Shadowy Music

I've decided to save director Tim Burton's newest film, Dark Shadows, for DVD -- if indeed I end up watching it at all. I'm simply torn about whether it looks good to me or not, and have heard similarly mixed feedback from friends who did see it.

But in any case, one thing I did not pass on was the film's musical score by longtime Burton collaborator, composer Danny Elfman. A couple of weeks before the movie released, the entire soundtrack album was streamed online for a short time; this was catnip for a score enthusiast like me, and I rushed to go listen. I liked what I heard enough to actually buy the album for my collection.

While Danny Elfman could never really write a score you wouldn't ultimately recognize as his (think of the playfulness of his work for The Simpsons or Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, or the pounding percussion of his Planet of the Apes score), Elfman's work here does drift to the edges of his usual circle of sound. Long passages of his Dark Shadows score are more ethereal and lyrical than is his custom, a worthy fit for the moody atmosphere of a gothic horror tale.

But the score also incorporates some strange synthesizer passages. There are moments that somehow take noises you'd instinctively associate with cheesy 70s film and television, but render them tense and effective by layering them over pulsing strings that evoke the music from the Dark Knight films. (I'm referring here to the Nolan films scored by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard, rather than the actual Batman films Elfman scored himself.)

Overall, it's not a score you can really listen to from beginning to end. Half of the music is appropriate for getting the blood racing -- music to listen to while you drive, or exercise, or try to awaken a tired mind. The other half would serve the exact opposite purpose -- music to calm a loud mind, to relax to. Of course, it's easy enough to build a separate playlist for both mindsets, then enjoy Elfman's entire score here, each part in its own way.

I have no idea what I'll think of the movie itself, but I'd give Danny Elfman's score a B. It's worth considering, if you're into film scores.