MRH: The Hills Run Red is certainly a very violent film, and I wonder if you as a composer find it’s actually harder to score a scene when it’s incredibly graphic. For example, I’m thinking of the title sequence where a child snips off most of his face, versus something that’s more cinematically classical, such as the use of shadows, actor reactions, and a much slower pace?

FW: You get used to the violence very quickly. The first time I saw this movie I was blown away by how violent it is. I thought the effects were really well made, but once you’ve gone over the opening scene several times, when you write this piece of music you go through several versions so I’ve watched that at least a hundred times in a row during the scoring process.

I’m looking at it from a different angle at that point; I’m no longer grossed out by it or finding it disgusting. It’s become an image that I need to hit with my music, so I’m emotionally detached with what’s happening on the screen.

However, in Return to House on Haunted Hill, which is another score I’ve done that was released in 2007, it wasn’t nearly as gory, but there was a lot more of that ghost presence that we had to emphasize with the music, which, like you mentioned, is shadows or even just a sound the sound effects people put in, like a haunted breath or a certain sound like that which would show the presence of these ghosts in this haunted house.

The music was a little bit more subtle with that, but still made the audience aware that they’re always being watched by these ghosts in the corners; you don’t really see them but you’re kind of always on the edge of your seat, thinking ‘Somebody is in the back corner where you can’t really see because it’s too dark of the shadow,’ so it’s a different approach.

In The Hills Run Red, everything was a lot more obvious with the graphic violence, and you have to play the music a little more obvious to support that.

MRH: I also got the impression the film was a lot more challenging because it’s self-referential to the horror genre; it tries to evoke the look and nastiness of seventies slasher and exploitation films, and at the same time, you as a composer have to create some sympathy for these characters because some are really not very bright bulbs, and the film does feel very tongue-in-cheek.

FW: Yeah, it does. There are certain emotions within the characters and these little personal stories that are going on that I was trying to bring out a little further with the warm strings and the emotional piano theme.

Alexa is this girl that is pretty messed up to begin with; she’s taking drugs and she’s obviously had a rough childhood with her dad as we learn later in the film. When we are in her apartment, the cue called “Alexa” is still a little bit disturbing, but there’s also a sense of pain and beauty that I think really helps you identify with her up front, especially not knowing what’s coming later in the film. I think it’s important to evoke that sort of emotion with her, with that warm cello and the warm strings that come in under her injecting the heroin.

MRH: You background includes television work, horror films, and short films. Are any specific genres or types of films that you’d like to score.

FW: I’ve been very lucky to have worked on a lot of different genres. It’s been primarily the dark stuff lately, especially the thriller and horror genre, which I really enjoy working in because it does give me so much flexibility in creating new sounds which is a process that I really thrive in and enjoy.

I do love the action genre just as much, though, because writing for it is one of the most difficult things in film music in my opinion. The cues have to go on for so long, they’re fast, and you have to keep it interesting; there’s so much action involved, which is very challenging, but also a lot of fun once you get through it. If I can do a lot more work in the action, thriller and horror genres, I’d be a very happy composer.