31 Days 31 Scores
October 11th
“I saw his license plate KZL 303…”
Welcome back to 31 Days 31 Scores. With a return to a more serious score I present the 2006 score to Rest Stop by Bear McCreary. McCreary, in my opinion, is one of the most talented composers working today. In this case, in 2006, McCreary took a break from the TV series Battlestar Galactica. McCreary strength is his ability to create a mood and keep it original without falling into a droning score. That definitely shows itself here. The score on CD begins with the song “All That Remains” and that song is subtlety stated throughout the score. With an almost “Deliverance” style banjo, cues such as “Tracy Kress”, “The Driver Closes In”, “Trapped” and several other cues create a creepy mood. I do notice a tonal similarity in some cues to his work on BSG, but that does not take away from this score as that does fit in both film and series. In fact the song “All That Remains” does appear in the BSG episode “Taking A Break From All Your Worries”.
“Memories Of Jesse” is a fully realized statement of an instrumental version of “All That Remains” which remains the score’s emotional anchor. This music shows that a score can go in an original direction and elevate the film to a new height. That is the case here with “Rest Stop”. It is definitely worth a listen. The score was released on PlanR Soundtracks but has gone out of print. However, 3 score cues and 3 songs appear on the “Rest Stop 2 – Don’t Look Back” released by La La Land Records back in 2008.
A quick note on the song “Down Home Salvation” which appears at the end of the CD, this is a tongue in cheek southern gospel style tune that starts off innocent enough but progressively gets more twisted, adding a bit humour to this dark film.
Join me tomorrow for more 31 Days 31 Scores where “The infection is spreading faster than anyone could have anticipated”