HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP / UP FROM THE DEPTHS

JAMES HORNER

Humanoids From The Deep Rating:
Up From The Depths Rating:

Original Review: Back in 1979, the schlock-horror film producer Roger Corman from New World Pictures offered a series of movie scoring assignments to a young composer who had been eking out a living working on pictures for the American Film Institute. The composer's name was James Horner and, as a result of Corman's decision, a film music career unlike any other was initiated. These two films were where it all started. For some inexplicable reason, the movies Corman gave Horner to score were both of the 'monsters from beneath the sea' genre: Up From The Depths and Humanoids from the Deep. Now, don't get this CD confused with the other recent bootleg combining Humanoids with music from Battle Beyond The Stars. The cue titles on this release are completely different from the other, and although this CD actually contains slightly more music, the sound quality is not quite as clear. To be completely honest, neither score is really top class, but considering they were the first attempts of an inexperienced 25-year old fresh out of film school, there are quite a few cues in Humanoids from the Deep well worth taking the time to listen to, and which hint at the kind of melodic talent we all know today. 'Main Titles' and 'End Credits' give the fullest renditions of the score's omnipresent elements: an echoing trumpet motif similar to that in Patton, an almost childlike penny-whistle melody, and a boinging synthesiser effect which would later crop up in Battle Beyond The Stars. Of the remainder, 'The Last Voyage' starts with a playful string-and-xylophone melody but soon becomes much more sinister, with lots of clanging bells, thumping drums and forbidding string figures; 'The Eavesdropper' and 'The Search' are quite good, both featuring sombre, sinister strings, and 'On The Beach' is very nice, with a delicate love theme punctuated by the boinging effects. Unfortunately, a lot of the action cues (such as 'Barron and the Beast', 'Jerry's End' and 'The Last of Linda') are rather sub-standard, and tend to rely far too heavily on Herrmann-style shrieking strings and dissonant ear-shattering noise to unsettle the listener, although 'In The Heat Of The Night' is quite clever, mixing a rendition of the main theme with some orchestrations similar to those he would later use in Aliens, and 'Carol's Peril' has some effective frantic string work. Rounding off the album is a 12-minute suite of cues from 'Up From The Depths', which is totally, totally bizarre. From the point of view of a Horner fan, it is interesting to hear selections from his first ever score, but from the standpoint of an impartial reviewer, the score completely lacks any kind of quality, structure or depth. Quite a bit of the music is made up of lots of bubbling water noises overlaid with wandering strings and harp scales, but there are a couple of sections worth making a point of. Two tracks of Hawaiian beach party music really stick in the memory because they are so completely un-Horner like and off the wall - in all honesty, they sound as though they could have come straight from a luau or been the theme tune of a tacky sixties TV show. 'Treasure of the Kahuna Maru' features some peculiar musical effects overlaying a cacophonous action sequence, while the 'End Credits' cue has a totally kooky trumpet fanfare which sounds like Superman Theme's mutant cousin. The sound quality of Up From The Depths is also noticeably poor, as the music is taken directly from a mono VHS source. For those who are interested in more than just the big budget blockbusters and like to take a chance on more unusual scores, I would certainly recommend checking this CD out. Also, for inquisitive Horner fans, this release offers a hitherto unavailable opportunity to hear the scores where it all began. But be warned: a lot of the music contained within this CD can be effectively summed up by one small word: weird.

Track Listing:

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP UP FROM THE DEPTHS Running Time: 59 minutes 14 seconds

Private Release (1978/1980/1998)

Music composed, conducted and orchestrated by James Horner. Featured musical soloists on Humanoids from the Deep Jo Williams, Henry T. Williams, Lyle Ison and Jonathan Lehan. Recorded and mixed by Mark Harris. Edited by David Yewdall. Score produced by James Horner.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.