Did you hear the one about Marco Beltrami ? This composer walks into a studio
and writes a cracking post-modern horror score. He comes back and writes
a sequel soon after. On that one he is asked to emulate the guitar sound
of a John Woo / John Travolta picture. He thinks he has done his job, and
then discovers the original piece is still in it. Oh well. Then this other
composer (Ottman) gets a horror picture; the latest in a long line of Halloween
screams. They want a post-modern slant too, so they ask him to emulate the
first composer's sound. He thinks he has done his job, and then discovers
the original piece is still going to be in it. They bring in the first composer
and he works the first two scores into this latest. So what's the punchline
? Answer - this album.
It is every so easy to throw in a phrase like 'post-modern' and get away
with not explaining yourself. What it is deemed screenwriter Kevin Williamson
has created is an acceptance of in-jokes for cinema and TV (media journalism
seems to have forgotten something like Moonlighting). It is OK to be distracted
from the flow of a movie by a reference to "Wes Carpenter" or anal trivia
swaps. Musically speaking that gives licence to draw from existing sources
and styles and not be accused of plagiarism. Seems like an OK deal really
! The most obvious example of this in H20 is the start of "Advice". Jamie
Lee Curtis' real-life mum plays a school mistress. She was (of course) Marion
in Hitchcock's Psycho. After a couple of obvious lines about mothering and
showers she goes to her car (the one she had in Psycho). Accompanying her
walk are the strains of Herrmann's main theme. It is reasonably subtle. Is
it clever though ? Taken in the context of the rest of Ottman's intelligent
score - yes.
For legal reasons stemming from the circumstances described above, this disc
lives under the Picture Protection Program, and has been given a new identity
as "Portrait of Terror". Since it announces that it contains Carpenter's
Halloween Theme, it isn't really much of a disguise though. Two minutes into
"Main Title", and you're in no doubt as to what this is. What's great however
is that this is the theme as many composers must have been itching to hear
it - fully orchestrated and elaborated upon. It functions perfectly through
the opening credits, which are basically a montage re-telling of the story
to date by way of newspaper clippings etc. (a little reminiscent of Dead
Again or To Die For). It underlines each heading as you might expect, but
also manages to establish both the suspense and impending sense of resolution
that the film will bring.
Overshadowed by the exceedingly familiar cyclic Carpenter theme, is a secondary
piece he created for the "Shape" in stalk mode. It is simply a beat carved
out on firm piano chords accompanied by a ringing sample. For Portrait it
is braided into passages of suspense for the protracted sequence between
Laurie and Michael. In "Disposal" it is just about recognisable under some
seemingly endless reverberation from harp glissando. It is even better in
"Face To Face", which is the album's standout (and longest) cue. It dips
in and out of every phrase to create the ideal suite, and even manages to
conjure memories of The Usual Suspects at one point.
The best way to demonstrate that Ottman did a fine job is with "Road Trip".
This is a by-the-numbers scene of supposedly dead bad guy in back of vehicle
waking up. This cue is great - it knows the sounds of screeching tyres and
screams will drown it out. Instead, the powers went for a Scream cue and
at what becomes an important part of the film, that really drags the sequence
down. Maybe one day they'll learn when to leave well enough alone.
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Reviewer
Paul Tonks
OST
