When you’re discussing the most iconic themes in cinematic history, there are undoubtedly a few choice selections that’ll make anybody’s short list. Naturally, one may bring up John Williams’ work on Star Wars or Superman: The Movie, or Danny Elfman’s contributions to Batman. But when it comes to the horror genre, there’s one piece that arguably reigns supreme – and that’s the one from John Carpenter’s Halloween.
Having said that, it may shock you to learn how little time the legendary filmmaker and composer was given when putting together the music for some of his classics. When speaking with Consequence of Sound, Carpenter revealed that “the whole score” was done on an extremely brief timetable:
“For both Assault [on Precinct 13] and Halloween, I go into a studio and depending on how much time I had, I’d do several pieces. For Assault, I had a day; for Halloween, I had three days.”
Now, I think we can all agree on how commendable that is. Furthermore, the Halloween theme itself was concocted in about the time it takes to watch a good TV show, as Carpenter confessed:
“That theme was done in like an hour. We moved on.”
On the one hand, I’m taken aback because of how incredible that piece was and remains. But on the other, it makes sense, especially if you’re able to recall that the score for the original flick as a whole was made up by the same handful of tunes repeated and intermingled.
The next Halloween movie, featuring a score composed by Carpenter himself, has been projected for an October 2018 theatrical release, and as always, we’ll keep you posted once we learn more.
