The Vampire's Assistant [Soundtrack]

Stephen Trask (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Stephen Trask
• Audio CD (October 20, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B002NPUCSA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,115 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating mixed bag, March 22, 2010

By 

Jon Broxton (Thousand Oaks, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vampire's Assistant (Audio CD)

Another film cashing in on the currently de rigeur vampire craze, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is directed by Paul Weitz and stars Chris Massoglia as a young boy named Darren, who meets a mysterious man named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) at a travelling freak show, who is revealed to be a vampire. After his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) is bitten by Crepsley's poisonous spider, Darren makes a deal with Crepsley: if he saves his friend's life, he will leave his hometown and join the Cirque du Freak as an apprentice vampire.

The music for The Vampire's Assistant is by young American composer Stephen Trask, whose prior experience includes working on films such as Dreamgirls, In Good Company and The Station Agent, but who has never tackled a score of this size and scope before. While certainly impressive in terms of the orchestral forces in play, Trask's score suffers from a distinct lack of a unique personality. Each cue seems to have developed independently of all the others, and as a result there is very little cohesion in terms of the overall score structure beyond the nature of the instrumental palette itself.

Part of Trask's brief seems to have been to reflect modern urban teenage life as well apart from the supernatural elements, which has resulted in cues such as "College! Job! Family!", which have a sprightly rhythmic content and a clear Thomas Newman/American Beauty vibe. There are also several cues which feature prominent guitar performances, notably "You Can't Just Leave", once again alluding to the rock music sensibilities of the lead characters.

Having said that, several cues do contain some quite impressive material. The opening "The Vampire's Assistant" has an urgent tempo, a gothic atmosphere, and some powerful brass writing reminiscent of Elliot Goldenthal's Interview With the Vampire. The action music in cues such as in "Octa Escapes", "Graveyard" and "The Vampaneze Attack" are lively and full of kinetic energy, often making use of xylophone and other light percussion items to keep the tempo frisky.

One or two cues feature a wailing female vocalist playing off brooding orchestral chords, notably "Destiny", "Sneaking Out", "Book of Souls", "Limousine" and "I Have Returned", giving the Cirque du Freak itself an exotic, gypsy-like flavor. Cues such as "What I Was Meant For" have a low-key, unsettling piano motif that is pretty in itself, but through its setting adopts a sinister, aged romantic tone. The conclusion, in "Blood Brother Reunion" and the epic, stirring "The War Begins" revisits the Goldenthal-style action material from the opening cue, and represents some of the most powerful and enjoyable music on the CD.

In many ways, The Vampire's Assistant is frustrating mixed bag. Parts of it are generally quite impressive and enjoyable, and it's good to see Stephen Trask being given projects which require this much musical meat, but it never quite lives up to the potential of the source material, as has too much `anonymousness' to be truly engaging.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Trask? Who's that?, October 29, 2009

By 

Colby "Colbster901" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vampire's Assistant (Audio CD)

I didn't know what to expect with this one. Most of all because I had never heard of Stephen Trask, but also because the film preview looked like a mixed bag of various generes.

Over all, I was pleasantly surprised with this film score. However, I do have some issues with it.

-It only picks up near the end of the score.
-I really can't remember any of the themes, which means they aren't all that memorable.
-The music sounds like it comes from Danny Elfman and Marco Beltrami. I pointed out many instances when the music sounded like it came straight from those two composers. Which means, If you like their music, you'll LOVE this.

Nonetheless, the music isn't bad. Its unique, sometimes silly, and sometimes action packed. Its also a long film score, around 70 minutes.

Stephen Trask, I am guessing, is a new composer so I'm excited to hear what he can come up with next, especially if his music sounds different than this.

I like it, I don't love it, and I don't hate it. But give it a try, especially if you're a fan of Elfman or Beltrami.