"Creep Van" Music By Dennis Dreith

"Creep Van"

Music By Dennis Dreith

Perseverance Records PRD 062

Score Portion: 25 Tracks/Disc Time: 37:48

Filmmaker Interview:

8 Tracks/Disc Time: 39:35

Total Time: 33 Tracks/Disc Time: 77:34

Grade: C

Low budget horror movies have always had a soft spot for die hard horror movie fans since film such as Halloween, Evil Dead, Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project to name a few. Those movies that really went all out milking its really limited budget for its' worth. The film Creep Van is another notable example of how filmmakers put plenty of love and care into a project with its dedication by those who made it. The film revolves around a slacker named Campbell Jackson. who's forced to take a dead end job at a car wash so he can have enough money to impress a girl named Amy that he really likes. While working, Campbell desperate for his own car sees an old. dilapitated 70's style van for sale that turns to be a murderous bobby trapped death trap that is terrorizing the streets of Michigan. The Creep driver uses his death trap to lure his victims as well as run them over for his sick, sadistic pleasure. However, when Amy is kidnapped by the Creep, Campbell finds himself forced to team up with a sleazy con man named Swami Ted, to rescue his would be girlfriend and end the Creep Van's wrath of terror once and for all.

With the film directed by Scott McKinley, who had directed another low budget horror film named Gag several years ago with the same love and care he's shown for this film, has also brought back another important aspect which made that film memorable in its own right. Composer Dennis Dreith was a very vital and important cog that made Gag a scary enterprise teams up with McKinley to recreate the magic they had on their first collaboration. Dreith, who's an accomplished composer in his own right writing the ultra brilliant score to first on screen adventure of The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren as well as an orchestrator for many Hollywood composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer and helped shape Marc Shaiman's earliest work including the thriller score for Stephen King's Misery that made Shaiman a composer to be wreckoned with in the early 90's.

The score to Creep Van is essentually a throw back horror score utilizing alot of state of the art electronics which have the sound of 80's synthsizer sounds complete with stingers, shocks and errie moods. Dreith cleverly includes a rock sound for the Creep Van itself with a electric guitar motif that definitely does rock introduced in the latter half of the tranquil "Opening-Main Title". Dreith has a little fun with the main character with a lighter and fun material which includes "Got A New Job", "Surf's Up", and "Bachelor Ball". There's plenty of suspense and terror to be had here with tracks such as "Biker", "Bye Bye Biker", "Cumming & Going" "and "Grabbing Amy" where Dreith utilizes the full range of his electronics to simulate some shrieking string work to effective use leading to the films climatic final battle, "Final Fight", where Dreith just lets everything loose without restraint and has a great time of it. The score is capped off by the rocking song "Lost Highway Again", which has a really hip sound to it.

The album also features an interesting and lengthy interview with the filmmakers which includes Dreith and Perserverance Records owner, Robin Esterhammer which is a very insightful look into the process of making the film as well as the scoring process by Dreith which is very informative and a plus for an album such as this. Interviews such as this are vital because they are fun and do show another side to the filmmaking process that is fascinating in every way. I'm honestly not that big of a fan of horror scores such as this, but this is a very nice effort by Dreith that is a positive in a lot of ways and makes solid use of what the budget allowed him to do in a more effective way unlike the score I reviewed, Sinister, which was flat and didn't even try to make a great score out of nothing. Creep Van certainly succeeds in what it is supposed to do and that is be menacing, scary and have a rockin' good time with. On that level, this score really works and I will recommend with some reservations, in that most people do grow tired of horror scores after a certain time such as I did.