Interview by John R
Charlie Clouser could be considered one of the masters of horror music with his resume. He is responsible for the terrifying themes from the Saw franchise, Dead Silence, Resident Evil: Extinction and most recently the hit television shows Wayward Pines and Childhood’s End to name a few. In this interview he talks about everything from his early days as a member of Nine Inch Nails to whether or not there could be another Saw film.
Do you think your experiences with Nine Inch Nails helped shape the palette of sounds you use in your film/TV scores?
Absolutely, my years with Nine Inch Nails taught me a lot about creating angry, ugly and scary sounds. I have been able to use a lot of that experience in creating the dark backgrounds in many of the horror films that I have scored.
What was your favorite death in the Saw franchise?
I had the most fun doing the breathing room sequence, which was a trap in Saw 6.
The victim had to hold his breath to prevent blades from cutting into him, and it was very tense and the music was very, actually quiet; because we wanted to hear him struggling for breath. It definitely was the most agonizing to watch. As you watch it, it made you want to also hold your breath.
Do you think all of the Saw films share a similar sound? Was there one in particular that you tried to do something different with?
Well, they all share some communal element in the sound palette, but for each of the traps, as they got more and more elaborate as the series went on, that is where things would always be different. I would try to make each of the traps seem unique and use different sounds so I had a different approach for each of those. In many of the scenes, like whenever the victim is listening to the tape from Jigsaw that says “Hello Adam, I want to play a game,” those scenes always had very similar music, so I would have some elements like that and like the “Hello Zepp” scenes, which would come at the end of each movie.
Any hope for another Saw film?
I do have hope for another film. I think there have been rumors and I think that they could find a way to restart the franchise, much like what Christopher Nolan did with the Batman franchise. He started it over again with a different look and feel and after seeing the Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy I thought something like that would really work well with the Saw franchise. There has been some rumors but nothing concrete as of yet, but I do think there is room to do a couple more.
In a few words how would you describe your overall Saw score?
I hope the viewers would say oppressive, dark and claustrophobic.
When you entered the Resident Evil franchise did you watch the other films to educate yourself on the other film’s scores?
Absolutely. I was big fan of Marco Beltrami’s score from the first one, which Marilyn Manson actually helped with a few tracks. I tried to approach it in a similar way so it wasn’t a complete departure from the sound it already established in the first couple of movies. The movie I did, “Resident Evil: Extinction” took place mostly outdoors in a desert and in big wide-open spaces, as they go through the abandoned city of Las Vegas. So the setting was a lot different than the first movie when they were all underground in Raccoon City, in the underground laboratory. So, I did have to have a slightly different approach to make it sound appropriate for when we were outdoors, in the sand of the desert, and hoards of the creatures are coming over the horizon to attack. I definitely tried to have some continuity from the first movies though, but I did, because of the scenes, have to take a slightly different approach than what would have worked if everything in the movie had taken place underground in dark hallways.
What was your experience with scoring Resident Evil: Extinction?
Well, I thought it needed to feel a little more epic and outdoors then some of the previous films. I absolutely enjoyed it because it was a lot of action and a lot of opportunities for really aggressive music. It was something very different then what I did in the Saw movies, where everything takes place in small rooms and has a very claustrophobic feeling. So I really enjoyed doing the Resident Evil film, because I could make it sort of big and epic sounding, in a way that wouldn’t have really worked for a Saw films.
Were you nervous scoring the film since there was already such a huge fan base?
Not so much, because I knew that the movie would take a little bit of a turn from the previous ones and it looked a little bit different. So I knew I would be okay to make it sound a little bit different from the previous ones.
Do you think you will ever play with the Nine Inch Nails again, even for a 1 show reunion?
I would certainly love to. I don’t predict that it would happen but I would truly enjoy that. If they ever had a reunion show, there would probably be thirty different musicians on stage at once because of all the people who have been in the band over the years. I would certainly enjoy it though. I have been glad to see that Trent has kept his high standards up and that the tours I have seen in the past few years, have just been looking and sounding better and better. So, I would love to, if the opportunity arises, I certainly would not say no.
