Caveat (2020)
24 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 71:10 min.
Music by Richard G. Mitchell

I stumbled across this movie in 2021 on Prime one night, not knowing anything about it but since it had a creepy looking stuffed rabbit with human looking eyes in it, I figured it could be interesting. Boy was that an understatement! I counted it as in my Top Ten Viewings for the year. The movie just oozes creepiness. So much strange stuff is going on, but it really gets under your skin. One of the reasons for that, I feel, is because of the score from Richard G. Mitchell.

When I saw that you could buy a digital download of the score, I immediately did it, even though I honestly didn’t remember much of anything about the score. Was there a score? Any melodies, or themes that were repeated? Not a clue. But once I got it and started to listen, I immediately knew why I didn’t remember anything specific. Because, like the film itself, the music burrows into your psyche, adding to the strangeness you are watching on screen, enhancing the images, the feelings, and most of all, the uneasiness it is creating within you.

There are scores that have traditional music, with those repeating themes or melodies, and then there are ones that are more ambiance, ones that have sounds coming out more than notes. While you listen to this score, there are times where you’re not even aware that you’re listening to it, but almost like it has surrounded you, as well as penetrating you. You feel the vibration, the almost feedback type sound, that almost feels like its burrowing inside your brain. When you watch the film and purposefully listen for the score, you see how perfectly it works, blending in with what you are seeing visually. That is a mark of a great score.

I can’t wait to hear more of what Mitchell has done. I know he also scored the second feature from Caveat director Damian Mc Carthy, Oddity (2024), which I can’t wait to get that score for the collection!