The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

AMG Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is the kind of score it's easy to discount simply because the accompanying motion picture is so soulless and dire, but composer Steve Jablonsky delivers a potently macabre atmosphere and melodic twists far more compelling than anything the onscreen narrative musters. Beyond familiar genre elements like shrieking string arrangements, martial rhythms, and haunting choral vocals, Jablonsky builds tension via vividly etched musique concrčte effects that perfectly capture the unsettling otherness of horror at its most powerful. Too often the score mistakes sheer volume and cacophony for intensity, but Jablonsky's bleak, unnerving soundscapes still boast uncommon clarity and vision.