hen remaking a classic motion picture, one of the chief obstacles faced by filmmakers is ensuring that the original story remains relevant to a modern audience. Often the plot or setting is fundamentally altered, but even when these elements are essentially unchanged the score is almost always radically revised, since such melodic modifications ensure, at the very least, that the new adventure sounds contemporary. The music for the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a perfect example of that phenomenon. Crafted by avant-garde jazz artist Denny Zeitlin, the dozen compositions created for the production, which updates the legendary 1956 film, are energetic, evocative and, even by today's standards, fairly extreme.
"Angel of Death" spotlights a muted, ill-omened atmosphere that perfectly offsets the warm, convivial air initiated in the following cut, the aptly titled "Love Theme." Subsequent tracks, including "The Discovery" and "Rescue," phase in disquieting electronic noises, with the various motifs and effects ultimately merging into a disconcerting crescendo in the film's frenetic final cue, "The Reckoning." Zeitlin also incorporates an inspiring rendition of "Amazing Grace"—performed by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards—into the score, serving as a powerful counterpoint to one of the movie's more surprising revelations.
The disc's final half-hour features an in-depth audio interview with the composer. Divided into seven sections, the discussion, recorded late last year, covers such topics as "Musical Preparation," "Improvisation" and "Sound Effects." These insights are augmented by a brief written reminiscence, plus a short biography, contained within the 16-page booklet accompanying the album.
A master at play with musical mind games
Although justly celebrated as a science-fiction allegory, the revamped Invasion of the Body Snatchers is equally powerful when perceived purely as a psychological thriller. Like the initial motion picture, the modernized tale raises important questions about individuality and identity, so it's especially fitting that Zeitlin is not just a skilled player, but a practicing psychiatrist, too. His knowledge of the psychosomatic effects of music and sound clearly contribute to the effectiveness of the score, with the combination of artificial tones and organic instrumentation intensifying the impact of the imagery while fashioning an unsettling and uncanny auditory ambiance.
"Main Title" is a wonderful amalgam of traditional orchestration and echoic clamor. Opening with skittish strings, the at-first conventional-sounding work devolves into a disturbing, discordant overture signaling that, despite a seemingly normal veneer, something within the film is amiss. "Infiltration" generates a similarly distressing milieu, launching with a sneaky woodwind motif before introducing repetitious, resonant noises that are simultaneously furtive and frightening. The inescapable alien menace is further emphasized on "Run and Hide," which at one point utilizes synthetic sounds to subtly mimic the screeching violins of the famed Psycho theme.
Zeitlin's lengthy audio comments supply considerable insight into the project, providing an invaluable awareness of the creative choices behind this underrated "20th Century electronic-acoustic" score. The interview delivers an appropriately heady conclusion to a thought-provoking collection that not only presents cerebral and challenging compositions, but also affords fans an opportunity to more fully appreciate the underlying emotional significance of this superb Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake.
