The Girl on the Train (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2016 film The Girl on the Train directed by Tate Taylor, starring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Édgar Ramírez, and Lisa Kudrow. The film score is composed by Danny Elfman and was released under the Sony Classical Records label digitally on October 7, 2016, followed by a physical release on October 21, 2016.
Contents
Development
Danny Elfman composed the film score for The Girl on the Train. He accepted the film, as he was appealed to thriller films, but "as much as that, it was meeting a director [Taylor] who I had a feeling would give me a long leash." He went ahead with an unorthodox approach to the score, by playing bass-heavy, rhythmic motor using de-tuned mandolins and high-pitched electric guitars. At certain sequences, musical phrases are run in reverse to create disorientation. Elfman created most of the score using synthesizers and sampled instruments, programming his sounds late at night.
Reception
Marcy Donelson of AllMusic wrote "Consistently atmospheric as well as uncanny, The Girl on the Train is a compelling diversion for Elfman, who makes more of it than a mere genre exercise." Filmtracks wrote "The Girl on the Train is an admirable but largely unlistenable experience. There are moments in "Something's Not Right" and "Really Creepy" that are high-volume, screeching noise, downright repulsive in every way possible. But the combined ten minutes of more lucid material at the start and end, punctuated by the comparatively pretty "Resolution" and "Main Titles," along with portions of the intellectually intriguing deconstruction in between, keep this score barely manageable for the Elfman enthusiast."
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a quite extraordinary musical score by Danny Elfman, working in an entirely uncharacteristic mode" Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Mark Kermode of The Guardian called it to be "haunting" and "expressive". Brian Lowry of CNN considered Elfman's score to be "tension-building assets" and one of the film's highlights. Kristy Puchko of Comic Book Resources called it an "ominous score".
Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent wrote "Danny Elfman's swirling music accentuates the dream-like feel". Chloe Catchpole of Den of Geek wrote "Danny Elfman's adventurous score is a soaring highlight using synthetic sonic currents that instantly become the tonal heartbeat through the film's duration, which is worlds away from his characteristic Burton-esque melodies."
Reception
Credits adapted from liner notes: