13 CHILLS 2011

By JASON COMERFORD

Pino Donaggio’s score to Carrie is one of those rare examples of the form that is completely inseparable from the film it supports. The first of six collaborations between Donaggio and director Brian DePalma, Carrie’s music seems to spring straight from the thoughts and feelings of the film’s characters. Donaggio, an Italian-born violinist who turned from pop songwriting to a long and fruitful career in film music (beginning with Nicholas Roeg’s eerie 1972 chiller Don’t Look Now), cleverly twists his wistful theme for the film’s tragic title character to the point where its very placidness seems monstrous.

The score’s most chilling highlight accompanies put-upon antiheroine Carrie White’s climactic revenge against her tormentors. “The Retribution” (“School in Flames” on the original album) drops Carrie’s gentle orchestral theme in favor of an icy, hollow electronic whine – a skillful sonic evocation of the haze of Carrie’s murderous rage. Paired with DePalma and editor Paul Hirsch’s celebrated split-screen effects, the music seems to draw the viewer into the same claustrophobic panic experienced by Carrie’s victims. So successful is this approach that when the orchestral elements return, they seem all the more threatening – especially in the film’s famed and oft-imitated (but never equaled) shock ending.

Carrie’s original soundtrack album has seen multiple releases on CD in recent years, but  Kritzerland’s 2010 release restored the complete score to its proper sequence, and included the original album assembly on a second disc. A quick sell-out for its label, but well worth tracking down on the secondary market, Kritzerland’s Carrie is a must-have for any enthusiast of the genre.