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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Evil Has Gone!, November 19, 2002
This review is from: Halloween: 20th Anniversary Edition - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)
For fans of the 1978 classic slasher film "Halloween", this 20th anniversary soundtrack is a must-have. When director John Carpenter set out to write his own music for the low budget horror flick, little did we know that he was about to bring us a stirring, gripping score, in the spirit of master suspense composer Bernard Herrmann, himself. The story of "Halloween" is pretty familiar to most people, especially to those most likely to look into purchasing this soundtrack. Michael Myers was a young boy who brutally stabbed and murdered his sister back in 1963. He was taken to a mental hospital and was put under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (the name being an homage to a character in Hitchcock's "Psycho"). In 1978, Michael Myers breaks free, returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, IL., and terrorizes a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode. All of the frenzied, harrowing action takes place on Halloween night. The small town setting evokes the loneliness of Autuman well: leaves descend from their trees and blow through the streets, and jack-o-lanterns line the porches of the nice, quiet homes. Michael Myers shatters all of that serenity once night falls. The film is a suspenseful, pulse-pounding exercise in terror and fear. This is all enhanced greatly by its excellent score. Director John Carpenter notes that he played the film, sans the music, for a movie executive, and she said that it wasn't scary. Months later, once she had seen it finished, with the ominous score composed and attached, her opinion changed completely. Carpenter, with just a few sparse notes, manages to interpose urgency, dread, fear, and evil presence, ever so exceptionally into the foreboding film. Visual and aural cues work brilliantly together to form a near-perfect blend of synchronous fright. Michael Myers turns the staircase, the music reflects it. He suddenly sits up, the music is right there. He is spotted across the street from Laurie Strode's school, the score hauntingly emanates. It is simple, but effective. One should be aware of a couple of things about this this 20th anniversary soundtrack. It is 28 tracks long, and as the score is somewhat simple, there is a bit of repetition involved. Also, the dialogue for each score segment is included on this soundtrack. If you are wanting just the music, then this is not for you. Personally, I think the inclusion of the dialogue adds to the fun of the disc. As I said at the beginning of the review, this soundtrack is a must-have for the *fans* of the film. It is a good companion-piece to the movie. In fact, one could almost say that it *is* the movie. Few scores have been able to so definitively evoke the atmosphere of their films as well as "Halloween" has. Sit back, listen, and be scared.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Score That Changed The Face Of Halloween Forever, October 31, 2004
This review is from: Halloween: 20th Anniversary Edition - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)
Director John Carpenter's score to the film "Halloween" is an absolute classic score, that after 25 years, can still give people chills, even if they have never watched the film.
This is a textbook example of how the power of music in a film can change the face of a it, while also, amping the film up(another great example is "Jaws").
If you don't believe me, grab a copy of "Halloween" on DVD and skip to the sequence where Laurie Strode finds out all of her friends have been slaughtered thanks to Michael Myers. Watch the entire sequence, with the volume off, from where Laurie falls down the stairs, all the way thru to where she barely makes it back across the street & into the Doyle house. Now, watch the same sequence again, but this time with the volume on & my message is made pretty clearly.
Without music in a film, emotions can't be fully brought to life, actions can be missteps, & points and themes can never be driven fully home.
With the score to "Halloween", true evil in its rawest form is unleashed and the holiday that is also known as Samhein has never been the same since.
Nor will it ever change.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
John Carpenter's classic minimalist horror movie soundtrack, October 31, 2004
This review is from: Halloween: 20th Anniversary Edition - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)
I never underestimate the importance of a great musical score to elevate a movie. The epic score that John Williams composed for the original "Star Wars" movie is a great example on that point. John Carpenter's score for his film "Halloween" performs the same function, albeit on a less artistic and arguably more primal level. After all, Carpenter provides a remarkably minimalist score using a collection of synthesized instruments, piano, and percussion, and ends up with one of the most effective horror movie scores of all time.
For the 20th anniversary edition of the "Halloween" soundtrack a collection of choice bits of dialogue have been added. This works for two reasons. The first is that it is difficult to hear this music and not have scenes from the film come to mind, so you might as well hear the dialogue. But the second is more important, and that is because there is a lot of repetition with the musical motifs here, of which there are five primary ones.
First, there is the "Halloween Theme" which becomes identified as "The Shape," as Michael Myers is referred to in the credits. Second, the strings that you hear in the "Halloween Theme" end up being the theme we associate with the character of Laurie Strode, and if you are wondering why you think the heroine in this film is doomed, the music would be a good reason. Third, there is the "Haunted House" motif, which is associated first with the old Myers house and then whatever building the Shape happens to be in before he appears and stars slicing and dicing teenagers. This is associated with the stalking theme of "Hedge," "Boogie Man is Outside," and "Empty Street," which escalates into the final theme when the Shape goes after Laurie in "The Shape Stalks Laurie" and "Last Assault."
The effectiveness of this soundtrack is captured in contrasting the opening track of the "Halloween Theme," where the short-stringed piano and synthesized strings create the richest track on the album, and the simple and unsettling piano motif that represents the Shape. I always wondered why this was so effective and now I know. Instead of being in standard 4-4 time, the motif is done in 5-4 time. No wonder it sounds unnatural, eerie, and wrong. Of course, ever since Bernard Hermann's classic score for "Psycho" the high- pitched sound of strings has been associated with homicidal maniacs playing with sharp instruments. But Carpenter goes for something rather different, going instead for electronic sounds in the lower register in addition to the sharper synthetic sounds at the other end.
Every October 31st when the porch lights are finally out and the candy that the trick or treaters have not taken away can be claimed as my own, I watch "Halloween." The music has always been the best part of the movie for me, but it was not until I listened to this sound track and read the linear notes that I could really appreciate the way it was constructed, both in terms of the distinctive musical motifs and the way Carpenter uses his specific instrumentation to great effect. Yes, it gets a bit redundant and repetitive (on what would have been the "B-Side" in the old days of vinyl albums), but that is off set by the dialogue and the deserved reputation and "Halloween" soundtrack has in the pantheon of horror movie soundtracks. Final Note: Note how the finale of "Halloween" is rescored when it becomes the opening of "Halloween II" and render your own judgment as to how effective the change is given it is now the prologue and not the climax of the film.
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