Sacred Bones Records releases the Official Movie Soundtrack to Halloween Kills, By John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. The film, directed by David Gordon Lee, is the second in the ‘final’ trilogy of Halloween films. Carpenter has an impressive arsenal of film scores under his belt, the majority for his own directed projects such as The Fog, Escape From New York, They Live, Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, Assault on Precinct 13, Christine, Vampires, and many more including the original classic Halloween from 1978 and its first two sequels – plus three albums of Lost Themes. As with Halloween (2018) and the John Carpenter Anthology rejig, he is joined by his son Cody and Daniel Davies who is Carpenter’s godson and son of The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies. The Halloween Kills score is available on CD, for Download and Streaming...

When David Gordon Lee landed the directing job for Halloween (2018), one of the first things he did was to bring in John Carpenter – not only to compose and perform the music but in an advisory capacity. Carpenter felt that all the sequels should be discarded/ignored, simplifying the structure by having Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) prepare herself over the forty years for a second and final confrontation with the masked killer Michael Myers, and inviting Nick Castle to reprise that role, so there was a continuity of movement. It worked really well, but for Halloween Kills Castle doesn’t play ‘the shape’ and Carpenter’s role is reduced to Executive Producer. The consequence is more than evident in the resulting film. The menace and atmosphere is replaced with blood and guts and a mob rules attitude. However, this is about the music and Carpenter returns to lift a mediocre movie with another impressive score. I, personally, enjoyed the music much more than the movie Halloween Kills itself – and the original Halloween (1978) is my joint-favourite movie of all time.

Track List: 'Logos Kill'; 'Halloween Kills (Main Title)'; 'The Myers House'; 'First Attack'; 'Stand Off'; 'Let It Burn'; 'He Appears'; 'From The Fire'; 'Strodes At The Hospital'; 'Cruel Intentions'; 'Gather The Mob'; 'Rampage'; 'Frank And Laurie'; 'Hallway Madness'; 'It Needs To Die'; 'Reflection'; 'Unkillable'; 'Payback'; 'Michael’s Legend'; 'Halloween Kills (End Titles)'.

Now, it would have been so easy for Carpenter to rehash his previous classic tracks and interludes from the original Halloween and Halloween (2018), sit back and wait for the money to roll in. However, John is a master of his craft, so those signature tunes that everyone wants to hear – the ones which inform us we are in a Halloween film with arguably the most notorious fictional masked killer – are stripped-back and rescored so that they remain recognisable but fresh and new. The effect this has is to make them more uncomfortable again, rather than familiar. There is menace and dark foreboding from the outset, and what he and his cohorts have done with the opening theme actually puts chills down me – a sure sign that I’m making a connection with that version. 'The Myers House' is short but even more dissonant, than the original. 'First Attack' uses a clattering not unlike that utilised by Carpenter in Escape From New York, the difference being that this is suitably oppressive, the structure becoming something else as it heads towards its conclusion – like an actual obstruction. There is a lot going on in the simple structure of Stand Off, another track which places the listener well out of their comfort zone.

There is a lot of completely new material here and the trio really pushed the boat out to create the most gritty, gravelly, bizarre, and off-kilter chilling film music I have heard in some time. Piano and synthesiser based but incorporating a multitude of contemporary Electronica effects to further enhance his excellent tunes. Like Gilmour of Pink Floyd Carpenter knows when one note is more effective than many. You might say that less is more, but he wraps his simple but effective masterpieces in a web of sinister menace. But it’s not all threatening vibes. 'Strodes At The Hospital' is a lovely haunting melody, as is 'Frank And Laurie'. 'It Needs To Die' has elements of both in a great long piece. It is nice to hear longer tracks such as 'Rampage', wherein sounds come and go around a chugging centrepiece. 'Hallway Madness' has a nice hidden mix of some of his previous soundtracks (fans will know what I mean). 'Reflection' comes across like a dream sequence. 'Unkillable' features two separate all-out horror slammer themes which are exciting and entertaining.

The only downside is that the closing credits 'Main Theme' is perhaps not what Halloween (2018)’s was. But I’m nit-picking; the truth is this is a stunning collection of atmospheric music pieces. I have been quite literally stunned by this soundtrack – and I know how good Carpenter is. I have already played this through a couple of times, and the main thing which comes to mind is how little this music comes through to good effect in the film. There isn’t really much need for dialogue in the movie, and this music could really have been more prominent and carried it. I would recommend listening to this on headphones so that none of the intricate music effects are lost. Excellent. Buy it now.

10

Ty Power