Howard Shore has developed good working relationships with two of cinema's most original and intelligent directors, David Cronenberg and David Fincher. Panic Room is the third film he's done for Fincher and, like the other two (Seven and The Game), he has fashioned music that fulfils its primary objective - of supporting, enhancing the film - admirably, but which doesn't exactly entertain when placed out of context on an album.

The Lord of the Rings aside, most of Shore's work has been very dark and not exactly easy listening, and Panic Room is one of the most bleak and disturbing soundscapes he has fashioned. Tense, brooding and suspenseful from start to finish, Shore uses various techniques to keep the listener on the edge of his seat.

The music is dark and murky, for the most part performed by low strings and an otherwise-full brass section that doesn't feature trumpets. At times it reminds me of Jerry Goldsmith's work on similar films, but it never really explodes into the kind of all out attack on the senses that Goldsmith would have favoured, instead always being happy to sit in the background, let you know that it's there without you ever really being sure what might be around the next corner.

It's superbly-written music, incredibly dramatic and intelligently appropriate for the film, but I can't honestly imagine what kind of person might want to listen to it on any kind of regular basis: there's almost no relief from the onslaught of suspense. Impressive, but not what I would call enjoyable.

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