Martyrs
" I was baffled by the fact I remembered most of the music so well. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
Martyrs is a 2006 film directed by Pascal Laugier. The film is divided into a more classic horror half with two girls in the search for those who inflicted a significant amount wounds to one of the girls, and a second half that goes into other, more emotional and intriguing territories, as they uncover the truth. Seppuku Paradigm (Alex and Willie Cortés) wrote the score the film.
Like the film, the music allures to both the classic horror and the tragic element. The duo uses sparse strings, cymbal, brass, piano, aided by electronic samples for textbook horror scoring, with spooky tones and expected stingers. The reason it works so well because they execute these pieces so well, but
it´s also their own electronic input that adds musical elements that are both hypermodern and nostalgic in tone.
When the film morphs into another kind of film, the focus lies on the psychical horror and the tragic consequences, the music generally becomes softer in tone. The soothing electronic samples, with piano and strings become elements to address the sad and tragic events that unfold. The music wonderfully supports it and it does give a great insight in the psychic of the terrible things on display, but I view it with mixed feelings. It does, however, show great resemblances to works such as John Murphy´s 28 Days Later. During the film I was trying to feel empathic, primarily because of the music, and yet at the same time wondered why I should try to connect to it emotionally? It could have been better as a cold registration instead ,but I never quite figured out what the most would be like. The composers are not to blame, because the instructions they followed in writing the music, wholeheartedly addressed the pain and the suffering with a great sense of subdued pathos.
It has been many years since I saw the film ones, and upon hearing this cd release for the first time, I was baffled by the fact I remembered most of the music so well. That does speak for the quality of the score, even though originality is not the first thing that comes to mind. Martyrs was released by the relatively new French label The Omega Productions Records, that puts its focus on the music of French genres films. The score has received a digital, cd (digipack) and vinyl, with stunning artwork made by Grégory Lê. The label branded the release as Nouvelle vague horrifique - Volume I, which makes me wait in great anticipation of upcoming future releases.
Like the film, the music allures to both the classic horror and the tragic element. The duo uses sparse strings, cymbal, brass, piano, aided by electronic samples for textbook horror scoring, with spooky tones and expected stingers. The reason it works so well because they execute these pieces so well, but
it´s also their own electronic input that adds musical elements that are both hypermodern and nostalgic in tone.
When the film morphs into another kind of film, the focus lies on the psychical horror and the tragic consequences, the music generally becomes softer in tone. The soothing electronic samples, with piano and strings become elements to address the sad and tragic events that unfold. The music wonderfully supports it and it does give a great insight in the psychic of the terrible things on display, but I view it with mixed feelings. It does, however, show great resemblances to works such as John Murphy´s 28 Days Later. During the film I was trying to feel empathic, primarily because of the music, and yet at the same time wondered why I should try to connect to it emotionally? It could have been better as a cold registration instead ,but I never quite figured out what the most would be like. The composers are not to blame, because the instructions they followed in writing the music, wholeheartedly addressed the pain and the suffering with a great sense of subdued pathos.
It has been many years since I saw the film ones, and upon hearing this cd release for the first time, I was baffled by the fact I remembered most of the music so well. That does speak for the quality of the score, even though originality is not the first thing that comes to mind. Martyrs was released by the relatively new French label The Omega Productions Records, that puts its focus on the music of French genres films. The score has received a digital, cd (digipack) and vinyl, with stunning artwork made by Grégory Lê. The label branded the release as Nouvelle vague horrifique - Volume I, which makes me wait in great anticipation of upcoming future releases.