Benjami Wallfisch's IT: Chapter 2

[Giftheck 916]

Confirmed via Benjamin Wallfisch's Twitter:

 

 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

More like Wallpaper because that’s basically what the first score was.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Glad he's back.

[Giftheck 916]

Quote

CD 1:

 

1. 27 Years Later
2. Memory
3. Come Home
4. I Swear, Bill
5. Beverly Escapes
6. Henry Bowers
7. Firefly
8. Losers Reunited
9. Echo
10. Fortune Cookies
11. You Knew
12. The Library
13. Shokopiwah
14. The Barrens
15. The Clubhouse
16. Perfume
17. Mrs. Kersh
18. Miss Me, Richie?
19. Dirty Little Secret (Feat. Pennywise)
20. Silver Bullet
21. Why Georgie?
22. Your Hair Is Winter Fire
23. Eddie and the Leper
24. Festival Pursuit

 

CD 2:

1. Hall of Mirrors
2. Bar Mitzvah
3. Bowers Attack
4. Back to Neibolt
5. Home at Last
6. It's Stan
7. This Is Where It Happened
8. The Place of It
9. Artifacts
10. The Ritual of CHÜD
11. Very Scary
12. Scary
13. Not Scary at All
14. You Lied and I Died
15. My Heart Burns There Too
16. Spider Attack
17. You're All Grown Up
18. Neibolt Escape
19. Nothing Lasts Forever
20. Goodbye
21. Stan's Letter

 

 

 

Out tomorrow.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Ugh another dump of redundant filler tracks.

[Thor 7,492]

Indeed. I hate the fact that the C&C philosophy has now trickled into commercial soundtracks as well, not just niche labels.

 

Be that as it may, I'm looking forward to the film. I'm seeing it next week. Was not totally blown away by the first, but it had enough potential to grow.

[Giftheck 916]

It's about 1 hour 40 of music. The film is nearly 3. No way is it anywhere near complete.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

13 minutes ago, Gistech said:

It's about 1 hour 40 of music. The film is nearly 3. No way is it anywhere near complete.

 

It's still overload. Especially since it's bound to be the usual rambling anonymous horror underscore.

[Thor 7,492]

No single musical work can stand up to that length, unless you're talking Wagner's "Nibelungen" cycle or something in that category. I wish Wallfisch had boiled it down to a neat 40-50-minute release or something. But if the score is pants, the point is moot. I don't generally care for horror scores in the first place, so unless this turns out to be some Chris Young-ian dark fantasy, it's not a terribly big loss that the presentation is what it is.

[Jurassic Shark 12,054]

You can always make your own OST.

[Thor 7,492]

Sure, I can make a playlist, although it's not the same as an OST. I have a long list of such super-long albums I need to make playlists out of. I doubt that IT 2 is going to be one of them, but I'll probably sample it when it gets released.

[Jurassic Shark 12,054]

I won't.

[Giftheck 916]

I quite liked the first score, but then again I haven't listened to any other horror film scores (mainly because I don't generally watch horror films at all anwyay).

[Koray Savas 2,251]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

No single musical work can stand up to that length, unless you're talking Wagner's "Nibelungen" cycle or something in that category. I wish Wallfisch had boiled it down to a neat 40-50-minute release or something. But if the score is pants, the point is moot. I don't generally care for horror scores in the first place, so unless this turns out to be some Chris Young-ian dark fantasy, it's not a terribly big loss that the presentation is what it is.

It’s the composer’s desired presentation, Thor. You will listen to it front-to-back and you will like it!

[Thor 7,492]

Ha, ha....

 

Nope, if a composer chooses to present a score C&C, the project becomes moot. No succinct, creative arrangement for listening has taken place.

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

8 hours ago, Gistech said:

 

 

 

He's got an eye problem; one eye's lookin at you, and the other's lookin at the snack machine. Time to call 1-OPT-OMI-TRIST.

[Arpy 4,145]

6 hours ago, Thor said:

No single musical work can stand up to that length, unless you're talking Wagner's "Nibelungen" cycle or something in that category. 

You mean Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings?

[Jurassic Shark 12,054]

Yeah, that doesn't stand up either.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Only less than a handful of David Arnold scores can.

[MedigoScan 324]

The more music we get, the more choices we have to listen too!

The days of 50minute CDs may stay in the past!

[Jurassic Shark 12,054]

Yeah, 30 mins are better.

[MedigoScan 324]

You just cant argue with dinosaurs.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

There's no point to releasing all that redundant filler underscore in the main program.

[Jurassic Shark 12,054]

Put it on the deluxe vinyl release.

[Thor 7,492]

Or offer them as bonus tracks (whether on the physical album or as downloads).

[thestat 348]

Yes, this one totally suffers from over-kill. There are moments of serious awesomeness all the way throughout - some highlights such as The Ritual of Chud are massive. But in most of the tracks, great melodies and tonal moments are suddenly overtaken by atonal effects and aggressive noise design. Yes, this is a FILM score and Wallfisch' stuff is impressive in the film itself  and on a compositional level but as a listening experience, it's horrendous. But I was also not happy with the first IT score when it came out, but after watching the film, it clearly is one of the best and most melodic orchestral horror scores since Christopher Young's The Fly II, and that is really saying a frigging lot. I await to see the film here as there is so much great bombastic melodic, fully orchestral stuff going on here that any Williams fan should give it a try at least.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Wallfisch's main theme is pretty neat, but I found the first score overall very boring.  How many suspenseful drones punctuated by aleatoric stabs can a man take?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Wall fishes are the hardest part of doing cable.

[Arpy 4,145]

First Lorne Balfe's Mission Impossible Fallout is released in full last year, and now this (albeit not complete) is given a 2-CD treatment? Is it special treatment to RCP? 

[Arpy 4,145]

Just got back from seeing the film today: it was fun for what it was although the plot is a little convoluted and thin the moment you start to think about it.

 

The problem I have in criticizing Wallfisch's score is that it sounds technically wonderful with lots of orchestral flourishes that are suggestive of a much larger score, however there wasn't any guiding thematic material behind the sustained chords of mystery and dread. That lack of any strong theme - save for the Interstellar-like friendship? theme - is what seriously undercuts the power of the score. It's loud in the film, it has a presence, but so much attention to the score only highlights that there's no themes for characters or places. There are also some odd or jarring musical choices which is when the score is doing something that is contrasting what we're seeing on the screen in a negative way - loud stinger-type transitions to characters entering through a doorway where the payoff doesn't call for such suspense!

 

It's frustrating because this is the first score I've heard in a while that is entirely and aesthetically, a 'film score' and not so much an expression of the film's heart and soul. A lot of people will shit all over Hans Zimmer's scores, however there is a component to his work which is at least a strong musical expression.

[Thor 7,492]

I mostly agree with your assessment, Arpy, although I like the film a ltitle bit better than you, I think. As for the score, it has its moments, but it's not something I'm going to seek out -- even if it had been arranged properly for listening. Strange thing with Wallfisch; he can often deliver so wonderfully well -- stuff like DESERT DANCER, BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN, his masterpiece SUMMER IN FEBRUARY, BITTER HARVEST, KING OF THIEVES, BLADE RUNNER 2049. But then lately, he's turned a bit more generic with a bit higher frequency. I hope it's not permanent.

[Arpy 4,145]

I might've been a little harsh, all the cast were great and I loved how well-matched they were to the younger counterparts.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I saw the first movie in the cinema but there's no chance in heck I'm gonna sit through a 3 hour horror film.

[gkgyver 1,645]

On 29. August 2019 at 7:36 PM, Gistech said:

It's about 1 hour 40 of music. The film is nearly 3. No way is it anywhere near complete.

 

3 hours for a Horror film? What the fuck is wrong with movies today?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

14 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

 

3 hours for a Horror film? What the fuck is wrong with movies today?

 

Filmmakers falling in love with too much of their own material and editors powerless to protest?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 minute ago, Thekthithm said:

 

Filmmakers falling in love with too much of their own material and editors powerless to protest?

 

In some ways that makes this the quintessential Stephen King adaptation!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

5 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

In some ways that makes this the quintessential Stephen King adaptation!

 

Oh come on nothing beats The Langoliers, The Stand and The Tommyknockers.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I really just meant that "falling in love with too much of their own material and editors powerless to protest" is a good description of Stephen King's writing.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Ahhh

[Thor 7,492]

To be fair, IT is more than just a 'horror film' (or book). Typically for King, it's also very much about relationships, nostalgia and mythology. The film captures all of this beautifully; it's not like it's 3 hours non-stop stingers.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I didn't think the first film was very effective at anything, it was mostly just ok.  But I thought the CG visual effects and the "jump scare" style editing with them were particularly badly done.  My understanding from reviews is that this aspect is only worse in this one.

[Arpy 4,145]

Yes, none of the CG is particularly effective at trying to convey some of the heavier horror elements. Without spoiling anything, there's a scene with a creature from something out of The Thing - however where the sense of horror and dread was made through a great use of practical effects in that film, here it's run of the mill CG bullshit.