gAg is normally the type of Low-Budget horror film that one might expect a typical and even cliché score from. However, Director Scott and McKinlay and composer Dennis Dreith wanted to do something much more out of the ordinary for this film.

While the graphic violence and highly charged action scenes might be the obvious elements to use as a springboard for the score, McKinlay and Dreith -in a nod to the classic horror films of the past - decided to make the psychological depravity and implacable claustrophobic feel of the film be the inspiration driving the musical elements. While the score draws liberally on contemporary electronic devices and sound design,

most notably in the unique use of the heavy metal guitar riffs (often literally turned inside out) supplied by Harley Krishna’s Brian Stewart (who composed and performs the end title song), there is no doubt that the primary musical elements of the score are deeply trenched in 20th Century symphonic music..

In fact, Dreith cites the primary musical influences for the score as Avant Garde master Edgard Varese as well as Bernard Herman, whose dramatic pairings with Alfred Hitchcock created some of the most memorable film scores of the golden age of film.

To illustrate the desperation of both the antagonist and protagonist who are often so intertwined that the viewer may have difficulty discerning one from the other, Dreith decided the score should (for the most part) be devoid of tonality, and composed much of the score utilizing the 12-tone techniques developed by Arnold Schoenberg early in the 20th Century. The unsettling nature of the atonal score, with its brooding dark undercurrents takes the listener on an unrelenting journey exploring the darkest reaches of the human psyche..

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Pangea - Coming Soon Pangea will be Dennis Dreith's new album. Stay tuned to this site to learn more about his new instrumental album and the release date!

The Punisher (1989)
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Composer Dreith has long been working with an impressive list of composers, such as John Williams, James Horner, Eliott Goldenthal, Hans Zimmer, Mark Shaiman, and others, as an orchestrator and conductor. He has worked on such films as "Jurassic Park", "Sleepless in Seattle", "Misery", "The Addams Family", "Aliens 3" and many others. He is no novice in the world of motion picture scoring and this CD contains about 20 minutes of interviews with Dreith and the director Mark Goldblatt, which will give those interested in motion picture scoring real insight to how music is produced for film. There is also a beautifully produced full-color 16-page booklet included in the jewel box.

Here is one of the rare Dreith scores, and though the film was not a major blockbuster, Dreith pulls out all the stops on his creativity, foresight and ingenuity. From the opening theme, a combination of rich orchestral passion mixed with electronic detachment (much like the mind of our anti-hero), all the way through this emotional, frightening and fascinating tapestry of sound. The film was only about an hour and a half, yet here is a score of nearly an hour. This score truly narrates the emotional impact and motivations not shown in the characters and fills in the blanks for some of the more quiet characterizations. One can almost feel introspection of Castle, and the heavy metal of the sewer where he lives, yet those French horns also seem to refer to hope in the light from the streets above. I was particularly taken with the brilliant string passages on "Choose Your Weapon" and "Wake Up", which I continue to play over and over. These truly convey Castle's character as relentless and determined. On "Path to Tanaka" and "Pain in the Neck" you will be treated to Dreith's firey interpretation of Japanese instrumentation and phrasing.

It is clear that Dreith is influenced by some mentors... particularly John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. I am reminded occasionally of the scores from "Towering Inferno", "Chinatown", "Earthquake" and "Planet of the Apes"... yet the composer surely has a sound and style uniquely his own and "The Punisher" certainly showcases this. I understand this southern California native is now composing more of his own music. He certainly seems to want to carry on the legacy of great film music began by Steiner, Korngold, Rozsa and Bernstein... and I welcome it. Many action films of the 80s and 90s used popular songs and scores based on rock music... and they now appear terribly out-of-date and clumsy. This score seems as fresh and exciting as ever. I hope they re-release this motion picture on DVD with a new stereo score, so we can appreciate the film as it should be. Though not a monumental achievement cinematically, this score certainly makes the film memorable musically.

Review by
R. Christian Anderson

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