Just saw POLTERGEIST today again, now on DVD.

I would love to write one of those great in deep analisys of the music, but I think it's better to leave it to more gifted people like Dan Hobgood or MLWare.

But one thing I can say: POLTERGEIST alongside with ALIEN and THE OMEN are the most frightening movie music ever composed, isn't it?.
And what's most impressive: there's no cliché, no easy "scary" buttons pushed... 100% pure original, highly inovative music.

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Originally posted by André Lux:

Jerry Goldsmith...
Man, he knows.

Just saw POLTERGEIST today again, now on DVD.

I would love to write one of those great in deep analisys of the music, but I think it's better to leave it to more gifted people like Dan Hobgood or MLWare.

But one thing I can say: POLTERGEIST alongside with ALIEN and THE OMEN are the most frightening movie music ever composed, isn't it?.
And what's most impressive: there's no cliché, no easy "scary" buttons pushed... 100% pure original, highly inovative music.

Jerry Goldsmith: he knows what scares you...

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Case in point, "It Knows What Scares You," the transition from Carol Anne's theme to those evil, dark sounds as Zelda Rubinstein says, "...but she's not alone..."

While I certainly agree that The Omen and Memphisto Waltz are highly effective, and Alien is a work of genius, I have to say that this score, by sheer virtue of the contrasts employed in its execution is possibly the scariest of the bunch. The Omen comes closest to this for the same reasons (the lullabye, etc.), I think, but I believe that the non-development of the themes for the evil forces in Poltergeist actually works more in the film and score's favor by suggesting the unknown.

As Spielberg mentions in his original liner notes:

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Don't trust his melodies. Something perfectly unworldly is due to occur the moment you let your guard drop and Goldsmith proceeds to feign and attack with no "apparent" rhyme or pattern.

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NP - Jerry Goldsmith Poltergeist (Andre talked me into it)

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Originally posted by Swashbuckler:

Case in point, "It Knows What Scares You," the transition from Carol Anne's theme to those evil, dark sounds as Zelda Rubinstein says, "...but she's not alone..."

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Jesus Christ, man!!!
Don't do this again!
You've just made me piss my pants!!

A little anecdote: On my invoice for the CD (yes, I keep all my CD invoices) "Poltergeist" is mis-spelled "Polstergeist". "Polster" is German for "pillow" ("Geist" is of course "ghost").

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Originally posted by André Lux:

Jesus Christ, man!!!
Don't do this again!
You've just made me piss my pants!!

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Andre, for the record, Poltergeist was on today, and I watched most of it. Unfortunately, I missed this scene because I had to run to the store. However, I put the album on and that one part scared the living hell out of me again.

It's a real testament to a composer's skill when you can know when the scary part is coming and still get caught by it.

NP - Jerry Goldsmith Poltergeist

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Howard Shore and Christopher Young are the only Film composers who've written music that REALLY gives me the creeps.

Check out for instance Shore's The Cell or The Fly or Silence Of The Lambs.

Young's Hellraiser scores....Leviathan from Hellraiser II has got to be the most spine tingly creepy overworldly piece of music ever written!

Poltergeist IS scary for me. The Omen isn't. Devilishly brilliant it is, and sometimes it makes me put on a dark grin while listening to it, but it doesn't scare me.

Chris, if you didn't find Poltergeist scary you must find the sequel pretty scary.

It's an album I don't play very often, but it's very scary. Reading what Al posted above about the movie, this sounds like one of the most scaring movies I've seen.