Saw this over the weekend and thought I'd report after digging a bit online. It's an entertaining 'kid horror' film, nice to see Eli Roth stretching a bit & having fun with the material. Happier to see longtime collaborator Nathan Barr along with him again. The score is nice enough, reminds me of certain Horner takes in the genre (Casper, Spiderwick Chronicles). The reason I even bothered to post is that Barr rescued the old famous and since discarded Fox organ we all know & love - he puts it to glorious use during the end titles, covering all his themes.
Haven't heard this yet, hopefully it's a good opportunity for Barr to stretch his orchestral wings a little more. I still think that "Amidst the Stars" suite from HOSTEL 2 is the best thing he's written. A fantastic little self-contained piece of music, that one!
Barr reminds me of the late Daniel Licht, in that he appears to have a good knack for orchestral music but sadly works mostly in budget-starved TV land where there's no room for growth, interest or genuine creativity anymore, never mind a room filled with living, breathing musicians.
I agree, despite the probably justified hate heaped on those projects, Hostel, there is some excellent work lurking among the aggressive cues - besides, Delerue is cited specifically as an influence in HOSTEL 2, so....
I forgot to mention, John Landis' THRILLER is in front of HOUSE for 1 week only - they did a fantastic job on the 3D / IMAX here & Elmer Bernstein's short score never sounded better. Made me bemoan a full Rick Baker/John Landis zombie film all over again. Mike Jackson is fun here too....
We went for this in fact, but enjoyed the main course too.
Wow, Delerue was an influence on HOSTEL 2? That's an unexpected place to draw inspiration from. Incidentally, I don't hear much of his style in that wonderful opening suite, more of a general classical assimilation without specifically referencing any one composer - though it does evokes a certain "Eastern European" sound I suppose.
There's a lot of nice moments in Barr's score but the album presentation does it no favors. Too many short cues, too much padding. Chop it down to forty minutes and it's a great listen.
