ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACKS
HALLOWEEN 1 - 6
HORROR-COLLECTION
Having caused a great stir in 1974 with DARK STAR, his science fiction parody, which he followed up in 1976 with the claustrophobic terror thriller ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, John Carpenter's next film was aimed at high stakes. HALLOWEEN was the name of the film made in 1978 on the shoe-string budget of 300,000 dollars. In it an unbalanced Michael Myers, the "black man" - an anonymous murder machine without intelligence or conscience - is let loose on a small town in Illinois. When just six years old, he murdered his sister after witnessing her at love games with her boyfriend, and now - having escaped from a lunatic asylum - he has returned 15 years later to his home town.
Through the dramatic production, the subjective
camera direction and also the masterly use of music, and to a lesser extent through
tension based on bloodthirsty shock effects, HALLOWEEN is justifiably held to be one of
the most significant contributions to the new form of horror film, initiated by George
Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (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 the music. He was responsible for
composing the music for his first two films and in his score for HALLOW
EEN he created a
masterpiece of electronic musical tension, indicating the approach of danger, even when
the film scenes on screen show no immediate peril. He drew his inspiration from the works
of two of his favourite composers, from Bernard Herrmann's electrifying background music
for PSYCHO and Ennio Morricone's evergreen ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. "Herrmann's
ability to create an imposing, powerful score with limited orchestral means, using the
basic sound of a particular instrument, 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 well over 100
million dollars and absolutely demanded a sequel which, however, Carpenter did not direct
- Debra Hill assuming responsibility 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 successful teamwork was continued in the music for part III of the
series - SEASON OF THE WITCH.
In all subsequent sequels it was up to Alan Howarth alone to continue the musical tradition started so fascinatingly in HALLOWEEN.
