Search - Howard Shore, Christopher Young :: The Fly & The Fly II

Two distinguished composers = Two distinctly unique scores

Lugubrious DBB | Ottawa, OH USA | 10/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Twenty years after the release of the original album, Varèse Sarabande has been gracious enough to re-release the two scores for the resurrected "The Fly" franchise. Both of the original albums have long been out of print and are extremely difficult to find; this disc constitutes an exact re-release of those two albums in one package, with the exact same tracks as the original releases.

It is impossible to praise the score for "The Fly" without recognizing the brilliance of the film itself. Director David Cronenberg's crowning achievement is an ingenious reworking of what is essentially a B-movie concept; the film has been interpreted as an allegory for aging, cancer, and the AIDS virus, and functions as a tragic love story as well as a genuinely disturbing horror picture.

To score "The Fly", Cronenberg turned to his longtime collaborator Howard Shore, now of "The Lord of the Rings" fame. Shore's score, while meeting the obligatory requirements of horror film scoring with dissonant string harmonics and dissonant brass intervals, also includes an unusually strong dose of theme. Shore mentions in the liner notes that both he and Cronenberg felt the music should have an operatic quality to it, and from the very beginning of the "Main Title" it is clear that this is to be a tragic, operatic tale. Shore weaves two primary themes throughout his score: the first, an pattern of descending and ascending major seconds, represents Seth Brundle's frightening and disturbing transformation; the second features the outlining of a minor triad with an added sixth as its primary melodic material, while a descending countermelody plays above; this theme heightens the tragic state of Brundle and his love for Veronica that is inevitably doomed.

Three years after the release of "The Fly", Fox decided it was time for the inevitable sequel and released "The Fly II". Directed by Chris Walas, the man who brought the groundbreaking makeup effects to life in the 1986 Cronenberg film, "The Fly II" works as a film on autopilot, attempting to recycle the gruesomeness of the first film without first finding a story that makes sense. Perhaps the only thing worth salvaging from this travesty is Christopher Young's score. Taking a distinctly different approach than Shore, Young elects to concentrate more on scene-specific underscore; although there are themes present in the score, Young does not utilize them to the extent that Shore did in his score. This approach yields some impressive results, such as "Musca Domestica Metastasis", a brilliant example of twentieth century atonality. The score is not without tonality, however; "Come Fly With Me" is one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever heard in any medium, and the final track, "Dad", is a hauntingly beautiful piece featuring lovely cello playing.

As mentioned earlier, this is an exact re-release of the original 1986 and 1989 albums; there are no added tracks. Additionally, the somewhat arbitrary sequencing of the tracks (especially for "The Fly") has not been changed, leading to a somewhat frustrating experience for the listener attempting to recreate the film in their mind while listening to the music. If you own the original albums, there is little to gain from purchasing this set; if, like me, you were not old enough when these films were released to acquire the albums, and you are a diehard film score collector, it is well worth your money to invest in this set before these scores are once again out of print.



"The Fly" - Howard Shore

Music as heard in film: ***** out of 5

Music as heard on album: **** out of 5 (for awkward sequencing)



"The Fly II" - Christopher Young

Music as heard in film: **** out of 5

Music as heard on album: **** out of 5



Album overall ("The Fly" and "The Fly II"): **** out of 5

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