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The lengthy finale track, extending beyond ten minutes in length, is rich with compelling symphonic texture and theme, though a keen film music ear will hear substantial similarities between one of Gordon's secondary character themes and Mark McKenzie's sung theme for Dragonheart II: A New Beginning from the previous year. The mass majority of When Good Ghouls Go Bad does not adhere to slapstick cliches too often (for its subject) and is more fine tuned towards a serious environment. Even during its lighter moments, Gordon's work never dissolves into the kind of haphazard comedy style that either John Debney or Danny Elfman could create at the time. For the Halloween spirit, Gordon makes a significant emphasis on woodwind creepiness, quivering strings, and brass overlays that will often remind the listener of Bernard Herrmann's Cape Fear title theme or the Vertigo spinning motifs. At no point does Gordon's work become overbearingly scary, though, which is understandable given the genre, but somewhat disappointing in terms of gothic potential lost. There are two cues that stand out as obvious carnival pieces, as they are sometimes referred to; both "It's Mean, Mean, Mean" and "Hand's Down Polka" are source cues from the mould of typical claymation zaniness. The first track is an unashamed manipulation of the "This is Halloween" song from The Nightmare Before Christmas, complete with screams and a plentitude of manipulated voices, and it exists completely outside of the score's stylistic context (as a detriment to the album's presentation, too). Not entirely without humor is Gordon, though. His blatant adaptations of classical works in two of his cues are playfully interpreted and acknowledged (or apologized for) right in the track titles. The primary negative working against this generous album of music from the film is Gordon's seeming lack of diversity in instrumentation or sound effects for a project that could really have benefited from their employment. There is no percussion worth speaking of, no crafty use of voices, and nothing else that you would typically use to identify a score of Halloween origins. Overall, the score has about fifteen minutes of subtle thematic development, with no outbursts of theme or noise of memorable significance, and most of it will pass over your speakers without much to be spooked or excited about. Like all of Varèse Sarabande's other cursed releases of September 11th, 2001, this one faded quickly.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 53:40