John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies: ‘Halloween Ends’ Soundtrack Review: Carpenter and sons wrap up the latest Michael Myers trilogy in foreboding synth-driven style.
Arriving almost exactly a year later, Halloween Ends completes director David Gordon Greene’s reinterpretation of the Michael Myers saga, a horror franchise that is now in its 44th year. And like the two films that proceeded it, (Halloween and Halloween Kills), it again features director/composer John Carpenter returning to his proto-slasher franchise to provide the score in his patented style that helped spawn the synth-wave movement.
While longtime fans would have loved to see Carpenter return to the director’s chair, his musical contributions to Greene’s trilogy has provided context and a bond to his 1978 original film, while also allowing Carpenter (joined by his returning collaborators, son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, both of whom also contributed to the Lost Themes series) to elaborate on his original score, allowing for new textures and variations, as well as original material composed for the film.
And like the soundtracks from Halloween and Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends (out digitally Oct 14 2022, physically Jan 20, 2023 via Sacred Bones) sees them once again wringing blood out of an ever bloody stone.
Where’s Jeremy? kicks things off with a haunting ghostly choral intro, oceanic build, and heartbeat bass before the ever haunting 5/4 title theme emerges, remaining relentless and affecting, aided by an undercurrent of textures and skittering percussion.
Laurie’s Theme Ends is a hybrid of both Laurie’s Theme from Carpenter’s original film, a two-note figure drenched in unease and foreboding, and Laurie’s Theme from the 2018 film, which was a much more melodramatic and tragic affair, adding a sense of finality and pathos to what star Jamie Lee Curtis claims is her last outing as final girl(woman) Laurie Strode.
Cool Kid is an icy synth wave jam that should resonate with both hipsters and horror fans, while Drags To The Cave offers a cavernous wail in an ambient hellscape. Evil Eyes begins as a slow version of the main title’s backing theme before shifting into a tiered synth and guitar collage akin to a funhouse thrill ride gone wrong.
The Junkyard is a miasma in tone, and a centerpiece to the album, going from industrial clang to haunting piano and anthemic guitar, while The Fight’s needling, scything synths sets up the final showdown between Myers and Strode in epic fashion.
If there is an overarching theme to Halloween Ends, its loss. Requiem For Jeremy is a funeral dirge that is deeply affecting, while Corey’s Requiem’s haunting melody and funereal tone recall’s New Order’s Elegy. Corey and Michael shifts into a doom metal riff over a soaring soundscape.
This feeling of closure and tragedy extends to Before Her Eyes, which marries the title theme before shifting to a slight variation on Laurie’s Theme, while The Procession’s ethereal strings and pounding backbeat sound both oddly triumphant and fatalistic at the same time (likely foreshadowing the loss of the protagonist, butI haven’t seen the film yet). Cherry Blossoms offers a sole moment of calm, both soothing and ambiguous (its open-ended tone allowing for inevitable, further iterations of the franchise).
Halloween Ends isn’t quite as sonically inventive as Carpenter’s two previous installments, which isn’t surprising given the constrictions of the genre and the challenge of continually reinventing a score founded in minimalism. But it manages to offer a melancholic curtain call to the trilogy. It also proves that Carpenter’s musical contributions were the highlight to Green’s films, which varied in terms of cinematic quality.
The Halloween franchise will never end as long as it slays at the box office, but Halloween Ends is a fitting, sinister conclusion to Carpenter’s involvement with the series, adding gravitas and dramatic weight to the (for now) final saga of Myers, Strode and the inhabitants of Haddonfield.
