In Praise of “Hello Zepp,” Twenty Years Later
On the twentieth anniversary of the film’s release, Charlie Clouser’s iconic score for “Saw” is worth a revisit.
by Josh Rosenthal
Most horror movies live or die by their scores.
A good horror score can represent a synchronous creative vision between sound and visuals. For example, in “Halloween,” director John Carpenter crafted the score himself, while Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s foreboding opening theme for “The Shining” evokes feelings of fear and dread among audiences.
Lately, many modern horror film scores have fallen into one of two underwhelming categories: either a monotonous haze of droning synths or jarring violin shrieks, popularized by Joseph Bishara’s work in the “Conjuring” and “Insidious” series.
When it comes to the concept of living or dying, few horror movies have dealt with this as memorably as James Wan’s “Saw,” which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this October. Cutting into the horror scene in 2004, its unique gamut of grisly traps and twists instantly catapulted the low-budget film to success, paving the way for a series that is still spilling blood two decades later.
Alongside its unflinching depictions of violence, one of the key ingredients to “Saw’s” lasting impact is Charlie Clouser’s score. Among his works, “Hello Zepp” stands out as one of the most iconic pieces in horror music. Featured in the film’s final moments, “Hello Zepp” is a dramatic and nervy instrumentation that perfectly complements the grungy world of Jigsaw and his torturous games. Its industrial undertones, influenced by Clouser's time working with Nine Inch Nails, in addition to the intense nature of the track, make the score inseparable from the film's shocking revelations.
“Hello Zepp” went on to serve as the main theme of the “Saw” franchise, appearing, to some extent, in each of the nine films that followed the original, including last year’s “Saw X,” where it played during the climax as “Zepp X.” When one of these variations begins to play in any “Saw” movie, it’s a clear sign that something intense is about to unfold.
A consistent and compelling throughline for “Saw” and all of its sequels, “Hello Zepp” not only provides any Halloween playlist this month with a great song but also serves as a gold standard of musical accompaniment that any horror movie should aspire to live up to.
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