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Composed, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:
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Michael Kamen
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Co-Produced by:
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Steve McLaughlin
Chris Brooks
Orbital
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Additional Music by:
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Orbital
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Label:
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London/Polygram Records
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Release Date:
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October 14th, 1997
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you have an open mind about hearing techno/electronic
music rip alongside a moderately sized orchestral underscore.
Avoid it... if you prefer your horror scores to follow classic,
orchestral lines.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Event Horizon: (Michael Kamen) One of the scarier,
somewhat-trashy horror/sci-fi flicks of the late 1990's, Event
Horizon is a loose adaptation of William Castle's 1960 film Thirteen
Ghosts (which was badly remade in 2001). The concept of inheriting a
house with several brutal ghosts and a machine meant to open the gates of
Hell is translated into the script for Event Horizon, in which a
starship of that name is built to fold space (and, as in Dune, travel
great distances instantly) but instead opens the gates to Hell and kills its
own crew. When a rescue ship, "Lewis and Clark," goes to rescue the adrift
"Event Horizon," they are attacked by both the ghosts of the previous crew
and the ship itself, which is slowly pulling itself back through the gates
of Hell now that it has new human souls on board. Thus, the storyline is
nothing new, although the execution of the film is beautifully rendered,
with the ring-spinning mechanism at the heart of the ship offering extremely
disturbing visuals, countered by considerable space-bourne images of
explosions and lightning storms and the such. The music for the film would
take the haunted house horror formula and give it an Aliens feel for
the outer space setting. Die Hard Composer Michael Kamen is better
known for his Earth-bound drama and action scores, however, he is also
revered as one of the few composers who has made a successful transition
from pop music into classical orchestral film music. Kamen would not journey
to the Event Horizon project alone; the techno-electronica group
Orbital would provide a modern edge for the more explosive terror sequences
in the film. Together, between Kamen's traditional score for the scope of
the setting, and Orbital's uneasy electronica for the warped twists of the
script, the Event Horizon score was an interesting idea.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. While functioning
moderately well in the film, the score as heard without the film is a
disjointed battle between the two styles of music. Separately, Kamen's
orchestral music isn't spectacular, but the London Metropolitan Orchestra
does offer a basic backdrop for a sci-fi/horror film aspiring for front-line
attention. The only thematically developed cue is the "Turbulence" piece in
the second suite on the album. An impressive orchestral rhythm maintains
considerable, brassy excitement during that cue, but the rest of the
orchestra's recordings are held to a minimum of volume. The players do
handle all of the short bursts of brass necessary for shock moments in the
film. On the other hand, the drum and dance loops conjured by Orbital
explode with in-four-face attitude that rocks the score at maximum volume
for minutes at a time. These techno rhythms continue without interruption
for lengthy sequences, setting a distinct mood but often ignoring the
necessary cue changes in the film. They begin with more brute force in the
first half of the score, relentlessly shouting their arrival and drowning
out the orchestral accompaniment. At times, electronic whisperings and other
vocal distortions are heard during these rhythms, which is effective for the
genre. At the end of the third suite, one of these rhythms has a seemingly
lost, longing theme faintly heard in the background. The problem with all of
this is that a terrible job was done to combine the techno with the
orchestral. Orbital's music is mixed too loudly to coincide with Kamen's
work, and Kamen's bland work is conversly written and recorded without
enough power to sustain itself next to the techno beats. The distortion in
both the two styles sets a proper mood, but causes the score on album to
lose even more cohesion. Thus, overall, the score is a failure of mixing and
integration. The album presents another major problem. With several cues
mixed into four lengthy suites, it's difficult to hear any particular part
of the score with ease. Overall, the music for Event Horizon was a
good idea, but it was muddled in the process of combining the differing
styles of music into one cohesive product. *
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. The Forward Decks (14:01)
a) Lewis And Clark, b) Neptune, c) Clare, d) First Containment
e) Core, f) Metal, g) Second Containment, h) Air Lock
• 2. The Main Access Corridor (12:04)
a) Singularity, b) Ducts, c) Turbulence, d) Medical, e) Gravity Drive
• 3. Engineering (13:24)
a) Tomb, b) Blood, c) Countdown, d) Outer Door, e) Bio Scan
• 4. The Event Horizion (4:57)
a) Weir, b) Event Horizon
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Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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