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John Carpenter — “The Shape Returns”

John Carpenter Releases Updated 'Halloween' Theme

In honor of the forthcoming Halloween film, horror auteur John Carpenter has updated “The Shape,” his chilling score to the groundbreaking 1978 slasher film. This time around, Carpenter shared the composer credit with son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, who both collaborated with Carpenter on Lost Themes I and II and play in the filmmaker’s live band. Davies also happens to be the son of Dave Davies from The Kinks. The tweaks to the composition are minor, but the score is no less unnerving than when it first served as the prelude to murder 40 years ago.

The franchise has been rebooted and revisited over the years without Carpenter’s participation, but in the new version, co-written by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride and directed by Green, Carpenter is serving as executive producer and creative consultant, in addition to his musical contributions.

“It was great,” Carpenter told the horror site Bloody Disgusting about scoring the new Halloween. “It was transforming. It was not a movie I directed, so I had a lot of freedom in creating the score and getting into the director’s head. I was proud to serve David Gordon Green’s vision.”

Halloween Original Motion Picture Soundtrack drops on October 19, the same day the film hits theaters. The soundtrack can be pre-ordered on the Sacred Bones Records site.

Also, Carpenter and O.G. scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis recently introduced the new international trailer for the film, which looks bonkers.