The Thing

As anyone could expect, The Thing prequel was met with some disdain from audiences criticizing it for lack of originality and an overindulgence in CGI to accomplish the gruesom effects in the film. Still, the prequel did manage to pay a nice homage to the original and, in my opinion, did at least try something unique with the concept. Fans of Ennio Morricone's eery synthesizer score from the previous film were also hopeful to see some of the concept reintroduced here. This time around, however, Marco Beltrami stepped into the fray to deliver his usual horror pallete.

While Beltrami's effort here is mostly orchestral, many of the techniques used here are pretty interesting in the way they are used. The original 'dun-dun' idea from the previous soundtrack is only hinted at here, either when making a brief appearance or being incorporated into the background. Beltrami's new theme for the film is a rising three note motif heard through full ensemble in 'Road to Antarctica'. This theme is actually pretty strong and does get a lot of leverage throughout the score before finally being expanded upon in the last two tracks. The score's secondary motif come in the opening of 'Eye of the Survivor'. The theme is a simple 'sliding' violin sound meant to represent the alien entity of the film. Beltrami incorporates this idea into almost every cue throughout most of the score, using different spins on it depending on the scenario at hand (at time it is even blended into the background creating an eery atmosphere).

Despite the obvious departure from Morricone's work, the score does pay homage to Goldsmith's Alien score, mostly through the use of woodwinds and low brass. There are also some really inventive uses of the soundscape, the best example being the wind effect heard in the opening and closing tracks. As for the straight up horror music, it does tend to get a little generic. Beltrami never does manage to do anything as interesting as he did with the Scream films, leaving spaces on the album that are somewhat lackluster. Another issue with the album is the pacing, a big issue with most horror scores. While the first half is fairly stong the second half ends up dragging until the final two cues.

If you really are a big fan of Marco Beltrami's horror scores, The Thing is a good addition to your collection. Even though much of the album suffers from generic horror tropes or bland soundscapes, it rarely ever diminishes into dissonance which is always a plus. The main theme itself is fairly memorable and when it does get incorporated into any cue, it stands out. The secondary motif itself is pretty clever as well, as is the use of the original's synthesizer theme. Overall, The Thing is worth getting if you don't mind getting past some of the more generic aspects in the middle portion.