Anatomy of Dread: A Dread Alert Podcast
Anatomy of Dread: A Dread Alert Podcast explores the darkest corners of horror literature, film, and media through in-depth conversations and interviews with the creators behind the fear. Co-hosted by Vince and Sara of Dread Alert Media, the show dissects the craft of storytelling, the psychology of dread, the impact of these stories, and the cultural roots of horror. Featuring exclusive interviews with authors, filmmakers, and genre innovators, Anatotmy of Dread is where fans and scholars of horror come together to uncover what truly makes us afraid.
Anatotmy of Dread is a part of the Dread Alert Media Network.
Anatomy of Dread: A Dread Alert Podcast
Making the Cabin Scream: Double Danger on Legacy and Distortion in Evil Dead Burn
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On this episode of the Dread Alert Podcast, host Vince sits down with Xavier and Douglas, the composing duo known as Double Danger, to talk about their work on the score for Evil Dead Burn.
The duo discusses their approach to joining the iconic Evil Dead franchise, detail how they honored the legacy of previous compositions while introducing modern, distorted textures, and share what it was like treating the film's primary location as its own living character. They also dive into their close collaboration with director Sébastien Vaniček right from the script phase, working alongside the sound design team to build tension and jump scares, and how their DIY, self-taught musical backgrounds shaped their approach to film scoring.
Topics Covered:
- Respecting vs. Subverting Franchise Heritage: How Double Danger took elements from previous Evil Dead scores—including Joseph LoDuca's work—and twisted them using heavy distortion, pitched string instruments, and experimental textures to forge a modern identity.
- Conceptual Scoring: Why double bass was used to embody the house itself, and how haunted vocal performances were layered to symbolize family legacy.
- Collaboration and Process: Developing the musical palette with director Sébastien Vaniček long before filming began in New Zealand, working seamlessly with the sound design department, and receiving creative encouragement from producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.
- Standout Tracks & Influences: A breakdown of key score moments, including "Where Is It?" and "To Your Perfect Family" featuring vocals by Julien Casarino (Psycup), plus the duo's personal favorite horror films.
- Physical Release Details: Updates on where to stream the soundtrack and details regarding the upcoming double vinyl release via WaterTower Music featuring artwork by Steve Reeves.
Links & Resources:
- Follow Double Danger on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doubledangermusic
- Listen to the Score: Available now on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.
- Pre-Order the Vinyl LP: https://waxworkrecords.com/collections/all/products/evil-dead-burn
Connect with Dread Alert:
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreadAlertMedia
Follow us on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or for more horror hot takes and reviews!
Welcome back to the Dread Alert Podcast. I'm Vince, and today I'm joined by Double Danger. Xavier and Douglas, you guys have been so generous with your time to join me here today. Double Danger did the score for the absolutely fantastic Evil Dead burn, which we have seen and reviewed. Go check that out on our page. Gentlemen, thank you for joining me today. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. I absolutely loved this film, and I think the score takes it up to 11. It's such a driving and intense score, and it matches the meanness of the film perfectly. Now, I won't say the film is totally mean. There's some wonderfully dark humor in it. Um, but I have to ask, how has the reception for this film been for both of you? What's it been like?
SPEAKER_01Amazing? Yeah, yeah. We had lots of good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, really positive feedbacks. And uh yeah, it it it feels like uh everyone uh it's pointing out the the the brutality and uh intensity of the soundtrack, and that's why what we were aiming uh for. And uh yeah, we wanted to create an immersive kind of claustrophobic and an intense uh atmosphere, and yeah, it sounds like we we made it uh pretty good so far. So yeah, yeah, we're quite uh happy with the feedbacks and everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'll say it was absolutely claustrophobic and driving and intense. I felt trapped in that house, and I think the score was a large part of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I I mean we wanted to treat the house almost like a character and uh and you know uh bring it to to life, you know, uh with the with the soundtrack and everything. And uh that that's what that because yeah, you know the the the film takes place uh in the house during 80% of the film, so it was one of the specific details we wanted to emphasize in the story.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I I wonder what was different about working on this film as opposed to some of your other work, like Infested.
SPEAKER_02Well, um for this particular film, we of course you have the the heritage of the the franchise that you have to take account of and uh and you have to respect that, but also take it to uh um a modern uh sound and uh you know revisiting in in a good way to uh not repeat the what the previous composer did with the previous film. So yeah, we wanted to have uh something uh kind of radical in the artistic direction with lots of distortion and uh taking some instruments that have been used in the previous film, but twisting them and uh you know using them uh our way. Like taking care of the the heritage that that the the previous film left us, but also destroying it by you know crushing crushing the instrument with distortion, with uh you know pitching pitching those those uh strings instruments, uh some stuff like that. So yeah, we had to have a modern feel to it.
SPEAKER_00It seems like a big responsibility to take charge of such a beloved franchise. And I will say, I'm on record as saying there's not a bad film in the Evil Dead franchise. It's the only horror franchise that I can think of that has all solid bangers. Uh so you you really did a good job there. I wonder what's it like trying to work with a director to achieve their vision? Because this has a singularly unique voice within the franchise, but it still honors what came before. How closely did you work with Sebastian in getting this uh putting this together?
SPEAKER_01We really work uh really close together at the script before I even uh go to the shooting.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, because you know the the film was shot in uh New Zealand and the post production uh took place in France. So yeah, right at the script phase we started uh talking about which color palette he wanted for the soundtrack, which textures he wanted to use, and which ones he didn't want to use also. So uh yeah, he he likes to conceptualize the the whole thing. And that's what we love also. We like to have uh that every instrument uh should have a meaning uh regarding the soundtrack. Um for example, uh yeah, the double bass uh representing the house, all the haunted vocals, uh like surrounding the characters and symbolizing the heritage of the family uh with the grandfather uh and everything. So yeah, it's all about conceptualization of the whole thing. And um so yeah, we worked uh like months before the shooting and uh really close to him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. That is that a normal process when you're composing a film or when other composers are working? I don't know enough to know about how the typical process plays out.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean for infested, we didn't uh work this early in the in the in the process. Uh and because it was uh the evil dead franchise, we spent some time, you know, uh listening again and again the Joseph Loduca score and uh how should we make like some small insta eggs uh on the soundtrack, uh, which elements should we be revisiting and uh some stuff like that. So it there there was a lot of research regarding the previous films, and um so that took a lot of time. And um yeah, we've I don't know if you want to add something to that, but uh yeah. It was a huge process, a really exciting process. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I love that there was so much care taken uh because the the franchise means a lot to me, but I know there are people out there who this is their franchise, this is the one thing that brought them into horror and what they come back for. So I think it means a lot, uh, speaking on behalf of my audience, that the care was taken from the production team. Uh what did you lean into in terms of creating atmosphere and scares? Uh I will I will always go back to that John Carpenter anecdote where he showed Halloween and it wasn't scary and then he added the score and it became scary. Uh did you have any tricks up your sleeve that you wanted to use to increase the scares?
SPEAKER_02Well, we worked a lot as well with the sound designer uh uh team. Uh because yeah, the horror genre has a lot to do with the sound design and the soundtrack. And the uh both uh departments have to work together, and you know, you you have to to have a huge dialogue with the sound design team. So who does what, and uh you know, which place should we take on a specific sequence. Uh so yeah, there's a huge back and forth with the the sound design team. And um and yeah, of course, it has to do with uh yeah, the number of frames, where when do you start using the jump scare, how do you build it, the silence before the jump scare? That there's uh like yes, so many codes that you have to twist and respect at the same time, but uh doing it in a modern way. So yeah, it's quite mathematical, as maybe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. As musicians, do you find those constraints add to your creativity or are they a struggle to work with?
SPEAKER_01No, maybe because you don't have um a structure to respect with numbers of bars, or because we like to do more abstract stuff in musically. So I think no, it's more open.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a huge playground, you know. But that's one of the genres when you have the most possibilities to you know push it to the extreme. And uh and you know it's uh you have to be experimental and radical uh in your approach. And uh that's what we love about that. There's no limits in in this genre, and uh so yeah, it's limitless. And uh you have the ability to push the maximalism at the highest, and uh that's what we love.
SPEAKER_00It's such a fun playground to play with. I can tell you, uh, and if this is a vote of confidence for you, uh my toddler, she's two and a half, she loves ghost, she loves metal, and I played the score for her when I was planning on chatting with you, and she absolutely loved it. She's like, Dada, who who do this music? I was like, this is double danger. So uh she has exquisite musical taste, and she also loved the score.
SPEAKER_02Wow, such an honor.
SPEAKER_00I have to ask, how did you get started in in working in film? I mean, I I I know you're musicians. Uh, if if your website uh led me in the right direction, you are self-taught musicians. How did you get started with music and how did you get started doing scores for movies?
SPEAKER_02Uh I mean I I've known Sebastian uh since high school, and you know, he started making short movies with almost no money and uh kind of uh in a DIY way. And um and it was almost the same for me. I started with rock, electro, metal bands, uh, and that's yeah, with a band that I had learned the most about music, and you know, not I'm not uh familiar with partitions on uh of anything. Uh so yeah, I'm it's mostly by ear and by watching others doing music. Uh now you have YouTube, so there's so many videos of people explaining how to make music, and that's yeah, I'll learn by just doing music and learning from others. And uh and yeah, I've started composing music for the Sebastian first short films, and um yeah, we were just experimenting and uh you know exploring different genres, and uh that that's all um I yeah, learned how to make music and and yeah, of course, with the my bands as well.
SPEAKER_00Of course, yes. I think that's the the the story that I'm most attracted to here is that you both knew each other prior to entering the industry as a whole, working together, working down and dirty, and that you came together through this. That's an amazing thing. Um I I in another life was a theater director, and we would try and lift up the people that we worked with. Uh you're only as good as the people you work with as a director. And so the fact that that you're still working together after all these years is just incredible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's all about teamwork and uh you know friendship, of course, because now Sebastian is such a great friend, and he's taking cares so much uh about his team, and he knows that uh his style comes from the all the other department that uh followed him uh through the all the his short films, and uh yeah, it's really important. That's how we create this art really strong artistic direction.
SPEAKER_01Everybody's really involved in it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We know each other, we're really it's yeah, it's like a sport team.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Uh was it I mean, how different was it? I mean, if you think back to the short films or infested, was it a very big change in energy on set or or in post-production? Was it different?
SPEAKER_02Um of course, in this uh for especially for Evil Dead Burn, you have like lots of different phases in the production phase. You have like the test screenings, uh uh, you have the the screenings for the production team and everything. So there's uh many, many steps uh that uh are yeah uh quite time consuming, but in in a way we didn't work differently on this film that uh on infested. Uh it we we kept the same spontaneous energy, talking with Sebastian on WhatsApp and uh you know exchanging IDs and uh it it was quite spontaneous and natural. And of course, Ghost House, especially Sam Remy and uh Rob Tappert, wanted to preserve this creative uh energy. And so they step aside and they were just like uh giving us little advice and uh saying, you know, you you you can take account of this advice or not, but I'm just telling you from my experience, you know, uh you can do it this way. Uh so it was really respectuous, and uh yeah, that there was not necessarily such a great difference uh in terms of creating music and and the way we made this.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing to hear that the vibe was still so organic and acknowledging not only the roots of the franchise, but the indie roots that that made the franchise work in the first place. What is your favorite track from this soundtrack? Do either of you have a favorite track? What is what is the the home run for you, the one you're most proud of?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so personally, uh I would say like uh the long sequence shots. Uh there's this track called Where Is It? Uh Actually, this sequence was the first teaser for Evil Dead Burn. And there's a the this track uh has some really strong impacts, uh some really heavy double bass hits. And we were talking earlier about uh conceptualizing the soundtrack around the house, and this specific track feels like the house is jumping on yourself and like crushing the characters, and there's some really heavy and strong vibe to it. Uh, and I really love this uh this uh yeah particular track. I don't know what's yours.
SPEAKER_01Mine is um uh To Your Perfect Family with Tia. I I like this one, I like uh what happened into it. There are very different stuff. And there's the Julien Casarino is uh a singer from a metal band called Psychep, and he's doing his voice on the on this with Scream and uh crazy vocals and whispers with the them, so it's it's yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I mean this sequence is so iconic with the address in TSZ. Uh yeah. Since the script phase, we we knew that it it was gonna be an iconic sequence, and yeah, we had really fun uh time with it.
SPEAKER_00That sequence was such a standout in the film for sure. Uh and if I'm not mistaken, in my research on the film, it took like three weeks to get that that effect right and planning it, and I was it worked so well. I I love that there was practical effects as opposed to just you know leaning straight into computer-generated imagery. That was really well done. So I have a couple I have a question that I ask everyone who comes on the podcast, and it's a difficult question, but I always ask, what is your favorite horror movie? And I'm interested to hear from the two of you if you have one or what it might be.
SPEAKER_02Uh I mean, I don't know if this one's considered as an aura movie, but I I really like Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer. Um that's uh Mika Levy is doing the soundtrack, an amazing soundtrack, one of my favorite soundtracks ever. And there's such a unique atmosphere to it. I just love this film so much. And um that's the Scarlett Johnson was doing Marvels and everything, and she said yes to the this really bizarre film, and uh that was really different from our previous films, and uh yeah, that's one of my favorite films of all time.
SPEAKER_00Awesome.
SPEAKER_01And uh maybe ring, the ring, yeah, the ring, the Japanese version, the original one. I I I have these these images in my head, so uh I think it's still uh here from a long time.
SPEAKER_00So I think maybe it's that one. I think those are two solid answers, and two that we've never had on this podcast before. Oftentimes we hear things like Alien or The Shining, you know, and uh uh solid choices, but I am the kind of guy. Yeah, yeah. But I'm I'm the kind of guy who loves uh European horror, uh specifically Italian horror and weird horror. So whenever I hear things like this, I go, yeah, yeah, this is these are good choices. These are good choices. Um and I will say the American version of the ring, which I saw first, might be the scariest PG 13 movie I have ever seen. Uh yeah, yeah. So fantastic. So where can people find the soundtrack for Evil Deadburn?
SPEAKER_02Um of course you can find it in all streaming platforms, uh Spotify, um Apple Music, and everything. And also we are going to release a vinyl, a double vinyl, uh uh on Watertower music. And uh the artwork is so amazing. Uh Steve Reeves uh made the artwork, and uh we're so proud of it. Uh that it's such a beautiful object. Um we we are about to uh yeah, we are going to receive it in uh September, so we can wait to have it in our hands.
SPEAKER_00And uh yeah, I will absolutely be picking up a copy of that. Um where can people find out more about Double Danger? Do you have social media profiles they they should follow or your website?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean you can uh follow us on Instagram, Double Danger Music. And um Yeah, that's uh the the place where we are the most active and you can find all the latest interviews and everything. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And last question for you both Is there anything that you're working on next that you would like to plug or any sneak peeks you can give us?
SPEAKER_02Uh well, there's some stuff we can't really talk about right now. But uh we are planning on uh working on a French horror movie at the beginning of uh September. Uh really exciting project by a young director. Um so yeah, we're gonna make a soundtrack really different from the previous soundtracks we've made so far. And yeah, we're really excited about that.
SPEAKER_00That sounds like a good reason to follow your Instagram to keep posted on that. And I'll I'll make sure I play that one for my daughter as well, and hopefully she likes it. Xavier, uh uh Douglas, I cannot thank you enough for joining me today. This has been a wonderful conversation. The film is fantastic. Go check out Evil Dead Burn if you haven't already. Uh it's it's absolutely worth a watch and keep posted for that double album in September. I'm so excited. That's that was news to me, and I am pumped. So it'll go up on my wall with the uh with the rest of my awesome horror soundtracks. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Thank you so much.
