John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, & Daniel Davies | Halloween (2018 Motion Picture Soundtrack) (LP)

When the new Halloween movie hits theaters in October 2018, it will have the distinction of being the first film in the series with creator John Carpenter’s direct involvement since 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Carpenter serves on the new David Gordon Green-directed installment as an executive producer, a creative consultant, and, thrillingly, as a soundtrack composer, alongside his collaborators from his three recent solo albums, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. The new soundtrack pays homage to the classic Halloween score that Carpenter composed and recorded in 1978, when he forever changed the course of horror cinema and synthesizer music with his low-budget masterpiece. Several new versions of the iconic main theme serve as the pulse of Green’s film, its familiar 5/4 refrain stabbing through the soundtrack like the Shape’s knife. The rest of the soundtrack is just as enthralling, incorporating everything from atmospheric synth whooshes to eerie piano-driven pieces to skittering electronic percussion. While the new score was made with a few more resources than Carpenter’s famously shoestring original, its musical spirit was preserved. “We wanted to honor the original Halloween soundtrack in terms of the sounds we used,” Davies explained. “We used a lot of the Dave Smith OB-6, bowed guitar, Roland Juno, Korg, Roli, Moog, Roland System 1, Roland System 8, different guitar pedals, mellotron, and piano.” Unlike the Lost Themes albums, where the composers wrote the soundtracks for imaginary movies, Halloween saw the Carpenters and Davies collaborating on music set to images for the first time. Though it marked a significant change from their previous creative process, the trio thrived under the constraints and tight deadlines that film scoring work demands. “Being limited by the length of time in scoring the sequence, we focused on the director’s tempo, timing, and vision,” Davies said. “He would tell us what he had in mind, how long the cue should be, what emotion he wanted, and we would take it from there. It’s only the three of us, there is no elaborate system. We wrote, performed, and orchestrated everything.” For John Carpenter, who reunited on the new film with original Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis, composing the score felt like a homecoming. Not only had he not worked on a Halloween movie in 35 years, he hadn’t composed a soundtrack since his 2001 sci-fi thriller Ghosts of Mars. “It was great,” Carpenter said of the experience. “It was transforming. It was not a movie I directed, so I had a lot of freedom in creating the score and getting into the director's head. I was proud to serve David Gordon Green’s vision.” For Cody Carpenter, John’s son, and Davies, his godson, it was surreal to work on something that means so much to generations of fans, and that they grew up around. “It was an honor for us to be involved, and we are really happy to be a part of something that so many people are anticipating and excited about,” Davies said. “Working together with both the director of the new Halloween and the creator of the original Halloween was really a fantastic experience.”

John Carpenter didn't direct the 2018 installment of the Halloween series (previously described by its makers as a "recalibration" rather than a reboot), but he did provide the music for the film. As the film stays true to the 1978 original, even casting Nick Castle as Michael Myers for the first time in four decades, the soundtrack is in the same spirit of the original, only performed with Carpenter's touring and recording partners (his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies), and with a much bigger budget. The iconic Halloween theme pops up in several iterations, and in much higher definition than in the original. Aside from that, there are plenty of sharp, effective scare sequences like "Michael Kills Again" and "Ray's Goodbye." While familiar-sounding, the soundtrack brings something new to the table instead of being a pointless retread, and in general, it just sounds amazing. Definitely worthwhile for any Carpenter or Halloween fans.

Tracklist

A1        Intro
A2        Halloween Theme
A3        Laurie's Theme
A4        Prison Montage
A5        Michael Kills
A6        Michael Kills Again
A7        The Shape Returns
A8        The Bogeyman
A9        The Shape Kills
A10        Laurie Sees The Shape
A11        Wrought Iron Fence
A12        The Shape Hunts Allyson
A13        Allyson Discovered
B1        Say Something
B2        Ray's Goodbye
B3        The Shape Is Monumental
B4        The Shape And Laurie Fight
B5        The Grind
B6        Trap The Shape
B7        The Shape Burns
B8        Halloween Triumphant

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the vinyl version.

Label: SACRED BONES
Rel. Date: 10/19/2018
UPC: 843563106778

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Original Score
• Format Detail: LP
• Released: 10/19/2018