May 15, 2015

  • Goldsmith's Warlock

    Of the four scores Jerry Goldsmith tackled in 1989, Warlock is perhaps vying for third or fourth (depending on one’s view of Leviathan).  Director Steve Minor had come off some early cult movie successes with the second and third installments of the Friday the 13th film series, and the guilty pleasure of House (1986).  Warlock was David Twohy’s second screenplay and so has some interest for fans of the writer/director.  The story line follows its title character, Julian Sands in a deliciously interesting performance from the 17th century to the 20th as he flees a witch-hunter.  The film tends to hold up mostly from its cast, and perhaps a bit of musical heft, even though New World essentially set this up as a low-budget thriller/fantasy film.

    The opening “The Sentence” presents three primary ideas that will permeate the score.  A blend of electronics and orchestra, with sliding hits in spots, and a faux organ sound create some of the extra flavor here.  The thematic thread has a semi-folk feel as well as it moves slowly forward, a blend of marching time, and a sort of relentless underlying drive.  Also striking is the addition of xylophone ideas introducing an important rhythmic motif.  As always, it is fascinating to watch how Goldsmith layers these different ideas very clearly.  There is also a 6-note motif (that will recur in similar scores later) that recurs throughout the score.  The effects throughout are often quite fascinating, especially when put up against different string stingers.  In tracks like “Time Warp”, one can hear these unique instrumental colors.  The score does a great job of connecting the significant sinewy motif and the interest comes in hearing how this gets varied and accompanied throughout the music here.  The musical effects thus add a level of tension and eeriness along the way.  “The Trance” becomes one of the more interesting highlights of the score where the music plays out more dramatically with further unique sounds—and even has some subtle hints of musical quotation.  Perhaps that is too why this score is often underrated—the rather subdued quality of the music overall.  One must wait a very long time for the big climactic moment where things come to a head and the ideas can be unleashed, though even “Salt Water Attack” is a bit underwhelming by most Goldsmith action music standards.

    In some ways, a lot of what is going on in Warlock will reach its height in similar techniques applied to Total Recall, but there are many Goldsmith stamps throughout this score that the composer used as important stock-in-trade approaches.  Here they are given some often fascinating electronic sounds and blended orchestral writing that sometimes seems almost like a throwback to an earlier period of television drama writing.   Intrada has filled out the score presentation from its original appearance by another 15-16 minutes and added a nice overview in the accompanying booklet.  Warlock is often a very fascinating score without some of the bigger action sequences, it tends to be a more personal exploration of character and story, relentless in its slow build and always fascinating orchestral writing.  The CD is available from www.intrada.com.