Buy it... only if you are the most ambitious collector of James Horner's work and wish to hear a stark title theme featuring progressions of tragedy that foreshadow John Ottman's later suspense methods.

Avoid it... if Horner's sparse, mostly synthetic suspense music of the 1980's and associated, generic, low-key thriller techniques don't hold your interest, for both aspects of that writing are at work in this bland effort.

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Unlawful Entry: (James Horner) An interesting premise occupies Unlawful Entry, one that elevates the 1992 film beyond its expected restraints in the cheap thriller category and thrusts it into one of social drama. A man and his wife, a typical, loving suburban couple consisting of Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe, are set up in a false burglary attempt on their home and are tricked into relying upon the assistance of a police officer to protect them. The cop is a psycho with a nice good-guy look about him, however, and Ray Liotta does his best to outperform his previous efforts in exactly the same kind of role. As the corrupt officer works his way into this couple's lives and eventually lands the husband in jail, viewers are meant to fear for the innocently vulnerable wife, who not only fails to see this train of passion steaming towards her, but even gets herself into the "woman in creepy dark house by herself" kind of scenarios by the end of film. Until that all-too-familiar end, the film is somewhat intelligent, but the stereotypical climax is a disappointment for fans of director Jonathan Kaplan, whose crowning achievement, The Accused, and his other films seem to excel at perpetuating scenes of fear and confusion. For a project that would seem a perfect fit for the likes of composer Christopher Young, especially after Hider in the House not long before, mainstream star James Horner instead took the assignment. The year of 1992 was one that kept Horner away from the large orchestral ensembles with which he had made his fame, with several projects consisting totally of (or being dominated by) electronics. Very much like Thunderheart, Unlawful Entry would be built upon Horner's keyboarding and four assistant musicians performing solo instruments. Despite the ensemble of five performers, however, the array of electronics is clearly at the heart of Unlawful Entry, a grating edge that defies the sanctity of the home. The reason for this sound is most likely due to budgetary constraints, for there are parts of the score that would clearly sound superior (as was the case with The Name of the Rose) had an orchestra been employed for the performance. The result is a score that is generally considered by Horner collectors to be, in a competition with Bopha! and Jade, his worst effort of the 1990's.

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Augmenting Horner's synthetic keyboarding in Unlawful Entry is the regular pairing of a saxophone and a piano. It's not clear exactly how much of the percussion is synthetic as well, though some of the metallic elements do reverberate with a certain genuine touch. Horner has produced mostly electronic (and some all-synthetic) scores that range from decent to quite terrible, and Unlawful Entry unfortunately rests near the bottom of the barrel in that grouping. It simply does not provide enough inspired ideas to warrant its enjoyment apart of the film, and its presence in context has the sound of a stock B-rate product. The score can be divided into two sections: the opening and closing credits that merit attention and the extremely bland underscore that resides in between. The suspense portions retain some basic characteristics from Thunderheart and Vibes, especially in the piano crashes from the former and the bass-heavy droning from the latter. To dismiss much of Unlawful Entry as unpleasant would fail to recognize that even in its unpleasantness, there is little technical intelligence in the composition to maintain your interest. The sharp jabs of broken chords, mainstays of the budget horror genre, get tiresome fast. The use of a police siren sound effect produced by the synths in "Leon's Death" is about the only notable point. The title theme, however, has several very intriguing elements. First, a piano sets the stage with a truly John Carpenter-like horror rhythm. The theme itself, performed by subdued saxophone, is very elegant in construct, with tragic chord progressions not normally heard from Horner. In the manner in which Horner changes between major and minor keys, the theme has the distinct sound of John Ottman's style from later in the decade, and enthusiasts of the younger composer might find much enjoyment in its inherent darkness. As such, the title theme for Unlawful Entry absolutely begs for a fully symphonic recording at some point, with bass strings replacing the electronic bass, a real choir in place of the fake one, and a brass section taking the melody. Horner collectors will have to use their imaginations in the meantime, and fortunately for them, the theme occupies over seven minutes on album. But if you combine the frustration of this underdeveloped instrumentation with the dull underscore and a short overall running time, the album is still extremely disappointing. There is a reason why its label, Intrada Records, decided to sell it off at 99 cents apiece in 1998, the ultimate recognition of a failed product. *   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 98 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.25 (in 184,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.