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Author	Topic: Impressed by Humanoids

SEBULBA Oscar® Winner	I just got Humanoids From The Deep by James Horner, and I gotta say, I'm more impressed with it than some of his more recent scores. Humanoids is more original. Not the typical Horner we here today. Yes, there are a few moments of the (now trademark) echoing clicks and such, but on a whole, a good original score.
posted 01-23-2001 08:10 AM PT (US)

dgoldwas Oscar® Winner	heh heh. Considering it was one of his first feature scores, it not only was more 'original' when compared to his other works, but also (with Battle Beyond the Stars) serves as an ancestor to many of his later scores. Dan
posted 01-23-2001 08:18 AM PT (US)

A.G Oscar® Winner	Sounds great Sebulba. Shamefully, I don't have ONE pre-Titanic James Horner score, which is a shame as I get the general impression that his early 80s scores generally excellent (not that his recent ones are bad, Mask Of Zorro anyone?). I'll give Aliens a try, methinks.
posted 01-23-2001 08:24 AM PT (US)

SEBULBA Oscar® Winner	Aliens is one of my faves for sure. Star Trek II is also a great one by Horner. And Battle Beyond The Stars is also great. I do still like Horners work, but it's just getting repetitive. He needs to go back to his old style. So if you can pick up Aliens, I would grab that.
posted 01-23-2001 08:35 AM PT (US)

OHMSS76 Oscar® Winner	Humanoids is a fun score, Ive always dug it....even still have the old Cerebus LP. Even though there's Boys from Brazil all over the action scenes! Doh! Does anyone, by the way, have the real story on any original Horner score in UP FROM THE DEPTHS? I see people hawking boots of this all the time, and there is a listing in the IMDB for it....but I can't find a copy for rent anymore! Best, Sean
posted 01-23-2001 09:59 AM PT (US)

BMikeJ Oscar® Winner	quote: Originally posted by OHMSS76: Humanoids is a fun score, Ive always dug it....even still have the old Cerebus LP. Even though there's Boys from Brazil all over the action scenes! Doh! Best, Sean And let's not forget the homage to Laurence Rosenthal's Island Of Dr. Moreau in the main titles...
posted 01-23-2001 11:45 AM PT (US)

MWRuger Oscar® Winner	I’m not a composer, so if there is one reading this who can correct me, please do so. But, is it even possible for a composer to “go back” to his old style? Writers, Painters and Musicians are constantly evolving and changing their style as a result of successes, failures, life experiences and epiphanies. You can’t “un-experience” life, so I don’t think a composer can do this in any way other than to basically do a pastiche of his own earlier works. The Beatles tried this with “Let It Be” and it doesn’t sound very much like their earlier stuff despite the fact that the used similar instruments, the same studio and even the same producer and sound guys. An artist’s, especially a breakthrough artist’s, earlier works nearly always sounds fresher. After all, they are bringing the world something it hasn’t heard yet. Even if they don’t change anything about the way they compose, their work will no longer sound fresh. If they don’t seek a new style, they run the risk of sounding hackneyed. Can anyone think of an example where a composer has done this (deliberately evoked an earlier style) and succeeded in sounding fresh? Just ruminations on a difficult subject.
posted 01-23-2001 11:46 AM PT (US)

H Rocco Oscar® Winner	Good question, as is typical of Mr. Ruger. Off the top of my head: Christopher Young, after years of avoiding horror films (having had a gutful of them in his early years) went back to the genre with URBAN LEGEND, and did a kickass job. I have yet to hear THE GIFT or BLESS THE CHILD, but reviews of these suggest that he's enjoying horror again (since it's not the ONLY genre he's confined to now, as was all too often true in the eighties.) Jerry Goldsmith's THE MUMMY is pleasantly retro, recalling scores as various as THE WIND AND THE LION and KING SOLOMON'S MINES. I didn't think much of the movie, but am disappointed he won't be returning for the MUMMY sequel, since it looked like he'd get a chance to do more of the same (and, I hoped, might also evoke THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, given the film's London period setting.) Akira Ifukube provided vigorous scores for GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH, VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993) and VS. DESTROYER, all of them retreads of themes he'd written years before, but all of them sounding fresh and exciting. John Williams' ROSEWOOD is a fascinating distorted mirror of THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS, and THE PHANTOM MENACE, while still recognizably a STAR WARS score, also manages to reflect the changes in Williams we've heard over the years. And Ennio Morricone's U-TURN is a nifty echo of his spaghetti western years, while still feeling thoroughly original.
posted 01-23-2001 02:31 PM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Oscar® Winner	The film though is flat awful. A solid F---/. The monsters have coat hangers sticking out of their fingers. Best, John.
posted 01-23-2001 04:52 PM PT (US)

Graham Watt Oscar® Winner	Without wanting to stir up the whole plagiarism issue again, I think Humanoids came out when Horner was still very much under the influence of Goldsmith's Alien, is that right? This kind of sound made its way into all Horner-scored films of the period, from Wolfen to Star Trek 2 and even 48 Hours (remember the music for the neon lit climactic showdown?) Can anyone verify that there was in fact genuine Goldsmith music tracked into Humanoids? It won't be on any album of course, but I distinctly remember some action scenes in which The Swarm was bustling away under the sound effects. And, John, yes it was a real Grade F movie, but quite a fun one! One thing that struck me was the amount of gratuitous ripped blouse/bouncing breast shots. Was the name Barbara Peeters (director) a pseudonym for Joe Leery or something?
posted 01-24-2001 04:42 AM PT (US)

H Rocco Oscar® Winner	I haven't seen the picture in a long time, but I THINK I'd have noticed Goldsmith music. There are indeed considerable echoes of ALIEN (which might have been what the producers wanted anyway). Horner is not terribly proud of this one, or BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, which is why there was no legit CD, despite legit LPs for both. Intrada or someone would probably have put them out, but the legit companies have bowed to Horner's wishes.
posted 01-24-2001 12:26 PM PT (US)

SEBULBA Oscar® Winner	I don't really see what Horner's problem would be with either of those scores. I love Battle Beyond The Stars. I've had that since it was released back with the film, and it's always been a favorite to listen to. And as my post started, I just got Humanoids, and I like it. I think it's a pretty good score.
posted 01-24-2001 12:54 PM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Oscar® Winner	Yes, Graham. It has plenty of screaming naked women running on the beach into the monster's arms and so forth. I remember a couple of those scenes too. Even they are funny. Best, John.
posted 01-24-2001 03:19 PM PT (US)

H Rocco Oscar® Winner	Many composers are embarrassed by their "maiden works" -- or even latter-day ones. Chris Young has banned legit CDs of PRANKS and THE POWER for the same reason Horner does; in more recent years, Goldsmith, who had a contract with short-lived 20th Century-Fox Records, prevailed upon them NOT to release THE VANISHING. No doubt he shudders at the fact there are boots of earliest works like CITY IN FEAR, as well. And so on.
posted 01-24-2001 03:25 PM PT (US)

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