CD REVIEW - BOOGEYMAN


Boogeyman
Music by Joseph LoDuca
La-La Land Records LLLCD 1090 (US)
20 Tracks 44:43 mins

The latest co-production by La-La Land Records' Michael V. Gerhard and composer Joseph LoDuca sees the pair take a trip into the recent past by releasing a limited edition recording of the latter's score for the 2005 horror Boogeyman. Now, normally I rarely watch films in this genre, but I am always interested to hear what LoDuca comes up with, since his days on Hercules, American Gothic and the like; and I must admit that I found the film quite entertaining and the score very effective, so it's nice that this music is now commercially available, though you'd best hurry along to www.lalalandrecords.com if you want to get your hands on one of only 1500 copies pressed.
The score gets underway with the "Main Title," which has a haunted feel, with broken piano representing the fragile world of the main character, Tim, who lives in constant fear of "the Boogeyman" snatching him, as he had his father when Tim was just a child. The track continues mysteriously in "As the Crow Flies." Vocal work features quite strongly in the score, with Lucy Lawless (Xena - a link to LoDuca, who scored that show, of course) providing the haunting solos, as well as playing the young Tim's mother, and her first contribution can be heard in the mournful "Delivered," a feel that continues on guitar and piano in "Message from Mom/Room 3."
The first real in-your-face menacing music comes in the following "Room 3 (Revisited)," which builds nervously (complete with simulated heartbeat) to an eerie, threatening conclusion. Lawless returns for "House of Broken Dreams, bolstered by children's' choir, as Lawless softly sings a lullaby. After an opening rush of action, the heartbeat returns in "Staplin' Uncle Mike," giving way to more menacing action as the cue races to its dissonant climax.
"Frannie" introduces the ghostly little girl who Tim encounters on his return to the house where his father was snatched; and she is accompanied by perhaps surprisingly warm guitar and electric violin-lead music, with slightly eerie undertones. The properly eerie "Boogeymused" follows and then the score takes a somewhat rocky detour with "Cutting Through." The eeriness largely continues in "Helping Frannie - Getting Loose," though her theme is quoted early, with much less warmth, before screeching violins bring the cue to a close. The electric violin introduces a much more melancholy version of the theme in "On the Swings," before guitar and strings give it a lift.
It's menace all the way in "Losing Loves/Ready for the Man," with savage action, the return of the heartbeat, and a dissonant close. "Visit to the Shrink" reprises the mysterious mover from "As the Crow Flies." "How Do You Stop?" is the lengthiest track on the album, and initially has a tragic feel to it, but things quickly turn eerie and threatening, voices adding to the mix, along with bells and scratchy violins again. Harsh, whispering voices open the largely dissonant "The Sentinel," with a moment's respite coming in the sad piano of "Uncle Mike's Message." The truly frightening "Plasmatized" follows, then the intense "Anybody Home?" leads into the final track, "The Missing," with its screaming children, giving way to more darkness, denying the listener an optimistic note to finish on.
As always, a splendid booklet accompanies the disc, with detailed notes on both film and score by Daniel Schweiger, with contributions from director Stephen T. Kay and the composer.