Varèse Sarabande Records will release the Oculus - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack available digitally on April 8, and on CD April 15, 2014. The film, directed by Mike Flanagan, features an original score by The Newton Brothers (Detachment, Setup).
"Oculus will freak you out and take you on an emotional roller coaster. Even our score—lullabies, distorted broken glass, a children's choir," said Newton Brother Taylor.
"An interesting part of the scoring process was paying attention to the moments where there needed to be a void of score. Specific scenes of the movie depend on you being taken by surprise surrounded by moments of chaos," explained Andy. "The trick was to musically land the plane gently so you feel a sense of natural calm and then to hit with textures and sounds that are jarring and discomforting."
Film and television composers The Newton Brothers (Andy & Taylor) have been making music since they were kids. Both raised on opera, radio, concerts and movies, The Newton Brothers find influence from greats such as Puccini, Debussy, Elmer Bernstein, Kraftwerk, NIN, The Beatles, Bernard Herrmann, Hall & Oates and Erich Korngold.
Their credits include Wayne Kramer's dark comedy Pawn Shop Chronicles (starring Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Elijah Wood and Brendan Fraser) and Tony Kaye's acclaimed dramatic feature Detachment (starring Adrien Brody, Lucy Liu, Christina Hendricks, James Caan). The Newton Brothers have scored and written songs for feature films such as Setup (directed by Mike Gunther), Revolucion (directed by Rodrigo Garcia), and The Mothman Prophecies (directed by Mark Pellington). This past year, they had three films at the Toronto International Film Festival, Life of Crime, Proxy, and Oculus. Currently The Newton Brothers are working on Somnia which they are co-scoring with Danny Elfman.
Ten years ago, tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving the lives of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie forever changed when Tim was convicted of the brutal murder of their parents. Now in his 20s, Tim is newly released from protective custody and only wants to move on with his life; but Kaylie, still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced her parents' deaths were caused by something else altogether: a malevolent supernatural force unleashed through the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home. Determined to prove Tim's innocence, Kaylie tracks down the mirror, only to learn similar deaths have befallen previous owners over the past century. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered by terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that their childhood nightmare is beginning again...
"The theme for the mirror ended up being this pulsing bass... super simple, but incredibly effective," said Taylor.
"Larger bass and celli sections were really helpful in achieving some severe chaos," described Andy. "At several points of the film bass, percussion and synths were playing independent of the string section. We think it proved to be very effective."