Ennio Morricone
The Hateful Eight

Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

The Hateful Eight soundtrack is an interesting score, and for two main reasons: firstly, it's Tarantino's first film to feature a sountrack containing an original score; and secondly it marks as Morricone's first crack at a western score in 34 years. Ennio Morricone is an Italian orchestrator and composer that has conducted film scores for the last 50 years, ranging from the Westerns of Good, Bad and the Ugly; the 1930's set gangster film The Untouchables; to the 1982 horror masterpiece The Thing. However, after 2002's Ripley's Game, he went off the radar when it came to composing/producing film scores -- that was until 2013 where he got back into the game with the fantastic The Best Offer. It's also worth mentioning Tarantino has been trying to get Ennio to compose for his films since Pulp Fiction, finally getting him to contribute to Quentin's 7th feature film Django Unchained. However, 2015 saw Quentin releasing his 8th film The Hateful Eight - and with it, finally talking Ennio into composing a full score for the film. The story pits Kurt Russell's character, The Hangman, a bounty hunter on his way to a town to collect the handsome reward of $10,000 for a female bounty he caught. Halfway through his journey he is caught up in a snow blizzard that leads him to a claustrophobic cabin with six strangers caught up in the same predicament as him. Trapped by the blizzard, The Hangman is left on edge waiting for the storm to clear so he can collect his reward; the problem is, he isn't sure if the six strangers want the prize he possess.

It has been stated several times that this film is influenced by Quentin's first film Reservoir Dogs and John Carpenter's The Thing in a Western setting. As Ennio Morricone is responsible for the compositions of John Carpenter's 1982 classic, and timeless Western films, it seems perfectly fitting for Ennio to do this film. The Thing was filled with dread, macabre and tension -- in the confines of a small military base; Morricone's score was a masterful piece of work that really brought the horrors of The Thing to life. But as this is an amalgamation of a Western cowboy theme with undertones of The Thing, the comparison to The Thing's score is at a minimum. The Hateful Eight is a lot brighter and more orchestrated. The vibe Ennio conveys here takes large stabs at a vintage 60's cowboy flick, and wins with flying colours. But the secret ingredient that makes this score more intruging is at various moments throughout you'll hear a similar tension to the pulsing ambience of a horror film. The LP's main riff is a marching pulse of tension and atmosphere, sounding like how a noire film would sound in the wild west. Its productions really have that vintage sound, making the film feel like it was made in the 50's or 60's, and it works in favour of the film.

However, listening to this as an album, it isn't all that interesting. The singular tune it works itself around is nice, but there is little variation past that. The opening track "L’ultima diligenza di Red Rock (The Last Stage to Red Rock) [Versione Integrale]" sets the tone, while the second tracks bellowing organ puts a nice spin on the tune, making for a darker picture. The ice cold jangling of "Narratore letterario (Literary Narrator)" opens more doors into creating that Cluedo meets the wild west feeling, but anything past that begins to feel a little repetitious. The films audio tracks tell a little of the story, helping the score along, and the song that was taken from the film "Jim Jones at Botany Bay" breaks a little of the monotony. But it never completely shadows that niggling feeling of being bored. But that isn't to say the album is bad, it's just one of those scores that doesn't translate to being an album very well. The mood Ennio creates is brilliant when it's working with the film, but at 28 tracks for an album, it's a hard listen on its own.

Good.

Editions: MP3, C̶D̶, V̶i̶n̶y̶l̶

Packaging: N/A

Special Edition: N/A

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