“Halloween” turns forty this year, and it’s hard to believe that John Carpenter‘s horror classic has spawned ten films to date. However, it’s safe to say the quality has been in steep decline. Technically speaking, Carpenter’s credits on those pictures finished after “Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” but he was fine to cash cheques and go along with whatever direction the series headed. Though, he’s always been candid about not agreeing with certain decisions. Just like anyone else, there’s only so much time in the day, and he hasn’t bothered to watch all ten of those “Halloween” movies. We don’t blame him.
Chatting with Rotten Tomatoes, he said that the upcoming semi-reboot of “Halloween” by David Gordon Green is something he wholly endorses, and now he was ready to roll up his sleeves and get involved again.
“You know, you know I talked about the ‘Halloween’ [sequels] for a long time, the sequels — I haven’t even seen all of them. I don’t even know what really was there — but finally, it occurred to me: Well if I’m just flapping my gums here, talking about it, why don’t I try to make it as good as I can? I could offer advice. I could talk to the director. I like the director very much. I like the script. So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive,” he said.
That’s certainly some good news for fans, but as for the early word that Carpenter will get behind the synths and score the picture too, nothing is set in stone just yet. “Well, you see, as a composer, you have to wait until the director has his cut done, and sit down with him and do a spotting session,” he explained. “I gotta find out what kind of music he wants. Does he want all new? Does he want to refurbish some of the older stuff? Does he want a combination? You know, what does he want? It’s his movie now. I’m just the little worker bee helping.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Green and his co-writer Danny McBride tackle this huge horror legacy, but their first step is pretending the sequels don’t exist. “We’re kind of ignoring all the films past the first one,” McBride explained last fall. “It picks up after the first one, but it’s sort of an alternate reality. It’s as if the first ‘Halloween’ ended in a slightly different way.”
We’ll see what they conjure up, along with Carpenter, on October 18th.