Anyone who has heard and enjoyed many classic horror scores will know that Christopher Young is the go-to man in the film scoring business for thunderous, gothic cacophony.
His beloved scores for Species and the Hellraiser films solidified his reputation as a maestro of the macabre, while more recent compositions such as Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3 and The Uninvited have continued to thrill movie-going audiences. But his most recent horror opus, the orchestral score to Sam Raimi’s acclaimed Drag Me to Hell, pulls out all the stops, emerging as an instant classic in Young’s already illustrious career.
Shamelessly Gothic Score by Christopher Young
The immediate appeal of Drag Me to Hell is its almost ridiculously overblown, unabashed style. There is no musical style heard in this score that has not been heard many times before; but so fresh are the employment of those styles, and so blatant are their uses, that it never once comes across as cliché or uninteresting. It is a score which thrives in its own self-aware intentions.
All the expected pieces of a perfect gothic horror score are on full display in Drag Me to Hell: spine-tingling, twistedly beautiful violin solos, huge choral dirges and chants, careening pipe organ frenzies, insane passages of disorienting dissonance, dizzying percussive rampages, full-on brass bombast, tolling bells and gongs… the list goes on and on.
Besides having all these fantastic ingredients in place, Young utilizes them in extremely appropriate, satisfying ways. They never feel pasted or thrown together, but are connected and well-layered melodically and harmonically, and developed brilliantly to make full use of each ingredient’s unique qualities.
Strong Themes and Melodies in Drag Me to Hell Soundtrack
Added to all this is Young’s extremely strong thematic writing. However dark and doom-laden it becomes, Young’s horror music is always underlined by recognizable themes, melodies and motifs of fluid structure and simple beauty, compellingly twisted to serve both the horrific and the gentler aspects of the story.
Drag Me to Hell’s primary melodic idea (introduced in the first track, “Drag Me to Hell”) is a virtuosic theme performed primarily by solo violin, backed by gigantic chorus. Reprised regularly by an increasingly diverse portion of the ensemble, the theme receives its most powerful and compelling treatment in the album's ultimate cue, “Concerto to Hell,” which serves effectively as the theme’s concert arrangement.
Softer Moments in Young's Violent Score
Softer themes appear on occasion and serve to alleviate the wall-shaking, demonic grandeur of the score’s many apocalyptic cues. “Tale of a Haunted Banker,” “Familiar Familiars,” and “Brick Dogs Ala Carte” are extremely touching and delicate cues, showcasing Young’s ability to conjure up extremely beautiful melodies and support them with extraordinary orchestration. These cues’ presence on the album is a welcome surprise, given that the louder sections of the score achieve practically exhausting qualities in their sheer power and presence.
Conclusion
Every cue on this score album is extremely strong and offers something completely new and worthwhile to the listener, yet the score is so cohesive and consistent in its quality that it never feels fragmented or disjointed. There are really no weak portions of the music, and the listener will be left thrilled and breathless, with an unwavering conviction that all Hell has truly broken loose.
Drag Me to Hell’s score is wild, powerful, and relentless, although perhaps just a bit overwhelming (though never less than wholly entertaining). It is a solid masterpiece of genre scoring, and comes unequivocally recommended for lovers of film music's darker side.
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