Requested by producers to compose a horror score in the vein of
John Williams' genre-defining Jaws,
Mark Isham instead confounded expectations and helped redefine the genre with
The Hitcher, a bleak, profoundly cerebral effort that draws on electronics and samples to potently evoke the film's unsettling psychological terror. Even this early in his Hollywood career,
Isham exhibits an uncommonly acute grasp of mood and melancholy, and despite the artistry of cues like "Headlights" and "Dream," the new age-inspired synth washes also boast an alien foreboding well-matched to the demands of the onscreen narrative. ~ Jason Ankeny