numerous reshoots, going seriously over budget in the end. And yet somehow, World War Z turned out to be a spectacular, entertaining and often thrilling action / horror movie that found a perfect balance between entertainment, drama, action and horror. Enough for the studios to continue with their plans for a trilogy of zombie movies.
For the music, good old Marco Beltrami was chosen. After all, horror is his niche (alongside Christopher Young) and experimental instrumentation is his weapon. And seriously, he went gruesomely overboard with World War Z. Using actual animal skulls opening and closing to mimic the sound of the bite sounds of the zombies was definitely one of the most unique challenges of this score, another one was re creating sounds that would enhance the fear and disbelief of the characters with a basic 2 note tune that would sound as an emergency SOS signal. And putting all that animal, almost surreal tone in an epic orchestral tone was probably the biggest challenge of all. But Beltrami prevailed, and when everything is put seamlessly together, you get an often thrilling emotional rollercoaster ride that aids the movie experience tremendously.
It all opens with "Philadelphia", hardly the most innovating cue of them all. In fact, pretty standard stuff if you compare it with Marco's broad selection. But the growling brass is simply put awesome, and put alongside the standard rhythmic suspense makes for thoroughly delicious and entertaining music. A lot more rhythmic chase and escape music continues to fuel the horror in "Ninja Quiet" after that, aided by helicopter blades when the rescue choppers arrive in the midst of the chaos. And our favorite brass returns (slightly less powerful) in "Zombies in Coach" when the rhythm is really pushing us over the edge of our seat (and out of the plane). By far, the most nerve wrecking action cue of the bunch.
Of course the cinematic eye opener of the storming of the walls gets feisty music too. In "The Salvation Gates" you literally hear when the storming begins, and what the outcome is. Again, nothing too fancy, but the rhythmic intensity is enough to get the blood boiling, Beltrami style. Sadly, this cue should have continued for a couple of minutes, considering the actual chase was about to commence the moment the cue ends.
Luckily there's room for dramatic development as well, and here it's highlighted by emotional strings and an electric guitar that's fitting and poignant ("The Lane Family). Not like the recent mis-use in Man of Steel, this electric poignancy does tend to move you emotionally. And besides that emotion, we get a wink to one of the movies World War Z is based on, namely 28 Days (or Weeks) Later. In "Wales" it opens with John Murphy's hypnotic rhythm and electronic soundscape, enough to tell us what kind of temptrack was placed on which specific scene. But it works. And what really works is the final track, the resolution, the finale where there could be some shred of hope. "Like a River around a Rock" works wonders in the film and shows us an emotional satisfying conclusion to a score that's in a way pretty straightforward in its musical intentions, but innovating in its instrumentation and ideas.
World War Z might not be Marco Beltrami innovating himself, but it's pretty enjoyable and effective in all the right places. Sadly some tracks (the extremely moody ones) are hurting the listening experience more than they should, while a couple of entertaining action tracks are left out for whatever reason. I mean, surely some 6 minutes of extra action music wouldn't have hurt the experience at all would it?
I heard a clicking noise, I saw animal skulls
I picked up SOS radio calls
But I'd be done see'n about everything
when I see zombies run on walls
Favorite Moment - Like a River Around a Rock (3.28 - 5.06)
An emotional goosebump feeling in the film, no matter how cliché must always survive on disc
Track Listing
1. Philadelphia (4.03)
2. The Lane Family (2.47)
3. Ninja Quiet (2.54)
4. Searching for Clues (5.33)
5. NJ Mart (4.01)
6. Zombies in Coach (3.43) Excellent track
7. Hand Off! (2.49)
8. No Teeth No Bite (3.25)
9. The Salvation Gates (4.24)
10. Wales (5.22)
11. Like a River Around a Rock (5.08) Excellent track
Total Length: 44.09