Van Helsing Soundtrack

I just wanted to get a quick thread started about the spectacular soundtrack to "Van Helsing." First off, I have to say that I personally liked the movie. I'm not saying it was a masterpiece of a movie, but it was just fun, as it pays hommage to the classic horror movies of the '30s and 40's. But I digress. Debate on the quality of the movie itself is best suited for a different board on the JC.

One of the most striking and enjoyable things about the movie though was Alan Silvestri's sweeping, thematic score. I just finished getting the whole album off of iTunes and I am extremely impressed. Of course, Silvestri is probably best known for his work on Robert Zemeckis films like "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump". Here, with "Van Helsing" he unfurls a blazing action score filled with memorable themes and dramatic exposition. The main theme, a heroic flash of trumpets and drums, heralds the arrival and exploits of Van Helsing himself and this motif finds its way back into the score time and time again, but without becoming redundant or over used. The whole work has a very JW feel to it, IMO. It may be too early to say definitively, but Silvestri's work here may be worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Well there you have my two cents on the subject. I know more of you out there must've seen VH over the weekend. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this score.

 

Decent score. I agree about the JW likeness - some bits and pieces were awfully reminiscent of the Grail Theme from Last Crusade.

 

No doubt due to the minor key in which that piece (The Grail Theme) and much of the music in "Van Helsing" is written. Funny how minor keys can evoke music with reverrence and fear at the same time. Like Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor"

LOL Come to think of it, I'm surprised that piece of music wasn't in "Van Helsing." You'd think they could've worked in a scene with someone playing a pipe organ.

 

Well, I haven't seen the film yet, but I have heard the score and overall I like it.

But it shares the same problem that I had with Silvestri's Mummy Returns score and that is that it is too damn loud for too often. There are too many peaks and too few valleys in the music, basically making the soundtrack album one 40-minute long action cue. It's just a bit overbearing for my tastes, and I do like action music.

The themes, however, are very good and memorable and each individual cue is highly enjoyable.

 

That's a very fair point. It is a loud score, and they've culled out some of the quieter moments.

The nice exception to this being the final track of the CD.

In defense of it though, the movie is one big action sequence. There's hardly time to catch your breath before the next thing jumps out of the bushes or through a window, or off a cliff.

 

I`ve been waiting for a movie like Van Helsing for forever,because I`m a huge Monster fan. Overall I liked the score nothing too memeorable,I would have liked to hear a Swan Lake for Dracula but he is too damn evil there was never a right moment for it,and that Wolf Man theme for Wolf Man.

 

Dracula has some pitiable qualities to him. Swan Lake did fit in "Ed Wood" as music for Bela Lugosi (I believe it was Swan Lake,) but not really for Dracula as a character. Not sure which "Wolf Man" theme you're thinking of.

Actually I've noticed that the theme for Dracula in "Van Helsing" has a lot of Latin lyrics in it. I need to find out what the translation of those lyrics is. Could be something cool like the translation of Duel of the Fates.

 

The Swan Lake theme was eerie and I like to think of it as the Dracula theme

You know the theme for the orignal Wolf Man,and it was recycled for all the Universal Sequels after the Wolf Man's release in 1941

 

I can't seem to find a clip of the Wolf Man theme, but I'm blown away by what I did find. The original movie, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi used "Swan Lake" in the opening titles of the movie and other cues throughout the movie itself.

That makes the use of Swan Lake in "Ed Wood" as Bela Lugosi's theme that much more poignant. Kudos to Danny Elfman, another favorite of mine, for locking into that bit of nostalgia.

 

I believe Howard Shore scored Ed Wood, not Danny Elfman.

 

Wow. I'm on a roll of misinformation tonight!

I stand corrected. Howard Shore is certainly a favorite as well. His LOTR scores are brilliant.

 

I loved this soundtrack. I love a good balance of music, but often I find that the soft music is hardly memorable at all. So this "Best of" style score is brilliant, in my mind. I love that it rarely slows down. It's like when you listen to a soundtrack, and find that the best track is too short. On this soundtrack, you get just enough of the best track.

 

I liked the music in Van Helsing, though I didn't find it stunning by any stretch of the mind. I mainly blame this on Stephen Sommers for not really having a film that allows for anything more than blazing action music.

 

While certainly not one of Silvestri's best, the score is the only positive thing in that whole wretched movie... perhaps not a pearl in a sewer, but a shiny silve(st)r(i) coin in a bag of hospital waste that the rest of "Van Helsing" is.

 

^^ Agreed.

 

Besides the lovely Kate Bekinsale, it was the
best thing about the movie. Silvestri has never
been one of my favorites. Besides Back to the
future, which is Genius, I can't think of anything
he's done that I have really liked. Van Helsing
may be the only one. (I didn't even notice the
score in the film, with all the loud FX, but I
heard it on XM radio tonight and kinda liked it)

 

While certainly not one of Silvestri's best, the score is the only positive thing in that whole wretched movie... perhaps not a pearl in a sewer, but a shiny silve(st)r(i) coin in a bag of hospital waste that the rest of "Van Helsing" is.


I couldnt have said it better myself. I hated the movie, in fact, my friends and I laughed through the whole thing at its horridness I really do want to get the score though. I liked the excitement of it. Hopefully I'll pick it up sometime this week.

 

I bought the soundtrack,It is pretty good! My favorite has to be Journey to Transylvania,and Burn it Down!