LIKE DRACULA IN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’s 1992 FILM, who is haunted by his own shadow, Poor Things can’t seem to escape its gothic predecessor. Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ whimsical dark comedy won four Oscars in March, including awards for costume and production design, for its surreal reimagining of Victorian Europe–drawing heavily on Coppola’s old-Hollywood aesthetic.
But attentive viewers may detect another striking similarity between the two films: Jerskin Fendrix’s Oscar-nominated score for Poor Things includes three pieces—“London,” “Bella, Max and God,” and “Poor Things Finale and End Credits”—that closely resemble Annie Lennox’s “Love Song for a Vampire,” the closing track from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Intentional homage? It’s unclear as Fendrix declined to comment for this post (although some critics such as Nick Marcus—better known as The Film Scorer—have observed an “uncanny familiarity” in Fendrix’s score).
What is clear is that these three pieces–all variations on the same theme–appear to share a near identical chord sequence and melody with Lennox’s song, which was a top-ten hit in six countries, peaking at No. 3 in the UK.
The most pronounced similarities appear in “Poor Things Finale and End Credits,” the most harmonically rich and lushly orchestrated piece in Lanthimos’ film, replete with vibrant strings and powerful drums.
The chord progression closely mirrors that of Lennox’s song, emphasising the IV chord at key moments before descending. The pitched-up vocal melody also appears to closely follow Lennox’s voice, and both compositions incorporate distinct three-note phrases; for instance, where Lennox sings “this trembling heart,” “the rarest rose,” and “chilled the bud.”
Not convinced? Here’s a sync track I made of the two songs, adjusted for tempo and key [Note: Fendrix is in the left speaker, Lennox is in the right]:
The parallels between Poor Things and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are well-documented.
During an October 2023 Q&A at the New York Film Festival, Lanthimos noted that Dracula was one of the main films included in a watchlist for the cast and crew to draw inspiration from. Two months later, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, cinematographer Robbie Ryan also cited Coppola’s film as a big influence on Poor Things, emphasising its use of early cinema techniques such as miniatures and dramatic lighting.
Despite these influences, Fendrix has denied any direct references in his work, telling Spitfire Audio in January that he and Lanthimos “didn’t ever speak about any other films, or composers or film music,” and that his score “was built completely from the ground up.”
Born Joscelin Dent-Pooley, Fendrix attended Haberdashers’ Adams Grammar School in Shropshire before pursuing classical music at Cambridge University. He played in bands and co-founded an experimental theatre group that received acclaim in The Guardian for their “bleakly topical reworking” of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi in 2018. He was hired onto Poor Things—his first film composing gig—after his 2020 debut album caught the attention of Lanthimos, who had never used original music in his films. In 2024, he collaborated again with Lanthimos on his tenth film, Kinds of Kindness, which, perhaps coincidentally, opens with “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics.
Fendrix’s work on Poor Things garnered an Ivor, two World Soundtrack Awards, Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, and a global publishing deal with UMPG Classics & Screen, among other accolades.
Shooting the Messenger 