The Happening [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Soundtrack]

James Newton Howard (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: James Newton Howard
• Audio CD (June 3, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B0018Q7K76
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,577 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Main Titles

2. Evacuating Philadelphia

3. Vice Principal

4. Central Park

5. We Lost Contact

6. You Can't Just Leave Us Here

7. Rittenhouse Square

8. Five Miles Back

9. Princeton

10. Jess Comforts Elliot

11. My Firearm Is My Friend

12. Abandoned House

13. Shotgun

14. You Eyin' My Lemon Drink?

15. Mrs. Jones

16. Voices

17. Be With You

18. End Title Suite

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly Lovely!, June 3, 2008

By 

Andres Segovia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Happening [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

Someone wrote in a soundtrack forum once, "Shyamalan's movies have become increasingly bad while Howard's music has become increasingly better." Well, it went something like that.

After seeing the gross Red Band trailer for The Happening, I was wondering what JNH was composing for such a dark, bloody, gory movie. Safe to say, he sticked to what he's done for past Shyamalan films: conveying emotion. James Newton Howard (JNH) downplays the horrors of this film by scoring to the human emotion rather than the unseen, frightening element. That doesn't mean he doesn't underscore the scary moments. You'll find his signature orchestral clusters aplenty here.

The highlights of the album are the cello solos by Maya Beiser, and what I term "the plague" theme. (The "plague" being the thing that attacks people. I don't know what else to call it since the film is yet to come out as of this writing.) "The plague march" (listen on CENTRAL PARK and MRS. JONES) is much like the monster themes of old when the creature or unseen assailant would creep upon the victim before striking. This theme took me back to another great monster theme: "Cloverfield" by Michael Giacchino. The "Main Titles" gives a great intro to the score as its comprised of the major themes of the score. And of course my favorite track has to be "End Title Suite."

My complaint for recent JNH releases for Shyamalan films has been the short running time on the album. This score release from Varese Sarabande is nearly 50 minutes long making it perhaps the longest release for a Shyamalan film. The film is reportedly 90 minutes long so I'm sure we get a near full representation of the score as it will be heard on film.

Haunting. Original. Beautiful. And spooky. This is JNH doing what he does best! Just don't compare it to Lady in the Water. Apples and Oranges.

Since Amazon doesn't have the track listing up yet, here it is:

1. Main Titles (2:18)
2. Evacuating Philadelphia (2:21)
3. Vice Principal (1:56)
4. Central Park (2:58)
5. We Lost Contact (:59)
6. You Can't Just Leave Us Here (1:43)
7. Rittenhouse Square (1:59)
8. Five Miles Back (1:13)
9. Princeton (3:06)
10. Jess Comforts Elliot (2:31)
11. My Firearm Is My Friend (2:59)
12. Abandoned House (1:32)
13. Shotgun (4:27)
14. You Eyin' My Lemon Drink? (4:28)
15. Mrs. Jones (1:44)
16. Voices (1:36)
17. Be With You (3:41)
18. End Title Suite (8:36)
TOTAL: 49:59

Also check out
Signs
The Village

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Happening" soundtrack, June 21, 2008

By 

April's Flowers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Happening [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

After seeing M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening", I was overall very pleased. The film definitely had a strong Hitchcock feel to it, and the best part was that the "scary" scenes never took place at night. Sure, some of it was disturbing, but it was a realm that Shyamalan had to try - and he did excellently with it. However, the movie wouldn't have been half as good without James Newton Howard's score. Three of the tracks stand out especially in my mind.
The main titles appeared against a background of time-lapse white cloud against bright blue sky, which grew steadily darker - very unexpected, much like the titles of "Signs." Howard's music for this was brilliantly done, and made it all the more unsettling. The theme for "Central Park" made it so the graphic suicides weren't scary, but bizarre and unnerving. Then, there's "Be With You", a tragic and emotional aspect to the score - Elliott (Mark Wahlberg) says that if they're going to die, he wants to be with his wife. The music as they walk out through the wind to each other was a defined climax and most definitely the strongest point in both the film and the score. Second to that is "Jess Comforts Elliott", where Elliot loses it in realization that Jess's father is dead.
The score for this movie is fantastic.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and Happening, June 6, 2008

By 

noname - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Happening [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

Wonderful score: i have not seen the movie yet but looking forward to the release. However the music by Howard stands tall in its own right. The choice of Maya Beiser the phenomenal cellist made this beautiful, heart breaking score even more sublime. What a wonderful collaboration between a great composer and a super gifted cellist. a must listen!!