Drag Me To Hell
Christopher Young
" top drawer writing for the horror genre "Written by Thomas Kiefner - Review of the regular release
Directed and co- written by Sam “Spiderman” Raimi for Universal, Drag Me To Hell was not made for the target market that I'm in these days. However, as of this writing in August 2009, the box-office figures show it is a huge success, meaning they hit their target market just fine without my advice. I saw the poster, read the press release, and said to myself, why bother with this at all. This has all of the makings of yet another slasher horror film with the wailing, irritating slashing strings, and loud, louder, and loudest. I bothered because the music is from Christopher Young an excellent underrated composer of the first order. I wasn't disappointed in anyway and quite pleased at what I heard from the first bars of the main theme. Besides, Young has such thought provoking interesting track titles such as "Muttled Buttled Brain Stew" it is hard not to at least have a listen.
"Drag Me To Hell" the main theme, begins with a reference from Jaws and ends with a reference from Star Trek. In between is a theme that isn't your standard horror one at all but a melody you might hear in any number of genre of films, perfectly complemented by a solo violin, which represents the devil himself as explained by Young in the CD liner notes. Immediately the sounds of the violin of Saint-Saen's Danse Macabre began to fill my head with the vision of a skeleton playing the violin with both hands while the bow was moving on its own, also explained in the liner notes as impossible to do without overdubbing. It is the same theme that you'll also hear in "Concerto from Hell" which features an extended violin solo complete with trills.
"Tale of a Haunted Banker" starts with a piano lead which segues to a patented classic Young melody performed on a toy piano. It is simple, elegant, and one of those catchy melodies that puts a small lump in your throat. Tempo and lead in are different but the same theme as Haunted Banker is used in "Familiar Familiars" and "Brick Dogs a la Carte".
There are plenty of horror tracks with chorus, ‘devil’s horn’, on the edge of your seat excitement in such tracks as "Mexican Devil Disaster", "Auto-Da-Fe", "Loose Teeth", "Lamia" and "Black Rainbows". While this is top drawer writing for the horror genre this overall style of music has never been my cup of tea and it was difficult for me to get my teeth into it. The horror fan will have no trouble listening to it over and over.
This release comes highly recommended to any fan of Christopher Young and horror genre music. Even the classical listener will enjoy the "Concerto to Hell" as the violin playing is quite good.
Tracklisting
1. Drag me to Hell (2.33)
2. Mexican Devil Disaster (4.33)
3. Tale of a Haunted Banker (1.52)
4. Lamia (4.06)
5. Black Rainbows (3.24)
6. Ode to Ganush (2.23)
7. Familiar Familiars (2.11)
8. Loose Teeth (6.31)
9. Ordeal By Corpse (4.35)
10. Bealing Bells with Trumpet (5.12)
11. Brick Dogs ala Carte (1.46)
12. Buddled Brain Strain (2.51)
13. Auto-Da-Fe (4.31)
14. Concerto to Hell (5.59)
Total Length: 52.29
"Drag Me To Hell" the main theme, begins with a reference from Jaws and ends with a reference from Star Trek. In between is a theme that isn't your standard horror one at all but a melody you might hear in any number of genre of films, perfectly complemented by a solo violin, which represents the devil himself as explained by Young in the CD liner notes. Immediately the sounds of the violin of Saint-Saen's Danse Macabre began to fill my head with the vision of a skeleton playing the violin with both hands while the bow was moving on its own, also explained in the liner notes as impossible to do without overdubbing. It is the same theme that you'll also hear in "Concerto from Hell" which features an extended violin solo complete with trills.
"Tale of a Haunted Banker" starts with a piano lead which segues to a patented classic Young melody performed on a toy piano. It is simple, elegant, and one of those catchy melodies that puts a small lump in your throat. Tempo and lead in are different but the same theme as Haunted Banker is used in "Familiar Familiars" and "Brick Dogs a la Carte".
There are plenty of horror tracks with chorus, ‘devil’s horn’, on the edge of your seat excitement in such tracks as "Mexican Devil Disaster", "Auto-Da-Fe", "Loose Teeth", "Lamia" and "Black Rainbows". While this is top drawer writing for the horror genre this overall style of music has never been my cup of tea and it was difficult for me to get my teeth into it. The horror fan will have no trouble listening to it over and over.
This release comes highly recommended to any fan of Christopher Young and horror genre music. Even the classical listener will enjoy the "Concerto to Hell" as the violin playing is quite good.
Tracklisting
1. Drag me to Hell (2.33)
2. Mexican Devil Disaster (4.33)
3. Tale of a Haunted Banker (1.52)
4. Lamia (4.06)
5. Black Rainbows (3.24)
6. Ode to Ganush (2.23)
7. Familiar Familiars (2.11)
8. Loose Teeth (6.31)
9. Ordeal By Corpse (4.35)
10. Bealing Bells with Trumpet (5.12)
11. Brick Dogs ala Carte (1.46)
12. Buddled Brain Strain (2.51)
13. Auto-Da-Fe (4.31)
14. Concerto to Hell (5.59)
Total Length: 52.29