John Carpenter's Halloween Analysis

John Carpenter's Halloween Theme 




This influential theme song to the blockbuster film Halloween, by John Carpenter set the tone for October in 1978. According to Vox "It single handedly launched the era of the Slasher film", it is one of the biggest films of all time as well as having one of the most famous theme songs. Hence for us researching this masterpiece in the season of October ! 


  
John Carpenter not only made the influential film, but also composed it's music. FarOutMagazine reports on the thought process behind the masterpiece, Carpenter says " The rhythm was inspired by an exercise my father taught me on the bongos in 1961, the beating out 5-4 time," It also took him only three days to compose the whole song, and ended up being the most memorized aspect of his career with its catchy easy to remember beat and rhythm. 

What truly strikes fear and makes this tune perfect for a horror slasher is it's fast paced anxiety inducing tempo, it has no hesitation or ease when entering the song into a scene or just playing it in general. It continues to add other elements building the chaos and anxiety such as a more prevalent and aggressive beat, the rhythm is changed by adding more repeating factors as the song continues as well which I believe is another hit on the head attempt at inducing further anxiety into the listener. The heavy repetitive rhythm, along with a fast paced tempo and beat make this a perfect horror creation.

His tempo frequently hits 159 BPM which is between Vivace and Presto, which is considered extremely fast. This song has a very special place in my heart, I love Halloween and anything Horror related as well as my mom, we frequently enjoyed John Carpenters masterpiece all year and bonded over its hilariously fun terror or hokey environment. The theme has now been a tradition in my house hold, my father used to scare my mother after learning the tune on the xylophone before she gave birth to me as well! 


Let me know your favorite Halloween tune !   


Sources used for this Analysis:

 Romano, Aja. “Halloween: A Complete Guide to Horror’s Quirkiest, Most Erratic Franchise.” Vox, 19 Oct. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17973678/halloween-movies-guide-michael-myers-explained.

Russell, Calum. “The Unlikely Origin of John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ Theme.” Far Out Magazine, 26 June 2021, faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-carpenter-halloween-theme-origins/.

  

 

Comments

  1. Bethany TabaneraSeptember 28, 2023 at 7:04 PM

    Oh I love Halloween! Music like this really does have a way of instilling anxiety upon us, that's what makes it so thrilling! My favorite Halloween tune is the Prologue to Harry Potter by John Williams.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Ukulele FoolSeptember 29, 2023 at 1:39 PM

    I am working on 2 Halloween songs now, one is from a film - I Put a Spell on You. Really caught my attention in the late 80s in "Stranger Than Paradise". Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TempleOctober 2, 2023 at 7:35 AM

    Holy crap that music is terrifying! You’re right about the rapid beat, it really brings your pulse up to match it. I used to have this as a ring tone back in the heyday of the flip phone, I inherited it when my wife upgraded to a Razr. When it went off at night it could sometimes give a start. The twainging timbre and high pitch of the notes set it off as well. The guy that ads lyrics to movie scores oughta put some lyrics to this.

    ReplyDelete

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