Simple, almost obligatory, recurring topic: what are some of your most favorite motion picture soundtracks to date?

I must confess, it's not a medium I really look into (which is why I ask), but when I watch a movie multiple times, and I'm actually able to pick out the music from behind all the conversation or action, I can really get into it.

I haven't seen many movies as of late, much less have I even looked into their soundtracks, but I remember that the music from Bourne Supremacy really caught on for me for some reason...it has that sort of espionage feeling to it, like Metal Gear Solid, but better. Much better, seeing as how there's actually a good sense of melody in there, and I'm actually able to recall a number of the pieces, and even able to hum them back. I like the military motifs, and the otherwise somber, melancholic sense of it.

Lastly, let me ask, have there ever been motion picture soundtracks that you've been able to get into, even without having seen the movie?

I'm fond of two movie soundtracks and they're the only ones I've bought:

1) Pan's Labyrinth - mystical, sinister, grand, and beautiful. Of course, it's a soundtrack I don't listen to at night while I'm sleeping because some of the tracks give me the creeps but it's haunting.

2) The Mission by Ennio Morricone - I saw the movie for this one and two tracks stayed in my mind. One is the gorgeous and touching Gabriel's Oboe and the other one is the one utilizing chants. It's very powerful and it paints out the movie in each track, so that if you've seen the movie, you know where the songs play. That, and Morricone is a master.

The one soundtrack that comes to mind is that for Terminator 2. Granted, some of the pieces - like the main theme - originated in the original but the sequel's music is free of that semi cheezy 80's feel.

Oh, man. Probably just Mulan's score by Jerry Goldsmith. Really loved that one.

Edit: I think the problem is that I don't watch a lot of movies. Just can never seem to wanna sit down and watch them, with few notable exceptions (90% of which are animated )

T2's main theme is one of my favorites. It just seems to signify the despair and hope for the future in an eloquent couple minutes. It also gives a great emotional response.

I've recently been rediscovering the joys of John Williams' Superman score. Timeless music. In general, you can't go wrong with 70s Williams. ... or 80s Williams. Or 90s... 00s... Damn, you can't go wrong with John Williams, PERIOD.

James Horner is a safe bet up to 1997 (specifically, Titanic). After that, he's inconsistent. People like to rip on his habit of plagiarizing himself and others but I can't think of one composer who hasn't at one time or another (and that includes the classical greats). Most are just more subtle about it...

I've never been able to warm up completely to Jerry Goldsmith but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his Star Trek: TMP masterpiece. The film is uneven but Goldsmith was used to scoring what the movies could have been, not necessarily what was actually there.

Michael Giacchino is a name to watch, although he mostly sticks to television and video game scoring. Still, his Ratatouille score was my favorite of 2007.

Have you seen the movie? It's outstanding.

Uh... Silent Hill?

The few that come to mind are:

The Lion King

aaaaaaaaaand...

Willow

I don't see enough movies to get proper exposure to the soundtracks, which is kind of a shame.  Maybe it's because they seem kind of limited, what with only encompassing enough music for a 1 1/2 to 2 hour movie.  VGM => 4 hours at the least.  Maybe it's that extra exposure, or "forced listening" that helps me appreciate more of the musical score of video games.

My favorites?  Conan the Barbarian (I also like Poledouris's The Hunt for Red October), Star Wars ANH and ESB, Jurassic Park, Star Trek V (I like Goldsmith quite a bit, and though I know this is an odd choice out of all the good stuff he's done, I'm sticking to it; the music is just filled with passion and mystery), and Nausicaä (yes, I like the synthy elements of this one, though it's the gorgeous main theme that pushes it over the top).  I do have select tracks that I like from other ones, like Gabriel's Oboe which was mentioned by Rinoa's Destiny, but the scores I listed are probably my favorites on the whole.  Also, the main theme from Vertigo definitely gets to me, but I haven't yet been able to acquire the score (and I'm not sure which version is best either; I like good quality, but I want the music to sound exactly as it did in the movie) so as to see how I feel about the entire package.  I should rent that movie again just to pay closer attention to the music.

Speaking of The Mission, I had been trying to get the score for cheap on Ebay at one point, but I haven't done that yet.  I do have The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Cinema Paradiso has some good Morricone music too.

I honestly can't think of one off the top of my head.

The imagery helps as well.  The moment of pause within the theme makes me think of the swings and the merry-go-round all lit up on fire.  T2 has one of the most effective in-context movie scores ever.  It's too bad that some people listen to it on album and don't understand it.  It's a big part of why the movie itself is so good.  That 'raw' sound as I've heard it described works really well.  I was happy to pick up the T2 score when I had the chance.

It's that villain theme of his which is most noticeable for me.  The one that he's recycled ever since General Kael in Willow I think. (or was it in Krull as well?  I haven't heard that one)  When I heard it in Troy, I thought about that ripping you mention.  It's true that every composer will probably reuse or plagiarize something at some point, but as you say, many are more subtle about it than Horner.  I have Willow and Glory, both of which are good, but I must admit that Horner doesn't quite do it for me.  I agree with you that just about everything from John Williams turns out good though.  Indiana Jones, Hook, Home Alone, etc.

That motif has many names. The four note-trill. The four note motif. The devil's motif. And so on. And yeah, Horner uses it a lot.

I've always felt Willow is too long for its own good but Glory is very good.

When I hear T2's theme, I think of the ending scene when Arnold sacrifices himself for the good of the future. That part really stuck with me. The swings and merry-go-round all ablaze gave me the shivers when I was younger; now, it makes me reflective in a darker sort of way. T2 is a successful sequel and yes, I agree with you that the music contributed greatly to it. Without it, all of the excitement would be gone. Come on, the chase of T-1000 after Sarah, John, and Arnold defending them? The music made that section so tense that it was truly an experience.

I would say Joe Hisaishi's soundtracks for some of the Ghibli films are ones you could get into before watching the movies. That's because he's written a good variety of pieces for each movie (namely the earlier ones) that are colorful and stay in your head from the first listen. He'll usually have two or so main themes that are repeated in a given movie, while the rest of the music will, for the most part, be as fun and varied as the scenes they accompany.

I don't own many movie soundtracks besides those. I have the Lord of the Rings soundtracks, but I probably only like as much of it as would fill one CD. Armageddon has an awesome theme, although you really only need one track ("Launch") to enjoy that one. Titanic is definitely a keeper. Mission: Impossible 2 has a number of tracks I really enjoy; rock, techno, acoustic mix. The Last Samurai - love that soft, sorrowful strings theme, with an Asian touch. And then I have the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack, hehe. That one's in a totally different category, but I like it. I have a couple of John Williams collections too, which are quite superb.

Also of note: Edward Scissorhands. Danny Elfman's main theme here is beautiful and chilling, one of my favorites. K-Pax has an excellent soundtrack if you like more ambient stuff, with cool sounds and beats and good use of piano. Finally, The Truman Show is a personal favorite of mine. Loved the movie (thanks to Jim Carrey) and I think it has a great soundtrack that really adds to the emotional feel.

That's my favorite as well. The avalanche sequence wouldn't have been so intense without Goldsmith's rousing score. Same goes for "Mulan's Transformation." A pity the whole score isn't on the soundtrack.

Alan Menken's work on Hunchback is a close second. Gotta love those Gregorian chants!

Oh, forgot to mention Vince DiCola's work on the original 1986 Transformers movie. Lots of 80's synthy rock complimented nicely by some really nice power metal courtesy of groups like NRG, Lion and Stan Bush. Always loved that CD.

Aliens

True Romance (Only for the three tracks Hans Zimmer did for it)

Lady in the Water

Waterworld (Escaping the Smokers and Helen Frees the Mariner<----I Love these tunes!)

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

Willow

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Desert Chase<--favorite song 8min 17sec of awesome.  Go Indy!)

Legend (The U.S. Theatrical Version done by Tangerine Dream)

Ewoks Caravan of Courage & Ewoks The Battle for Endor

Braveheart

The Goonies

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

Platoon

I'm sure theres others, those are off the top of my head.

There are so many solid film score albums and so many with at least a few outstanding tracks.  If I had to pick the absolute favorites from my own collection they would be

Independence Day
Jurassic Park
King Kong
The Postman
Star Wars Trilogy - John Williams Conducts John Williams
Superman Returns
Waterworld
X2: X-men United (some slow spots but I love this movie and its themes)

It goes without saying that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is also excellent, but it would be nice to have an official symphonic suite-style best collection like the "Star Wars Trilogy - Williams conducts Williams" CD.  (Concert suite arrangements of classic SW themes from the original trilogy plus much better sound quality than the OSTs equals good good good.)

Other albums with some classic material but not quite at the level for me as the ones above include

Braveheart
Conan the Barbarian
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Dances with Wolves
Dinosaur
Lady in the Water
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Wars OSTs 1-6 (ep. 2 less so)

Lion King and Mulan both have some great music but the album releases suck.

John Williams' place in music history is secured and his new stuff is always worth keeping an eye out for but for the last ten years James Newton Howard is the man when it comes to film music.  While appropriately cinematic I generally find his music more enjoyable than his peers' in album form.  Lots of good stuff to come from John Ottman as well I imagine.

After reading this thread me thinks I will finally have to pick up Willow and Glory.

Oh and if we're including anime soundtracks that's a whole new bag of worms

Oldboy
Halloween 1-3
Requiem for a Dream
Saw
Donnie Darko
Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
Lion King (guilty pleasure, shut up!)
American Beauty

I bet I could find so many more but those come to mind right off the bat.  Basically anything by Thomas Newman, Angelo Badalamenti, or John Carpenter.

-Mike

I recently started listening to two amazing film composers: Cliff Martinez and Clint Mansell.

Martinez has scored lots of stuff, most notably Solaris, Traffic and Sex, Lies and Videotape. You can download some of his stuff here. I highly recommend the Havoc and Traffic soundtracks an implore you to seek out the Solaris soundtrack; it's my favorite film score to date.

Mansell has done some great stuff, but you've probably heard his music in Requiem for a Dream. That rules, as does The Fountain (which is a close second behind Solaris). I have the soundtrack to Moon on its way from Amazon UK, but from what I've heard on Youtube it's going to be an amazing disc!

I don't follow film music as much as I used to (not as many worthwhile soundtracks), but I still have some favorites that I listen to regularly. The two most obvious picks are:

-Lord of the Rings Complete Recordings (all three films)
-The Star Wars Hexalogy (double disc editions where applicable)

I never get tired of these and I'd say that they're probably my favorite soundtracks of all time. I mean, I grew up with the original Star Wars scores and Lord of the Rings was one of the best things to happen to film music in my life. (Maybe I'm exaggerating just a little...)

Other live action favorites:

-Batman (1989)
-Blade Runner
-Casino Royale
-The Dark Knight
-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
-Independence Day
-Jurassic Park
-Lady in the Water
-The Living Daylights
-The Matrix Reloaded (actual score, not the 2-CD release)
-The Mummy Returns
-On Her Majesty's Secret Service
-Pan's Labyrinth
-Raiders of the Lost Ark
-Star Trek: First Contact
-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
-Willow
-The World Is Not Enough

Animated favorites:

-Ah! My Goddess the Motion Picture
-Beauty and the Beast
-Castle in the Sky
-Dinosaur
-The Land Before Time
-The Lion King
-Princess Mononoke
-Ratatouille
-The Secret of NIMH
-Spirited Away
-Titan AE (score, never released)
-The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
-WALL-E

Man, it seems I remembered more than I thought I would. It makes me want to give some of these a spin again. Film music might not be my primary interest at the moment, but there are still some very fine scores out there.

In alphabetic order... Amazon links included for those interested and wishing to make further inquires.

-Amelie = Awesome french soundtrack by Yann Tiersen that I discovered a few months ago, have been listening to it almost non-stop since. Lots of piano and accordion, and irresistibly catchy and melodic. If this doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.
-American Beauty = No need to comment, as most people have already heard it. Beautiful and different music by Thomas Newman.
-Black Snake Moan = Features many different artists, gritty and smokey blues. Love it!
-Blue Velvet = The start of the legendary Lynch/Badalamenti partnership. Not their best, but still good enough to fit on my best-of list. I will always remember this soundtrack for taking Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" and making it disturbingly chilly, no small feat.
-Eraserhead = Just crazy. Grinding industrial noise by David Lynch himself! Can't believe this stuff was out in the 1970s, so ahead of it's time, its not even funny. Like drowning in an ocean of chemical waste and sawdust (in a good sense!).
-House of Flying Daggers = Great emotional music from the Chinese martial arts movie.
-Inland Empire = Overall, not as great as the other Lynch film scores, but contains what might be the best song ever created, "Ghost of Love".
-Jacob's Ladder = Most people will remember the late Maurice Jarre primarily for Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, but this is by far my favourite score of his. Dark and haunting.
-Lost Highway = Maybe the best balanced soundtrack CD I've ever heard. The songs are perfectly placed and just flow so naturally into each other. One of the best Lynch/Badalamenti efforts, dark, sexy, mysterious. Also features many more artists/bands, all contributing good stuff (including "Eye", one of the few Smashing Pumpkins songs I actually like).
-Mulholland Drive = Same style as Lost Highway, but more symphonic-melodic than jazzy. Just as good, and even more emotional.
-Music From Twin Peaks = Possibly my favourite soundtrack ever. Angelo Badalamenti's compositions have haunted me since I was 10 years old, its impossible for me to even try to stay neutral about this music. Technically not film music, but no one's gonna stop me from including it here.
-Natural Born Killers = When I originally got this 15 years ago, I couldn't get into it despite having seen and liked the movie. It was just too chaotic, all these totally different songs floating into each other and crazy editing (by Trent Reznor, nonetheless). But this summer I saw the movie again and dug out the CD from the back of my collection and gave it a spin... And everything fell into place. I guess I just needed more experience of appreciating the different facets of music than I had when I was 14. An awesome soundtrack for an equally awesome movie.
-Session 9 = Like with Amelie, I just found about this beauty recently (both soundtracks are from 2001, maybe I'm 8 years behind the times?). But musically its very unlike Amelie. Fittingly for a psychological horror movie set in an abandoned mental institution, its full of dark ambient industrial rumblings, and sounds very Silent Hill 1 OST-ish. Threw myself on the keyboard and ordered that shitz immediately after seeing the movie, and I recommend all horror-fans to see it. If you're the kind that likes old abandoned, decaying buildings, this movie will be like porn for you.
-Spawn = On this list for nostalgic reasons. The concept behind this CD was interesting: they took 14 metal/rock bands and 14 techno/electronic acts and paired them off and asked them to do a song each. The result is uneven (I like about half of the tracks), but I still found myself spinning the disc throughout most of high school, so its intimately linked with memories of that exciting time in my life. Also hosts the first appearance of Marilyn Manson's "Long Hard Road Out Of Hell", one of their best songs, in my opinion.
-The Exorcist = Worth it just for Mike Oldfield's classic "Tubular Bells" theme (although the one on the CD is hardly the best version of it). One of the best horror scores, and a funny CD for a number of reasons. The CD version was apparently only released in Japan, and most of the music isn't even used in the movie. But its still great, weird experimental/modern orchestral music, dark and suffocating, very much like the movie.

-The Piano = Incredible score by Michael Nyman. As the title suggest, a lot of piano, and how! This guy is definitely in another league than just about any other composer I've ever heard using that instrument (if you thought Hamauzu was something, you ain't heard nothin' yet...). And yes, I love it despite not having seen the movie or even knowing what it is about, I picked it up by chance in a used-CD store for zip, definitely among my best random finds.
-The Straight Story = Unusual score for Angelo Badalamenti. Mixes in acoustic country guitars with his usual atmospherics to reflect the warm mood of the movie.
-Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me = Not as immediately accessible as the music of the main series, but just as good if you give it time.
-Twin Peaks: Season Two Music And More = As the original soundtrack was woefully incomplete, they finally released this gem in 2007. Still doesn't cover all the music found in the series, but a very welcome addition.
-Wild At Heart = More Lynch/Badalamenti craziness, this time on the happier/louder side of the spectrum.
-Zoetrope = The darkest soundtrack you'll ever hear, but what else can be expected when Lustmord is involved?

I usually ignore movie soundtrack recommendations, but the way you've described those make me really interested, Daniel K.

Be right back, downloading shit.

I forgot about that one. It really is a great soundtrack! A friend showed me the movie a while back and the quirky, catchy nature of the music motivated me to pick up the soundtrack. It's simple, effective and tons of fun. Definitely worth purchasing.

Yeah, Moon rules. HIGHLY recommended! I also picked up the iTunes release of the Sunshine soundtrack, which is breathtaking. There are some spoilers in the track titles, though, so I recommend seeing the movie before seeking out the music. That said, both versions of "Adagio In D Minor" are incredible. Also, the last track, "Capa Meets the Sun, is, hands down, the best musical accompaniment to any movie's end that I've seen (which was unexpectedly moving).

Yes! Hisaishi went into not-often-explored territory with that. From then on, he would generally stick to full orchestra. But I love those synthy elements.

If we're counting anime films, then pretty much all the Miyazaki/Ghibli/Hisaishi scores. Laputa and Mononoke, in particular, are great. And I was a fan of Ponyo's music.

Outside of that, here are some film soundtracks I like:

- About A Boy (written by "Badly Drawn Boy") ... good stuff.
- Donnie Darko ... the licensed 80s tracks are cool, but the original creepy music really sells it for me.
- The Village ... awesome violin work? Yes please.

Ramza

It's great to see Badalamenti getting a lot of love in this thread, and a tad surprising to see only one mention of Blade Runner so far. If you do hunt down the Blade Runner score, look for an unofficial release that goes by the name of the "Esper Edition" - all of the official soundtracks to date have been woefully incomplete. Other favorites include:

The Matrix trilogy - as stated by Boco, I mean the scores, not the pop music soundtracks. Don Davis has otherwise unimpressed me, and Juno Reactor is generally a rather mediocre electronic act, but they really put their all into the Matrix music. The choir on Neodammerung always blows me away.

The "Dollars" trilogy - that is, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Morricone's classic spaghetti western stuff. Every listen impresses upon me just how unorthodox this instrumentation was (and is), yet how perfectly it conveys feelings of oppression and isolation.

The Terminator - there's been a lot of love for T2 so far, and while there's no doubt it's the better movie (I still think T2 is the best action movie ever filmed), I really like the stark sound of the original's electronic soundtrack. The only issue I have is the main rhythmic motif - the version in T2 just sounds more "right" to my ears.

Batman - Zimmer's take pales in comparison to Elfman's badass theme. This is the definitive Batman music.

Pirates of the Caribbean - critics love to hate on this one a lot, but I don't care - it's too much fun. I just wish the soundtrack releases were more complete and accurate to what's heard in-film.

John Williams - kinda goes without saying here. The original Star Wars trilogy, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters...the guy just plain makes the best themes ever.

I think I love you.

Ha ha, it's nice to be loved I did find it a little hard to believe that John Connor managed to hold onto a tape of You Could Be Mine till the time of Salvation, but I appreciated the nod just the same.

Argh! Feel free to slap me around like a bitch for forgetting Morricone's classic masterpieces! But, really, when it comes to this guy, the Dollars trilogy is just the top of an iceberg of greatness.

Digging through my film-mp3 folder, I notice I forgot some more of my favourite movie soundtracks in my first post. Here goes:

-Eyes Wide Shut = A great, moody mix of music from Stanley Kubrick's last film. Overall a little uneven, but when its good, its great. Jocelyn Pook's creepy stuff is the highlight of the album, especially the unforgettable ritualistic "Masked Ball", in my opinion one of most salient and memorable uses of music in a movie ever.
-Fright Night = Cheesy 1980's rock/B-horror music from the vampire flick, with a great main theme by Brad Fiedel (the Terminator composer). Extremely rare (another one only released in small quantities in Japan, for some reason).
-Judgment Night = Same concept as the Spawn soundtrack I mentioned in the other post (in fact organized by the same guy), only instead of mixing rock bands and electronic acts, they mixed rock bands with rappers. Some duds on there (track 2 seriously sucks), but overall some great stuff, and a very novel and groundbreaking concept back in 1993.
-Suspiria = The soundtrack from Italian horror icon Dario Argento's most famous movie. The music is by the progressive rock band Goblin, its very good, heavy and atmospheric at the same time. The main theme is awesome on this one. There's a usage of vocals that for some reason really reminds me of Shoji Meguro's work on the Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne OST.
-The Blair Witch Project: Josh's Blair Witch Mix = The Blair Witch Project seems to be one of those divisive movies people seem to either love or hate. Personally, I loved it, I thought it was a breath of much-needed fresh air in a stagnated genre, and its rare to find horror movies with such an aconceptual take on handling the horror (although Blair Witch ain't got shit on Trier's Antichrist). Anyway, the movie didn't have any music at all, being a mock documentary and all, so what is this, you ask? Well, the soundtrack was a part of the fake advertisements for the movie. The movie was portrayed as something that really happened, and what this CD is supposed to be is a mix-tape owned by one of the characters (Josh), allegedly found in their abandoned car together with their other stuff. Its a mix of gloomy goth rock and industrial. On my list partly for nostalgic reasons, there are some bad tracks, but also some very, very good ones like "The Order of Death" by Public Image Ltd. and Lydia Lunch's "Gloomy Sunday".
-Top Gun = Can you smell the 80's dairy products? Cheesy and upbeat, but most of the tracks are pretty damn catchy. A guilty pleasure.
-The Transformers - The Movie = The description above for Top Gun fits this one exactly as well, although this album is better, in my opinion. Music from the 1986 animated movie, not the new Michael Bay crap. Vince DiCola's "Death of Optimus Prime" accompanied one of the saddest film memories of my childhood (I still can't believe they did it! No, he's alive, somewhere, he's gotta be...).

Also, I forgot the soundtracks from the Monty Python films! Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brian, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. I'm a huge Python fan, and I keep coming back to the soundtracks with all that legendary wacky dialogue. Best. Comedy. Troupe. Ever.

Writing these two posts, I kind of surprised myself. I usually don't view myself as a fan of film music, when someone asks I usually say "I like a couple of scores, that's it". But I guess I am a film music fan after all, there are a lot of movie soundtracks that I like. But I still vastly prefer game music if we're talking soundtracks in general.

I was just thinking about movie soundtracks, so what a co-in-'sigh'-dence that I found this thread. It started with Phantasm II, about a month ago. The same director, Don Coscarelli, also made Beastmaster, and I had watched that as a young whip. I watched it again, after a 24 year interval and remembered quite a bit, along with the fantastic music.

My favorites are naturally from the Star Wars movies, episodes IV, V, VI. Some others I can recall enjoying:

Robocop
Predator
Alien
Aliens
The Shining
Blade Runner
Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior
And a few Korean movies, most notably A Bittersweet Life.

I used to only listen to movie soundtracks from ages 19 to 22. I then discovered game music CDs at age 23, so movie music rarely excites my hammer, anvil, and stirrup.

Hey, Cheer up, Daniel K. C'mon, let's go. I'll buy us a pint. ;_;

Agreed on the soundtrack wholly. What is frustrating is that it isn't entirely complete, and that DiCola actually did a second CD set that had both the themes that didn't show up on the soundtrack disc AND music that didn't make it into the movie. http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/%27T … e_One_(CD)

You guys may also be interested in these:

http://tdrsmusic.com/vince.html#artistictrans

http://tdrsmusic.com/vince.html#protoform

I've always been curious about that piano CD, but have never gotten around to checking it out. Have you heard it, and if so, how is it?

Alas, I have not. Although Transformers: The Movie was one of the most important movies of my childhood (probably second only to the Goonies), and I've lost count of how many times I've watched it, the only music I can ever remember from the film is by Stan Bush and Weird Al

The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt. Just never can get tired of this fantastic score. The themes are so evocative and inspiring, and the soundtrack is composed together beautifully, by the time you've listened it once, you may feel like starting it over right again to get back where you started.

Wow... not one mention of Trevor Jones. First off, The Dark Crystal is simply awe-inspiring. Something about the orchestra being mixed with live synths really got to me. I also liked what he did on Labyrinth (that other '80s Jim Henson fantasy puppetry film) and Arachnophobia (it actually made me even more fascinated by tarantulas and typical spiders than making me fear them ).