Composing Greatness: #2. James Horner - "Aliens" (1986)

Scene from Aliens

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Series Composer: James Horner

Entry: Aliens (1986)

Collaborators (If Available): N/A

Nomination: Best Original Score

Did He Win: No

Other Nominees:
-Round Midnight (Herbie Hancock)*winner
-Hoosiers (Jerry Goldsmith)
-The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
-Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard Rosenman)

Additional Information

This is to help provide perspective of where each composer is in their Oscar-nominated life as it related to the current entry.

Oscar Nomination: 2

Oscar Wins: 0

Track List

1. "Main Title"

2. "Bad Dreams"

3. "Dark Discovery"

4. "LV 426"

5. "Combat Drop"

6. "The Complex"

7. "Atmosphere Station"

8. "Med Lab"

9. "Newt"

10. "Sub Level 3"

11. "Ripley's Rescue"

12. "Face Huggers"

13. "Futile Escape"

14. "Newt is Taken"

15. "Going After Newt"

16. "The Queen"

17. "Bishop's Countdown"

18. "Queen to Bishop"

19. "Resolution and Hyperspace"

20. "Bad Dreams"

21. "Ripley's Rescue"

Note: Listen to here.

Exploring the Music

The area of the column where I will explore the music in as much detail as I see fit for each entry.

Theme Exploration:

"Main Title"

The honest question going into Aliens is how you possibly top the work of Alien? It's a bit difficult to determine, but this first collaboration between James Horner and James Cameron manages to produce an incredible piece of work that is atmospheric to its core. It feels like a journey through space that thrusts the audience down a corridor. It's silent, but in that silence is an eeriness that manages to create a sense of dread and uncertainty that hides behind every corner. While the opening track may be more unassuming than what's to come, it manages to create this false sense of peace that is engaging and reflects a composer not driving by the typical use of melody, but by how an instrument can create a feeling. It's something that makes Horner singular in his work, and it helps to make Aliens as a score quite an impressive piece of work.

Interesting Standout:
"Bad Dreams"

As mentioned, the opening track thrusts the audience into a false sense of security that is only hinting at something more ominous off in the distance. Here, it creates a perfect "jump scare" of sorts by thrusting us into the PTSD of Ripley from Alien. It's screeching and whirling in a way that creates unease in everyone's stomach. There's so much energy and chaos throughout the track that even with its brevity, it manages to create a sense of a bigger nightmare that she's been grappling with for much, much longer. While it's not the only song to rely on screeching strings or loopy rhythms, it is the most effective at capturing it in a tone that hasn't fully developed yet.

Best Moment:
"Futile Escape"

One can argue that the greatest moments on this score is the "action" tracks that require a giant build-up. It comes with some frequency in the back half and puts the unease of things hiding into better focus. Because of that, this eight-minute track is arguably the highlight of them because of how it feels like that force coming after the audience with such fervor. It manages to be quiet, but it is also loud and energetic as if telling everyone to get running. The use of drums is especially effective, though the strings and horns also compliment everything in this grand vision of fright that is hard to ignore. Horner's balance of peace and chaos throughout this score is brilliant, even if it lacks the rhythms of a John Williams or Thomas Newman type. In fact, it almost feels "alien" (sorry) to include something like that here. 

Did This Deserve an Oscar Nomination?:
Yes

As much as I disapprove of sequel scores getting nominated, I sort of admire how the Alien franchise has evolved sonically. Yes, it likely has small references to past music, it feels more like a tonal sequel in music than anything else. Because of that, it manages to create an experience in a score that works in the film but also serves as this journey for the listener. The use of instruments manages to capture a sense of peace in space before slowly diving down corridors to find the chaos that lies just outside our vision. There's so much to admire about this score's use of instrumentation, and it's a perfect start for the Oscar-nominated career of Horner, and his work with Cameron that would last well into their late careers. 


Up Next: Best Original Score - Field of Dreams (1989)

Best Theme

A ranking of all themes composed by James Horner.

1. "Main Title" - Aliens (1986)

Best Song

A ranking of all songs composed by James Horner.

1. "Somewhere Out There" - An American Tail (1986)