An absolutely superb music score that holds the key to the film's success!! No, seriously,what's often overlooked is that the movie The Usual Suspects is such an effective thriller because of its strongly eerie atmospherics. Yes there's the plot, the cinematography, the scting, direstion, ingeniously woven and convoulted script, etc.. but the music is the element that draws yuo in on the most basic level as it sets the elegantly sinister tone during the opening sequence and continues to cast its spell during the twists and turns of the story. That Ottman wasn't nominated for an oscar is a shame: his was an incredibly clever score which subtly crept up on everyone and conjured the terrible ghoulish presence of the mythical crimelord. This may sound sccentric to some, but I consider this the best score of 1995 and would have awarded it the oscar. Also worth noting is that John Ottman was the editor on the film, the cutting being another key element in the success of the film. So Ottman could well be the unsung hero of this movie!