Psycho

(Geffen)
by Scott Hefflon

Country twang and slick synth trip-hop/dark industrial, huh? I have no idea what “rootsy singer/songwriters” have to do with spine-tingling suspense/horror, but it’ll probably increase sales. With a score by Danny Elfman (former Boingo, composer of the goofily mad Beetlejuice and The Simpsons, Clive Barker’s Nightbreed, who then rehashed the dark themes for Darkman and Batman, and cashed large checks by doing Men in Black and Good Will Hunting), and a lead-off track by Rob Zombie, you might expect this to be a more palatable version of Dee Snider’s Strangeland. But it’s not.

While Howie B.‘s “Once is Not Enough” combines groovy beats and samples of innocent/frightening dialogue by Vince Vaughn, the most charismatic and versatile lead hunk since Matthew McConaughey (Contact and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation), it doesn’t save this “soundtrack” from narcolepsy. Saving graces of the 13 tracks (oh, subtle, fellas) are Pet Shop Boys‘ “Screaming,” a band so addictively singable, dancable, and inhumanly chilly I wonder why people still look at me funny when I say they’re one of my demented favorites. And while James Hall‘s intimate take on Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” isn’t horrible (why not just use one of the whispered acoustic versions that already exist?), I misread and was expecting King Missile’s John S. Hall. Now that woulda been scary! (Hey Geffen, I’m for hire and from the looks of it, you could use the help.) And just prior to “The Finale” is Lionrock‘s “In the End.” And while, for some reason, I was thinking Death in Vegas (also on Time Bomb), Lionrock’s trip-hoppy tune sounds like a Caribbean cruise commercial with a light dose of LSD mixed in the drinks.