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Author	Topic: The Haunting- Anygood?

TimT Oscar® Winner	So how is it?
posted 07-20-1999 10:15 AM PT (US)

Crono/Kyp Oscar® Winner	Hey, Just wait tell about 11am or 12pm PST and I bet reviews will be all over the place. --Crono/Kyp Writer/Director/Producer NP: Going right now to get WWW
posted 07-20-1999 10:20 AM PT (US)

Widescreen Oscar® Winner	I'm looking at a copy right now- and I have to say Varese outdid themselves on a simple classic design of the cd- lots of pictures, the face label on the disc looks great, and that does add to the enjoyment of the disc. As to how it sounds- I actually will get to see the movie for free tonight, so I'll wait until after to hear the score.
posted 07-20-1999 01:15 PM PT (US)

TimT Oscar® Winner	Well I've got the CD, and I listened to it once.Now heres my first impression. I don't know what goes on in the film, but the score is mostly spooky quiet atmospheric tracks. There is hardly any loud suspense or horror music,and when it does show up its very brief or restrained. There aren't any orchestral crashes and no loud brass shouts like in other Goldsmith scores. What I'm trying to say is that this score is not scarry at all, its just spooky. Like the characters just snoop around the house but nothing pops out and says "Boo!". There is a main theme, that doesn't apprear until the 3rd track. Its played sofly on flute with accompanying stings, its sounds a little like the love theme from The Mummy and some of the Ba'Ku Village from Star Trek Insurrection, oh and its very brief. I think it apprears just 3 times throughout the whole score. Right now I'm somewhat dissopointed,but I'm not going to blame anyone until I see the film first. This Varasé CD is just 35 min,so of coarse theres a good chunk missing. I give this a (2 of 5) NP- The Haunted (2nd listen) - Jerry Goldsmith
posted 07-20-1999 01:18 PM PT (US)

Jeron Oscar® Winner	Well... after listening to this cd several times - I've come to the conclusion that Goldsmith has done it yet again. This isn't your typical JG score, though. It's quite a bit deeper. Yes, as Tim mentioned - it is "spooky." There's nothing incredibly "scary" about it... but it is awesome nonetheless. Very fun to listen to in the dark. The first track threw me completely off... "The Carousel." What is this?!?! Well, it's SUPPOSED to throw you off. It's wierd, it's crazy - it's a theme that sinks into the rest of the score if you listen carefully. This kind of cue hasn't been done by Goldsmith is quite awhile (can't remember his last right off the bat). The instrumentation at times is very subtle, giving it a very transparent feel. I'm sure Jerry did that on purpose. Several of the cues are playful and spooky at the same time, while also hinting to a greater evil, just around the corner. This is revealed in track 8, "Finally Home". I have no idea what that means - the track title suggests that it would be a pleasant, positive track - but... oh ho no. It's very grandeur and forboding... and at times VERY beautiful in it's own right. Varese DID rip us off AGAIN, but you know what? At least we have what we have. The cues that are on the cd are superb and definitely "get" worthy. So go get it if you don't have it. Jeron NP- The Haunting (Umpteenth time to listen to it) PS- And I don't care if you don't like Goldsmith - you're silly if you don't like Goldsmith. [This message has been edited by Jeron (edited 07-20-99).]
posted 07-20-1999 11:01 PM PT (US)

Al Oscar® Winner	It's not for everyone sure, but this Goldsmith fan found a lot of enjoyment in this score. I for one love haunted house movies, so I was really excited when hearing Jerry was doing this one. It's horror flick music with a subtle approach that saves the 'bang' for 'Finally Home' - a great track with dark gothic brass, strings, and low pulsing synth. The whole score is very elegant. The theme for the house sounds like something that you would dance to in a ballroom. Clever, really. The carousel theme has been done before. It is performed in twisted ways throughout the score. You can guess that by looking at the track titles and knowing that this is a haunted house score. One time it's played by the brass section in a twisted manner, another time it's carousel music with eerie strings and such, but my favorite performance of it is still the first track when it is played normally. Carousel theme with 'harmonic' strings and brass. Not bad. There is a quite pretty theme that brings back memories of Poltergeist. At first, in track 3, it is an innocent tune, a love theme I suppose, which resembles a simple lullaby. It's quite catchy. However, in the next two tracks, it is given an eerie yet elegant feel just like the house theme. A fairly good resolution is given at the last track when some beautiful strings come into play after a pretty performance of the lullaby. However, the last half of the track consists of the 'house music you could ballroom dance to'. Not the most satisfying ending, but for a Goldsmith fan, the payoff came upon listening to this clever work as a whole.
posted 07-21-1999 06:46 AM PT (US)

Kosh Oscar® Winner	This looks like a fairly good though quiet score.... However, before I turn over heaven and hell to find it in Québec, does anyone know of any website that offers track samples from "THE HAUNTING", besides CDNow, because they have exerpts from only the first tracks... I'd like to sample the end music too. So, if anyone knows of MP3s, MPGs, RAMs, any samples, please tell me, and everyone on the board too, since I'm sure they'd like to know
posted 07-21-1999 08:12 PM PT (US)

Al Oscar® Winner	The score works well in the film. Especially neat is the lullaby theme's use. Eleanor, the one it is related to, hums it now and then throughout the film. In one scene, she winds up a music-box-like machine and it plays the lullaby. Goldsmith's score in the film was edited here and there. Terror In The Bed, A Place For Everything, and Home Safe being the most obvious. Actually 'Home Safe' on CD contains a different emotional climax that works for me better than the one in film. The film version 's big moment has the lullaby performed by strings instead of the secondary theme heard briefly in the last track. Well, they are really both brief yet beautiful. To get a good idea about what the score is about you do need to see the film. It works.
posted 07-23-1999 07:45 PM PT (US)

Jeron Oscar® Winner	I've impressed myself... this is an excerpt from my last review: "Several of the cues are playful and spooky at the same time, while also hinting to a greater evil, just around the corner. This is revealed in track 8, 'Finally Home'." ...and it turned out to be entirely true. This is WHY I love listening to the scores BEFORE I see the movies... I literally, in a way, could tell what was happening BY the music... and we all know what that means... Jerry has created yet another awesome masterpiece! The screenplay for this film could have been better, but the special effects and spooky base-story more than make up for it. Jerry's score fit right in... all the way to the last cue. Now I do have one thing to say (and a correction to make), and i'd like to know if anyone else agrees: Varese actually didn't rip us off with this score. Virtually all the important cues in the entire movie are there. While watching the movie, I didn't hear much of anything (that wasn't repeated) and that wasn't included by Varese. This is definitely a score which comes highly recommended. It's both effective and independently listenable. Jeron [This message has been edited by Jeron (edited 07-23-99).]
posted 07-23-1999 08:44 PM PT (US)

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