WaterTower Music (i.e. Warner Brothers) is offering an online preview of Danny Elfman‘s original score for Tim Burton‘s controversial take on DARK SHADOWS. You can listen to a track-by-track preview of Elfman’s pleasantly gothic music, which often seems to hit the right thematic notes befitting the original TV series dark, melodramatic tone — in significant contrast to the jovial, generation-gap comedy evidenced in the film’s theatrical trailer.
FAIR WARNING: if fans want to sample these 21 score tracks, expect to read some potential plot spoilers in the track names… as in “Killing [name omitted]” and “Dumping the Body.”
With no runtimes listed for Elfman’s tracks, FilmEdge can only confirm that these tracks are limited to 1:30 of playtime, so you can’t hear the entire full score but this is a good taste to get your appetites up if you’re a fan of Danny’s film music.
FilmEdge’s early review: don’t expect to hear an updating of Robert Cobert‘s haunting original theme, as two tracks entitled “Shadows – Reprise” and “The End? (Uncut)” seem to offer Elfman’s main title theme. If so, it reminds us more of a DOCTOR WHO theme track than classic DARK SHADOWS with its rising synth runs, with the requisite spooky chorale voices befitting another Elfman/Burton collaboration. On the other hand, “More The End?” will likely sound quite familiar to the TV version of DARK SHADOWS’ score cues and it’s a very promising sign that there will indeed be some *dark* left in Burton’s SHADOWS this May.
Other tracks sound quite promising on their own (and without any available film context) and Elfman seems intent of blending the intent of Cobert’s original TV score from the 1960s-70s with director Burton’s shall we say unique take on the material. Perhaps the greatest relief to hardcore DARK SHADOWS fans is that Danny Elfman’s score in no way resembles the wacky shenanigans of Marc Shaiman’s ADDAMS FAMILY score, even if the comedic attitude of the DS trailer brought up such obvious comparisons.
Danny Elfman’s DARK SHADOWS Original Score is now available for pre-order via Amazon.com at a $11.29 price guarantee rate. The score will be released on disc and digital download on May 8th.
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Eva Green and Michelle Pfeiffer star in Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS, opening in theaters May 11th.
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