Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone in 3-D

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Its nice to see material flourish when composers are no more. Its a testament to their legacy, its a tribute to the work they contributed but sometimes I wish they go for better material. Before his most famous score of all was released (Ghostbusters which finally saw the best treatment) the Varčse bosses went for more obscure releases, however being fun items for collectors and Bernstein admirers. But Stripes and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone in 3-D isn't exactly showing Elmer Bernstein's best work. This score was composed in the era John Williams was making a name with his Star Wars and Indiana Jones scores, and even James Horner was creating a bulls eye effort with his delightful Battle Beyond the Stars, so Elmer Bernstein got the simply horrendous cheesy Spacehunter fare, with a young Molly Ringwald in the cast. As said why bother because even if its completely rare and something of a collector's item, any good music buff can hear there is simply so much lacking in the music. Ok, we have a more then delightful theme, its pretty standard but still fun after you heard it for a while. It opens and closes the disc in 'Main Title' and 'End Credits' and its typically him, almost with a Western touch. But what's heard in the middle isn't following that standard, nor improving upon it. While some brass suspense 'Girls and Scavs' and a good marching main theme in 'History and Landing' makes for still ok listening, the underscore at times bores me to death, like in 'Vultures' or his hideous truly obnoxious synthesizers in 'The Planet', absolutely appalling. Luckily there is a secondary theme for the girl Niki and it gets nice playful variations in 'Niki' and especially orchestral in 'Wash Up', a fun moment in the midst of the score.

But from the secondary part Spacehunter loses a lot of attributes the first part still offered. Brooding underscore with the Niki theme in 'Cavern', ugly synthesizers in 'Women' and rather boring use of his famous instrument of Bernstein in 'Desert' but altogether, the heroic moments are the only saviors of the disc, like in 'Bats' or in 'Moving Out' which is fun. But 'Capture' is basically bad, the synthesizers outdate the ideas so much that you basically don't care for it anymore and sadly whirling strings start to work on the nerves in 'Into the Maze' before 'Maze' picks up a notch of this nerve wrecking. Truly here you wish you were listening to other music, because its so hard to basically like it, more concentrate and listen to it. And the synthesizer along with a complete out of tune Nike theme doesn't improve the music. The hideous electronic support in 'Claw' destroys your final hope, which we leave for the main theme in 'Rescue'. Its sad to say this but Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone in 3-D doesn't offer the slightest bit of hope this score could compete with Star Wars and the likes of orchestral space adventure scores. Perhaps its the fact Elmer Bernstein wasn't truly at home in this style, since his true knack was to compose over the top orchestral music for funny comedies, and here its something else. But its also unfair to compare the best (Star Wars movie) with the worst (Spacehunter film) because how can you truly get exited about something as weak as this. Despite its comedies, fare as Three Amigos, Airplane and National Lampoon's Animal House were excellent and strong comedies. So, its fair to say despite all the good parts surrounding the release of Spacehunter (the fact its released and that it brings more Bernstein to enjoy, adore and to hold), its definitely not one of Elmer Bernstein's best scores. Surely there has to be more and better out there, and while I too was ured to the attractiveness of its name and style, I came to the conclusion that 3-D might show the depth in it, the glasses won't make you see the depth in the music.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (4.19)

2. Girls And Scavs (0.56)

3. Wolff (0.46)

4. History And Landing (4.23)

5. Vultures (0.55)

6. The Planet (3.29)

7. Niki (2.34)

8. Hot Dogs (1.26)

9. Wash Up (1.38)

10. Partner (0.49)

11. Day's End (1.23)

12. Cavern (3.05)

13. Bats (1.11)

14. Tunnel (0.58)

15. Women (1.50)

16. Desert (2.14)

17. Moving Out (1.01)

18. Graveyard (1.51)

19. Capture (2.03)

20. Into The Maze (1.02)

21. Maze (3.42)

22. Getting There (1.13)

23. Claw (1.18)

24. Rescue (1.21)

25. Niki Goes (1.02)

26. Going Home (0.30)

27. End Credits (3.51)

Total Length: 51.25

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Elmer Bernstein ===