Ravenous: The King of Soundtracks.

"Ravenous" as a film, is a humorous dark comedy and a period piece. A film that is certainly pro vegetarian to say the least. What one best remembers about this film other than the gruesome eating of human flesh, is of course, a film soundtrack like no other. Authentic period music, in this instance, early eighteenth century America. And it took two Englishmen to make it happen. Firstly, the brilliant modern composer Michael Nyman, a gentleman quite probably best known for his neurotic film scores to some of the more well known features by the Martin Scorsese hating Peter Greenaway. The other gentleman that rounds out this collaboration is none other than Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz fame. One certainly hopes that they bring their talents together once again on a future film score, but it would appear that this was one of those once in a lifetime gatherings of musically fertile minds.

The soundtrack starts eerily enough with "Boyd's Journey," and Boyd being the last name of the film's central and cowardly anti-hero. This piece of music is a delight for all fans of minimalist composition. A slight yet ominous plucking of a banjo and a peculiar percussive sound that really serves the purpose of atmosphere rather than a substantial instrumental contribution, but then enter that simplistic little keyboard organ melody and you have yourself a gem. And if memory serves me proper, "Boyd's Journey" was later utilized in a commercial stressing the importance of safety belts, clearly, this is multipurpose music that can easily exist separate from the film that it is attached to. The hilarious piece of music entitled "Run" has an unsettling Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe to it that simply can't be beat, and this piece in particular has Nyman's touch.

You can't go wrong with music that truly exists in a world of its own, while at the same time belonging to a very specific time and place. But then again, with Nyman's knowledge of music history and Albarn's affection for drum machines, it was almost as if a new genre of music was briefly birthed when this motion picture soundtrack was released in 1999. Who wouldn't want to own a film score with such atmospheric mastery and track titles like "He Was Licking Me" and "Cannibal Fantasy?" So, do yourself a favor; buy the 'Ravenous" DVD and make sure to nab up the CD soundtrack as well, and with the interest of playing it on repeat when you go to sleep at night. Lookout, "A Clockwork Orange," there's a new unsettling film score in town. Bon Appetite!