This year’s Hellraiser reimagining was an ambitious undertaking across the board. The score included. Composer Ben Lovett utilized 80 musicians and nearly 100 minutes of original music to tell this new story. In an interview with Daniel Schweiger for Film Music Magazine, Lovett shared, “making it nearly destroyed my brain. It’s not uncommon in this line of work for your life to start imitating the art you’re making, but when that art contains a thematic obsession with pushing the boundaries of pleasure and pain, things tend to get a little intense.”
The added element of working within an existing franchise, with Christopher Young’s iconic score left Lovett to balance the influence of the original with the reimagining and development of new ideas. “We wanted that influence to be present and identifiable, to capture the elegance and lyrical distinction of the original Christopher Young scores even when introducing new melodies for new characters. The original films have really bold, underlined emotions in the music, and though I knew David’s style really lends itself to more subtle abstractions with the music, I was inspired to try and write a few themes for the film that felt like they might belong somewhere in the classical, gothic romance of the sonic universe Mr. Young had originally framed. “
Lovett is fully aware there’s no escaping the groundwork of the original. There’s no intention to outrun history, rather the emphasis is on balancing the existing with the new. “Young’s scores have defined the sonic identity of Hellraiser for decades, so the influence is inescapable. It’s also a great roadmap for understanding the landscape of how these films operate, and where all you can go with it. I have those scores to thank for establishing such immense boundaries for what all you can get away with – there’s really no such thing as ‘too much’ in a Hellraiser film. It’s all about excess and pushing limits.”
In this exclusive featurette, Lovett and Hellraiser director David Bruckner take us behind the scenes of creating the score. Take a look.
You can hear more about the score’s creation in our exclusive interview with Ben and David. Find more of Ben Lovett’s work on YouTube and listen to the Hellraiser score below (also available on vinyl from Mondo).
