SOUNDTRACK SPOTLIGHT: 1920 (SPOILER FREE)

For today’s soundtrack spotlight I will be looking at the Indian possession horror 1920, directed by Vikram Bhatt with a score composed by Adnan Sami.  

The film tells the story of an architect given a job at a mansion, at which he and his wife stay while he works on the designs for a new hotel that will be its replacement. And of course the mansion is home to a malevolent sprit. 

The film is broken up into several acts, with first act starting with minimal instrumentation and melody, with each act that follows the instrumentation and intricacy of melodies grows to enhance the tension of the film as a whole. Each act is separated by a montage accompanied by a musical number commonplace in Indian cinema. 

Within each act there are moments of diegetic and non-diegetic music and sounds being utilized together, diegetic being sounds that are heard by the characters within the context of the narrative and non-diegetic sounds being a score heard only by the audience.  For example, there is a scene where the main character Lisa, played by Adah Sharma, is playing the piano, which is considered diegetic, however the non-diegetic background strings of the score begin to accompany the piano, emphasising and representing the tension of unseen forces felt by the character. 

There are foreshadowing techniques used in the score, to alert the audience to something that may not be obvious or known by the characters yet, for example when the couple arrive at the mansion and an intense melody plays, foreshadowing the horror that awaits them, and also shows the mansion as a key protagonist of the film. 

The use of crescendo throughout the film works perfectly to build the tension of each act, especially with the slow build of each night leading to Lisa’s possession starting quite minimalistic and adding greater instrumentation and more intricate melodies with each night that passes, this theme progresses through the film with the crescendos building to a cacophonous pulsing rhythm in the final act.  Also the use of mixing the non-diegetic and diegetic music helps to immerse the viewer and creates an empathy for the characters.    

Due to the films North Yorkshire location and 1920 time period mixed with the orchestral score makes it feel like a Hammer Horror version of the exorcist.  I highly recommend giving this film a watch and a listen.