Director Kevin Lewis’ horror film The Accursed had him collaborating once more with composer Émoi. The two had previously worked together on Willy’s Wonderland. 

The Accursed follows Elly (Sarah Grey), who is asked by a family friend (Mena Suvari) to spend a few relaxing days looking after an elderly woman (Meg Foster) living in a remote cabin. The cabin turns out to be anything but relaxing as Elly begins hallucinating in ways that blur reality with her dreams. It becomes clear there is a demonic presence waiting to break free.

We reached out to Émoi — whose moniker is pronounced “emwa” and was chosen for its meaning (“to cause a deep emotional stir and great excitement”) — to talk about his work on The Accursed…

Can you describe your score for The Accursed?
In a lot of ways, the score is very classic, with lots of raw, grating solo strings and ethereal drones. It is horror, yes, but also very sorrowful. I had a wonderful conversation with one of the producers, Scott Harbert (who, coincidentally, scored Kevin’s first movie). The topic was the lost art of thematic scoring — scores with motifs and memorable melodies — and how a lot of modern scores are more atonal. I accepted the challenge.

What direction were you given in terms of the score?
The day Kevin received the script, he called me after reading the first several pages. From that moment on, we were very tight on the project the whole way through. So it was months of bouncing ideas off each other and discussing his vision.

He would keep me in the loop, sending me artwork, storyboards, photographs, rough cuts, etc. It was a lot of fun. When we finally started working on the music, we were so thoroughly aligned that there were very few revisions because we did most of the heavy lifting ahead of time.

You and director Kevin Lewis previously collaborated on the Nicholas Cage horror film Willy’s Wonderland. Because of this, did you get a little more freedom to experiment on The Accursed?
Absolutely. I shared a lot of the initial music beds with him prior to starting the film. I also had acquired a lot of unique, homemade instruments from around the world. I would send him previews early on, so when he got the finished score, there were very few surprises.

Are there any similarities between the music for The Accursed and Willy’s Wonderland?
In both films, I got the unique opportunity to write both the score and the songs that I would end up singing on. In Willy’s Wonderland, I wrote the ‘80s-inspired pinball theme song and voiced Willy on the singalongs.

For The Accursed I wrote the ‘50s-inspired “You Are My Baby Girl,” which is Elly and her mother’s theme song. I also wrote and sang the ‘90s-inspired “Alone I Wait,” which is the Dorothy Ambrose song. The underscore to both films relies primarily on dark, string-led orchestral arrangements.

Can you talk about what plugins you are currently using? Are there any new ones that have caught your eye?
I use probably every plugin library there is. My favorites are from Spitfire, Vienna Symphonic Library and EastWest. When I started on The Accursed, Spitfire had just released its Solstice library. I used that library quite a bit in making the soundtrack for The Accursed.

You work a lot on horror films. Why do you think your music resonates so well in this genre?
Halloween is in my DNA. I’ve been drawn to the macabre since I was a kid, and it just feels very natural and effortless. If I put my hands on a piano and just start playing without thought, I always gravitate toward dark and sorrowful. I do a lot of commercial composing too, which is the exact opposite, but jovial tunes require great effort on my behalf. However, I like the challenge, and it keeps me versatile.

Do you have a “go-to” instrument? If so, what is it?
I typically write the main progression organically on piano before I move to plugins. I love choir, so I’ll also write a lot by just singing or humming melodies. I feel like you get a much more natural-sounding result if you start on a real instrument before moving over to digital.

Are there other genres besides horror that you would like to work in?
Fantasy, animation, epic adventures, sci-fi and dark comedy.

Any favorite tricks and workflows tips that help when composing for film?
Build out your templates before you start working on a project. Organize your projects, and take the time to stay organized. It’s very easy to get whisked away on inspiration and start building things out without properly color-coding/labelling/organizing. All of a sudden you have 75 tracks that all say “violins,” when in actuality they are nothing of the sort. This will bite you down the road.

Also, I always try to keep at least 10% of my instruments live and organic. I feel like you can really tell when a track is all plugins, but putting a layer of live drums, live voice and/or live piano over the top makes a huge difference to the overall authenticity of the composition.