Dan

Rochelle

If only you knew....

Cujo/The Covenant
Music by Charles Bernstein
CBPRO-001 (promo) available from the usual mail-order dealers.
1996 Cujo - 32:30, The Covenant - 27:30

I picked up CD because I recalled liking the music for Cujo (1983).
I still do, but I find that I am liking the music for The Convenant
(a 1985 TV movie) more. These are scores for horror movies, but they
rely more on themes than "stingers" and noisy shock effects. They are
primarily orchestral with some electronics, and both slowly build to their
climaxes without extraneous side trips.

Cujo is based on a Stephen King novel, and is about a family dog going
slowly mad with rabies and eventually attacking his family. The main theme
from Cujo is a pretty one, mainly for piano, flute and strings. As the
score progresses, the theme is fragmented and distorted in various ways --
unexpected glissandi, dissonant chords, and subtle synth doublings,
paralleling the Cujo's worsening condition. Some cues have a reverberant
electronic pulsing or percussive sounds (which I think accompanied the
scenes from Cujo's point of view -- not sure).

Some of the instrumental groupings and musical devices in Cujo remind me of
corresponding things in Goldsmith scores, as do so many scores in this genre.

Bernstein salutes Goldsmith in the music titles of The Covenant, subtitling
the main and end credits as "Ave Goldsmith" and "Jerry Satani," even though
the music of The Covenant does not recall the "Goldsmith" style to me at all.

There is a small chorus, singing in Latin, but its use is quite different
from the aggressive chants of The Omen. If anything, one theme has a very
"Blue Velvet"-like turn, presaging Badalamenti's theme by a couple of years.

While Cujo has a crisp, transparent sound, The Covenant is thicker,
suggesting something more gothic. Also, where Cujo recalls incidents
in the film, the music for The Covenant seems a looser fit, creating an
overall atmosphere suggesting evil and decadence, which makes for good
listening. There is a unifying 6 note "motto" theme which occurs in most
of the tracks. A chorus sings in Latin on a third of the tracks, intoning
clearly at one point the mandatory "Dies Irae." "Voices of the Damned" is
an eerie wailing of ghostly banshees. These elements all come together over
driving electronic ostinatos in the apparent climax of the film, "The Black
Lake." There is only a slight resolution, as a bell tolls briefly in the
finale, and the music finishes as mysterious and unsettled as ever.

Bernstein did a more famous horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street,
between these two scores, but both Cujo and The Covenant are far
more interesting to me than the synth-based "Nightmare" score. I don't
claim there is anything revolutionary about these two scores, but they
are tastefully done, and much more musically developed than most horror
scores. I am now looking for Bernstein's "Mass," available on CD according
to the liner notes.


The first track, "Theme from Cujo," appears to be the same as "The End
Titles." I don't mind the "bookends," but I skip the first track,
since the theme occurs frequently in the score. There is a track title
missing from Cujo, since The Covenant starts at track 14, rather than 13 as
stated, and the CD has 25 rather than 24 tracks. Perhaps co-producer
Ford Thaxton can indentify the untitled track, a minor glitch on this
otherwise nicely produced CD.

Tom DeMary

Cheers
Rochelle