The Haunting Soundtrack Review
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith
Critically reviled on release, Jan de Bont's remake of Robert Wise's classic 1963 chiller The Haunting is perhaps not as bad as the vitriolic press indicated. The production values, sound design and effects are all top notch, although as a result talented actors, Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor among them, are lost in the mix and forced to resort to boggle eyed reaction shots.
Echoes of Poltergeist, Star Trek and Basic Instinct
Continuing his infamous knack of providing great scores for undeserving films, Jerry Goldsmith again steps up to the plate and provides an eerie, poignant tone poem for the films overblown gothic imagery. There are striking echoes of Poltergeist, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and especially Basic Instinct in Goldsmith's delightfully graceful tones, ones that eschew crash bang horror in favour of something more subtle and creepy.
Beginning in The Carousel with a cliched but still enjoyable calliope rhythm for the merry-go-round of mirrors seen in the film (something that's never adequately explained), the main theme of the film then takes over: high strings descending down through the musical scale in remarkably chilling fashion, although the rub comes from its ambiguity. We're never sure whether to be soothed or scared by the music.
More overt Horror for the Hugh Crain character
This latter theme (ostensibly for the house itself), is reprised several times, giving the score a pleasing sense of continuity. Its most notable renditions come in Curly Hair for full strings, in quieter fashion for The Curtains and as a theme of realisation in The Picture Album, where it is turned into something quite urgent and ominous.
The other dominant theme is the beautiful, delicate lullaby for Taylor's Eleanor character, and the relationship she uncovers with the ghostly children trapped in the house. Introduced in A Place for Everything, where it bears superficial similarities to Carol Anne's Theme from Poltergeist, it reaches stunning heights in the climactic Home Safe accompanying the film's effects strewn epilogue.
Orchestral rumblings representing the ghostly arch villain of the piece, Hugh Crain, come to the fore in Terror in Bed, a cue that especially highlights the cavernous quality of recording (at the then new Newman Scoring Stage at Fox). Goldsmith's chase music laid down in his other 1999 effort The Mummy gets a chilling twist in Return to the Carousel when the calliope is reprised and gives way to the eerie main theme.
A poor Horror Film but Goldsmith's Music is superb
However, in essence the whole album has been building up to the penultimate track, Finally Home, when Crain finally emerges from the shadows. Beginning slowly, almost teasingly, huge resounding brass and echoing synth effects suddenly erupt from the orchestra and the cue builds immense power and energy as the film's showdown takes place. The music at this stage rises well above the film it was designed for.
Once again, Goldsmith's skill at scoring for horror, not matter how feeble, cannot be denied. It's just a crying shame that the film in question was more of a step down than usual. Had it been even semi-successful, the themes from The Haunting may have joined the ranks of Goldsmith classics.
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