Director Susan Montford's thriller While She Was Out, about a soccer mom (
Kim Basinger) threatened by bad guys at the local mall at Christmastime, calls for an appropriately threatening score, and it's provided by composer
Paul Haslinger, who mixes orchestral, electronic, and industrial sounds.
Haslinger's cues might be divided into the ones in which slow tempos and sustained, high-pitched strings suggest that Something Bad is about to happen (e.g., "Main Titles") and ones in which fast tempos and crashing effects indicate that Something Bad is happening right now (such as the indicatively titled "The Car Chase" and "Killing Vihn"). Several song interpolations fit in well.
Joy Division's "Day of the Lords," with its repeated refrain "When will it end?," resonates with the movie's theme, as does
Roxy Music's dread-filled "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." Taken right from the soundtrack of the film, meanwhile, is
Basinger at a dramatic point in the story singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas," a song recontextualized here.