Customer Reviews

The Thing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ennio Morricone made a few disgruntled comments about Carpenter's use of his score in The Thing. Mainly he was disappointed that Carpenter, after publicly stating he wanted a European sound to the music, simply used the music that sounded most like his own compositions. Further insult was added when Carpenter created several cues to mix in with Morricone's (even as a youngster I could clearly recognize Carpenter's work when I heard it in the film on its opening weekend).

Despite that, like the soundtrack for Dawn of the Dead, this soundtrack release contains all the music Morricone composed for the film and none of Carpenter's work. How well some of the tracks would have fit into the film, and where, is anybody's guess.

Morricone's score is, in the end, a superb effort that captures the tone and mood of the film beautifully and achieves the same level of excellence as Goldmsith's score for Alien and Williams's score for Jaws. An essential soundtrack in any library.

To my mind, John Carpenter's "The Thing" would have to be one of the most misunderstood movies to have come out of the Eighties. Critics panned it mercilessly for relying far too much on special effects and for being "not very scary". They had only to listen to the music soundtrack to instantly understand what the director had in mind. The movie's central theme is not one of horror per se, but about creeping paranoia and how it affects each character as one by one they fall victim to "The Thing". Morricone's score brings that out beautifully. Each track is composed to fit in perfectly with the movie's scenes, from the beginning, "Humanity (Part 1), to the final "Despair" where all hope is lost and the two surviving characters wait to die. If you're into horror movie soundtracks this CD is really a must.

This soundtrack - in my opinon - is the perfect compliment to John Carpenter's horror masterpiece , "The Thing" .The icy, creeping dread that prevails throughout the movie is hauntingly reflected in Ennio Morricone's chilling soundtrack. Minimailist , cold , morbid , and creepy - John Carpenter and Ennio Morricone together produced a classic piece of modern horror

Ennio Morricone, composer of this soundtrack to John Carpenter's masterpiece of interstellar horror and creeping paranoia "The Thing", understands his craft: grasps almost intuitively, instinctively, that the most powerful music is painted on a palette of Silence.

His work is painted against a backdrop of the inaudible Howl of the Lonely Spaces, of the Wilding Lands, of the Frigid North or the forsaken South, and his soundtrack to "The Thing" is no exception.

There is this kind of keening flatline sound at the outset of one of the primary themes, the sort of noise that reminds me of camping in the high desert, or in the wild, cold, desolate spaces of Alaska. The sound of absolute, primal stillness.

The kind of stillness where a restless, aggressive, ancient Evil can work its will.

Morricone has always had a fevered, impulsive command and flair with a sort of music, atonal and melodic, that captures and calls up the loneliness of the wild, untamed spaces: whether he was dealing with the vast stretches of sixgun-tamed badlands in the American West in the Man with No Name trilogy, or the yawning gulfs of Antarctic loneliness that encompass the doomed research station---and ultimately serve as a springboard for global invasion---of "The Thing".

The supreme compliment to Morricone is that the score to "The Thing" serves as a character in itself, hinting at alien atrocities as yet unveiled: it is absolutely impossible to think of the movie without conjuring up snippets of the score, which evokes the stark, icy isolation of the Antarctic, underscores the fearful loneliness and crawling paranoia of the men at the base, and exudes a palpable sense of mystery and deep malice.

Morricone has borrowed extensively from the sere and barren stillness of the Earth's high places and wind-blistered expanses, and this rich treasure trove has infused his work---particularly this score---with a kind of barren, forlorn wildness.

Music of the Spheres---certainly not. Music of the Silent Spaces? Most definitely.

JSG

The 2nd review justifies the CD, the 1st obviously is expecting too much...Carpenters 1st major studio release in which he didn't write his own music......I believe he would have given the movie a total different direction, (which, I hate to say this, would have been detrimental to the film) Ennio is the guy who did the spaghetti westerns....He is very unknown but extremely talented, and it shows in this CD....Get it and listen, listen Hard......

Morricone has to be the Mozart of our times. It took me about 6 years to get into The Thing, now it is a gem. Morricone changes his style yet again addapting to the film in question perfectly. The soundtrack is quiet, slow, almost depressing - there is a feeling of solitude which is in abundance in the film. But the music stands in its complex scoring and underscoring. Give it a try - it may take 6 years but it's worth it.

This OOP Varese Sarabande edition has been superceded by a 16-track expanded version:

"The original 1982 soundtrack release for THE THING featured Ennio Morricone's score for the film, including a wealth of music that ultimately did not get used in the film. For this new release of music from THE THING, the music has been produced and arranged by Alan Howarth and Larry Hopkins, to include newly recorded renderings of the Morricone music (including recreations of the tracks not used in the film) and Howarth has also provided new performances of the music he produced for the film with John Carpenter, making their premiere appearance on this album, over an hour of music. The music is presented in a sequence closer to film order."

As of this writing, it's not listed here on Amazon, but I've used the Comments selection below for a link where you can buy it (for less than sixteen bucks, too!). It is limited to 1500 copies. **UPDATE**: It's been added to Amazon.

Expanded tracklist:

01. Main Title* 1:45
02. Main Theme - Desolation 4:29
03. Humanity 2 2:42
04. Despair 4:46
05. Humanity 6:51
06. Shape 3:18
07. Burn It* 1:27
08. Solitude 5:32
09. Fuchs* 2:27
10. To Mac's Shack* 2:52
11. Wait 6:21
12. Sterilization 3:42
13. Eternity 5:26
14. Contamination 1:01
15. Bestiality 2:55
16. Main Theme - End Credit 4:34

Total Time: 60:45

Original Score Composed by Ennio Morricone except *Music by John Carpenter in association with Alan Howarth

A GREAT SOUNDTRACK FOR A GREAT MOVIE. A MUST BUY!!!

The most evil soundtrack ever composed for the most evil horror movie ever made: THE THING.

The most memoriable theme on the CD is "Humanity (Part II)". The rest is an interesting mixture, mostly unrecognisable for people who have seen the movie only once.

As a big fan John Carpenter's films, I would have to say that "The Thing" is one of my favorites. The soundtrack has the perfect score to set a creepy and isolated feeling of being trapped in Antarctica.

Like all of John Carpenter's films, he writes his own scores for his own films. Very brilliant and original. His use of is own inexpensive style instead of the traditional highly costly symphony orchestra style (which is all to common in most films) gives each of his films a unique touch. No two are alike in his movies. Although he did however do things differently with this film since he was granted a well deserved budget and worked with composer Ennio Morricone. Given the use of a all to alike sound of a big symphony orchestra, this score somehow remains as one of it's own. Possible since John Carpenter was also involved.

Last to add, there is one song that did not make the soundtrack. The melody appears in the opening credits and once in the second half of the film when there's a blackout in the laboratory. The missing song was a low electro sound of pads that have an eerie yet melodic feel to it and I wished it could have made the soundtrack's final cut.

All in all, I loved this CD and it will go nicely with the rest of my John Carpenter's Soundtrack collection.