John Carpenter’s Score
Speaking of Carpenter, Green might have directed the new movie but he did manage to convince original creator John Carpenter to jump back on board the franchise to deliver the score for the film. In many ways, his superbly sinister musical cues from the first movie are just as important to its overall success as his direction and the iconic look of its villain, so the fact that he was back really helped lift 2018’s Halloween.
Most of the success of the soundtrack comes from the sense of nostalgia we get from hearing familiar themes reheated but actually, there’s a lot of invention and terrific fresh material on display here, too, which is what really makes it soar. Carpenter worked with his son Cody and musician Daniel Davies to compose the music for the film and together, they delivered some excellent reconstructions of his original tunes as well as creating new ones.
Overall, the score is both a wonderful callback, full of 80s-style synths (something that’s really come back in style in recent years), and a very modern piece of work, with a much bigger emotional range than even Carpenter’s music on the first movie. Just check out the track titled “The Shape Burns,” which manages to be chilling, triumphant and mournful at the same time. It’s a stellar achievement from the Carpenters and Davies and hopefully, they’ll be back for the sequel.