October 13, 2021
Composer Clifton Hyde Scores Miles Doleac’s Latest Horror, DEMIGOD
– Randall D. Larson
DEMIGOD is a 2021 American horror film about a woman who travels to the Black Forest in Germany to claim her inheritance. Upon arrival, a terrifying secret forces her to reckon with her family’s past and a mysterious ritual she thought was the stuff of fairy tales…
Directed by Miles Doleac from a screenplay co-written with Michael Donovan Horn, this Historia Films production stars Rachel Nichols (BREACH; P2; THE AMITYVILLE HORROR; THE WOODS), Jeremy London, Lindsay Anne Williams, Elena Sanchez, Yohance Myles and Miles Doleac himself.
The film is scored by composer Clifton Hyde, who. Hyde is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer currently working from and residing in New York City. In his feature film debut, Sona Jain’s FOR REAL (2009), Clifton performed as pianist for composer/tabla player, Zakir Hussain. His piano and steel guitar can be heard on the feature film, SUN DOGS (2017). As well as composing music for several short films, Hyde has scored Miles Doleac’s previous four horror films, THE HOLLOW, DEMONS, HALLOWED GROUND, THE DINNER PARTY.
Apart from his work on films, Hyde has performed with Michael Stipe (R.E.M), Patty Smith, Philip Glass, Debbie Harry (Blondie), Lou Reed, Ben Harper, and The Kinks’ Dave Davies at Carnegie Hall. He also performed at Carnegie Hall on French Horn with the South Korean Symphony performing Mozart’s “Mass In C Major” and Haydn’s “Great Mass,” and Baritone acoustic guitar with Iceland’s Sigur Ros.
The film has had some mixed reviews, but Anthony Francis at themovierevue.com had these words to say: “Doleac wastes no time grabbing the audience’s attention right from the fade in, as his film begins with screams, fire, blood, and the promise of something evil to come. It is a smart way to begin a horror film and it assures the audience that this piece will not be a slow burn… This is an effective horror story that uses the creepiness of the forest to allow viewers to share in the character’s terror… With a solid cast, a chilling atmosphere, a good story, and a director that appreciates technique over jump scares, Miles Doleac’s DEMIGOD is an entertaining tale of terror and a gem of the 2021 Halloween season.”
Francis also notes, of the score, that “Clifton Hyde’s excellent sound design and score complement Toche’s work and haunt the film with their sinister choruses and unnerving aural queues.”
Reviewing the film in sonic-cinema, Brian Skutle reports that “the music by Clifton Hyde hits all of the right notes in terms of how it should feel, and I was very much sucked into the film and its climactic moments. DEMIGOD has some wicked, fun stuff going on.”
Sounds like it’s worth a viewing – and a listening.
Watch the DEMIGOD trailer:
