Resident Evil has become one of the most successful video game to movie adaptations to ever hit the screen.
None of them blew away any box office records, but the audience was there. It was because of that audience that the series made it to a third outing, which brings me to today's topic, the soundtrack to Resident Evil: Extinction.
Now, if the Resident Evil title means anything, it means an album filled with rocking tracks. The promise of music to kill zombies to, a little something to get your blood flowing while splatting the stagnant brains of the living dead. Oh, it is a glorious promise. It is just too bad that my heart sank, just a little, before I even got to listen to the album.
What could get me down so early in the process? Well, the line-up is a little underwhelming.
While the first two soundtrack albums were filled with dark and/or heavy music this third album leans a little further to the emo/screamo side of life. Not to mention the bigger names are fewer and farther between, gone are the likes of Slipknot, Mudvayne, Marilyn Manson, Fear Factory, Coal Chamber, Rammstein, Depeche Mode, The Cure, I could go on. This time we get the likes of Bayside, Aiden, The Bled, and Poison the Well. Never mind, enough complaining, perhaps this un-zombie-like mix will deliver the goods.
Before getting to the songs I must mention a big positive that is also part negative. Former Nine Inch Nail member turned film composer Charlie Clouser composed the score. He does not have extensive film experience, but has turned in good work in films like the Saw series and Dead Silence, not to mention television series Numbers and Las Vegas.
His work is included, but is sampled in such small pieces that it is hard to truly get into what he was doing. The score snips give a peek inside an electronic score of the damned, inviting and creepy at the same time.
In total there is less than three and a half minutes of his work, but it is excellent. The highlights would have to be the opening "Main Title" which draws you into the dangerous world and "Convoy" which brings back the main theme as well as other elements into a more upbeat finish.
Article comments
1 - michelle
does anyone know the name of the song played at the first scene where they bring in all characters while driving down the road? some of the lyrics are "in the garden of evil....."
2 - Chris Beaumont
Hi Michelle,
It's "Ina Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly. It wasn't included on the soundtrack, but is readily available.