Thriller - Essence of the cinema

 

They don´t disappear. They always come back. Thrillers are forever. Its foundation is the very essence of cinema: to generate interest in the next scene, the expectation for the next act. In a proposal for sequenced narrative, structured in beginning-middle-conclusion, the interest in the next action is of fundamental importance.

And since music has great function in the chain of sequenced scenes for narrative purposes, it is obvious to conclude the importance of soundtracks for thrillers. In suspense the talk is minimum and action is all. And the music is the emotional measure, the respiratory guide that leads we through the 90 excruciating minutes of a thriller.

 

Bernard Herrmann was one of the major composers of thrillers just because of his ability to alternate between high and low music passages and drive our breath and perception to the narrative needs as did brilliantly in Psycho. In a more subtle approach, Pierre Jansen in Le Boucher (The Butcher) invades the quiet provincial life of the characters with its modernist music. Pino Donnagio accentuates the suspense of Don't Look Now with its melancholy music, a music of anticipation to the script.

Roy Webb and Bernard Herrmann are important founders of the genre in the 40s. In Hangover Square (1945) Bernard Herrmann composed one of the most remarkable works of suspense of his career. The composer´s intention to develop the dramatic musical comment along with the plot is highly noticeable in Hangover Square. Here the composer would do a preview of stinger effect (a short motif or effect to cause shock, attention in the audience) later to be so important in Psycho. Composed as a concerto for piano and orchestra, Hangover Square has its main theme used in great dramatic effect on the final sequence: the growing orchestral equivalent to the flames taking theater and the madness that definitely takes the composer.

Roy Webb was also master in suspense with his formal elegance in classical language. His film scores as Cat People (1942) and The Seventh Victm (1943) were remarkable in the period, as well as several of his compositions for film noir. In The Strange on the Third Floor (1940) starring Peter Lorre and considered to be the first film noir, several suspense sequences are supported only by Webb´s music. In Spyral Staircase (1946) the soundtrack for a silent film (performed by a pianist) extends brilliantly to a crime that happens in another dependency of cinema. The fictional thriller extends to a "real" crime and the music is the key link. For Alfred Hitchcock, Webb did anthological moments like the music for Notorious (one of the finest romantic themes of Hollywood´s Golden Age).

 

In Vertigo (1958), Herrmann´s music reflects the growing obsession of the protagonist. The explosive codas are not only effective music, but conclusive of the whole tragedy. In Psycho (1960), the music builds confinement in short, alternating motifs. Psycho is exemplar of the musical synthesis so characteristic of the composer. Short motifs, repetitive and of direct meaning. The same happens in Cape Fear (1962), a soundtrack directly consequent of Hitchcock´s classic. The exercise in claustrophobia of Psycho would be refined for the famous thriller by J. Lee Thompson that would be remade by Martin Scorsese in 1991. And again the Bernard Herrmann's music would be used in a new recording conducted by Elmer Bernstein.

In Europe, Henry Georges Clouzout is the great master of suspense in the classical school. And Claude Chabrol is the great pioneer in exploring alternative narratives. His film A Double Tour (1958) is a masterpiece in visual exercise, and anticipated what would be done in the following decades. The cinema reviewing itself. The aesthetic experimentation as the essence of the film itself. In Le Boucher (1968) Chabrol makes the genial music by Pierre Jansen (his usual collaborator) inserts in the film structure. The avant-garde explorations of Jansen destabilize the quiet provincial life and the postcard landscapes that are presented in the first half of the film.

At a time of revitalization of thrillers, with the monster-man becoming more dangerous than supernatural threats, European cinema would do quite interesting options as claustrophobic ambiences of Peter Collinson of The Penthouse (1970) and Fright (1972) his major examples. The English thriller made history on Hammer productions or in other great moments as 10th Rillington Place (with very interesting music by John Dankworth), but it was the Italian production that catalyzed the attention with his series of stylish and violent giallos. In Italy, Mario Bava is the main reference with its lights and frameworks that reference the comics magazines. His film Sei Donne Per L'Assassino (1964) is the great forerunner of giallos and the jazzy soundtrack by Carlo Rustichelli was also a rarity to the genre. After Bava, Dario Argento would be the new impulse of Euro-thrillers with its technical ambition and stylized narrative in which the musical scores played important role. See giallo.

The Phillipe Sarde music for Tenant (1976) opted for introspection with his music that seems to have much more to say, but prefers privacy.

With Don't Look Now (1971) Nicholas Roeg also had his landmark and Pino Donnagio music was one of the highlights of that classic thriller. Romantic and melancholic, the music has extra function (almost subliminal, anticipating the conclusion) in the progression of the narrative. Donaggio ensure a solid film career with this work and one more thriller, Carrie (1976), was to consecrate him as one of the most interesting composers of the time in his option for the lyrical counterpoint to stories of violence and suspense. Proposal inherited from Italian thrillers and that would be used in many films directed by Brian De Palma and with music by Donaggio.

With the famous Halloween (1977), John Carpenter got a hit as one of the most successful films B besides having composed one of the most famous musical themes of film history. Carpenter repeated the minimalist proposal in The Fog (1980). And the always remarkable Jerry Goldsmith has great moments in suspense as Mephisto Waltz (1971), The Other (1972), Magic (1978), Basic Instinct (1992) or Hollow Man (2000).

After a pop oriented period for soundtracks (pop, soul music, rock) cinema rediscovered the value symphonic scores and some old school composers return to active. Miklos Rozsa had great jobs for thrillers like The Last Embrace (1978) and The Eye of the Needle (1978) and Bernard Herrmann did interesting work in Europe as The Bride Wore Black (The Bride Wore Black, 1968) to François Truffaut or the English thriller Night Digger (1971), and Twisted Nerve (1968) - the young killer´s whistle would be remembered by Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill 2. On his return to american production Herrmann had special collaboration with Brian de Palma in Sisters (1973) and Obsession (1976).

 

Retaken - After a period few imaginative in the 80s, the thrillers (and the cinema in general) retook taste for more participatory soundtracks of the narrative. See Retaken. The music of Mary Reilly (1996) by George Fenton was one of the great examples of creative resurgence. The Canadian composer Howard Shore also had his name strongly associated with thrillers for his spectral soundtracks like Scanners (1980), Silence of the Lambs (1990) or Seven (1995).

Presently many soundtracks run the risk of be confused with the sound design of the film. Among noises, synth sounds and effects of the sound design the need to capture the attention by traditional melodic ways seems to have become obsolete. In this scenario, soundtracks such as The Bone Collector (1999) are amazing on its evident intention melodic more than just climate. Others like Cabin Fever (2002) sound revolutionary in its option for acoustic music in a highly original approach.