John Carpenter and his musical foils Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies have just shared “Rampage,” the second taste of their original Halloween score for the fiercely anticipated motion picture Halloween Kills.
“Rampage” speaks to the creative synergy the trio have amassed over the past six years of creative collaboration, updating Halloween’s familiar breath-stealing sense of menace and sinister synth tones with a broader sonic palette and an even deeper sense of musicality. The trio previously shared “Unkillable,” one of the most unsettling cues in all of Carpenter’s oeuvre. As a pair the songs make clear the breadth of ominosity on the score; both staying true to the spirit of what made the original 1978 film great while also bringing it firmly into the present.
The soundtrack will be released by Sacred Bones Records in conjunction with the film release on October 15, 2021, from Universal Pictures, Miramax, and Blumhouse. The hypnotic theme to John Carpenter’s 1978 horror masterpiece Halloween has embodied slasher-stalker anxiety for generations of filmgoers, and woven itself so deeply into pop culture that it’s become musical shorthand for the entire horror genre.
David Gordon Green’s 2018 Halloween film returned the story to 1978 original, and killed at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing chapter in the four-decade franchise and setting a new record for the biggest opening weekend in history for a horror film starring a woman. Carpenter and his partners provided the film with its unmistakable sonic identity, which is as integral to the franchise as Michael Myers’ mask and a glimmering butcher knife.
