Customer Reviews

Panic Room (Score)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Granted, I have not seen the movie, but I can only imagine how well this music must fit it. I absolutely adore the way Mr. Shore uses his string sections to convey the most emotion in his music. His brilliant use of low, brooding cello, double bass work is stunning and haunting and eery. Howard Shore has not only cooked up a simple yet wonderful theme for Panic Room, but also some wonderful suspense music to fill in the film's dark "David Finch directed" nature. If you love Shore's music, you'll still be amazed by this score and what Shore can accomplish with strings. This is nothing like his score to 'Fellowship of the Ring', but it's a very different kind of score, and certainly another worthy addition to Mr. Shore's scoring legacy.

In this score, by Howard Shore, it plays like the pouring of maple syrup; long, dark, and rich. The score is almost completely string related. For an example, the orchestra that performed it (the Hollywood Studio Symphony)didn't need to include the trumpet performers in the credits, for they didn't play in this piece. The wonderful string work gets this CD five stars. It's that good. Also on this CD there is no repetition of any music, making it an shorter than usually , but still worth it.
A different CD, but if you keep an open mind, it will go with the other great works of Howard Shore.

I am hardly a fan of Howard Shore's work, but this is great! Being a fan of thriller scores, I picked this one up after I saw the movie (which was great too!). However, I must warn you it doesn't have anything bombastic. It does have some action and dramatic tracks, but none that really jump out at you. That does not bother me, of course. It is all very subtle like the music is shouting in a whisper. There's not much else I can say except if you like soft thriller music, then this is for you!

Howard Shore's cues for this classic urban thriller perfectly compliment the ominous themes of robbery, home invasion, greed, claustrophobia and murder. The music captures the a cat-and-mouse standoff and subtle shifts that see two would-be victims outwit and outmanuever their assailants. The strings, bass horns and percussion section dominate the score, with a nod here and there to Shore's earlier composition, "The Silence of the Lambs". The music suggests the dark, sinister plot and the terror the mother and daughter experience in their own home, with no optimism or hope for the besieged tenants which adds to the unbearable tension as the film races to its conclusion.