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| Carpenter |
Halloween Kills: (John Carpenter/Various) While
initial studio hesitancy and the 2020 pandemic delayed the production of
Halloween Kills, nobody could resist the cheap thrills resurrected
by 2018's
Halloween and its two promised sequels. Picking up the
original 1978 storyline and ignoring most of the other sequels and
reboots, the 2018 film was met with praise from concept enthusiasts,
especially with original actors returning to the fray. The first sequel
to this extension, 2021's
Halloween Kills, did not fare as well
critically, for the movie failed to take its narrative in any meaningful
or surprising direction and didn't offer as much presence for lead
actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Rather, the movie is simply an excuse to see a
wide variety of new and returning characters killed by the evil "shape,"
Michael Myers, even despite entire well-armed mobs attempting to
overtaken him in open spaces. The movie requires you to believe that the
citizens of the nice town of Haddonfield are all a bunch of helpless
cows awaiting slaughter, with no law enforcement prowess whatsoever.
Certainly, by 2021, both the national press and the FBI would be all
over this insanity and give it the death it truly deserves. But, alas,
no. Audiences absolutely must see a creepy guy kill others without the
convincing purpose that even a terminator has. After helping launch the
concept in the 1970's, director, writer, and composer John Carpenter
disavowed much of the franchise thereafter, bowing out after three films
and only returning for the 2018 entry as a consultant and composer. He
returns again for music duties on
Halloween Kills, joined like
before by his son, Cody Carpenter, and rock-musician godson, Daniel
Davies. The director, David Gordon Green, encouraged these men to take
the modernized version of their classic 1978
Halloween music from
the previous movie and make it even more aggressive, supplying perhaps
an experimental edge to this score. After all, with bigger, angry
slasher mobs must come some stomping electronic bravado, right? The end
product here isn't significantly different from the 2018
Halloween score, however, with a few heavier layers to some cues,
but the overall equation remaining mostly static.
The continuation of the franchise's original three
themes is still commendable in these newer works, and that continuation
alone may be enough for some listeners of
Halloween Kills, but
Carpenter and his team are clearly struggling to find ways to evolve
these ideas into anything substantially new. Given how stale the formula
of the film has become, perhaps the tired stance of the music cannot be
considered a surprise. To a moderate degree, Carpenter does supply a bit
more dramatic depth to the tone of
Halloween Kills in its
treatment of the survivors, the music more often exploring piano-driven
tonalities to compelling ends. But whatever advances made in these
portions are countered by completely limp suspense and action writing.
There is not much depth to this music, no weight or breadth to its
motions. The piano holds its own, but all the synthetic elements,
including electric guitar, are shallow and unconvincing. Some of the
action cues aren't even scary, including the totally pointless loops of
"Rampage." The confrontation cue, "Payback," is not engaging enough in
its sparseness. These issues exist in most of the cues, leaving
listeners grasping only to the concept's themes for satisfaction. The
main franchise theme remains a winner in all of these films, both the
melody and its iconic, underlying 5/4 rhythm returning frequently in
Halloween Kills. In "Main Title," its familiar piano tones are
joined by a poorly sampled or manipulated synthetic choir, with extended
treatment including even some poor brass sampling. The rhythm alone
opens "Standoff," slowed significantly, before the fragmented theme
later emerges over Carpenter's stalking motif with very dissonant
results. The piano rhythm is joined by menacing electric guitar notes in
"He Appears," while the theme is manipulated by angry guitar in "From
the Fire." Fragments of theme lace "Unkillable" in highly obnoxious
pulsing action, "Payback" opens with a reprise of the "Main Title"
performances, "Michael's Legend" offers the idea in softly altered form
on piano over a new rhythmic base, and a more formal arrangement with
additional, more grating synth layers in "End Titles" cranks up the
volume but not the power, the solo piano rhythm suddenly ending to close
out score and suggest more horrors to come in the next film.
Meanwhile, given the emphasis of the script on other
characters, heroine Laurie Strode's theme remains somewhat diminished in
Halloween Kills, consolidating at 1:17 on piano in "Strodes at the
Hospital" but overtaken by new protagonist material emphasized for this
entry. Beginning earlier in that cue as a rambling piano rhythm under
synth ambience, this music becomes somewhat elegant via piano solo in
"Frank and Laurie" and highlights the best cue in the work, "It Needs to
Die," with more determined, tonal, and dramatic appeal that includes a
few piano leads as well. Ghostly deconstructions of this material over
suspenseful ambience occurs in "Reflection," and related piano layers
are a nice touch in the hype-seeking "Michael's Legend." The stalking
motif consisting of a thumping piano base returns under the under main
theme in "Standoff" but really makes its mark under the entirety of
"First Attack," though this cue is tormented by terrible upper range
synths that will send you fleeing. The motif doesn't really recur after
that, though the same general idea elongated with louder malice can be
encountered in "Cruel Intentions" and "Hallway Madness." Few other
motifs of interest exist in
Halloween Kills, the repetitive
descending sequences of "The Myer's House" doing little to extend a
musical identity to the villain. Overall, the score hits all the right
basic notes but sounds incredibly cheap given the filmmakers' intent to
instill a greater sense of gravity in this score. The impact simply
isn't there, most cues neglecting to generate even moderate doses of
dread, and only the most avid franchise enthusiasts will appreciate the
continued variations on the main theme and its rhythm. As expected, the
score was released on album by Carpenter's own label, Sacred Bones, in a
wide array of product options ranging from a CD to a series of limited
LP vinyl collectibles. Similar merchandise from the 2018 score, leading
up to its expanded album of 2019, were quick to sell out, and this
demand has forced the label to attempt to limit the quantities of
especially the LPs that individuals can purchase. True to the
franchise's era and good for a chuckle, Carpenter even offers a cassette
option for
Halloween Kills, along with a "Trick or Treat" tote
bag. None of these modes of presentation will convince you that
anything's new or scary in this sequel, however, the music and its
creator potentially running out of inspiration even if the body count
mercilessly continues to climb.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
