{"id":1779,"date":"2010-12-06T09:25:57","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T14:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2012-11-19T13:51:02","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:51:02","slug":"cd-midnight-movie-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1779","title":{"rendered":"CD: Midnight Movie (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>M<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Good<\/p>\n

Label: Howlin\u2019 Wolf Records\u00a0\/ Released: 2010<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 26 tracks \/ (40:03)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by co-writer\/director Jack Messitt and composer Penka Kouneva \/ Limited to 1000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Penka Kouneva<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Not unlike\u00a0The Roost<\/strong> (2005),\u00a0The Hills Run Red<\/strong> (2009), or\u00a0Scream 2<\/strong> (1997) for that matter,\u00a0Midnight Movie<\/strong> sports a film-within-a-film segment or two, and composer Penka Kouneva has fun wafting between the fake B-movie film,\u00a0The Dark Beneath<\/strong>, and MM itself.<\/p>\n

The bulk of MM\u2019s score is built around a 3-note motif which Kouneva warps into malevolent variations, or develops into a meatier statement on festering evil, as in the title cut \u201cDarkness and Fear.\u201d A sense of solitude is expressed through a fragmentary melody on piano (\u201cBridget, Your Father is not Here\u201d), evoking a lost, wandering victim in the dangerous darkness, and giving the otherwise chilly score a bit of fleeting humanity.<\/p>\n

Most of the score is performed on synthesizer, emulating the vintage sounds of late eighties\/early nineties slasher films \u2013 a design that makes it easy for the composer to blur the line between the two realities in MM, as well riff some iconic genre scores, such as John Carpenter\u2019s lilting 2-note motif from\u00a0Halloween<\/strong> on piano (\u201cTo Face Your Fears\u201d). The digital processing isn\u2019t overbearing, but it does transform a few cues into sound design rather than atmospheric score.<\/p>\n

The brevity of some cues also affects the score\u2019s flow, but the quiet spots are quickly goosed with shock stabs, brief chase motifs (such as the electrified \u201cMario Enjoys Sparkles\u201d), and a few stereo tricks that create the odd enveloping or shoulder-side shock (like the rapping percussion in \u201cJosh\u2019s Eye\u201d and \u201cBridget in the Basement\u201d).<\/p>\n

When it isn\u2019t rooted in familiar slasher sound effects, Kouneva sometimes creates a musical sound reminiscent of an old theatre organ, emphasizing fat chords and heavy fugues, and there\u2019s an amusing quotation of \u201cGayane\u2019s Ballet Suite\u201d in the chiming, effects-textured \u201cBobby at the House,\u201d one of the Dark Beneath cues.<\/p>\n

Howling Wolf Records\u2019 limited CD features Kouneva\u2019s complete score, including unused and expanded cues, and lengthy liner notes in the meaty booklet. Those expecting a robust, dissonant orchestral score will probably be disappointed \u2013 the film\u2019s budget was perhaps too modest \u2013 but it\u2019s a successful emulation of vintage synth writing, sometimes recalling Fred Mollin\u2019s music for\u00a0Friday the 13th: The Series,<\/strong> albeit with a more classical slant.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Composer’s Website<\/a> —\u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0M<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not unlike The Roost (2005), The Hills Run Red (2009), or Scream 2 (1997) for that matter, Midnight Movie sports a film-within-a-film segment or two, and composer Penka Kouneva has fun wafting between the fake B-movie film, The Dark Beneath, and MM itself…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[195,194],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-sH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1779"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5732,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779\/revisions\/5732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}