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| Horner |
Humanoids from the Deep: (James Horner) Although
Roger Corman's New World Pictures studio was attempting to expand into
the realm of mainstream science fiction in 1980 with the space fantasy
Battle Beyond the Stars, the inevitable pull towards the unsavory
realms of sex and gore led the gang of B-rate filmmakers to tackle
Humanoids from the Deep the same year. The low-budget flick was a
variation on the "monsters from under the water" scenario realized so
many times before, but with Corman as the financier, this entry would
appeal to teenage boys with its gratuitous scenes of nudity, rape, and
death. Ironically, its script and original direction (by female director
Barbara Peters, no less) emphasized the story's more serious
character-based conflicts and prejudices, assigning false blame for
declining fish counts in an American Northwest town to easy human
targets rather than beasts from the ocean. During post-production, it
was determined that the movie needed more of the typical Corman touch,
so most of the sex and nudity seen in the final cut was shot and
inserted late in the process. The monsters in
Humanoids from the
Deep are giant bipeds that come out of the water to procreate with
women, and like most teenage men, they seem to prefer sexy types with
large breasts. By the end, however, they declare war on the town and
tear apart its festival for good measure, leaving bodies everywhere for
the cameras to feast upon. It's the type of movie destined for a life on
home video, where it has received a fair amount of attention in part due
to a remake by Corman himself in 1996. The rising house composer for New
World Pictures at the time of the original production was 26-year-old
James Horner, fresh out of graduate school and looking for a break in
the industry. The Corman films were largely that stroke of luck,
introducing the composer to several of his later collaborators,
including Ron Howard and James Cameron. While
Battle Beyond the
Stars featured clearly the best music of Horner's association with
the studio, all such efforts, including
Humanoids from the Deep,
contained significant resemblances to temp tracks and the composer's own
inspiration. In the case of this trashy horror film, the connections are
nowhere as obvious as they are in the far more famous and acclaimed
Battle Beyond the Stars, but they do exist. Add to the equation
the need for a fair amount of glum suspense music and you get a score
that is definitely one to forget for even Horner enthusiasts.
While the score for
Humanoids from the Deep is
basically sufficient at its task, it remains one more interesting to
study than appreciable to enjoy. The soundscape is sparse, dominated by
percussion rhythms and lengthy whole notes on strings or keyboards that
maintain an ambience of mystery. Harp is omnipresent as the expected
representation of underwater intrigue. Woodwind solos convey occasional
melodies of tortured human interest. Deep synthetic tones pulse
underneath jabs of metallic percussion and occasional synthetic
leftovers from Jerry Goldsmith's
Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Just as Horner's
Battle Beyond the Stars was an homage of sorts
to Goldsmith's music,
Humanoids from the Deep additionally takes
an assortment of techniques and motifs from several Goldsmith scores.
The most obvious are the woodwind and trumpet motifs from
Alien,
an irony considering Horner's eventual replacement of Goldsmith in that
franchise. In the attack sequences, Horner switches to
The Boys From
Brazil, though you can also hear similarities to David Shire and
Laurence Rosenthal at times. The pretty woodwind theme that
disintegrates in
Humanoids from the Deep is a leftover from
Goldsmith's 1960's character scores. Only in "Final Confrontation" and
"End Title" does Horner explore substantial expressions with the full
ensemble, by which point you'll be bored out of your wits. Overall,
Humanoids from the Deep is too sparsely ambient to merit much
attention, despite its placement early in Horner's career. The score was
released twice on CD, first paired with
Battle Beyond the Stars
on a GNP Crescendo product in 2001 and then alone on a 1,000-copy
follow-up from BSX Records in 2011. The latter album follows the prior
presentation with three cues (amounting to 17 minutes) from Christopher
Lennertz's largely synthetic music for the 1996 remake. Interestingly,
Lennertz, who was himself breaking into the industry using Corman at the
time, reprises several motifs and instrumental tones from Horner's
score, albeit mostly sampled. Out of Horner's foundation, Lennertz takes
a more tonal approach in the remake, including a lovely sequence for
piano and woodwinds occupying most of "Part #2" of the suites on the CD.
Also on the 2011 product is an additional 10 minutes of outtakes from
Horner's score, though the sound of these is muted and the material is
redundant. In the end, if you desire a taste of Horner's original
Humanoids from the Deep, seek out the 2001 album that also
contains the far worthier
Battle Beyond the Stars. Alone, it
earns little praise in its ability to stew aimlessly through derivative
ideas.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.17
(in 103 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 194,012 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The inserts of both albums include extensive notes about the film and
its music, as well excerpts from an old CinemaScore interview with Horner.
