Music Composed and Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith
Spooky Season is upon us, and to get in the right mood, Renovatio Records invites you to revisit Jerry Goldsmith’s remarkable score for the 1999 supernatural horror film The Haunting, directed by Jan De Bont and based on the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, and Lili Taylor, the film follows a group of people who accepts an invitation to participate in an apparent insomnia study at Hill House, a secluded manor in western Massachusetts. However, the scientist conducting the study is in fact interested in studying their responses to fear and hopes that the house’s dark past will help in providing the necessary chills. Unfortunately for him, the house is indeed haunted and inhabited by spirits that awake when they sense the presence of one of the guests, with whom they have a supernatural connection.
At the time of release, The Haunting suffered from unconvincing acting performances by most of its cast, as well as weak plot contrivances that differ greatly from the source material. One of the strengths of the novel is its ambiguity, implying that at least some of the eerie supernatural manifestations may all be products of one of the character’s imagination. The 1999 adaptation, in contrast, favors a fantasy horror approach, with all the main characters being terrorized by supernatural events, two actually being explicitly killed by the ghosts. Despite its flaws, the film is perfectly watchable and enjoyable, thanks to the efforts of the talents behind the camera. The cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub and Gothic set design by Eugenio Zanetti are outstanding, to say the least. The elaborate visual effects by Phil Tippett are quite impressive for their time. The resonant sound editing and design by Gary Rydstrom are of reference quality. And the score by Jerry Goldsmith is considered by many to be one of the strongest works of his late career.
Goldsmith was no rookie in the horror genre, having worked on films like The Omen and Poltergeist in the past, two of his most acclaimed scores. The Haunting saw his long-awaited return to the genre, but the composer chose an elegant suspense approach for this film, rather than the bombastic horror of the others. In this score, the composer focuses on strong evocative themes as well as producing an eerie atmosphere for the haunted house. Goldsmith has three main themes for The Haunting. The protagonist Eleanor (Lili Taylor) is treated with a romantic “family” theme, which represents not only her innocence and goodness, but also the lost souls of the children trapped in the mansion. This lovely theme for flute and xylophone makes its first appearance in “A Place for Everything” and is repeated throughout the score until getting a satisfying resolution during the end phrases of “Finally Home”. The other two themes are more mysterious in nature and are directly associated with the house and its haunting. The first of these two themes is a malevolent-sounding motif for the evil spirit that haunts the mansion. The theme opens the score as brassy fanfare in “Afraid” and makes several appearances as the characters explore the mansion’s hallways, successfully creating a feeling of uncertainty. The other identity is much more memorable, serving the purpose of alluring the viewer into the strange beauty of the mansion while suggesting false comfort. This motif is a series of descending notes generally played by the full string ensemble of the orchestra, making its most memorable appearances in the film during aerial shots of the imposing mansion (“The Curtains” and “Curly Hair”). Goldsmith also composed an additional fourth identity for The Haunting, a carnivalesque carousel theme that is employed as a source cue for the scenes in which the characters visit a merry-go-round with moving mirrors in the mansion. For the scary sequences of the film, Goldsmith resorts to synthesizers, the most noteworthy being a pulse-pounding rhythm with the composer’s signature echoplex effect. This effect is heavily used during the action horror scenes such as the rousing cues “Terror in Bed” and “Finally Home”.
Overall, The Haunting is a score that leans heavily in the fantasy aspect of the story while also managing to be creepy. It benefits greatly from Goldsmith's extraordinary sound recording quality, courtesy of Bruce Botnick's work at the Newman Scoring Stage. The dynamic and reverberating sound mix aids greatly in expanding the film’s mysterious soundscape.
Goldsmith’s score for The Haunting was originally released in 1999 by Varèse Sarabande, in the form of a short 35-minute album that left many great cues in the cutting floor. The same label produced a lengthy "Deluxe Edition" in 2017 offering almost the complete score. The approximately 70 minutes of music in this release were well received by film music enthusiasts but many consider it to be excessive. This new release by Renovatio Records addresses these conflicts and presents a new program that includes the highlights of the score, while also maintaining an accessible runtime and enforcing the film’s musical narrative. Step safely into the phantasmagorical domain of Jerry Goldsmith once more and enjoy one of the maestro’s best late scores.
Track List:
2. A Place for Everything (3:16)
3. Hill House (1:36)
4. Nell's Story (2:19)
5. The Curtains (3:05)
6. The Fireplace (2:35)
7. Green House (2:32)
8. Curly Hair (3:11)
9. The Picture Album (4:48)
10. Return to the Carousel (3:09)
11. Terror in Bed (5:33)
12. Crashing the Gate (2:25)
13. Finally Home (2:25)
14. End Credits (6:06)
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