Knives Out

Murder mystery meets haunted mansion soundtrack.

Image source: https://www.amazon.com/Knives-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B0812CNFTN

Knives Out Soundtrack by Nathan Johnson

Rating: 9/10

This modern day who-done-it takes the viewer on a crazy mental journey as you try to figure out who murdered Harlan Thrombey. It’s full of plot twists and red herrings and had me wondering and confused until the murderer was finally revealed. And of course, the film had a soundtrack that fits the mysterious atmosphere very well.

Within the first track of the score, the mood of the film is set. With a prominent piano part and the classic string orchestra sound, Nathan Johnson’s score creates an eerie and mysterious sound. The simple instrumentations keep the music light and this helps create the atmosphere of the film.

I feel like this score is a mix between the music one hears in the Haunted Mansion ride (sans the Grim Grinning Ghosts) at Disney World and a classic film score sound. It’s supposed to be a relatively creepy soundtrack, and keeping a large part of the score at a quiet volume helps with that. The audience is always hearing a quiet orchestra, waiting for the sound to build up. And sometimes it does, such as in The Attic Room. But most times it stays relatively quiet throughout. This always matches the viewer’s feelings, as they think they know who the murderer is, and then that idea is quickly proven wrong and the mystery is back.

Overall, the soundtrack makes me feel like it’s a cloudy, dreary day, but it hasn’t necessarily started raining. There are storm clouds on the horizon and they haven’t arrived yet, but they will. This is in part due to that sense of the music always building. The storm will seemingly never arrive because there are so many plot twists in this film.

Many of the tracks in the film are similar sound-wise, the melodic theme from the first track can be heard buried within every track somewhere, and the instrumentation is basically the same in every track (occasionally Johnson does throw in a solo clarinet and a french horn section). I don’t mind a motive that ties every track together, that’s a very common thing for film music. I do mind that so many of the tracks actually sound the same. They are all structured similarly, having a quiet start and growing a bit from there. Every piece is in a minor key, and when you hear them one after another, every track seems to blend together. I think that it was necessary for most of the tracks to be in a minor key, that definitely helps with the mood of the film, I just feel like there could’ve been a bit more variety. Maybe throw some more wind instruments in to spice up the tracks. Most of the time, I would be incredibly saddened by the fact that a lot of the tracks sound the same, but for this film I feel like keeping that mysterious, creepy feel through the whole movie was necessary, so this is one of the few times it doesn’t make me hate the soundtrack.

I do really like the Knives Out soundtrack. For some reason the score makes me feel a bit nostalgic, I’m not sure why though. The music helps create the perfect atmosphere for the film and it isn’t something terrible to listen to. I intentionally left spoilers out of this review because Knives Out really confused me. Usually I can predict how who-done-its end after watching for a bit, but this movie truly does keep you guessing. I highly recommend both seeing the movie and giving the soundtrack a listen.