Isn't Ladyhawke music by Alan Parsons Project? Thundering cheesy electronic rock backdrop to Medieval romance. So funny, so wrong.

I'm actually fond of the Vangelis score for The Blade Runner. I remember it as this strange, pulsing, rather dreamy electronica, which suited the mood of the film pretty well.

Or possibly, the Japanese don't feel that they need to abide by the same rules for horror movies as the Americans.

This. Haven't seen Ju-On yet, though it's been out on DVD in Oz for a few weeks but it's definitely this. The Japanese march to the beat of their own really large drums.

I'm trying to decide if I missed so many cultural references that I didn't stand a chance of making sense of the story, or if there just wasn't a story.

Also, remember that it's not a standalone -- it's part 3 of a trilogy. (The first two were direct to video, and AFAIK have never been released in the US.)

Isn't Ladyhawke music by Alan Parsons Project? Thundering cheesy electronic rock backdrop to Medieval romance. So funny, so wrong.

Yep.

Legend used a Tangerine Dream score b/c the studio execs didn't like the original Jerry Goldsmith score.

The Goldsmith score was used for the European version. Thus, a European electronic trio did the music for the US version, while a US composer did the music for the European version.

Shows how fucked the studio execs are b/c the Goldsmith score is far superior. You can hear it on the Director's Cut version on the 2-disc Ultimate Edition DVD.

Wasn't Legend the movie with Tom Cruise as an elf?

t snickers

t tries to stop snickering

t can't

Yes, sort of. He wasn't an elf, he was a...a real boy, masquerading as a wood sprite...thing.

Cruise=Legend

Bowie=Labyrinth

Wasn't Legend the movie with Tom Cruise as an elf?

Yep (what Beverly said). It also has Tim Curry in a stunning "Devil" make-up job.

Plus, it's the only movie with Cruise that I'll watch.

but it really makes the success of the original three seem more and more sheer luck.

I think Star Wars did what it did because it was so unique for it's time. Empire and Jedi did what they did because of Lawrence Kasdan.

With Episodes 1, 2, and 3, Lucas is suffering from the Rick Berman/Brannon Braga problem -- it's *MY* franchise! No one else can write it! (no really guys.... let other people who make better movies than you do help)

Or possibly, the Japanese don't feel that they need to abide by the same rules for horror movies as the Americans.

What Jess said, but there is a current trend in Japanese horror to just say screw exposition - less talk, more creepy! See Ringu.

Fucking creepy-ass scenes though. Some of the scariest visuals and THE scariest sound effects ever.

Yes, this. Creeped the hell out of me. And the ghosts dove give a crap if you're good, or nice, or want to help. If they take an interest in you, you're screwed.

Wasn't Legend the movie with Tom Cruise as an elf?

But it has THE ultimate "If I become a goth, I get pretty dresses!" scene.

Would you consider the score from Ladyhawke Vangelis-y? It's strange, but even as widely anachronistic as that music is, I have a serious love of seeing Rutger Hauer galloping across the land with that thumping synthesizer track in the background

I just saw this movie this summer, at my hostel in Edinburgh! This Canadian guy and I were snickering through the entire thing, trying to figure out which parts would've been taken seriously at the time, and what we were supposed to know by which point. Like, is it supposed to be a surprise that Michelle Pfeiffer is the hawk? And then Matthew Broderick was totally playing medieval Ferris Bueller with a totally weird accent. And then two Korean girls came in, and we tried to explain the plot up to that point, and they were all like, what? Because why? How? What?

It was great.