| JOHN CARPENTER'S HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN II- THE NIGHTMARE ISN'T OVER! HALLOWEEN III- SEASON OF THE WITCH HALLOWEEN 4- THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS HALLOWEEN 5- THE REVANGE OF MICHAEL MYERS HALLOWEEN- THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS HALLOWEEN: H2O- TWENTY YEARS LATER |
| Soundtrack History- Though the dramatic production, the subjective camera direction and also the masterly use of music, and to a lesser extent thought tension based on bloodthirsty shock effects, Halloween is justifably heldto be one of the most significant constributions to the new form of horror film, initiated by George Romero's Night of the living dead (1968) and Tobe Hooper's The Texas chainsaw massacra (1974). When Carpenter showed one of the young female studio bosses at 20th Century fox the preview of his film she didn't think it was in the least scary, so he determined to create the atmosphere he wanted for his film by means of music.He responsible for composing the music for his first two films and in his score for Halloween he created a masterpiece of electronic musical tension, indicating the approach of danger, even when the film scenes on screen show no with immediate peril.He drew his inspiration from the works of two of his favourite composers, from Bernard Herrmann's electritying background music for Psycho and Ennio Morricone's evergreen Once upon a time in the west."Herrmann's ability to create an imosing, powerful score with limited orchestral means, using the bastic sound of particular instuments, high strings or low bass, was impressive.His score for Psycho, the film that inspired Halloween, was primarily all string instruments."Instead of strings Carpenter relies on a coolly produced, percussive, minimalized electronic score; its hypnotic main theme was to become as essential to the Halloween series as the apparently immortal Michael Myers.The film earned over 100 million dollars and absolutely demanded a sequel which, however, Carpenter did not direct- Debra Hill asuming reponsibiliy for the project- merely writing the screen-play, though naturally he again composed the music in collaboration with his old friend Alan Howarth, and this succesful teamwork was to be continued in the music for part III of the seires- Season Of the Witch.In all subequent sequels it was up to Alan Howarth alone to continue the musical tradition strated so fascinatingly in Halloween. |
| JOHN CARPENTER'S HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN SOUNTRACKS |