Land Of The Lost Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Land Of The Lost by Michael Giacchino.

At a glance:

Land Of The Lost from 2009 is a comedy about being trapped in an alternate universe with lizard men and dinosaurs. Starring comedy men Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, there’s plenty of laughs to go around. The director is Brad Silberling who to my knowledge hasn’t worked with composer Michael Giacchino before. The score is trippy experience starting with ‘Swamp And Circumstance’ which sounds exactly what being trapped into a television set being trapped into another dimension sounds like. There’s muffled screams, eerie percussion and monstrous horns gradually getting bigger and then ends in a horror sequence. It has to be said, I am already getting the Lost vibes in the second cue ‘The Lighter Side of Archeology’. It’s really interesting though. It sounds like Giacchino’s gone a little ape on us and is giving us some bone bone percussion bits.

Giacchino takes us on a crazy ride with a lot of variety. A heroic jab in ‘Food Coma For Thought’ and an excellent and trippy bluegrass metal mix in ‘A Routine Expedition’. Earthquakes can be monsters, or at least caused by monsters. ‘The Greatest Earthquake Ever Known’ sounds very monstrous, like the earth grinding it’s teeth and swallowing you with a smart little monster motif in the beginning. Will Ferrell’s character get a bit cocky when he finds himself lost in time and space in the heroic and funny ‘Matt Lauer Can Suck It’. Listening to Land Of The Lost gives me a need to re-discover his Lost scores. I never quite got into them, but the background percussion sometimes really remind me of Lost and I am enjoying it. Giacchino is having all kinds of fun with this. ‘The Ones That Got Away’ is brilliant, a sort of stone age action cue with everything you would expect. How perfect for Giacchino that he got to write a score for a movie in the Planet Of The Apes franchise, and I think that he might have sent in a few cues of this score to land that gig. Actually this score sounds more like Planet Of The Apes than his actual Apes score so that says something. This feels more of a throwback to Jerry Goldsmith’s classic Apes score, but not so experimental and of course unique. It also feels much more violent, but it could be because the sound quality is excellent and really turned up. Even a variation of the classic Theremin gets some playtime in ‘Sleestak Attack’, no doubt making fun of the classic sci-fi films and their music. It sounds lovely. The playful tones of the 70s are enlightened in ‘In Search Of … Holly’, but I soon want back to Land Of The Lost and in ‘Undercover Sleestak’ I get my feed. Wonderful! ‘If You Don’t Make It, It’s Your Own Damn Fault’ takes a different turn. It’s a sweeping heroic track with a bit of throwback to classic films. Nice choir too.

The whole ending, actually the whole middle and ending is epic starting with the awesome ‘Undercover Sleestak’. Special mentions to ‘Sleestak Showdown’, ‘Stakbusters’ and ‘Fight Fight Fight’ where Giacchino channels classic action scoring in his own way. Wonderful! ‘End Creits Can Suck It!’ is like a suite where all the craziness of the score is made into one final cue.

When I first heard Land Of The Lost in 2009 I didn’t think much of it. It was like Lost but different. At the time I didn’t enjoy Lost very much and so this score was listened to once and never again… until now. Even Jerry Goldsmith’s classic Planet Of The Apes was an obscure reference a couple of years ago, but now I’ve come to enjoy scores like that and I very much enjoy this one. The replay value might not be a lot, but it’s a great score for when you are in the mood for some experimental version of Lost.

HIGHLIGHTS:
4. A Routine Expedition
5. The Greatest Earthquake Ever Known
6. Matt Laure Can Suck It
8. The Ones That Got Away
9. Enik Calls For Marshall
10. Sleestak Attack
13. When Piss On Your Head Is A Bad Idea
18. Undercover Sleestak
19. Never Trust A Dude In A Tunic
20. If You Don’t Make It, It’s Your Own Damn Vault
21. Holly Mad As Sin
22. Sleestak Showdown
23. Stakbusters
24. Fight Fight Fight
25. Crystal Clear
26. Mystery Cave Reunion
27. Ready And Will
28. End Credits Can Suck It!
29. Pop Goes The Sleestak
30. A Routine Expedition (Version 1)
32. Crystal Clear (Film Version)