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| Horner |
Unlawful Entry: (James Horner) An interesting
premise occupies
Unlawful Entry, one that elevates the 1992 film
beyond its expected restraints in the cheap thriller category and
thrusts it into one of social drama. A man and his wife, a typical,
loving suburban couple consisting of Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe,
are set up in a false burglary attempt on their home and are tricked
into relying upon the assistance of a police officer to protect them.
The cop is a psycho with a nice good-guy look about him, however, and
Ray Liotta does his best to outperform his previous efforts in exactly
the same kind of role. As the corrupt officer works his way into this
couple's lives and eventually lands the husband in jail, viewers are
meant to fear for the innocently vulnerable wife, who not only fails to
see this train of passion steaming towards her, but even gets herself
into the "woman in creepy dark house by herself" kind of scenarios by
the end of film. Until that all-too-familiar end, the film is somewhat
intelligent, but the stereotypical climax is a disappointment for fans
of director Jonathan Kaplan, whose crowning achievement,
The
Accused, and his other films seem to excel at perpetuating scenes of
fear and confusion. For a project that would seem a perfect fit for the
likes of composer Christopher Young, especially after
Hider in the
House not long before, mainstream star James Horner instead took the
assignment. The year of 1992 was one that kept Horner away from the
large orchestral ensembles with which he had made his fame, with several
projects consisting totally of (or being dominated by) electronics. Very
much like
Thunderheart,
Unlawful Entry would be built upon
Horner's keyboarding and four assistant musicians performing solo
instruments. Despite the ensemble of five performers, however, the array
of electronics is clearly at the heart of
Unlawful Entry, a
grating edge that defies the sanctity of the home. The reason for this
sound is most likely due to budgetary constraints, for there are parts
of the score that would clearly sound superior (as was the case with
The Name of the Rose) had an orchestra been employed for the
performance. The result is a score that is generally considered by
Horner collectors to be, in a competition with
Bopha! and
Jade, his worst effort of the 1990's.
Augmenting Horner's synthetic keyboarding in
Unlawful Entry is the regular pairing of a saxophone and a piano.
It's not clear exactly how much of the percussion is synthetic as well,
though some of the metallic elements do reverberate with a certain
genuine touch. Horner has produced mostly electronic (and some
all-synthetic) scores that range from decent to quite terrible, and
Unlawful Entry unfortunately rests near the bottom of the barrel
in that grouping. It simply does not provide enough inspired ideas to
warrant its enjoyment apart of the film, and its presence in context has
the sound of a stock B-rate product. The score can be divided into two
sections: the opening and closing credits that merit attention and the
extremely bland underscore that resides in between. The suspense
portions retain some basic characteristics from
Thunderheart and
Vibes, especially in the piano crashes from the former and the
bass-heavy droning from the latter. To dismiss much of
Unlawful
Entry as unpleasant would fail to recognize that even in its
unpleasantness, there is little technical intelligence in the
composition to maintain your interest. The sharp jabs of broken chords,
mainstays of the budget horror genre, get tiresome fast. The use of a
police siren sound effect produced by the synths in "Leon's Death" is
about the only notable point. The title theme, however, has several very
intriguing elements. First, a piano sets the stage with a truly John
Carpenter-like horror rhythm. The theme itself, performed by subdued
saxophone, is very elegant in construct, with tragic chord progressions
not normally heard from Horner. In the manner in which Horner changes
between major and minor keys, the theme has the distinct sound of John
Ottman's style from later in the decade, and enthusiasts of the younger
composer might find much enjoyment in its inherent darkness. As such,
the title theme for
Unlawful Entry absolutely begs for a fully
symphonic recording at some point, with bass strings replacing the
electronic bass, a real choir in place of the fake one, and a brass
section taking the melody. Horner collectors will have to use their
imaginations in the meantime, and fortunately for them, the theme
occupies over seven minutes on album. But if you combine the frustration
of this underdeveloped instrumentation with the dull underscore and a
short overall running time, the album is still extremely disappointing.
There is a reason why its label, Intrada Records, decided to sell it off
at 99 cents apiece in 1998, the ultimate recognition of a failed
product.
* @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
(in 103 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 192,456 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
