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There's too many threads talking about the sound quality of the recordings. If you want to jaw about that, go to one of those. THIS thread is about the music!
Gawd luv him, Lalo Schifrin is still alive and for no good reason I'm listening to this score over and over. Back in 1982, I wondered why a horror film got an Oscar nomination.
But now that I'm not a callow youngster, I can hear why. He does such interesting things with those strings, and so often! (And think about it: how often has a horror film gotten a score nomination? Not often.)
David Raksin said it once: "Those jazz guys, they can do ANYTHING!"
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Posted: |
Sep 3, 2014 - 8:50 PM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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David Raksin said it once: "Those jazz guys, they can do ANYTHING!"
It's very true. It's a GREAT horror score. I love the strident, questing secondary themes are well, as our characters research and delve into the mystery of the house's past.
When he wanted to, Schifrin really could churn out some amazingly involved, detailed orchestral writing for his infrequent but amazing horror film scores. As I recall, his AMITYVILLE 2 score uses extended string techniques to an even greater degree which is to say nothing of 2006's ABOMINABLE, which has some truly textbook horror cues. I think creepy slurring bass string glissandos (glissandi?) are one of the most primordial and instantly effective horror devices, ever. They just work every damn time.
Still waiting for a release of the complete original score tapes for this, as well as AMITYVILLE 2, DAY OF THE ANIMALS and *especially* his amazing score to THE MANITOU!!!
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Love it. One of the 1st scores that got me into this film music stuff when I was a kid.
I ALSO would love a proper release of this AMITYVILLE 2, DAY OF THE ANIMALS and THE MANITOU!
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David Raksin said it once: "Those jazz guys, they can do ANYTHING!"
It's very true. It's a GREAT horror score. I love the strident, questing secondary themes are well, as our characters research and delve into the mystery of the house's past.
When he wanted to, Schifrin really could churn out some amazingly involved, detailed orchestral writing for his infrequent but amazing horror film scores. As I recall, his AMITYVILLE 2 score uses extended string techniques to an even greater degree
I wish now I could see it. There's no copies of it in the library. 
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Posted: |
Mar 23, 2015 - 9:52 PM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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Having recently re-watched this with a friend on Netflix, for shits and giggles and because he'd never seen it and was curious, I as struck by the score all over again and have been revisiting both the re-recording and the pristine-sounding Vinyl rip I have as well. Man, what a cool and addictive score.
Beyond the infamous main theme - Which, of course, is referenced constantly due to the effective simplicity of its first two-note construct, "Nah... NAH", something struck me this time that I'd never consciously realized before:
This score is incredibly AUTUMNAL sounding, even during some of the suspense scenes.
The film of course was shot during autumn, and clearly Schifrin used that as a point of inspiration. Those searching, questing, rolling string and woodwind textures do a fantastic job of evoking the red-orange-yellow pallet of leaves blowing in the wind, looking beautiful and wistful but hiding something sinister and dark beneath the surface beauty.
Frankly, it's a very exciting and compelling soundscape he's created here. Very, very effective writing.
Richard Band's THE ALCHEMIST and HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, Robert Folk's THE SLAYER and James Horner's title theme from THE HAND and certainly his entire score for SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES all evoke a similar quality for me, a kind of breezy, churning, questing, autumnal, lyrical darkness. I'd even say Daniel Licht's BAD MOON title theme does that as well, John Debney's terrific DREAM HOUSE and THE HALLOWEEN TREE, and Alan Menken's fantastic (if obviously Saint-Saens inspired) main title from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
I'm sure there are others, but for me those come immediately to mind as falling in a similar vein of dark, wistful, autumnal lyricism.
Did Schifrin orchestrate this himself? IMDB doesn't credit one and I don't recall from the liner notes.
Love rediscovering a score I don't visit that as often these days!
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Posted: |
Mar 27, 2015 - 4:07 PM
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By: |
DS
(Member)
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bobbengan,
Your comments on this score inspired me to revisit the film a couple days ago. I'd seen it sometime in elementary school (maybe twenty years ago) but I really didn't remember the film or the score at all (and even though I'm a big Schifrin fan - "The Fox" being a top ten score for me - I never sought out the LP or re-recording). The film itself is an odd beast - the performances are over-the-top in an almost stylized way, which wouldn't be a bad thing except the film itself isn't stylized & has a very serious tone that doesn't mesh with how high toned the performances are - but the score is brilliant.
The lullaby waltz is the typical horror device here, and it's good, but as you wrote it's the extremely autumnal feel of virtually every cue that's breathtaking. Schifrin said in the video interview posted above that he is a skeptic on the subject matter of the film, and the music - to my ears - reflects his detachment, resulting in an unusually personal approach to scoring a film in this genre. Schifrin doesn't seem to be interested in the horror or even the emotions so much as he is attracted to the surroundings of the house - the weather, trees, colors, wind - as well as the specific areas of the house - the walls and stairs, the closet, the basement. The lullaby is what seems to be scoring the "supernatural" element and there's a lovely and subtle "love theme," but these seem secondary to scoring the physical settings and the scenery. It's overall a very "Earth-bound" horror score. The cues that reflect this most strongly to me are "Get Out!" and "At the Park" from the LP and "The Staircase" from the re-recording. The movie is also photographed in such a way as to include trees and leaves and bushes in most of the exterior shots, so this somewhat "Earth-bound" approach seems to have been on Stuart Rosenberg's mind as well (the OTT performances compromise this, but that's a different discussion).
The orchestration, as you also pointed out, is also extremely rich, detailed, and full of color. I'm also very curious if Schifrin orchestrated this himself, but there doesn't seem to be any information available (maybe the LP sleeve?).
PS - shouldn't the year on the subject of this thread be changed to 1979, the year the film came out?
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