may
actually be the cinematic conclusion of the seemingly endless storyline.
Meant as the final entry in the trilogy of 2018's
, this poorly-received culmination again
assumes connections to only its two predecessors and the original 1978
film, the franchise continuing to abandon all other sequels and reboots
from its past. There is some satisfaction in witnessing the revelation
of the original 1978 characters' fates, but the plot of
is badly warped by commentary about teen bullying. The focus of
the story shifts to a young man, Corey, who dates Laurie Strode's
granddaughter and is bullied sufficiently to become something of an
apprentice killer to the "shape," Michael Myers. It's a dangerous
message about murdering classmates and their families, but Myers himself
eventually retakes the spotlight. Regardless, it's Jamie Lee Curtis in a
slasher movie, and that's all that matters, especially by the time
police confirm their ineptitude and support of vigilante killing as
Myers is taken by a procession of angry Haddonfield residents to an
industrial shredder for supposedly permanent disposal. Still, some
satisfaction has resulted for enthusiasts of the concept since director,
writer, and composer John Carpenter returned to the franchise with this
2018 trilogy, and in no part of the production is his work more
impactful than the music. For these three scores, Carpenter was joined
by his son, Cody Carpenter, and rock-musician godson, Daniel Davies.
Director David Gordon Green had encouraged the trio to take a more
modernized approach to their classic 1978
, with limited artistic
success. That score was largely boring and disengaged as the composers
struggled to find a new direction for their tone.
For
Halloween Ends, though, that equation skews
over to the dramatic, the story not only exploring a touch of romance
but providing some psychological backstory to Corey that helps explain
Myers' motivations without ever needing to explicitly state them. This
direction seems to have inspired better ideas from Carpenter and his
team, as the end result is a rewarding, albeit somewhat conservative
coda to the franchise's music. In its attempts to address a deeper
story, the score for
Halloween Ends is a bit more tonally
inclined, though a re-worked 1980's song, "Burn it Down," by the
electronic music group Boy Harsher was applied as something of a love
theme for the younger couple. Despite reports to the contrary, the
material in this song is not used obviously in the score and is instead
applied as a song placement. It's a good match stylistically with
Carpenter's sound, however, so casual listeners won't notice much
disparity. More so than the previous entries in this trilogy, Carpenter
and his team attempted to develop new thematic material to account for
fresh main characters and situations, supplementing the three surviving
1978 themes with new, complimentary alternatives. Whereas
Halloween
Kills proved to be extremely dull in its failure to extend the
motifs in new directions,
Halloween Ends doesn't make the same
mistake. That said, the debuting themes range from decently smart to
incomprehensible, so their use as narrative definitions is somewhat
haphazard. The instrumentation remains the same as well, the mixture of
vintage analog equipment and modern synthetics mingling with a few live
performers, mainly piano and electric guitar, to supply an extremely
familiar atmosphere to all of the work. The quality of the recording,
executed entirely at Carpenter and Davies' home studios, is a little
crisper in the impressive, Blaster Beam-like bass contributions. The
general tone is a little better developed here, too, the dramatic
element allowing the keyboarding to present motific and rhythmic devices
with more interesting and engaging reach at times.
The outright obnoxious looped elements heard in
Halloween Kills are largely abandoned, the techniques in
supplying propulsion to this sequel more accessible in even the
terrifying sequences. Enthusiasts of thematic continuity will be pleased
by Carpenter's liberal spotting of the main theme and its popular,
underlying 5/4 rhythm. Heard in suite form in all of "Halloween Ends
(Main Title)" and "Halloween Ends" (the latter concluding on an
unfinished phrase), the idea extends in its rhythm to a subtle reminder
in "The Cave" on piano and a variant on synthetics that offers suspense
in "Cool Kid." The full rhythm and theme emerge menacingly in "Kill the
Cop" and are relegated to counterpoint to Corey's theme in "Corey and
Michael" and "The Junk Yard," but they make a splash at the end of the
film, taking a brutal stance early in "The Fight" over an extended
period (a very well done performance) and the rhythm and theme exploding
at the outset of "Before Her Eyes." The other two returning themes in
Halloween Ends are the thumping stalking motif and Laurie
Strode's theme. The former growls in the latter half of "Where is
Jeremy?" and opens "The Fight" on metallics under the main theme but is
otherwise diminished. Carpenter opts to retire Laurie's original theme
after a token statement at the outset of "Laurie's Theme Ends," where it
is starkly and abruptly stricken. Rather, he offers her a new piano
theme in the latter half of the cue that is more compelling and tonally
warm. Consisting of four-note phrases when intact, this idea has some
humorously coincidental overlap with Frank Sinatra's "New York, New
York," and it occupies all of "Cherry Blossoms" on vaguely hazy synths,
battered in tone. The electronic ambience of this keyboarding sounds off
emotionally in the closing cue, presenting little resolve or solace. The
primary new theme of the score exists for Corey, and it aligns closely
with the main rhythmic motif of the franchise as appropriate. Its
menacing coolness late in "Evil Eyes" returns in the middle of
"Transformation" on piano with a tone of insistent insanity. It directly
follows the main theme at the height of "Kill the Cop" and opens "Corey
and Michael" with angry force, but it disappears in favor of the main
theme thereafter. When it exists, though, the Corey theme's interplay
with the main theme is quite strong.
Mushier is the pair of requiems for the Corey and
Jeremy characters, the former using same techniques as Corey's theme but
with different progressions and descending rhythmic figures dominating.
This material debuts on piano over striking bass synth late in "Requiem
For Jeremy," continues development without the piano and in more
contemplative measures throughout "Corey's Requiem," and becomes
aggressive with electric guitar in "The Junk Yard." Its influence on the
critical climatic cues isn't clear enough to truly suffice, turning
quasi-romantic on rambling piano later in "Before Her Eyes" and shifting
to an ascendant anthem in "The Procession" with its thumping metal bass
intact. Even with these sloppy attributions in the latter half of the
score, the attitude of the whole is improved from the preceding score,
and the main theme's references are nicely handled. The closing
"Halloween Ends" doesn't take the opportunity to present other themes in
suite format, and these scores continue to struggle to really force
ideas into conflict with each other. But the mingling of the main theme
and Corey's material in the first half is a solid step in that direction
and will provide more interesting intellectual depth to an otherwise
comfortable and established sound. Released on album at the time of the
film's release by Carpenter's own label, Sacred Bones, the score
received physical vinyl and CD options following the digital version by
a few months. In 2025, both the 2021 and 2022 sequel scores received
expanded treatment on CD and vinyl just like the 2018 predecessor had
already experienced, including an option to purchase the fuller versions
of all three in one set. (Endless varieties of colorful vinyl options
with gruesome artwork continue to earn Carpenter cash from the seemingly
endless wealth of this franchise's fanbase.) In the case of
Halloween
Ends, the additional material is nowhere near as plentiful or
impactful as the equivalent had been on the album for
Halloween
Kills, but the softer side of the work is expanded upon just as in
previous entry. Most of the additions are muted and nondescript, but
there is brief rhythmic keyboarding of interest in "Tire Slash." More
importantly, better melodic exploration, albeit subdued, is provided in
"Walk With Me," "Corey and Allyson," and "Slap." The Laurie strode theme
is tentative on piano in "Suicide," and its chords carry over to "What
Did You Do?" Otherwise, the expansion for
Halloween Ends is not
as necessary. On either version of the album, expect a decent farewell
for an iconic theme.
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