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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Wolfen (Craig Safan/James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are curious about the origins of James Horner's
most familiar structures and techniques, many of which evident in
Wolfen and culminating in an interesting (if not marginally
entertaining) listening experience.
Avoid it... on the rejected, experimental Craig Safan score's album and the bootlegs that contain both Horner's Wolfen and Deadly Blessing, the latter overshadowing some decent pastoral writing with harrowing and painfully obvious references to Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Wolfen: (Craig Safan/James Horner) One of three
major cinematic depictions of werewolves in Hollywood during 1981 was
Wolfen, a film with an aim that did not equate with either studio
or audience expectations and therefore suffered an undeservedly quick
death. While advertised as a standard werewolf film, a topic that was
obviously extremely popular at the time, Wolfen was actually a
spin-off of that subgenre, exploring the mystical relationship between
wolves and Native Americans in contemporary New York City. When the
wolves' habitat in an abandoned section of the city is threatened by new
development, they channel the thoughts of the Native Americans in their
pursuit and killing of those who are responsible for this threat, namely
politicians and other powerful scum. A detective played by Albert Finney
is charged with solving the mystery, and while he slowly reveals the
unlikely truth, director Michael Wadleigh provides audiences with
thrilling shots of New York life through the eyes of the wolves, the
images made psychedelic and shimmering by effects company Praxis to
represent their sense of smell. This "Alienvision" technique, of which
20 minutes made the final cut, garnered the movie considerable praise
within the industry's tech-whiz community but didn't receive the respect
it truly deserved from others. Unfortunately, the radically altered
adaptation of the story from the Whitley Strieber novel was considered
too cerebral and was thus cut and rearranged by various editors several
times in post-production; no less than four editors were eventually
involved, leading to problematic, abrupt cuts and scene shifts that were
unnatural. In this process of hacking the film to pieces, and after
Wadleigh was fired, composer Craig Safan's original score for
Wolfen was removed in the studio's process of attempting to
salvage the picture.
Safan was a television music veteran just breaking into big screen assignments at the time, an effort in which he experienced limited success later in the decade. His excitement about landing the job for Wolfen yielded an intelligent, non-traditional approach to the concept (inspired by Krzysztof Penderecki's opera, "The Devils of Loudun," and John Corigliano's Altered States) that was met with praise from Wadleigh. Rather than utilize melodic or linear methodology to represent the mystical and action portions of the plot, he narrowed in on the ambient horror of the premise. While Safan wrote for a large orchestra in Wolfen, he used perpetually experimental performance methods to create a horrifically dissonant result. Members of the same section of each group were instructed to play on different notes at the same time, the brass and woodwinds slurring their pitches purposefully and two pianos tuned apart, all in an effort to produce unsettling effects. To hear this mastery of orchestral elements is interesting, especially given that synthesizers have become the de facto tool to general such noise in the decades after this score. While some motifs do recur, none is particularly attractive, instead dominated by chaotic atmospheres from start to finish. Even his theme of romance in "The Dream and Love Scene" is whiny and highly disturbed. As such, Safan's work for Wolfen, though admirably intriguing, is largely unlistenable on album. It likely did not impress the studio looking to streamline the appeal of the film in post-production, either, and budding composing star James Horner was hired to produce a replacement score. It was the first of several replacement assignments that would yield some of Horner's most interesting work of the early to mid-1980's. Graduating from the fun but pointless schlock of Roger Corman's New World Pictures at this time, Horner was beginning to take a variety of assignments for major studios and lesser known filmmakers of future stardom. Horner only had less than two weeks to write 40 minutes of replacement music for Wolfen, and he cut the deadline so closely that the team of editors was forced to use some of the composer's just-previously recorded score for The Hand in several placements, despite the fact that the Horner would eventually fulfill his obligations to write his full, balanced effort for Wolfen. Regardless of the outcome, this toil played a major role in leading to his hiring on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the pivotal turning point in his career. The majority of Horner's version of Wolfen is tense and suspenseful, not as terribly dissonant as Safan's work but still effective at creating a mysterious atmosphere. A well-rounded orchestra is accompanied by an exotic percussion section (and even a blaster beam) that was synchronized with the sound effects track in the film's final mix. Horner's title theme is a clear (and potentially obnoxious) precursor of the motif for the titular villain in The Wrath of Khan the following year, the opening notes identical but explored to a conclusion that suggests early incarnations of the theme from Aliens. This primary identity is introduced in the "Main Title" on lonely trumpet and woodwinds, and like several other Horner scores of the era, it represents some influence from Jerry Goldsmith's Alien. Often performed by harsh brass in its fuller forms, this theme is translated to sensitive flute in "The Indian Bar," in which case a spin-off melody begins to provide a sense of decency in the otherwise ominous narrative as there is some redemptive element introduced for the wolves. The most notable performances of the idea come in the slapping rhythmic cues "Van Der Veer's Demise" and "Wall Street and the Wolves," both of which very similar to Khan's material in brutal tone and instrumentation (and understandably popular with fans of the forthcoming Brainstorm). A melodramatic, more harmonious version of the theme from "The Indian Bar" heard at the end of "The Final Confrontation" is a highlight. Like the film, Horner's score is generally more interesting than it is enjoyable, a representation of fledgling ideas yet to mature in other works (led by the sharp, singular, six-note motif that would resurface in Vibes). The combined "Epilogue and End Credits" contains the score's most accessibly tonal passages and, along with the sampling of the rhythmic Khan-like action, could yield about ten minutes of entertaining material in sum. Most of the score was summarized on a longstanding "Pony Tail" bootleg album also containing another Horner horror venture from 1981, Deadly Blessing. The first official release of Wolfen on album came in 2011, when Intrada Records presented Horner's full replacement score without attempting to add the portions from The Hand heard in the film or emulate the often senseless edits to this score in context. Sound quality on this product is as good as could be expected, the percussion not a satisfying as it could have been with modern recording capabilities. The presentation does include a notable alternate version of "Rebecca's Apartment" with a strikingly metropolitan trumpet performance that was ultimately removed for the final film version of the cue. While this album of Wolfen is great to see, it will appeal to only hardcore Horner collectors. For those seeking information about the aforementioned, widespread bootleg, brief information about Deadly Blessing follows. This movie was a lesser project but one of interest to fans of director Wes Craven's early works, his first attempt to break into studio ranks. Often considered extremely promising but underperforming in its haphazard red herrings and indecisive dual endings, the plot involves a rural American farming community of both Hittites and non-believers who both come under attack from a deadly force (or single maniac) that torments them supernaturally and murders indiscriminately. The main problem with Deadly Blessing is evidenced in the differences between the final two minutes of the international and domestic versions of the film (in the former, a normal killer is the culprit and, in the latter, a demon bursts through the floor to drag a woman to hell... no kidding!). It's a ridiculous horror flick that falsely pits the pious against the sinners and throws the great acting of Ernest Borgnine against the incompetent acting of Sharon Stone. Horner's score for Deadly Blessing is an awkward blend of his most hearty Americana tones of the early 1980's and blatant rip-offs of Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen, resulting in a score that requires a significant amount of track rearrangement to enjoy. The pastoral theme for strings, woodwinds, and harp heard in the early cues is simply beautiful, evolving into a similar love theme and a variation in "Vicky & John" that is a blatant rehearsal of material from The Spitfire Grill and Deep Impact. The suspense of the score comes in the form of deep, menacing choral tones (almost like throat singing) that incorporates religious power in its solemn chime-banging that could have informed The Name of the Rose had the latter film had a more ambitious budget. Extremely high range plucking on violins is a disturbing effect. The most memorable parts of Deadly Blessing, however, are the direct references to Goldsmith's The Omen. When Goldsmith later made a wisecrack about Horner "helping himself to the work of others," it's hard not think about Deadly Blessing, for its several Latin chants (heard most impressively in the latter half of "Unwelcome Visitor/Fiery") use unconventional choral techniques, including the battling of vocal genders and crying, shrieking, and wailing females, that owe everything to The Omen. Horner's predictable handling of these sections makes Deadly Blessing an eye-rolling event, sending most listeners back to the lighter, pastoral theme. On the bootleg, that material amounts to about six minutes in length, ultimately pushing the mass of interest back to the previous Wolfen portion of the product. Once again, Horner collectors will be intrigued, but don't expect too much from it. Wrapping up the album situation for Wolfen in 2012 was Intrada, which once again revisited the film but this time give Safan's rejected work its own treatment. The hour of this material is extremely arduous to tolerate, and its appeal will be very limited, but for film music intellectuals, Safan's work illuminates an intelligent and risky approach to a concept that, at the very least, shakes industry norms. Much of this material had, like Horner's score, floated about the market in bootleg form for years, but Intrada brings total closure to this rather unappreciated film with its comprehensive pair of limited albums.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1997 Bootleg:
Total Time: 67:00
2011 Intrada/Horner Album: Total Time: 46:24
2012 Intrada/Safan Album: Total Time: 60:36
NOTES & QUOTES:
The inserts of the 1997 bootleg and its derivatives include no extra
information about the score or film. Those of the 2011 and 2012 Intrada albums
contain comprehensive information about both, though neither provides any
insight into the other existing score.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Wolfen are Copyright © 1997, 2011, 2012, Pony Tail (Bootleg), Intrada Records (Horner), Intrada Records (Safan) and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/28/09 and last updated 8/17/12. |
