There has to be something said for Tyler's choice to "overscore" a movie like Darkness Falls. This project didn't deserve such a dynamic orchestral score, but Tyler obviously approached it with enthusiasm and loyalty to a previous age in film music. The scope of the orchestral performances is very large, the ambience of the recording (conducted in a church) is immense, and the composition is full of thematic development. There are synthesizers and the electronic manipulation of organic sounds to be heard in several sequences, but this is primarily an orchestral work. Hyperactive brass and percussion sections are the highlights, matching some of Tyler's most brutal career action and horror music. Like Children of Dune, this score is somewhat of a sampler of Tyler's capabilities, too, spanning a wide range of emotional appeal. While the absolutely massive theme for the horror sequences in Darkness Falls is the most memorable of the lot, Tyler's drama and suspense ideas merit your attention as well. Technically the primary theme is a descending series of phrases that connects this score to Goldsmith's The Haunting and Trevor Jones' The Last of the Mohicans (with a touch of Joel McNeely's The Avengers thrown in during "Overhead," a slightly more hip passage with slight contemporary loops), heard throughout "Darkness Falls" and in several different contexts throughout, including the evocative statement in "The Mask," before appearing as an interlude in "End Titles." Softer on the ears is a pretty, ascending theme for keyboards and woodwinds in "One Kiss" and "Blood Red Herring." A mysterious theme of suspicion marks the scenes of quiet uncertainty, its alternating notes sometimes existing underneath the main theme (as in "Interrogatorio"). In Tyler's methods of expressing these melodies, it's difficult not to get the feeling that he was directly channeling Goldsmith's instrumental techniques. John Ottman occasionally attempted the same thing at the time, but Tyler really did manage to nail such associations. Rarely did Goldsmith ever build his rhythmic mayhem to such earth-shattering proportions, however, and Darkness Falls remains an exhibit of Tyler's tendency to go over the top when stirring up scares of a fantasy nature. At the time, Darkness Falls was heralded as a near classic by film music fans, but as Tyler has extended its sound into other works over the subsequent decade, it's lost a bit of its mystique. Because the film tanked, the 48-minute album isn't in abundance, and be aware that it arranges its tracks out of chronological order as per Tyler's usual insistence upon placing his favorite cues at the start. There's enough quality material here to have merited a proper narrative arrangement, but be careful of the hype surrounding this impressive but ultimately stifling score.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download