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Hide and Seek: (John Ottman) There are several films
like
Hide and Seek in composer John Ottman's young career... sub-par
horror flicks that seem to suit the composer well, but sadly lacking in
ingenuity and evaporating from the collective public memory within just a
few years. For the John Polson film based on Ari Schlossberg screenplay,
Ottman replaces originally assigned horror master Christopher Young,
although for much of the score you wouldn't notice the difference. On the
film's part,
Hide and Seek was both a critical and popular failure,
released just after the new year, which isn't a good sign of confidence from
the studio for any horror film. In it, Robert De Niro is a psychiatrist and
child star Dakota Fanning is his pre-adolescent daughter. The mother commits
suicide in their apartment and the father does what nobody in his right mind
should do: move the two out to a big old deserted mansion where the
neighbors are a bit weird and the local sheriff has the keys to everyone's
door. The girl begins playing with an imaginary friend who, as expected, is
eventually suspected as the source of blood spatterings, dead pets, strange
noises, and, of course, the further psychological disarray of the daughter.
The film's overly logical and stretched ending is a knock to any fine
psychological thriller, and the film has been accused of existing for the
sole purpose of yanking your chain in the last few minutes. None of this
seems to bother Ottman, who continues to write music for an odd assortment
of typically unpopular suspense films.
Replacing Chris Young on the project is no substantial loss
these days in the horror industry given Ottman's ability and apparent
willingness to write music of a quality undeserved by such films. Once
again,
Hide and Seek is a project for which Ottman presents
interesting ideas to film music collectors in an atmosphere that likely
could have sufficed with far less, and the end result is a satisfying
listening experience on album. The thematic centerpiece of Ottman's score
is, as usual, his most creative idea for the film. A child's lullaby is
penned for the Emily character (Fanning), a simple two-verse, six note piece
that strikes similarities to children's rhymes and other songs you'll
vaguely recall from your own youth. While bordering on cliche whenever such
a "la-la" song is used in this circumstance (especially since Jerry
Goldsmith's
Poltergeist), Ottman pulls it off without false pretense.
Part of this success in the opening cue, and in the thematic performances
throughout, is due to Ottman's constant reminder of tension in his quiet
crescendos, pulses, and other strokes of emphasis on the subtleties of notes
in both the forefront and the counterpoint. A superb example of this tension
in the face of innocence is developed in "Toy Shrine" and "The Playground,"
back-to-back cues that offer solo piano and string performances that shift
with just right tones of magic and curiosity as to pull you into a child's
psychological world.
The action material is less unique to
Hide and Seek,
although the album is arranged so that the more intriguing rhythmic portions
exist at the start. Both "What Did You Do?" and "Can You See Now?" present
frantic, alternating string rhythms with tingling harp, synthetic choir, and
slowly rising chord progressions that lead up to each grisly discovery. In
the latter half of the album, Ottman does resort to stock orchestra hits,
less interesting wild string waverings, and fewer integrations of his
established theme. The album's price will be determined based on your liking
of the lullaby, however, and Ottman knows this. After the wordless
introduction of the theme in the opening cue, a version by the same voice
with clever lyrics closes out a suite-like performance highlight in the
final score cue. The last track on the album is a rock instrument and slow
electronica rhythm rendition of the same theme by an adult female voice, and
although it shares absolutely no characteristics with the orchestral score,
it is surprisingly easy to enjoy in and of itself. Its appeal seems to exist
in Ottman's ability to transfer the same melancholy attitude to a rendition
of a melody that is instrumentally so different. Overall,
Hide and
Seek is yet another Ottman score that has three or four fabulous tracks
for a compilation surrounded by basically interesting, but not substantially
fresh horror ideas.
***
| Bias Check: | For John Ottman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.29 (in 28 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.06
(in 15,541 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
