Lalo Schifrin - composer of some of the funkiest film music ever, and one of the scariest horror scores of all time. The Amityville Horror was a 1979 movie directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring James Brolin and Rod Steiger, based on Jay Anson's creepy novel. Schifrin seems an unusual choice for the project, but he had worked with Rosenberg four times previously, including on the classic Cool Hand Luke. His previous high-profile horror movie, The Exorcist, had resulted in his score being thrown out, though if it was anything like The Amityville Horror then it is difficult to understand why.

Years before Jerry Goldsmith got acclaim for opening his Poltergeist score with a lullaby sung by a children's choir, Schifrin did just that in The Amityville Horror. Nowhere near as effective as Goldsmith's simply because the theme is so much less memorable, it was still an ingenious device that went against all horror movie traditions of the past.

What follows is classic horror movie music. At times, it is really quite overwhelming, and at no time could it really be described as being pleasant to listen to. There are some marvellous musical moments: like the screeching brass in "The Windshield" or the strings-only Psycho homage in "Screams". But this is music with one purpose, and that purpose is to terrify the listener. It succeeds. Horror movie music is not really very often especially scary in itself - occasionally yes, but more often than not it's based around suspense or larger-than-life gothic romance. The Amityville Horror never lets go, it encloses the listener in a hellish dream which seems to close ever tighter as the album progresses.

This 2002 release is a re-recording made in Prague by Schifrin. Performance is excellent, but the recording is awful - the distortion at high volume is quite unforgivable in this day and age and the sound is quite muddy in several sections. Aside from that, it's a wonderfully impressive score; just don't expect to enjoy it.

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