The Chosen [aka Rain of Fire, aka Holocaust 2000 (1977)] - Soundtrack

Seeing The Chosen on the big screen in 1977 or '78 was one the many memorable experiences I had at the Southshore Cinema in Alameda. The rudiments of the plot were easy enough for my ten-year-old brain to follow, a well-meaning industrialist (Kirk Douglas) becomes plagued by prophetic visions warning that the nuclear power plant he is building will become the biblical beast the book of revelation describes as empowering the Anti-Christ.

This is the literal embodiment of...

If that were not horrifying enough, Douglas learns that his character's beloved son Angel (Simon Ward) is the Anti-Christ itself.

THIS!!!

As far as cash grab knock-offs go, The Chosen is a decent enough one of The Omen. It has a smattering of gruesome, heavy-handed 'accidents' dispatching anyone and everyone that dares even consider getting in the way of the plant's construction. It also beats The Final Conflict (1981) to the mass infanticide punch, with a really twisted sequence set in a maternity ward.

Fabio Babini's liner notes for this expanded release, which are in both Italian and English, lavish praise upon Ennio Morricone's atmospheric, albeit a tad repetitious, score.

Babini describes the "key warning signs of the tonal Morricone: the serial rhythm and pressing of the piano pedal, the minor-key orchestral introductions, yearning to touch the soul but keeping a safe distance from any temptation toward cloying sentimentality, the harmonious crescendo almost it leading [sic] to a clash of sound masses, sometimes supported at a distance by a kicking bass." Damn, that is one hyper-descriptive mouthful of lavish praise there.

Mention is also made of Morricone "retaining the traits absolutely recognizable at first listen." Something to which, as undereducated as I am in the parlance of compositional technique and style, I heartily concur. There are rhythmic flourishes that I can hear echoed in Morricone's scores for The Untouchables (1987) and Phantom of the Opera (1999), as well minor-key orchestral passages that likewise echo sections of Morricone's scores for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Orca (1977), and The Island (1980).

I am not saying these echoes feel or sound as if Morricone were reusing or recycling material, an approach that James Horner admitted to, only that I can recognize his compositional style. Morricone's is scores have become as easy for me to identify as those written by either John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith.