John Carpenter Loves This Classic Film’s Score: “I can still hear it in my head every day”
While John Carpenter has been all but absent from the horror scene since 2010 (The Ward, please check it out), he has been dabbling behind the scenes still. His score for the latest trilogy of Halloween films, alongside son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, is among some of the best modern music in horror films. ‘Wrought Iron Fence,’ ‘Unkillable,’ and ‘The Junk Yard’ are fantastic arrangements. No matter how you feel about David Gordon Green’s latest trilogy of films, there’s no denying Carpenter’s music is worth the price of admission alone. At least for me. I own the CDs.
John Carpenter has always been about the music as much as he’s been about the horror. In a recent sit-down with Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti for Hero, Carpenter expounded on just how profound a role music has played in shaping his career. Alongside gentle ribs at Giallo master Dario Argento for being older than him, Carpenter shares how the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet helped inspire his career, remarking, “I grew up with all these amazing soundtracks. Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, just amazing composers.”
Naturally, the conversation shifted toward Simonetti’s work with Goblin and, by extension, Dario Argento. Carpenter has kind words to share about the score for Deep Red, though he shares the deepest respect for Suspiria’s score. Carpenter remarked, “The score that impressed me the most was Suspiria, of course. I can still hear it in my head every day.” In brackets, it appears Carpenter started humming the theme shortly after that. Me too, John Carpenter, me too. Simonetti returned the compliment, remarking, “I love Halloween. You know, you don’t play many notes but it works for your films. You have a minimalist sound. I love it very much. It’s not easy because many musicians like to use a lot of instruments, but you find the simplest way and all your soundtracks remain in your mind.”
Per Prime Video: A dancing school is haunted by mysterious murders.
Suspiria is a technicolor marvel, a shocker awash in so much vibrancy, so much transcendent evil, it endures to this day. Goblin’s score augments the film considerably. It is undeniably one of the most iconic horror themes of all time, and it’s no surprise Carpenter has geeked out over it as much as the rest of us. You can revisit Suspiria right now on Prime Video, and Halloween (2018) is available on Netflix. Horror music matters, and that double feature has some of the best.
What do you think? Are you a fan of John Carpenter’s music? What about Goblin? You’d better love Goblin. Let me know what fond memories you have over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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