Christopher Young has been composing movie scores for more than a decade now. Judging by the list of film credits, it is not difficult to conclude that Young is something of a horror specialist. He has scored movies like "Species", the first two "Hellraiser" films and sequels of both "The Fly" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" as well as others in the genre. In this sense he seems to follow in the footsteps of Howard Shore. The original "Hellraiser" soundtrack is mostly dark orchestral, but with some sound effects suggesting the chains and dungeons of the Cenobites abode. The sequel "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" is more explicit about the origins of the Cenobites and introduces wordless choral sounds into the mix, while altering the themes from the original film.
Recently Young has moved more into the mainstream and very successfully, too, with his credits including a number of A-List movies such as "Entrapment". Another mainstream thriller movie by Young is "Virtuosity" which featured a number of tracks by artists such as Peter Gabriel. There was even a brief airing for Russel Crow's own band "Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts" on the car radio! In our opinion, Young's most recent masterwork is undoubtedly "The Shipping News" which won him a Golden Globe nomination. When you hear this described as Celtic influenced, the immediate reaction is "Oh, no - not again!" but this is much more than just another Hollywood film with a penny whistle theme. The musical tone persists throughout the movie, is true to its traditions, authentic for the setting in Newfoundland and adds considerable depth and beauty to the story.
In January 2002, Christopher Young became president of the Film Music Society, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of music written for film and television. Previous presidents have included David Raksin and Elmer Bernstein.
Following a small role writing additional music for Danny Elfman's "Spiderman 2", Young landed the top composer job in "Spiderman 3".
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- Hellraiser - there is a prevalent scary atmosphere, but the recognisable theme ably represents the lure of temptation for the dark side
- Hellbound: Hellraiser II - Builds on the original, before Randy Miller stepped into Young's shoes for the 3rd film
- Species
- The Dark Half
- Flowers in the Attic
- Rapid Fire
- Urban Legend
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
- Trick or Treat
- Invaders from Mars
- The Fly 2 - the sequel of the remake
- Murder in the First - shows the brutality of Alcatraz with occasional voices and strings, at times in small groups
- Copycat
- Virtuosity - Young's score seems conventional among the rock tracks
- Hard Rain
- Entrapment
- The Shipping News - a expert blend of location, mood, character and unspoken emotion
- Spiderman 2 - additional music to the main score by returning composer Danny Elfman
- The Grudge and The Grudge 2- the English version of the Japanese thriller, the music is largely carried by sad dischordant strings with additional electronics and some intense or shock moments
- The Core
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose
- Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
- Spiderman 3 - a full scoring credit for Young following his "additional music" role in the first sequel
- Ghost Rider
- Untraceable
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A number of Christopher Young soundtracks are available including the moody soundtracks for his excellent contribution to the "Hellraiser" series. Look out for the limited edition 3xCD pack of the first 3 films (no.3 scored by Randy Miller) if you can find it, but here are the links for the individual soundtrack for the first two films:
We also particularly recommend "The Shipping News" which is available from Amazon.co.uk in the UK, or Amazon.com in the US, and suggest paying a vist to the Chistopher Young web-site for more in-depth information and details of future projects.
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