Musique Fantastique

April 23, 2021

HONEYDEW Horror Film Soundtrack Released, Score by John Mehrmann

Coinciding with the film’s release, Sweden’s MovieScore Media’s continuous efforts of presenting the best and the most unusual film scores comes to one of its most delightfully off-beat stops with Maine-based composer John Mehrmann’s music for HONEYDEW. Director Devereux Milburn’s horror film tells the story of a young couple who experience strange cravings and hallucinations after seeking shelter in the home of an aging farmer and her peculiar son. Mehrmann’s highly unorthodox score has been hailed by an abundance of film critics using descriptions like “beautifully macabre razor-like” and “supremely off-kilter.” Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes summarized the film as having “atmospheric horror built on layers of creeping dread, Honeydew finds fresh frights in its familiar setup — and portends great things for writer-director Devereux Milburn.” With a combination of mouth sounds, bodily sound effects, and percussion instruments using household objects like cutlery and water bottles, HONEYDEW pushes the envelope with the composer’s second film score after 2017’s drama LOUD PLACES.

As Mehrmann explains: “When I started to write the soundtrack for HONEYDEW, my first few tracks were for fairly traditional instruments, but director Devereux Milburn made it clear that he didn’t want that, and he encouraged me to get weirder and weirder. The first time I sent him a track of me popping on my cheeks, he just about flipped out with excitement. I recorded the entire album with a single mic in my living room, using whatever sounds were at hand — namely, my voice, my body, long kitchen knives, glasses filled with water, little percussion instruments and sound effects. The fleshy body percussion, mouth noises and kitchen utensils were not really consciously chosen. But in retrospect they are the absolutely perfect ‘instruments’ for this film. I’m a percussionist and vocalist, among other things, and a lot of the soundtrack represents a hybrid of those two worlds.”

MSM’s digital release, now available here is to be followed later this year by a physical release (on CD and vinyl) by Svart Records of Finland.