Tripping The Dark Fantastic

Composer Simon Boswell has some 150 scores to his name over a 35-year career, not just scoring horror films. But as this is a FrightFest world premiere the emphasis is on horror and fantasy.

Filmed at the Earth Theatre, London in 2021 with his band Caduta Massi, Tripping the Dark Fantastic is a blend of live footage, interspersed with interviews with Boswell and contributions from the likes of Richard Stanley, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Dario Argento.

The format is pretty straight forward with an introduction to the piece of music with some background and contribution from the director. So with Perdita Durango the viewer learns how he got the job, a word from director Álex de la Iglesia and into the concert footage. Though Boswell takes the time to explain context, and how they try to fit the music to the images projected during the concert. Which means that it can differ at times from the music in the film.

And so the film progresses through Dust Devil – a tribute to Morricone, Phenomena - brilliant solo performance of the Maggots theme by Boswell, and now Dario Argento’s own theme. We go more Latin American with Santa Sangre - with Boswell a little more nervous here as Jodorowsky is a musician too.

Boswell is a great interviewee very affable coolly explaining his thinking when it comes to compositions, his influences and what the film’s themes and ideas suggest to him then letting his imagination take over.

Hence there is great variety of styles on show, the band shifting effortlessly between genres from electronica, to prog to full on rock. There’s certainly a trippy element to much of the footage as director LG White and cinematographer Vince Night overlay concert footage with clips and the lighting. It is at times a bit distracting and the screen appears overly busy. But that will be down to personal taste, and a minor matter in what is an excellent introduction to Simon Boswell and his music.