But now I do it anyway But for a reason.

I've been listening to Amenábar's THE OTHERS for quite some time now. The point is that I truly adore his Main Title music ("The Others" on the CD) but can't understand why this marvelous composer's "turbulence" music lacks so much of melody (when the Main Title simply swarms with beautiful and mysterious notes). While all this horror and "turbulence" music works marvelously in the movie, on the soundtrack it isn't scary nor as atmospheric as with the images of the movie. - - WELL, AIN'T IT THE PURPOSE OF "MOVIE MUSIC" ?!!!!

Amenábar is very original while writing the simple and beautiful themes - his Main Title in my opinion is something easily linked to European folklore and could easily underscore the dark but fantastic worlds of the fairytales by the Brothers Grimm. Yet it is quite a negative surprise that with his true "horror" and "turbulence" music he just can't be original enough - his score, which has been said to avoid any typical clichés, in my opinion sounds in most parts just like anything coming from Hollywood nowadays - loud, noisy, and lacking melody 'n' any originality. Which is a pity for a score that has such a MARVELOUS and SPELLBINDING Main Title theme.

Thus I started to think about movie music - on soundtracks - that truly HAS enough power to scare the socks off the listener's feet and yet be MELODIC and/or simply ORIGINAL. I haven't yet found any rivals for such splendidly CHILLING orchestral turbulence as David Shire's "Flight in the Storm" in RETURN TO OZ or John Williams' "Miracle of the Ark" in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, or most of the cues on Jerry Goldsmith's THE OMEN. But when talking about truly FRIGHTENING movie music, can there be more perfectly terrifying cue as James Horner's "Tarantula Attack" (the latter part of "The Dust Witch") in SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, or something like Alan Silvestri's "Rest in Pieces" from PREDATOR 2 or Hans Zimmer's certain cues from PAPER HOUSE ??

So, let's go on a search for some TRULY frightening movie music - tell me what score cues have managed to scare your socks off !!

And please don't tell me that Amenábar's THE OTHERS is scary music
...I'd certainly like to know what kind of stuff the other THE OTHER(S) score includes - wasn't it by Jerry Goldsmith himself ?

KEN

Is this the SWTWC (warning! tacky!)that you mean?

Otherwise, I don't know where one would get this CD.

See the movie when it comes out on DVD. I doubt you will ever see a darker film than Frailty.

Amenabar was kind enough to write the Afterword for our release of THE CHANGELING (Percepto 006). His notes certainly offer greater insight into his appreciation of scoring for a horror film.

Here are his notes in their entirety:

"The release of this recording is, for me, the fulfillment of an old dream, so old, in fact, that I had given it up as impossible. Many years have passed since I saw and heard The Changeling. The images and their underlying music made an indelible impression on my mind.

There is something I find indisputable in Peter Medak’s picture, namely his ability to send a real shiver down your spine, the sort that has you teetering on the edge of a precipice, or in this case, on the edge of a staircase, and sends you plunging into the unknown. I consider that the music composed for The Changeling was fundamental in creating just such an atmosphere, and rarely have I found a soundtrack so suggestive and stimulating. Thanks to the solid simplicity of its concept carried principally by piano, strings and chorus, and its extremely elegant harmonies, The Changeling’s score succeeds in blending two elements which are difficult to unite in works of its nature: serene beauty and implacable efficacy. The astonishing melancholy of its main theme, a genuine masterpiece, gives sense to and is, in my opinion, the basis of one of the best horror movie soundtracks of all time."

Alejandro Amenabar, Director of The Others
September, 2001

I'm just crazy about horror movie waltzes !!!!

HELLRAISER (Resurrection) Gorgeous, malevolent piece by Chris Young for orchestra

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (The VCA Waltz) Marginally a horror film, but one of my all time favorite pieces of music, quietly moving, this has such a beautiful nocturnal beauty, my heart is thumping just thinking about....gorgeous cue for string quartet, harp and piano by Young.

TIME AFTER TIME (Time Machine Waltz) by Rozsa....again, marginal horror, but the music? See above!

I simply NEED to get MEPHISTO WALTZ and the things you recommended, Sean (though I have the Hellraiser "Resurrection" waltz - simply magnificent) !!!

Does neither of you do any trades ??

Of course I do trades!

Drop me an email, I would be MORE than happy to get a copy of the above(especially Flowers/Attic) to ya, I think you'd enjoy them