Christopher Young (born April 28, 1958) is an American composer and orchestrator of film and television scores.[1]
Christopher Young | |
|---|---|
 Young in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | April 28, 1958 Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer orchestrator |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Website | officialchristopheryoung |
Many of his compositions are for horror and thriller films, including Hellraiser, Species, Urban Legend, The Grudge, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Drag Me to Hell, Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil and Pet Sematary. Other works include Rapid Fire, Copycat, Set It Off, Entrapment, The Hurricane, Swordfish, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3 and The Shipping News, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Young was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2008 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.[2]
Life and career
Young was born in Red Bank, New Jersey.[3] He graduated from Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts in music, and then completed his post-graduate work at the University of North Texas. In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles. Originally a jazz drummer, when he heard some of Bernard Herrmann's works he decided to become a film composer. He studied at the UCLA Film School under David Raksin. He teaches at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California.[4]
Discography
Film
1960s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Robby | Ralph C. Bluemke | 1983 re-issue score |
1980s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | The Dorm That Dripped Blood | Stephen Carpenter Jeffrey Obrow | — |
| Highpoint | Peter Carter | — | |
| 1984 | The Oasis | Sparky Greene | — |
| The Power | Stephen Carpenter Jeffrey Obrow | — | |
| 1985 | Avenging Angel | Robert Vincent O'Neil | — |
| Def-Con 4 | Paul Donovan | — | |
| Wheels of Fire | Cirio H. Santiago | — | |
| Wizards of the Lost Kingdom | Héctor Olivera | — | |
| A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge | Jack Sholder | — | |
| Barbarian Queen | Héctor Olivera | — | |
| Godzilla 1985 | R.J. Kizer Koji Hashimoto | Part of Young's score from Def-Con 4 appears in several scenes, including Godzilla's attack on the Soviet submarine, the scene where the SDF armored division arrives in Tokyo Bay, and Okumura's near-death experience during the helicopter extraction in Tokyo.[citation needed] | |
| 1986 | Getting Even | Dwight H. Little | — |
| Torment | Samson Aslanian John Hopkins | — | |
| Invaders from Mars | Tobe Hooper | — | |
| Trick or Treat | Charles Martin Smith | — | |
| 1987 | Hellraiser | Clive Barker | — |
| Flowers in the Attic | Jeffrey Bloom | — | |
| U-Boats: The Wolfpack | — | Short film | |
| 1988 | The Telephone | Rip Torn | — |
| Hellbound: Hellraiser II | Tony Randel | — | |
| Bat*21 | Peter Markle | — | |
| Haunted Summer | Ivan Passer | — | |
| 1989 | Vietnam War Story: The Last Days | David Burton Morris Sandy Smolan | Segments "Last Outpost, The", "Dirty Work" |
| The Fly II | Chris Walas | — | |
| Hider in the House | Matthew Patrick | — |
1990s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Bright Angel | Michael Fields | — |
| Max and Helen | Philip Saville | — | |
| 1992 | The Vagrant | Chris Walas | — |
| Rapid Fire | Dwight H. Little | — | |
| Jennifer 8 | Bruce Robinson | — | |
| 1993 | The Dark Half | George A. Romero | — |
| Dream Lover | Nicholas Kazan | — | |
| 1994 | Judicial Consent | William Bindley | — |
| 1995 | Murder in the First | Marc Rocco | — |
| Tales from the Hood | Rusty Cundieff | — | |
| Species | Roger Donaldson | — | |
| Virtuosity | Brett Leonard | — | |
| Copycat | Jon Amiel | — | |
| 1996 | Unforgettable | John Dahl | — |
| Set It Off | F. Gary Gray | — | |
| Head Above Water | Jim Wilson | — | |
| Norma Jean & Marilyn | Tim Fywell | — | |
| 1997 | Murder at 1600 | Dwight H. Little | — |
| The Man Who Knew Too Little | Jon Amiel | — | |
| 1998 | Hard Rain | Mikael Salomon | — |
| Hush | Jonathan Darby | — | |
| Rounders | John Dahl | — | |
| Judas Kiss | Sebastian Gutierrez | — | |
| Urban Legend | Jamie Blanks | — | |
| Playing by Heart | Willard Carroll | replacement for score by John Barry | |
| 1999 | Entrapment | Jon Amiel | — |
| In Too Deep | Michael Rymer | — | |
| The Big Kahuna | John Swanbeck | — | |
| The Hurricane | Norman Jewison | — |
2000s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Wonder Boys | Curtis Hanson | — |
| Bless the Child | Chuck Russell | — | |
| The Gift | Sam Raimi | — | |
| 2001 | Sweet November | Pat O'Connor | — |
| Swordfish | Dominic Sena | — | |
| Scenes of the Crime | Dominique Forma | — | |
| The Glass House | Daniel Sackheim | — | |
| Bandits | Barry Levinson | — | |
| The Shipping News | Lasse Hallström | — | |
| 2002 | The Tower | E. Gedney Webb Jim Elliott | — |
| The Country Bears | Peter Hastings | — | |
| 2003 | The Core | Jon Amiel | — |
| Runaway Jury | Gary Fleder | — | |
| 2004 | Something the Lord Made | Joseph Sargent | — |
| The Grudge | Takashi Shimizu | — | |
| 2005 | Beauty Shop | Bille Woodruff | — |
| The Exorcism of Emily Rose | Scott Derrickson | — | |
| 2006 | The Grudge 2 | Takashi Shimizu | — |
| 2007 | Ghost Rider | Mark Steven Johnson | — |
| Spider-Man 3 | Sam Raimi | Themes by Danny Elfman | |
| Lucky You | Curtis Hanson | — | |
| Shortcut to Happiness | Harry Kirkpatrick | Co-composed with Ramin Djawadi | |
| 2008 | Untraceable | Gregory Hoblit | — |
| Sleepwalking | William Maher | — | |
| The Informers | Gregor Jordan | — | |
| 2009 | The Uninvited | The Guard Brothers | — |
| Drag Me to Hell | Sam Raimi | — | |
| Creation | Jon Amiel | — | |
| Love Happens | Brandon Camp | — |
2010s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | When in Rome | Mark Steven Johnson | — |
| Gone with the Pope | Duke Mitchell | — | |
| The Black Tulip | Sonia Nassery Cole | — | |
| 2011 | Priest | Scott Stewart | — |
| Box of Shadows | Mauro Borrelli | — | |
| The Rum Diary | Bruce Robinson | — | |
| 2012 | Sinister | Scott Derrickson | — |
| Scary or Die | Bob Badway Michael Emanuel Igor Meglic | — | |
| The Baytown Outlaws | Barry Battles | — | |
| 2013 | Killing Season | Mark Steven Johnson | — |
| Gods Behaving Badly | Marc Turtletaub | — | |
| A Madea Christmas | Tyler Perry | — | |
| 2014 | The Monkey King | Cheang Pou-soi | — |
| The Single Moms Club | Tyler Perry | — | |
| Deliver Us from Evil | Scott Derrickson | — | |
| 2016 | The Monkey King 2 | Cheang Pou-soi | — |
| 2019 | Pet Sematary | Kevin Kölsch Dennis Widmyer | — |
2020s
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Empty Man | David Prior | — |
| 2023 | The Offering | Oliver Park | — |
Television
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 50 States of Fright | With Caleb Chan and Brian Chan |
| 2022 | Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities | |
| Echo 3 |
Video games
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Saboteur | Theme music |
| 2017 | Wilson's Heart | — |
References
External links
