THE DARK FANTASTIC (2025)

4 stars

UK Premiere at Raindance Film Festival. 26th June

British film composer Simon Boswell may not be as well known as the likes of John Williams and Hans Zimmer, but if you are a horror or genre fan the chances are good that you have heard his work. An accomplished guitarist from an early age, he started out writing music for movies in 1985, with Dario Argento’s PHENOMENA and has since worked on many and varied projects.

As one of the talking heads says on this part documentary, part live concert, he is a “film score rock star”. In THE DARK FANTASTIC Boswell explains his process and how, through live concerts, he can reclaim the scores he creates, massage them and present them to his audience, divorced from the needs of a movie but also using clips from said productions to project on the band and make a light show from them.

He talks about the various productions he has worked on and then it cuts to the live interpretation. Also included are talking heads from director’s he has worked with – folks like Dario Argento, Alex de la Iglesia, Michele Soavi, Richard Stanley, Alejandro Jodorowsky and others.

Well put together by writer/director L G White – who is the vocalist in Boswell’s band – this has a trippy, psychedelic flavour to the live footage and demonstrates Boswell’s virtuosity, as he plays various instruments alongside his band mates, including his son Jimi. Films covered include Perdita Durango, Hardware, Phenomena, Santa Sangre and others.

If you are a fan, this is a great showcase and a fascinating peak into how he writes his scores.

Steve Kirkham