Music Composed by Trevor Jones
Just in time to celebrate this year’s Halloween, Renotavio
Records brings you the score to the Hughes Brothers 2001 thriller film From
Hell, by composer Trevor Jones. Released twenty years ago, the movie is loosely
based on the graphic novel of the same title by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
about the Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian London. Johnny Depp stars as
detective Frederick Abberline, who leads the investigations of the murders, and
Heather Graham as Mary Kelly, one of the prostitutes targeted by the Ripper.
Other cast members include the talents of Robbie Coltrane, Jason Flemyng and
the always magnificent Ian Holm. The film was praised for its visuals,
performances, and especially for its atmosphere, namely thanks to Jones’ moody
score. Stepping above the usual slashing horror music usually found in this
kind of films, Jones approached the film with versatility, throwing into the
mix lots of orchestral layers and many vocal and synthetic passages, creating
an atmosphere of constant dread.
Right from the opening cue of the score, “Main Title”, Jones
introduces some of his main ideas for the film. A five-note motif in minor key cellos
stands out as the primary idea for the menacing figure of Jack the Ripper. This
motif is quickly followed by some hints of Jones’ love theme for the film,
played by flute, before evolving into a strong yet visceral string and choral
crescendo, which Jones employs throughout the film to symbolize the all-seeing Freemason
fraternity. To accompany Abberline’s opium addiction, Jones masterfully
combines Chinese instrumentation and vocals with a weird mix of synths, a concept
explored in the track “Chasing the Dragon” that is almost trance-inducing. The
track “The Compass and the Ruler” will quickly catch the attention of the listener,
as it starts with an antique wax cylinder style before transforming suddenly
into contemporary resonance. Jones uses this remarkable effect to introduce his
theme for death and the macabre from the point of view of the infamous killer,
regarded in the film as an illustrious and educated man of science. By the time
you reach “A Rose by Any Other Name”, you will see that a broody gothic mood is
not everything that Jones has to offer in From Hell. In this track, the South
African composer shows his ability to write excellent themes, as he lets his
powerful love motif take off, before making its full debut in full in “Portrait of a
Prince”, a string ensemble performance that is hauntingly beautiful. Jones
superbly recapitulates this love theme in “Pennies for the Ferryman”, this time
played by the full force of the orchestra (The Academy of St. Martins in the
Field). For the third act of the film, Jones also throws in some of his usual action
passages very much in the vein of his score for the 1998 film Dark City, with powerful
percussion and a sense of modernity. From Hell also has several passages of
horror music, but Jones approaches these sequences with an operatic style,
which elevates the music to great effect. The score ends with a six-minute
suite that navigates through Jones’ main ideas, making it a perfect culmination
for one of best horror genre efforts of the twenty first century.
The score was released in 2001 by the label Varèse Sarabande. Though regarded as a very interesting listening experience, the album presented most tracks as isolated suites and failed to present Jones’ thematic ideas efficiently, not allowing the listener to easily recognize them. The album also presented Marylin Manson’ “The Nobodies”, a song that is quite effective in its own style but does not fit with Jones’ music. Renovatio Records has stepped in to produce an album that presents Jone’s score in chronological order, allowing the listener to not only identify its main personalities but also discover how they intertwine with each other as the film’s story progresses. If you are looking for sorcerous gothic sounds, a bit of romance, and a sense of ominous symphonic oppression, then Trevor Jones’ From Hell is the score for you!
