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Escape the Dark

Horror Feature Film

A young woman wants to escape reality; she finds herself surrounded by the supernatural. A depressed young man wants to escape the outside world; he finds he's trapped in his own apartment. Both of them and their put-upon roommates are about to discover:

You cannot fight. You cannot hide. You can only escape.


Horror music is one of my favorite genres to write. Almost every shade and color of emotion finds its way into a horror movie, and that gives a composer a real workout. I was excited to dive into Escape The Dark, which deals with depression as much as it does with things that go bump in the night. It was a great opportunity to score a feature-length film that needed dark music, frightening music, and surprisingly heartfelt music too. Enjoy some scenes from the film and some selections of the score below.

 

matthewchilelli.com Jackie and Rachel close the windows in their apartment; Rachel is scared while reading in bed. I wrote a lyrical, pulsing piece to lead the viewer into the bedtime scene, allowing it trail off before the terrifying moment when the covers are ripped off. Horror movie music is fun to compose!
matthewchilelli.com August enjoys a quiet moment on the roof of his apartment building, but is he really there? As a composer for a feature film, I enjoy bringing back themes, and this quiet moment on the roof is the theme for the boys side of this story. Here, I slow it down on the piano to make things quiet and peaceful before August is ripped back to reality by a hand on his shoulder and a classic horror movie stinger!
matthewchilelli.com August and Jon make it to the roof; they call their significant others, but not everyone is out of the woods yet. As a film composer it's always fun to morph the mood. Triumphant to terrifying is a challenging shift to write, but I think this piece works really well at giving us a catharsis while still leading into yet more trouble for the characters in Escape the Dark. In a horror film, never assume you're out of the woods - as a character, or as a composer.