Episode 147: John Carpenter

“Halloween (Theme)”

 

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In 1978, John Carpenter wrote, directed, and scored the film Halloween. It was made on a $300,000 budget, and ended up grossing over $70 million, making it one of the most successful independent movies ever released. The main theme to the film became one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic music ever made. Halloween became a franchise with 10 more Halloween films since the original. In 2018 a new Halloween film was released, directed by David Gordon Green. And for the first time since the first film, John Carpenter composed the score. That included remaking his theme song for the new film, this time with the help of his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies. In this episode, the three of them break down how they did it.

Buy or stream the 2018 theme to Halloween here. You can buy the soundtrack to Halloween on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Daniel Wyman
Oberheim OB-6 Synthesizer
Octavia Effects Pedal