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ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SCORE
John Wayne Gacy was the model citizen. He even volunteered
as a clown for the children at the local hospital. Shockingly,
he kept a gruesome secret. A trail of missing young men led to
Gacy’s suburban Chicago home. The nation watched in horror
as, one by one, the details of over 30 murders came to light and
most of the victims, entombed in the crawl space under his house,
were unearthed. Based on a true story of one of the most prolific
serial killers in American history, “Gacy” will leave
you shocked and in disbelief.
A dark journey into the mind of serial killer John Wayne Gacy
as imagined by Erik Godal & Mark Fontana of The
Blue Hawaiians.
Haunting orchestration combined with suspenseful interludes carry
the listener through the twisted corridors of a disturbed mind.
The final song seems to offer a hint of redemption by way of Mark
Fontana’s vocals, yet ultimately spirals back down the path
from whence it came.
Evocative of Bernard Herrman and Angelo Badalamenti, Godal & Fontana
have created a score that establishes them as true craftsmen in
the realm of film scores. [ TOP ]
REVIEWS
VIDEO WATCHDOG Magazine
Send in the Clown
Visits to the local Blockbuster reveal a new twist
in the serial killer genre: serial films, each named for its provocative
perp - DAHMER,
GEIN, SPECK, GACY. What sets the latter apart from the
pack is its effective and intelligent electronic/symphonic score,
composed and performed by Erik Godal and Mark Fontana of The Blue
Hawaiians. I'm not clowning around here: This is genuinely great
stuff that channels Bernard Herrman into the new century, armed
with synths and a sharkskin suit. -Douglas E. Winter
Being one of our favorite personalities of all time, we were curious
to see how Erik Godal and Mark Fontana (of
the group The Blue Hawaiians ) would interpret
the mind of John Wayne Gacy through their music.
The end result is...an overwhelming success. Gacy is
a strange and haunting journey through the mind of the madman...as
told through 29 compelling compositions. Listening to this music,
one can almost begin to understand the alienation and frustration
that would lead an individual to succumb to their innermost desires.
What differentiates the sane from the insane is that, supposedly,
sane people have the ability to refrain from doing things that
their mind tells them to do...whereas the insane do not .
Whether this is true or not is still up for debate...but one thing
is for certain. Those who have the desire and the ability to murder
countless numbers of people for months and months without being
detected still hold a curious fascination for the rest of us. Even
without the visuals, this album stands squarely on its own...as
an extremely mental...and sometimes horrific listen. Ending on
the surprisingly poppy "Cruel World"...the song eventually
disintegrates into odd dissonance. Easily one of the best soundtrack
albums we have heard, Gacy is an abstract and bizarre
experience. (Rating: 5++)
EDITOR'S PICK
I saw this movie quite a while ago and it left me
wondering what I thought was more haunting, the story of Gacy,
or the music that accompanied it. After listening to the score
this time in CD form I'd have to look in the direction of the latter.
You can hear David Lynch's favorite composer Angelo Badalamenti's
influence in there. As chilling as the clown serial killer himself,
the score will leave you with a tingle down your spine and looking
over your shoulder. If you ever wanted to imagine what it would
be like to be one of his victims laying dead and buried in his
crawlspace, I'd urge you to get the next best thing-this album.
You'll never dream again as it'll be one long nightmare after the
other. • J-Sin
As can be expected from the musical score of one
of the more recent entries in the booming serial killer series
of biopics, the music is, naturally, moody and creepy sounding
(what were you expecting, circus music?1?). If film scores ain't
your bag, let me add that this would also make some primo mood
music for your next Halloween haunted house. Two thumbs up for
this on that tip alone. -Jimmy Alvarado
Ampersand Etcetera
"Gacy" is a soundtrack to the movie of the same name by two people
from The Blue Hawaiians (I haven't heard them). As such it is a
collection of 29 short tracks, so don't expect a blow-by-blow.
Gacy's story is generally known, and the sound here is what you
would expect in its telling - there is a mood of dread or tension,
rather than fear or surprise. The instrumentation is mainly strings,
occasionally strident and atonal but mainly long and moody, some
guitar striking through here and there and a suprisingly restrained
use of a fairground sound - the clown image could have tempted
more such by ways. Each of the moments is well crafted and invested
with atmosphere, but it is too fragmentary. I think of some of
the dark ambient moodpieces - Shinjuku Thief, Lustmord, When to
name too few - their power comes from being able to manipulate
the mood through longer time frames and with a freedom to switch
tensions as they see fit, not in line with the story. Here a response
starts to gel and then we slide into another piece - although the
overall mood is well maintained. And while I can see some ironic
intent in the song over the end titles, it didn't work for me.
But despite those comments, the album is interesting in relation
to that overarching development and the sounds and variations of
the tracks - it is evocative and enjoyable. And as a further reflection,
it reminded me of the Bill Nelson theatre works "La Belle." and "The
cabinet." both in structure and mood.
One might well expect that an original motion picture
score to a film about famed serial killer John Wayne Gacy would
be disturbing, and Erik Godal & Mark Fontana of the Blue Hawaiians
don't dissapoint. The score's pensive, lumbering orchestral arrangements
spiked with aural effects and stray guitar licks create a sense
of "mystery
movie" unease and suspense. The final track "Cruel World", the
only cut with vocals, raises the possibility of redemption, only
to disintegrate back into the demented Gacy string theme. Moody
and hauntingly lush. -James Esch
A quick jaunt over to movie review meta-site RottenTomatoes.com
is sufficient to demonstrate that those among the cinema-reviewing
press who have seen the movie that this soundtrack accompanies
have not thought much of it. Thankfully, then, Godal and Fontana
, perhaps alone among the creative forces behind this film, have
chosen not to go for cheap shocks in their score. It certainly
would have been easy to go a different route: how many Rob Zombie-esque "edgy" pieces
have been foisted on the moviegoing public in a vain attempt to
generate tension or fear in the viewer?
Instead of spewing jarring power chords and faux -industrial
audio frippery, Erik Godal and Mark Fontana (who are also two members
of the tiki/lounge band Blue Hawaiians) have chosen to create a
brooding, string-and-woodwind-heavy exercise in restraint and atmosphere.
Naturally, other elements are thrown in as needed: a clean, echoing
guitar and the occasional electronic scrape serve to remind us
of just what we're listening to. Still, the overwhelming effect
of listening to Gacy is a sense of calm derangement,
as if the peripheral feeling that the music conveys (of a slightly
unreal reality) were the most pleasant thing in the world to observe.
It's the sound of well-adjusted insanity, a sound that certainly
conveys the complexities of a man who was able to be both birthday-party
clown and serial murderer of young men.
Then, in a truly weird turn, the album closes with a combination
of full-on pop song ("Cruel World") and a reprise of
the opening theme. The song is perfectly upbeat and positive, to
the point that it's impossible to hear it as anything but a hideous
juxtaposition with the subject matter. It's either a huge lapse
in taste, or (far more likely) a final, clever irony played out
by two very thoughtful composers.
In a world of soundalike film scores, it's a damn shame that one
this good has ended up attached to a film about which no one seems
to have a nice thing to say. The film might not have another redeeming
quality, but having spawned this disc, it can be judged a worthwhile
endeavor. - Brett McCallon |
