The Others: Original Motion Picture Score [Soundtrack]

Alejandro Amenábar (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Alejandro Amenábar
• Audio CD (August 7, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005NBYS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,533 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For his English-language filmmaking debut, Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar found himself dealing not only with the dissolving marriage of his megawatt-star/producer team (Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise), but his own multihyphenate ambitions on the project. As he did for Thesis and Open Your Eyes, Amenábar not only wrote and directed, but composed the film score as well, joining a very select company of director-composers that counts John Carpenter and Mike Figgis in its ranks. But with this accomplished orchestral score, the young Spaniard may well have leapfrogged into the first tier of film composers, period. Claiming his inspiration from a childhood spent listening to film soundtracks and emulating what he'd learned as a boy, Amenábar has produced a rich, dynamic work that trades on influences from delicate French impressionism to shrill, late-20th-century modernism. Given the film's horror-genre concerns, there is a certain bowing to occasionally jolting sonic clichés, but it's the compelling way the director-composer sets them up that imparts a sense of distinct originality to his score as a whole. Amenábar is unafraid to let his longing string passages and percussive flourishes sometimes hang hauntingly for an extra bar or two, milking as much emotional resonance from the effectively eerie spaces between the notes. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alejandro Amenabar is the director, writer... and composer, August 11, 2001

By 

First Lady Bunny - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Others: Original Motion Picture Score (Audio CD)

The experiment is a success!

He develops a closeness with the material, fills you with the good kind of chills... it starts out very innocently, like a children's fairy tale, and then you feel ghostly spirits walking in the door in the first track. Kindly spirits, vaguely unsettled in a Disney's Haunted Mansion way. The second track begins to peek around corners, behind the forbidden doors (also the music in the film's trailer).

There is an old heart within the frights that delights and sorrows the soul, that sees light to counteract the darkness of the film. Sounds silly, but it is a beautiful, atmospheric score that moves through the house, explores the rooms and clings to the storyline like the sheets on the old furniture. Soft, foreboding, and deserved of tinkles of ghost's feet upon the floor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars creepy!, June 11, 2002

By 

[e-mail] (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Others: Original Motion Picture Score (Audio CD)

the most amazing thing about this score was that not only did amenabar compose it, but he also wrote the script and directed the film as well. kicking back to the old traditions of robert wise, amenabar uses fear and atmosphere instead of the gore and special effects seen in such movies as "house on haunted hill". The music shows it - each lingering passage, the "space between the notes" as amazon puts it, really grabs you in. And there's a contrast too, between the old-time classic horror genre score with the violins and the "stingers" or dramatic placement of music just prior to the event, and the new wave ambience of jarring, dissonant sound.

Something to be said about the "stingers", however - the thing that Amenabar does, and does so well, is placing them. First, one sees the event, in the movie, and then hears the music, which only serves to heighten the paranoia .. and further influence the music. The only reason I do not give this score five stars is because, upon listening, it gets slightly repetitive. It's not something I can just pop in the CD player and listen to for an hour - I have to be in just the right mood. It seems only congruent to the film structure, and in places feels too minimalist for pleasure listening. But if you're an enthusiast of the film, by all means, snatch it up!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What CAN'T this man do?, October 13, 2001

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Others: Original Motion Picture Score (Audio CD)

Alejandro Amenábar is a one-man wonder, a Renaissance man of the film world. This Spanish director is only 29 years old and wrote, directed and scored "The Others." The soundtrack maintains an undercurrent of tension and creepiness, evident in tracks such as "They Are Everywhere." Heavily influenced by Danny Elfman and the like, but enjoyable nevertheless. Swelling crescendos of ominous strings and sudden crashes mirror the onscreen action but stand alone well. Eerie piano solos, dramatic sweeps of strings, with touches of quiet, reflective moments introduced by piano. Soft, lilting flute solos at times. Could have done with some vocalists à la "Sleepy Hollow," but still a remarkable effort. And genuinely creepy at times.