How Music Made Me Fall in Love with Halloween

Happy Halloween!

All of October, I’ve been watching every Halloween and horror movie I can squeeze into my free time.

Growing up, I absolutely hated being scared. I hated this season. I hated how days got shorter, darker, colder. But a few year back, I decided to find the joy in “Spooky Season.” I didn’t like feeling so down after summer ended.

So I really embraced the season to see what everyone loved about Autumn and Halloween. I added special warm lighting to my living room. I dipped my toes into scarier movies, started reading haunted stories and horror novels. I picked up different candles, ciders, and baked goods!

Actual photos of me enjoying the seasons...I’m Humpty Dumpty.

But what really hooked me was the heart poured into the making of horror movies. I love these stories down to their very core!I heard Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) talk about how horror is actually about empathy, compassion, courage...

These characters come together and against all odds, have to face the unimaginable even when they are likely going to lose.What really changed my mind about the genre was the music. I started realizing that so much of what makes horror powerful (the emotion, the empathy, the tension) is based in the sound.

That’s when I completely fell down the rabbit hole of horror scores… starting with Halloween.

John Carpenter’s 1978 film, to me, is a perfect slasher flick and the 40th anniversary “re-quel“ is my favorite timeline continuation of that original story.

We get an emotionless, ruthless “Boogeyman“ in Michael Myers, a babysitting-heroine survivor in Laurie Strode, all set in a small town on a chilly Halloween night.

It’s such a simple premise but what makes it work is that we never truly find out why Michael does what he does.

And what really sells the story is John Carpenter’s score.

The theme is just a piano riff in 5/4 time, yet that uneven rhythm instantly creates unease. Especially as it repeats… and repeats… and repeats.

Then comes the pulsing beat, the creaky, cranking synth, and eventually the rising bass line.

The music has become as iconic as Michael Myers himself...maybe even more so!

So when the 2018–2022 40th anniversary trilogy came out, I was thrilled to hear how the original theme evolved. There’ve been sequels where the theme leaned too far into 80s pop synth and almost sounded comical (looking at you, Halloween II), but this new trilogy got it right.

Carpenter worked with his son Cody Carpenter and composer Daniel Davies to modernize the sound while keeping the original DNA intact.

And they created a darker, richer score that perfectly matches today’s slasher tone.

I loved it so much, I actually got myself the Halloween Complete Expanded Collection for this trilogy!

At the core is that same piano melody but now layered with deeper, pulsing rhythms and eerie textures, like a bow dragged across a Gibson guitar for a primal, electric drone.

It honors what came before while carving out something entirely new. And it means even more knowing that the two Carpenters (and Davies) created it together!If you haven’t seen it, check out the featurette The Sound of Fear, where they talk about building this new score.

I’m just absolutely obsessed with Halloween, the spooky season, and the way horror uses music and sound to elevate fear into art.

I love that the Halloween score isn’t just jump-scare stingers but rather a constant, driving force that’s haunted us for over 40 years!

That’s it for today’s Composer Odyssey!

Have a very happy (and safe) Halloween and as always... Happy Composing! 🎃

~Robert