In The Neon Demon, the beautiful has never been so ugly. Nicolas Winding Refn’s film is a Valley Of The Dolls-esque tale filtered through the geometric and dreamy aesthetics of Beyond The Black Rainbow. The plot itself is fairly straightforward, but the film oozes with an unsettling atmosphere. A lot of that is due to the film’s music by Cliff Martinez; it turns out that music informed a lot of the mood on set as well.
Over at Fandango, there is a playlist of the songs that Refn circulated to cast and crew to help them get into the proper headspace for the film. The song choices are a mixture of gothic, electronic, and post-punk that plays up a dreamlike quality with subtle (and not so subtle) hints at malice lying beneath the notes. With tracks from Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Death In Vegas, Bauhaus, and many others, it’s easy to see how this mixtape influenced the filmmakers and actors in the film. Here’s the full track listing:
“So I Cried,” The Myrmidons
“Radio-Activity,” Kraftwerk
“Bubble Sex,” Tommy Seebach
“Cheree,” Suicide
“Drone Logic,” Daniel Avery
“Fade To Grey,” Visage
“Knights In White Satin,” Giorgio Moroder