Jim Dooley has scored "When A Stranger Calls", "The Ring", "The Amityville Horror" and now he takes on the "Neighbors From Hell", the highly anticipated animated horror/comedy that hits TBS June 7th at 10PM e.s.t. HorrorBid sat down with the composer to talk about his latest project...

Follow up:

You say the Neighbors From Hell main title is very unique, what makes it different from other main titles you have worked on to date?

For the main title I was directed to make it ‘Sherwood Schwartz’-style, which are those classic catchy titles from the 70s that told you in 30 seconds EXACTLY what the show was about such as Gilligan’s Island and the Brady Bunch. I’m proud of this one because it quickly gives a great sense of the overall mood and characters, in a really fun comedic way driven by another catchy song. It’s country meets heavy metal, which from the first beat the producers liked. Normally, we go back and forth between ideas but from the first play they liked it, so it stuck.


Did you use different instruments while scoring NFH than other projects you have worked on?

I used this big red 10 string guitar that actually looks like it comes straight from hell—you’ll have to see the picture! I also bought a banjo for this project, which I had never played before. I taught myself how to play it on a banjitar, which is tuned to a guitar but sounds like a banjo.



How did you get involved with Neighbors From Hell?

Two producers whom I had worked with on Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and First Flight, Mireille Soria and Maryann Garger, first approached me about doing the show, and after getting a blessing from Hans Zimmer the job was mine.


Out of all the Neighbors From Hell characters you have written music for, which character stands out as your personal favorite?

My favorite character would have to be Pazuzu- audiences are going to love him. He is a goblin pretending to be a dog and he definitely steals the show. A prime example of this is that in one of the episodes he actually sings a Lady Gaga song… you’ll have to stay tuned to find out which one! A few of the other characters get to sing to, which I’ve always enjoyed writing for such as I did for Kristen Chenoweth in “Pushing Daisies”.



What has been the most enjoyable part of working on Neighbors From Hell so far?

One enjoyable aspect about working on this show has been that I am collaborating with an almost all-female producing and editing team! You’d never guess by some of the crude humor that comes out, but it has been fun seeing that side of these women, and helping to bring out their unique sense of “South Park-style” humor through a dynamic and at times hilarious score.


You've already written music for animation, action flicks, romantic movies, horror films, shorts, documentaries, and video games. Which was your favorite genre of these, the one in which you felt most confident?

I really enjoy doing animation. I like doing children's projects for some bizarre reason. I should probably ask a psychiatrist about that! You can be more honest and emotional in children's animation. Scoring ‘First Flight’ for Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson was one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever worked on. I went with my instinct and it was bang on!



Now, tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into film music, was it something you'd always wanted to do, or was it just music in general?

Actually, I got into music rather early, had guitar lessons courtesy of the folks, who wanted to build discipline in their wild son. And uh, there was one moment I remember clearly in high school, it was a short film a friend of mine made, he was throwing a cue ball down the halls of our school to the music from Danny Elfman's score to "Batman". And I was like, "This is the greatest music I've ever heard in my life, I've got to find out who this is", and obviously it was Elfman, and I was like "film music, cool", so I went to the cd rack, saw "Batman", and said "What else has this guy done?" "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", and I fell in love. From that day on, I knew it was what I wanted to do.




A big thanks to Jim for sitting down with us for this. It was truly our pleasure. To find out more about "Neighbors from Hell" click here.

Source: HorrorBid