Tubi’s current line-up of films is not only filled with a fresh slate of original titles, but also contains numerous Hollywood hits such as Aquaman, the Rush Hour films, Quentin Tarantino‘s Jackie Brown, Cast Away, Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, i, Robot and Ford v Ferrari to name a few. On the original program front, viewers can see titles such as Gossip to Die For, Deadly Invitations, Invasive and Deadbolt to name a few. Another new movie worth paying attention to is the slasher, Killer Body Count.
Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (Slumber Party Massacre) the film synopsis reads: “Mistaken for a sex addict by her devout father, Cami is sent to an isolated rehab center. But when a killer begins to hunt the teens, Cami realizes that her survival and her independence are intertwined in ways she could never imagine.”
One of the creatives involved with Killer Body Count was Spencer Creaghan, who served as the film’s composer. Some of Spencer’s other credits include Syfy’s SurrealEstate, Teenagers and Shudder’s Slasher. Spencer calls his work on Killer Body Count one of the most stylistically eclectic scores he has done, getting inspiration from Chelsea Wolfe’s gothic industrial rock and 90s Riot Grrrl Punk. Spencer talks about this and much more in the below exclusive interview.
First off, can you tell us about your background and what prompted you to become a composer?
My parents would tell you my journey to become a composer probably began when I was 9 or 10. I had a nerdy obsession with the Lord of the Rings music and Star Wars music and having a knack for putting music to the movies I made, but it took me a bit longer to figure it out. Regardless, I knew I wanted to be in film. I tried writing, directing and acting, all while getting deep into film I equally fell into music seeing them as separate entities. It wasn’t until I was 15 or 16 when I started getting into Metal music, did I discover the Finnish Symphonic Metal band NIGHTWISH. Nightwish is heavily inspired by film music, so diving into their influences brought me back to my favourite soundtracks Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Kingdom of Heaven, and that pretty much settled it. I realized my love of music and film combined and finally caught up to what my folks said many years prior. To this day, Metal music still plays a big part in influencing my scores, including KILLER BODY COUNT!
What drew you to the Killer Body Count script?
I adore the contemporary slasher films that have been coming out of Blumhouse and Amazon Prime lately: Happy Death Day, Totally Killer, Final Girls, etc. Reading the script to Killer Body Count I was instantly reminded of those films and knew I had to be involved. It had a unique killer that played into the themes of the story, it had characters that had to understand their strengths and learn to play into them to overcome their oppression, trauma, or insecurities. It also twisted tropes just enough whilst leaning into others to make for a good time. What I love about the film is I think its end result captured everything I imagined and loved about the script.
How would you describe your score to Killer Body Count?
Haha, well Killer Body Count is easily one of my most stylistically eclectic scores! We wanted the score to capture the film’s themes of shame and sensuality and Danishka Esterhazy, our director, had the great idea of using organ as the score’s central instrument, as it could play into both those ideas: the church organ to represent shame, and an 80s “Marvin Gaye” pop organ to play into the sensuality.
Talking thematically about the film, I felt there was a punk rock edge to the story and wanted to tip my hat to 90s Riot Grrrl Punk (famed for its lead artists doing bold statements with their bodies and gender to break down the patriarchy and their oppressors – much like our film). To capture the horror gothic tone of the film, I took inspiration from Chelsea Wolfe’s gothic industrial rock using dark synths and ethereal vocals. Finally, there’s a subtle influence from Black Metal in thick, washed out, highly distorted electric guitars, as I wanted an element that captured the idea of pushing back against an oppressive religious doctrine and Black Metal of the 90s did just that – though admittedly to the extreme!
So the short answer is, the score to Killer Body Count is equal parts church hymnal music, R&B, Riot Grrrl Punk, Industrial Goth rock, and Black Metal – with some big orchestral sections thrown in because its’ hard for me not to include big orchestral passages haha!
You have worked with Killer Body Count director Danishka Esterhazy on the Syfy series SurrelEstate. Because you already had an existing relationship, did you have more freedom to experiment with the Killer Body Count score?
I think it helped a lot having that established relationship because we knew how each other works and what we like musically. I like to push myself as a composer and come in with a bold weird idea of where we could take the score. This environment allows one to push for bold ideas, and thankfully Danishka – and the team over at Blue Ice Pictures – loved where my creative vision was going and let me explore it. I’m very thankful for these kinds of collaborations. A film like this could have had a pretty standard horror score (either orchestrally or synth-y), but I think that would have done it a disservice. There are moments of more traditional horror, namely for our big bad, The Father, but even in there are moments of boldness. Overall, I think this score is unlike anything we’ve heard.
Did you give each of the characters themes in Killer Body Count? If so, can you talk about those?
Yes and no! I find even if I wrote themes for characters there’s usually a lot more happening under the surface, or their music plays much more than simply Wagnerian leitmotifs. Cammie’s theme is probably the biggest of the film and encompasses musical elements that represent other themes. For example, her theme is broken up into 4 parts: an organ riff that captures betrayal and shame; a bass line/chord progression that represents anger, pain, and eventually vengeance; a melody that is more specifically for Cammie and represents her grief and her shy demeanour that longs to be heard, to be understood; and then there’s a wailing female choir that starts mournful, painful, and evolves into something of sensuality, and later a battle cry against those who cause them that pain. All four musical ideas show up collectively and individually as I needed them, but they all originated from the same source that I called Cammie’s theme- however broken up into individual pieces they are named the Betrayal Theme, the Anger chords, Cammie’s grief, and the Whores of Babylon cry, respectfully.
There are two other themes in the film, Gregorian chant whispers that represent the Father, this is probably the most Wagnerian I get with the score, as whenever we hear these chants it’s clear the Father is near!
And then there’s an adaptation of the church hymn, “Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured” that Danishka recommended we use throughout the score in some capacity as, besides having a metal title, it’s melody was familiar as both a hymn and something more! It ended up being used as a theme for the camp, specifically the mysteries of the camp and the horror that lies behind those shadows.
You have another film that was just released on Tubi titled Deadbolt. Can you tell us about your music for that film?
Deadbolt is a thriller that was released a week before Killer Body Count. The film follows Amelia, a woman on her own after an abusive relationship, who finds her past (and past habits) catching up to her! The film’s score is inspired by both the string and wind heavy noir scores of the 1950s and 1990s with their luscious harmonies and yearning melodies, as well as the contemporary electronic scores of the modern day with their brutal distortions and uneasy sounds. I’m very proud of how it came together!
There’s also Clickbait: Unfollowed directed by Melanie Scrofano and Kat Barrell both from Wynonna Earp, which is a social-commentary horror film about social media and influencer culture. The film is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque tale of a group of influencers who go to a remote island for unique games that end up being their downfall. Its score is vastly different than either Killer Body Count or Deadbolt, as I wanted the score to feel like the music you often hear in TikTok videos or at Influencer parties – rave style techno a la a Berlin dance club, so I like to joke that its score is Berlin Club music set to a horror film!
Not only have you worked in film and TV, but you also have worked on Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy: Shadowbreak video game. How different is scoring a video game compared to a film?
Video games are quite different than film or television in that the player dictates how the story will progress in real time, whereas for Film and TV this is dictated by the filmmakers. So the music has to be created in a way where it can loop and develop without the players being aware of its repetition or development. It’s been a few years since I scored Shadowbreak, but it was an eye-opening experience to how games are made and scored— I’d love to do another one day!
Syfy has announced there is going to be a season 3 of SurrealEstate. Have you started working on the new season yet and is there anything you can tell us about it?
Can you believe it!? In an era where most shows don’t make it past season 2, we’re so lucky to be given this chance at a season 3. Our showrunner George Olson and our amazing writing team are working on the scripts, so I haven’t started writing anything yet, but I can’t wait to start. Those episodes always take us in a unique direction, I’m so excited to see where we go this season!
Who would be your dream director to work with?
There are so many! I love filmmakers that play into the medium of film, using the camera, the edit, the music, the sound, the staging, the sets, all their advantage. Some that come to mind are George Miller, Edgar Wright, Marielle Heller, David Leitch, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, I could go on and on. I’m going to add Dev Patel for good measure because I just loved what he did with Monkey Man!
Thank-you for taking the time to chat about Killer Body Count, I hope you enjoyed the film! Until next time!
Many thanks to Spencer Creaghan for taking the time for this interview.
