Jerry Goldsmith’s Score for “Poltergeist”

Jerry Goldsmith’s Score for “Poltergeist”
Oct 30, 2021

Featuring:
Bruce Botnick, Dan Redfeld & Tim Rodier
Special Guest: Carol Goldsmith

Take a deep dive to the other side with an inside look at Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Poltergeist.

Goldsmith once said that the role of a film composer was to score the emotion, not the visuals, and this Oscar-nominated horror masterwork demonstrates this philosophy perfectly. Although the ghostly Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg film brings the scares, Goldsmith looked beyond that to score the underlying love between the Freeling family that comes under threat from the supernatural scourge. The result is a powerful score that mixes tender lyricism in the form of Carol Anne’s Theme with some of the most complex and compelling material of Goldsmith’s career, a score that brilliantly pinballs between shock and awe. An enduring masterpiece in the composer’s impressive oeuvre.