Movie: Sinister (2012)
Genre: Thriller
Soundtrack: Silence Teaches You How To Sing
Sinister (2012)
Description: In the movie Ethan Hawke is playing a writer, who bases his novels on real crimes. One day he finds a box full of disturbing movies, with that starts a chain of supernatural events which turns his and his family’s life into a nightmare.
Ulver: Silence Teaches You How to Sing
What you should know about the original track: Silence Teaches You How To Sing is the track on the Norwegian Ulver’s 2001 EP with the same name. The over 24 minute long song can also be found on the Teaching In Silence album, which contains all the song of the “Silence” Eps, “Silence Teaches You How To Sing” and “Silencing The Singing”. Although we can only hear two shorter parts in the movie, even these show the diversity of Ulver’s work. The band started with black metal, but they frequently change styles, in their discography you can hear genres such as experimental, electronic music, folk metal and even synth pop and ambient. The two parts of the song we can hear in the movie don’t follow eachother, so the change is very dramatic and easely recognizable, but the whole song builds on sharp mixups like that, making the song unpredictable.
Why is it the ideal song? Often the score of a movie is only as good as it is with the context of the movie’s story to back it up. Silence Teaches You How To Sing isn’t one such song. Thanks to its length and depressing atmosphere it is an easy song to use for thrillers. It’s an especially good choice for horrors with nostalgic elements, which we will get back to, in a bit.
What kind of role does it play in the movie? The song only shows up in an episode of Sinister, we can only enjoy it for a little over one minute, while the film rolls, in the usual Sinister fashion, despite this it enjoys a lot of attention even today.
Sinister – BBQ ’79
About the scene: We are seeing an idyllic family vacation on the shore of a lake. The family is enjoying the vacation, fishing and also packing. Time to go home! Unexpectedly, the scene doesn’t end with the warmth of home, but rather a bizarre BBQ party. The names of the short movies in Sinister usually have a figurative meaning, referring to something shocking and morbid, as this one shows.
How well does the song capture the moment? The above mentioned extremity gains space in the song. The calming but distressing piano gives the song that ‘80s vacation vibe. With the tragic twist, the score also changes giving it a more forceful atmosphere. The human, unnatural and natural sounds (crickets chirping) gives the song an indescribably absurd feeling. With the video we can feel the desperation, helplessness of the victims, and their fear of the unknown evil and its endless cruelty. The score definitely hit its mark.
How can we rate Sinister based on the movie score? Both Sinister 1 and 2 uses the short films and their soundtracks masterfully. Although just based on that we can’t say the movies are the best, but definitely one of the most memorable. The creative choice in music helped a lot with the reception of the movies, which, makes the first Sinister movie without a doubt worth a watch.
Relevant media
Movie(s)
Sinister II (Official Trailer #1)
Song(s)
Ulver: Teachings In Silence (Full Album)
by: Wolfy
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