Friday is the day. Friday, World War Z hits theaters. Friday is the reckoning. If the film does well, we will see such a deluge of zombie stories flood the market, the likes of which we’ve never seen. If it crashes and burns, which I hope it doesn’t, zombie storytellers should run for cover, for the end is nigh. Monday Mayhem—World War Z—the music.
Anyone familiar with score music will know Marco Beltrami rocks the scene with incredibly powerful renditions of tension inducing bravado. All that means is he’s the go-to guy for heavy, heart-thumping themes. The other side of the composer, he produces some of the most poignant, emotion-filled melodies for the big screen. His quiet, eerie sounds he chooses to incorporate in the compositions drives his films to new levels of suspense and terror.
Tomorrow, the score releases in stores and retail outlets everywhere. What do I expect? I’m hoping a Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines whoopin’. I’m hoping when I put on my Sennheiser headphones, the walls outside will shake. Imagine a constant pounding with ear-splitting crescendos and breathtaking silences. We’re talking about Second Coming music without relent. Yet, I’m also hoping, in Beltrami’s inimitable style, beautiful, sweeping phrases, majestic and victorious in breath, to herald the dawn of the zombie apocalypse.
I’m getting shivers run up my spine thinking about it.
Beltrami’s also responsible for the rhythmic I, Robot score. The constant tapping heard is a trademark Beltrami sound sucking the listener into the vortex of his design. Shrilling flutes and reverberating brass counterpoints, clanging anvils, he has it all.
But the score I believe most likely will have the greatest influence on World War Z is Underworld: Evolution. Imagine armies of zombies marching on a city while heavy timpani pummels in the background, a grand piano repeats the same phrase in its lower register, and syncopated strings push against the blaring of a lone trumpet. More? Add emergency sirens and real skulls he brought into the recording studio. That’s cool. That’s Beltrami. That’s probably why he’s the composer commissioned for the film.
World War Z is a landmark event. No other time in film history will a blockbuster of such sheer scope and magnitude affect an entire genre upon release. This is Hollywood’s attempt at making zombies in vogue, injecting them into the mainstream for all to see.
Let’s hope the public’s ready. The Walking Dead ushered in a new generation of zombie fan, where it was cool again to like dead things crawling in the night. The media’s also having its heyday with TV series and movies parading zombies in the open. Entertainment such as In the Flesh and Warm Bodies has made stars of dead people.
If this film works, history will remember Brad Pitt as a visionary, willing to take risks, never afraid of the outcome of such gambles. Max Brooks’ novels will fly off the shelf, and no one will ever look back.
Bring it on, Beltrami. Let’s see what you got.
RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, on sale October 22.
Are you going to see World War Z? Is music to a movie as important as the story?
Looking to God 