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Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ ‘Gone Girl’ Score is a Spooky, Murky Beast

Trent Reznor Atticus Ross Gone Girl Soundtrack Full Stream NPR

Gone Girl looks to be the typical type of David Fincher movie with plenty of murder, mystery, and a bleak, atmospheric soundrack. It makes sense then that Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and the composer Atticus Ross, who scored his last two films, The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, were tasked with bringing Fincher’s seedy Southern crime-noir to murky musical life.

Spoiler alert: The nearly 90-minute long soundtrack, which is streaming now on NPR, is a dark, dark affair that perfectly sets the tone for Gone Girl‘s twists and turns. Without giving away any hints about where the movie — about a man whose wife goes missing and the fallout that ensues — zigs and zags with its plot twists, Reznor and Ross do an incredible job of capturing an even-keeled balance of mysterious and melancholic with their synthesized, clashing electro-classical score.

As the colloborators previously revealed, it was inspired by music you’d hear in a “massage parlor,” giving you a sense of comfort that will ultimately “curdle and unravel.” There are also some Inception-style “womp womp” horns tossed in for good mix, because you can’t have a spooky movie without those anymore. Stream the entire goosebump-inducing thing on NPR’s First Listen now in advance of the film’s October 3 release date.