Mechanical and artificial ‘nü-horror metal’: The film music of Resident Evil

Abstract

Remaining true to its origins, the survival-horror video game film adaption, Resident Evil: The Original Motion Picture released in 2002, retains its core foundational game-like qualities. The film is heavily influenced by the video game franchise and it appears as if the audience is treated the same as the player. This is because the viewers are forced to ‘participate’ from fixed camera angles. As expected, the music contained within the moving image also borrows well-established compositional techniques from horror films and survival-horror video games. The music, therefore, serves to provide information to the viewers and acts as an auditory trigger. This type of music is defined as ‘process music’; music that appears to imitate a process of actions. An additional function of the music is to create immersion. The most prominent soundtrack cues from the film, visually and musically (‘synchronically’ matched), hint at overarching medical, artificial and mechanical themes. This immersive link is achieved through the use of the related music genres of industrial metal and nü-metal. The resultant combination of industrial/nü-metal sounds with horror imagery can effectively be termed ‘nü-horror metal’. In this article the genre label of ‘nü’ takes preference over ‘industrial’. The focus of this article will, therefore, demonstrate how the aforementioned medical, artificial and mechanical themes are effectively portrayed and heightened by the use of industrial/nü-metal music and techniques. This article will also highlight when the music serves a process function. This will be approached by appealing to traditional film music analytical tools engaging specifically with the traditional film music theory of ‘synchrony’ and ‘asynchrony’.