Composer Dara Taylor joined us to chat about her work on gothic vampire romance, The Invitation. Taylor has contributed to scores for Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, The Boys, The Happytime Murders, Supernatural, and many more. We discuss the similarities between scoring for horror and comedy, implementing found sounds into the mix, the importance of “mouth sounds” and of course, favorite vampire movies.
What attracted you to this story, and how did you get involved with this project?
I sent in a reel, old school. And just the whole idea of it being a Dracula-based film was really fun. And then I read the script, which had a lot of really cool twists and turns. And then I met Jess [director Jessica M. Thompson], who was amazing. I think all of those things together really attracted me to working on the film. It was also fun to push the envelope and get back into this horror space, which I had been out of for the last few years. It was fun to come back.
You worked on Supernatural, right?
I did. I did. Peripherally, but yeah.
You did Supernatural peripherally, but then you went on to do all this really great comedy stuff then came back to horror. Barb And Star is so wacky and goofy and wonderful. I love that movie, but it’s so far removed from the horror space. And then you come back and do this deep, heady, gothicy score. It’s gorgeous, you bring in these elements that remind me of almost old Universal or Hammer Horror, there are parts where it’s almost screaming. And then this Baroque harpsichord, very vampiric vibes, mixed with contemporary things.
The thing that horror and comedy have in common is how important timing is. And whether or not you build up to a scare or a joke, drop out or let it all be silent. And then you come in with the scare or the joke. There are some commonalities storytelling-wise, even though the recipe is different, you have some similar ingredients.
Do you go in and say “Okay, I’m thinking about the mindset or the perspective of this character,” and then score from that? Or do you think of it as more of a broader, “This is the tone of the movie and this is the mood of the scene”? Or is it more of a mix, or neither?
Kind of a mixture of those. I mean thematically or whenever I start coming up with themes, I think, are we doing character themes? Are we doing relationship themes? Are we doing more motific or plot themes? Who’s the action motif for?
I did a combination of a lot of things in the theme for Walt, who is the main love interest, his theme is both for him, but also, it exemplifies Carfax manor. This big mansion that he lives in and the overall mission of this vampire den, and what they need Evie for. Usually, it’s him referencing this overall greater purpose or someone else mentioning that. That’s one thing. Evie has her own theme and that evolves mostly as instrumentation. It starts with a soft acoustic guitar because we’re a Gothic romance inside of this horror film. And so, it’s taking some of those romance elements. And then as things go awry and as she also gets stronger by the end, it turns into this strident processed string sound that’s a lot more sure of itself.
Did you have any inspirations or references when you were doing this?
I tried not to listen to too much. I know we wanted to have some strange elements and just weird sounds. Finding things that sound like scraping because she is into ceramics. One thing that Jess and I talked about pretty early, was the vampires having this lizard gecko quality because they’re on the walls and stuff a lot and on the ceilings. Finding weird croaking sounds to add to that. I think I looked at it more as storytelling and tried not to be too influenced by other films in general.
Are there any weird instruments that you used here that you wouldn’t normally?
I always like this found-sound idea whenever I can use it and whenever it makes sense. Other than finding weird things, there were ceramic scrapings, and there are a lot of bells in this, but processed ethereal bells because throughout the film, you see these little service bells that keep on ringing. And you learn that these service bells ring when someone’s hungry.
But I definitely wanted to incorporate some bell or mallet-type instruments in there. One strange thing that was happening while I was working on one scene— I kept on hearing this sound and I’m like, “What is that?” I’d pause everything trying to figure out, “Is something playing that I don’t mean to play? Because I can’t find that sound.” And then I listened more closely and I realized it was coming from downstairs. My boyfriend was sanding something in the garage and, I’m like, “Huh, interesting.”
I go and grab my phone and say, “Hey, do that again.” I record him and then at the end he’s like, “Was that good?” I say”Yeah, do it one more time. And just don’t talk right after because I need the tail.” Then I took that up, and I mean it serves as a pad sound. But it has this strange buzzy quality, it has some sort of tonal center, but it’s really nebulous when it comes to that., which was a really fun element to add in there.
It’s like just trying to find some strange elements to bring in, and they don’t necessarily have to be featured, but just something that makes you go, “Huh? What is that?”
The vocals were really allowed to be prominent and out front, whereas a lot of times, I think vocals and scores are used as color and to bolster the orchestra. But in this case, there are many times where the orchestra is bolstering the vocals, but the vocals are the lead. That was a really fun thing to add. And that was something that Jess had mentioned as well, wanting three female vocalists who represent these three brides of Dracula. I had three amazing SAG vocalists come in and record.
The thing about the vocals is that a lot of it is processed and there’s a lot of distortion and fuzz and other kinds of things that are usually reserved for rock or punk rock on the vocals. But they’re also sung and then reversed to give another feeling of uncomfortableness. Vocals are supposed to make you feel good, but I wanted to take all the comfort out of this familiar sound.
I’m loving all of this because I’ve listened to the score a few times, I’ve had it playing just while I’m working, and I was wondering, “What is that? Why does it sound weird? That’s a human voice, but something about it is unsettling.” And I couldn’t pinpoint it.
What was your language when you guys were collaborating? Because I feel like that’s such an important thing.
Yeah. And I think I love directors that take the journey with you. And Jess was definitely one of those directors where it was like, “Here’s some stuff that I threw at the wall. Let’s see what in here is working and what in here is not working.” I think we talked a lot in specifics when it came to instrumentation. I know one word that Jess used a lot was “weirder.” “Let’s be weirder.” Or something stranger. Like, “Go to eleven. It’s great. Just don’t be afraid.” I’m like, “Okay!”
I think we found the kind of sonic almost sound design things that were working and said, “Okay. Let’s attribute this more to Mr. Field because…” And then she would throw out some knowledge about the whole Dracula folklore, which was really interesting. “It’s not in this film, but this character eats bugs.” So it sounded like it was fluttering in a way. We found adjectives to describe this, the particular sounds, and then how they worked dramatically with the characters and with the arc of the story.
Do you have a favorite track on this? I know it’s maybe asking you to pick your favorite child, but is there a child where you’re like, “I really put some weirdness into this, and we went all out”?
I think I’ve got a couple, I think I like the “Housekeeping” track. I like the tracks that are, I think, the strangest. But the “Housekeeping” track, just has a lot of weird sound design things. And then also “The Cellar”, which takes you through this journey of these two maids looking for a bottle of wine, and then chaos ensues.
The cellar is a trap with the sander and all these other weird sounds. But I mean also, I did all of the scratch vocals, because that was my instrument that I studied, voice. I think sometimes I think about which ones were the most fun to sing. In which case, “Evie Escapes” was a fun one.
We’re not hearing you on the actual score, but you recorded the vocals when you were first writing them?
Yeah, and then there are other mouth sounds and stuff like that, that I did that maintained. There were times where I got a knock on the door, like, “Are you alive? What is happening?”
I imagine that has to sound weird, it cannot possibly sound as strange as when it’s just you in a room recording that one piece.
Yeah, I don’t remember the noise I was making, but he ran up like, “Are you okay?” I said, “Yes. I’m just vocalizing.” and he said, “I thought you were dying.”
[We wouldn’t leave you hanging like that. As a little treat, here’s a brief example of those “mouth sounds.”]
Alright, I’m going to put you on the spot. Can you name your five favorite vampire movies?
Okay. In no particular order— Interview with a Vampire. Blade. Let’s see. Now, this isn’t… Well, I guess it is a movie. It was a movie before it was a show. But What We Do in the Shadows.
I love Taika Waititi, anything he does, or anything he’s tangentially related to. Let’s see, that was three. I would have to say… See, I wasn’t a big Twilight person. I feel like that’s an easy one to go to. But it was like, it’s fine. And it gave you some new ideas.
There were parts of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter that were so ridiculous, but I really enjoyed it. And then I liked Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Gary Oldman.
If I had 20 tries to guess your top five, I would not have guessed that Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter would make the top five, but I respect it.
I like it when the mythology is expanded. And they’re like, “You know what? We’re just going to make our own thing.” I wouldn’t say it’s in my top five movies, but as far as strange detours that the vampire folklore can take, it was fun.
Which What We Do in the Shadows vampire, do you most relate to? It can be the show or the movie.
I mean, it’s probably Guillermo, I know he is not a vampire but…
Oh, I should have said what character then. I should have said which What We Do in the Shadows character. Guillermo. Okay.
Or the Nadja doll.
The doll specifically.
Just the doll.
Do you have an interest in doing more horror movies?
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I love the fun that you can have. For something that’s so terrifying for the main character, I had a great time. I’m sorry you had to go through all that, but it was super fun for me. And I mean again, I love working with really collaborative filmmakers who let you play. And I think that we were really able to do that, I really appreciate the whole experience.
You can stream the full score here. The Invitation is in select theaters streaming on Digital.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
