Twenty-six years after a very familiar killer took over movie theater screens with comedic kills, Scary Movie returned last month with the Core Four back in Ghostface’s crosshairs, and no horror movie IP was spared.
It was a warm welcome for the Wayans brothers, as the Scary Movie franchise just officially became a $1 billion franchise. The latest installment had a massive box-office opening and continued success in the weeks following its release.
We all know music plays a vital role in horror movies, from iconic stingers to haunting themes. I’m sure you’re hearing at least three horror movie scores right now, prompted by reading that sentence. But what do you do when you’re scoring a parody? Scary Movie composer Haim Mazar approaches the process the same way he would a straight horror.
“Even though it’s parody, Mike, Marlon and I decided that the music should sound like an authentic horror movie,” Mazar shared. “All the movies we pay tribute to are reflected in the music in some way. There is also some thematic instrumentation, like in the section inspired by Sinners, which has about 20 dobros and guitars, or The Substance, which has a very electronic sound. We’ve recorded an orchestral score in Budapest that draws on the tradition of movies like Scream where they always have a big immersive score as well as the synthesizer heavy stuff they used in movies like Friday the 13th. The movie is hilarious and it’s always easier to score a really good movie. We found so many fun opportunities music-wise that gives the whole movie another layer of meta.”
In the below featurette, Mazar shares that Marlon Wayans “really cared about two main things,” the first was that “we have a big sounding score that feels like a real cinematic blockbuster movie” and the second was that the movie featured “a theme that will anchor the movie and would follow our characters as they go on this wild ride.”
Mazar also points out that comedy is one of the most difficult genres to score: “There's a misconception that comedy movies need a comedic score. For the most part, I think the joke, especially in Scary Movie, works when the music takes itself seriously. The more serious the score is, the funnier the joke tends to be.”
Mazar concisely punctuates this notion with: “The score is not in on the joke.”
Haim Mazar also scored The Taking of Deborah Logan and the Disney animated short “Versa”, which he composed and conducted, as well as theme park music for Tokyo DisneySea, Disneyland, and Walt Disney World.
Take a look at Mazar in action in this exclusive Scary Movie featurette.
