The Score: Crawl by Max Aruj and Steffen Thum

2019 saw the release of a surprise horror hit with Crawl. For those unfamilar with the film, Crawl tells the story of college swimmer Haley and her father being terrorized by alligators while they are stuck in the crawl space of their Florida home during a Category 5 hurricane. The film was directed by Alex Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) and produced by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead 2, Spider-Man). Crawl has also been hailed by Quentin Tarantino as his favorite film of 2019, and “Certified Fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes. One of the most intriguing things about Crawl, is the score for the film. Max Aruj and Steffen Thum made a super creepy and sweeping score, which draws from the influence and inspiration of the likes of Trent Reznor and John Williams. Max and Steffen really came up with something eerie and fun to accompany the film. I’m definitely interested to see what they do next. The physical release of this score comes out March 6 via Rusted Wave.

 

Crawl Score:

The Score: Fight Club by The Dust Brothers

It’s been over 20 years now since the release of Fight Club. Interestingly enough, that film and the book, are even more relevant now that ever. If you really examine the themes of it, you’d be pretty astonished by what the overall message is. Granted that’s if you’ve never really delved into both of them. One of my favorite things about the film has always been the music though. What The Dust Brothers created not only was perfect for it but, it also set a tone for a lot of other composers to follow as a template. Throughout the film, The Dust Brothers were able to tap into many different sounds to really encapsulate the vibe of the scene. The intensity of the performances mixed with the music created a very amazing tension that played off each other so well that, when you listen to the score on its own, you start to feel like you might have tapped into Jack’s inner dialogue. Interestingly, director David Fincher originally wanted Radiohead to create the music for the film but, Thom Yorke declined, as he was worn out from all the promotion of OK Computer.

 
The Dust Brothers Fight Club Score:

The Score: The Crow by Graeme Revell

This new topic is all about the scores that go along with films.

Since this is a new topic, I thought I’d start with my all time favorite score soundtrack. Yes, it’s for The Crow. I absolutely love this score. It really is perfect and compliments this film beautifully. Consisting of mostly orchestral music, with some electronic and guitar elements, Graeme Revell created a soundscape that is lush and full of darkness. This score also has a way of giving you chills as you watch the film and you hear the score accompany the scenes. There’s an iconic scene in which Eric Draven is on the roof performing a guitar solo (entitled “Inferno”) that is not only iconic and wonderfully shot but, it’s also worth noting that Brandon Lee, learned to play guitar for his role in the film. Although since he died before filming this scene, a body double was used.

This score is truly one of the greats. It covers every emotion and feeling. The way the film is and how this score and the soundtrack are put together is stunning. There aren’t enough scores/soundtracks that can really hit it out of the park like this one did.
The Crow Score by Graeme Revell: