Fade to Black
Review by Christopher Coleman

Pitch Black
3/10
 

The film Pitch Black has surprisingly garnered quite a following over the last few years.   Like only a few other sci-fi films and television shows, Pitch Black has been able to carve out a niche for itself.  Along with his score for the doomed Fox animated film, Titan A.E., Pitch Black has become one of composer Graeme Revell's most requested releases.  In fact, it has been reported that copies of the 2 disc promo set (totalling over 100 minutes of music from the film) have sold on ebay for some $200.00!  Fortunately, $200 is no longer the cost to get one's hands on Revell's score as a single CD promo has now been produced.  As a bonus, this promo CD also includes music from another Revell project:  Bride of Chucky.

The first 15 tracks are from Pitch Black and are predominantly dark and dissonant; featuring some of Revell's trademark elements:  electronic percussion and vocals.  The score plays out like the soundtrack for an aerobic workout gone awry with few moments for one to wipe their brow and catch their breath.  While the music functions well-enough in the film; helping to drive the action along, or further communicating the threats of the alien setting, it is pretty rough on the ears and psyche outside of that.  Tracks representing the height of the action are the roughest.  At such times Revell's score seems to function more as sound design than musical soundtrack.  Synthetic bursts, shrieks, swells, whines, trickles, slaps and thumps are in abundance in tracks such as Crash (2), Race Against the Sun (8), Clash of the Titans (11) or Move! (12).  One is sufficiently worn out by the end of such tracks and, due to the fast-paced editing of the film, Pitch Black only offers minimal points where the audience, and in this case the listener, can wring out their sweat-soaked shirts and get themselves ready for the next set.

Contrasting the more violent and taxing aspects of the Pitch Black score, Revell composes a few moments of reflection, anticipation, or hope.  Elegy (3) follows the rough-ride Crash (2) track.  Here the music settles down considerably but maintains its edge through use of vocals and and electronic swells. Track 5, Settlement, also provides a few seconds of respite and hope as it it crescendos.  These and a few other tracks, while helping the listening experience somewhat, they remain far too short or lacking strong enough motifs to leave one satisfied.

The second half of the CD is devoted to the fourth chapter of Child's Play film series, Bride of Chucky.  If one was not sufficiently frazzled by the first half of the CD, the latter half should finish the job.  Graeme Revell's score for Bride of Chucky is more orchestral, especially in the last few tracks (save the final track), but doesn't abandon use of electronic instruments either. Despite the stylistic differences, these selections from Bride of Chucky make for a good pairing with Pitch Black as far as tone and emotional responses go.  While Pitch Black ranged from explosive percussions down to almost complete silence, Bride of Chucky layers in a comedic element on top of suspense/horror.  Unfortunately, it also matches Pitch Black in its loss of "listenability" outside of the film.  These nine tracks are a bit of bonus addition to the CD and were included as Pitch Black and Bride of Chucky are owned by the same copyright owner.

In short, divorced from the films, both scores are extremely hard to listen to.  Only for the most gothic or macabre does Pitch Black and Bride of Chucky really have anything to offer.  The disc does offer some of Graeme Revell's most chaotic (...err complex) work, but is just not the sort of "complexity" one sits down to dinner with.  Rather, it's the sort that directors and producers sit down to temp their current projects with and it was this very demand, paired with the requests of Graeme Revell enthusiasts, that has lead to the production and release of this promo CD. Certainly, some music fans will find a twisted-pleasure in this music, but for fans of melodic film music this promo is a no-no.  For fans still pining for Graeme Revell's score for Titan A.E., there is talk of a possible release down the road.

*The Experience-O-Meter displays the track to track listening experience of this soundtrack based on the 5-Star rating given to each track.  It provides a visual depiction of the ebbs and flows of the CD's presentation of the soundtrack.

Referenced Reviews
Red Planet

Home  |  Soundtrack Reviews | Blog |  Podcast | News |  Forum  |  Features  |  About  |  Advertise  |  Links   | Shop