What Will Be John Carpenter’s Legacy: Films or Music?
Brandon Wetherbee
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Vice recently released the video “John Carpenter: Father of the Slasher Film,” a 22-minute love letter to one of the most important directors of American cinema. It’s full of glowing praise from Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Zola Jesus, Keith David, and Jovanka Vuckovic. It’s a nice Cliffs Notes version of Carpenter’s film career.
The biggest takeaway comes at the 5:30 mark when Rob Zombie says, “You see a million movies and you say, hum me one piece of music from those movies. You can’t hum a fucking thing. You can always remember his stuff. It does what it needs to do.”
Though it may not be the takeaway the viewer is supposed to remember, that aside from Rob Zombie is the most poignant comment in the video. There’s more praise for Carpenter’s compositions, specifically for Halloween, but to most film lovers, Carpenter’s musical contributions are second to his cinematic legacy. Carpenter’s work may need to be reframed.
John Carpenter is an amazing filmmaker. Halloween is a top 5 horror film and They Live is the best cinematic satire of the last 100 years. There’s also the greatness of Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York, The Thing, and more cult classics that should just be classics, but what gets stuck in my head isn’t Michael Myers’ mask or murders or final girls or lines about bubblegum. What gets stuck in my skull are his soundtracks.
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A jump scare will never be stuck in your head like an earworm of a movie theme. While there are some iconic moments in the Carpenter-directed Halloween films, the music is what stands out. Need some proof?
Picture Michael Myers’ mask. You may envision a menacing killer stalking Jamie Lee Curtis. You may be thinking about how it’s just an altered William Shatner Star Trek mask. And you may be seeing a clean mask from the original or a burnt version from the most recent reboot.
Now hum the Halloween theme. It’s in your head. It will stay inside your skull until its trance is broken by another earworm.
When you were picturing Michael Myers’ mask, did you already have the theme in your head? Can you think of the mask right now without having the theme in your mind?
The ideas of They Live remain depressingly relevant. Roddy Piper’s bubblegum line is iconic for all the right reasons. The fight scene is absurdly long and perfect. The morals and lessons of the downside and destruction of Reaganomics will outlive all current politicians. But is the film as beloved without its minimalist score? Do we remember OBEY without the synths?
This is true for most every John Carpenter work. It’s damn near impossible to divorce the visuals without the score. What puts Carpenter’s musical contributions over his film work (which we acknowledge is massive!) is Carpenter’s forays into non-scores. His three records, Lost Themes I, II, and III, are just fantastic. They’re on par with Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts. They’re full of songs that can and inevitably will be used in future films, just like Ghosts.
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This is not just a fanboy fanboying. Hanz Zimmer has claimed Carpenter as a musical influence. Is there a more impactful scorer of the last two decades?
The only horror songs in soundtracks on par with the Halloween theme are Psycho’s shower scene (Bernard Hermann’s “The Murder”) and Jaws’ attack (John Williams’s “Main Title” from Jaws). The biggest differences between those classics and the Halloween theme are the budgets (much, much, much higher than Carpenter’s) and hummability. Those themes are instantly identifiable and extremely effective in their respective films. The Halloween theme, on the other hand, works almost as well out of context from the film. The ree-ree-ree from Psycho and du-duh-du-duh from Jaws will transport you to the shower and the beach, but other than those memorable musical lines, you’re not humming more than 10 seconds of either song. When you put on the Halloween theme, you listen to the entire thing. And once again, that theme is on a loop in your head.
Similar to the Ramones, Carpenter’s musical work is the product of necessity. He couldn’t afford a better score so he did it himself. His rudimentary synth lines are everlasting because of their simplicity. It’s DIY on an almost DIY budget. That simplicity is quite possibly the main reason the work is so memorable.
If it’s not for his music, Carpenter will be remembered for creating the ‘final girl’ trope, another fantastic film contributor. But he may not get credit for it. He will get the credit he deserves for his songs. And you’ll always have that Halloween theme in your head.
Categorized:Editorials
