Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid (2004)

Composer(s):
Nerida Tyson-Chew

Released in:
2004

Reviews

Completely unremarkable,
by Alex (August 20, 2006)
I'd heard good things about this score from reputable sources whose taste I trust. Well, used to trust before I heard Nerida Tyson-Chew's score for "Anacondas".
Now here is an action score without an ounce of originality in its entire runnig time--which, quite regrettably, is over an hour. The music is bombastic and atonal and dull (despite its sheer volume), tedious, and frankly nothing you haven't heard before. Even the more gentle tracks (i.e. "Totem", "Almost A Kiss" and a brief cue in "Climbing To The Light") are uninvolving. In a day and age when a lot of scores are done entirely with synthesizers or electronic loops (or worse yet--from someone's own laptop), I appreciate the fact that the score was performed by an orchestra (The Studio Orchestra of Sidney no less), and I did notice the use of some more unusual instruments (Asian drums, Aerophones, and a Nohkan, among others, are listed on the album's rear insert), and though I can neither read nor write music (thus I can not comment on the complexity of Tyson-Chew's writing), but I known what SOUNDS good, and the score for "Anacondas" is every bit as bland, uninvolving, and tedious as the film it was made for.
I've heard that this composer's early independent work was quite good. I have not heard it and thus feel kind of unjustified in dismissing her as a bland composer--she may actually be quite talented--but if this score is any indication, she's lacking any sense of freshness.
Not recommended.

Brief excitement
by Shawn Watson (October 24, 2004)
For a soundtrack CD with 20 tracks and over an hour of music, Nerida Tyson-Chew's score for Anacondas often fails to come to life. The only tracks of note are the more gentler cues, which are really quite nice. But I bought this CD expecting non-stop action music. That ain't what I got.

Only the last 2 tracks contain any excitement, the rest are just boring with no melody or theme. Quite a disappointment I must say, but still better than Randy Edelman's score for the first film. In fact the Anacondas score more resembles Graeme Revell's score for Freddy vs Jason in regards to the dark but generic horror sound and sparse moments of action.

There are about 5 good tracks on this CD (2,5,6,19,20) but the rest is an unlistenable waste of time. I missed opportunity at a loud thrilling score no doubt.

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