When pondering modern horror scores, it is easy to consider many as tired, cliche, or unlistenable: consisting of crashing electric dissonance, heavy metal elements, random aleatoric effects, moody ambience, and compilations of unrelated rock songs.
The fully orchestral, through-composed approach to scary movie music has been greatly underused, with melodically-based symphonic scores such as Poltergeist, The Omen, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire and Sleepy Hollow becoming rarer and rarer. Thankfully, Douglas Pipes has reintroduced this style of Gothic horror score to great success, and in grand style, with his muscular, spine-tingling score to Trick 'r Treat.
Newcomer Douglas Pipes
Douglas Pipes' only other major score in his career thus far has been for the animated film Monster House, and the quality of that score, along with this new effort for Michael Dougherty's horror-anthology film, reveals Douglas Pipes to be a promising and welcome new talent in the field of film scoring.
Opening with Herrman-style shrieks by the violin section and building into a powerful overture for brass and choir, Trick 'r Treat's “Main Titles” is an instant highlight, both of the score album and of the genre. It is horrific yet romantic; sickening but inviting; and intimate despite its grandeur.
Rhyme-Based Main Theme in Trick 'r Treat's Score
The score's main thematic idea, based ingeniously on the rhythm of the old Halloween rhyme “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat,” is sprinkled liberally throughout the score, sometimes only being hinted at in fragmented form (“Charlie Bites It”), sometimes creeping out of murky bass strings and xylophone tinklings in its sinuous, long-lined form (“The Neighborhood”), and sometimes in full-blown, brass-blasting Gothic bombast (“The Shooter/Meet Sam,” a 12-minute suspense tour-de-force). A performance by choir in the latter half of “The Elevator/Laurie on the Prowl” is particularly nail-biting.
Despite the score's horrific nature, it has a surprisingly lyrical quality in many cues, particularly in the innocent piano-driven beauty of the ironically-named “The Halloween Schoolbus Massacre,” another album highlight, distinctive in its churning, choir-supported beauty and shimmering fantasy atmosphere, an effect heard again in “Laurie's First Time.”
Clear, Intelligent and Attractive Orchestrations in Pipes' Soundtrack
A defining aspect of the score which elevates it beyond mere thematic solidity is its extremely intelligent orchestration: Pipes uses a largely acoustic ensemble to produce most of the necessary dramatic effects, and only occasionally resorts to synthetic and electronic elements.
His use of the orchestra is surprisingly adept, making solid, effective use of every section of the ensemble (along with chilling solo passages) to produce a diverse, compelling and evolving soundscape. The clarity and power of Pipes' orchestrations are to marvelous effect in the boiling cacophany of “Halloween Prank,” an intensely effective cue. “End Credits” serves as a masterful suite of the themes and tones of the score, and it is a fine conclusion to a terrific score.
Summary
Trick 'r Treat follows in the footsteps of the best scores in the genre, and is certainly one of the best Gothic scores of recent times (alongside Christopher Young's excellent Drag Me to Hell).
Douglas Pipes is to be commended for this extremely entertaining and rewarding score, and it comes highly recommended to those who miss the orchestral, melodic horror scores of yesteryear. It is to be hoped that Pipes continues to receive assignments with such large-scale mainstream potential.
See Also: Drag Me to Hell Soundtrack Review
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