Portrait of Terror [SOUNDTRACK]

John Ottman

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 20, 1998)
• Original Release Date: October 20, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B00000DF8N
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #296,675 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Main Title

2. Laurie

3. Narrow Escape

4. Advice

5. Rest Stop

6. Disposal

7. Evening Begins, The

8. Seventeen

9. Face To Face

10. Letting Go

11. Here's Company

12. Sonata For Molly

13. Death Of A Nurse

14. Final Confrontation

15. He's Dead

16. Road Trip

17. Farewell, Michael

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Ottman does it again, August 29, 1999

By	[e-mail] (US) - See all my reviews

John Ottman really manages to take the HalloweeN score to a new level. After hearing this cd (music he had created for H20), I can't believe the producers would cut his score and add in Mimic and Scream music (by Marco Beltrami). It really disrupts what he created. Watch the movie and then listen to this cd. I'm a big HalloweeN fan and what he did to Carpenter's simple theme is amazing. Every other HalloweeN score has been a basic copy of Carpenter's, just with a few little touches. But Ottman re-creates it. This orchestral theme is so melodic and fluid (like most Ottman works), it almost doesn't fit a horror movie, but yet there is something creepy about it. He throws in heavy bass lines and violent strings. The rest of the soundtrack is no less. Get this cd!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The polar opposite of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, January 7, 2000

By	Joshua Ressler (Canada) - See all my reviews

John Ottman's score for HALLOWEEN: H20 is clever, imaginative, original, but also the complete opposite of Carpenter's minimalist score for the very first, now-famed movie of the series. The hypnotic synthesizers make place for a full orchestra, FX samples, and a lot of original percussion. In fact, Ottman's choice of instruments is very reminescent of what John Frizzell did for ALIEN: RESURRECTION; some of the synths samples from that movie are found in PORTRAIT OF TERROR. I have to admit that H20's music is not as frightening as the alienating score that Carpenter devised, but it is clever in its use of instruments. Certain passages are even reminescent of Woodsboro's theme from SCREAM. Moreover, Ottman refrains from using the full HALLOWEEN theme until the very end, giving us only glimpses of it throughout the score. Overall, a really good score which is a lot of fun to listen to and to dissect. It's a beautiful, crafty, intelligent, and complex score that will surprise you every time you listen to it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, Mr. Ottman, Bravo!, October 14, 2004

By	Miss Gigi "Detroit Weekly Chronicle" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

It is said that film sequels become weaker on the whole as they are produced. This is certainly true for the last few in the Halloween series. Not to mention that the score music has been wrought away to little or nothing.

However, the revival of Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Laurie, added a nice touch to H20, and the score tops it off as one of the top horror sequels ever. Redoing the soundtrack as orchestral--instead of the monotonous synthesizer and piano--proved a wise move on Ottman's part, and though the stalk theme and opening credits hold the same melody, the string and brass accompaniment make the tune a beautiful journey of a horror movie.

Ottman work in previous films had not gained quite as much recognition, and with competition like James Horner and our beloved Danny Elfman, one can understand his predicament as a composer.

Nonetheless, the effort put into Halloween H20 became a film landmark, and the music is the largest part of it's success. With the somewhat equal succession of Halloween: Ressurection, we can be sure that 'The Shape' will lurk in the shadows of American cinema for many more years to come.

Thank you, Mr. Ottman, well done.

Heard it, LOVED it, bought it,
--GIGI