New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Celebrated composer Fil Eisler raises the on-screen intensity with his powerful yet nuanced score for The Desperate Hour, out today on Gardener Recordings. The soundtrack coincides with the release of the film, a pulse-pounding thriller by director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Salt, and The Quiet American), now in theaters nationwide and available on demand.
Combining vivid passages full of momentum and tension with atmospheric sequences that maintain the music's grip on listeners and viewers, Eisler's original score fuels the real-time drama in The Desperate Hour. Two-time Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts stars as a recently widowed mother raising a young daughter and teenage son. She is plunged into every parent's worst nightmare when her town is thrown into chaos by an active shooter at her son's high school. Miles away, on foot in the dense forest, she races against time to save him.
"This movie presented a very unique challenge in that once she's off and running, Naomi is really alone with the score until the end of the film. Every choice I made was driven by the idea of her love for her kids, the fear of not being able to be there for them," says Eisler. "That's why we lurch from moments of complete disorientation and despair to moments of total focus and drive. I wanted to help tell the story with that range of emotions Naomi plays so beautifully."
Eisler's compositions for The Desperate Hour range in style and approach from the orchestral swells of "
Code Red" to the ominous drone-like tones in "Noah's Car Is Gone" and the thunderous percussion that propels "Rushing to the Barrier." Together they comprise a master class when it comes to raising pulse rates and instilling dread. They also demonstrate the mastery of one of the most versatile talents working in film and television.
Elaborating on this scores, creation, Eisler added, "It was also all written and recorded while we were on total lockdown so I spent months with my house packed full of every instrument under the sun. That was oddly quite helpful to being able to really immerse myself in the emotions of The Desperate Hour around the clock. It was quite exhausting actually."
A Czech-born, English-raised composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Eisler has worked with ensembles of all sizes to bring his scores to life. Variety has described his music as "smoky, elaborate, film noir-inspired compositions" while Beatweek Magazine praised him for making music that "almost acts as another character further enveloping the audience in its grasp."
The composer's score for The Desperate Hour is his latest collaboration with Phillip Noyce, the Australian director behind such critical and commercial successes as Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Quiet American, and Rabbit-Proof Fence. He and Eisler came together on a pair of TV shows, too (Revenge and What/If). Noyce's thriller premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in
September and will be released nationwide—to theaters and on demand—on Feb. 25 by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment.
Fil Eisler's score can now be experienced on all major streaming platforms.
The Desperate Hour (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) track list:
1. "The Desperate Hour Main Title"
2. "Waterfall Memories"
3. "Code Red Alert"
4. "Fastest Route"
5. "Noah's Car Is Gone"
6. "I Have To Get There"
7. "Firearms and Medication"
8. "
Blackout"
9. "Dispatches"
10. "All Is Lost (Interlude)"
11. "
Shooter"
12. "On The Offensive"
13. "
The Call"
14. "
Best Of Intentions"
15. "
Closer"
16. "Dedra Comforts Amy'
17. "Hostage Negotiator"
18. "Rushing To The Barrier"
19. "An Ending"
20. "Epilogue (Not An Ending)"
21. "An Ending (Alternate Version)"
