You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: John Carpenter’s Latter-Day ‘Halloween’ Scores Get Expanded Box Set

Halloween Complete Expanded Collection
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“The night HE came home” is about to have a whole new meaning, thanks to a new box set from Sacred Bones Records containing expanded presentations of the scores to the late ’10s/early ’20s Halloween trilogy of horror films.

Halloween: The Complete Expanded Collection will offer, on three CDs or six LPs, a previously-released expanded presentation of the score to the 2018 sequel/reboot, along with new expansions of the music to sequels Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022) – all composed by original series composer/creator/director John Carpenter with his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies (the son of Kinks legend Dave Davies). The luxe packaging includes a lenticular cover, newly-designed artwork by Chris Bilheimer, posters for each film by design firm Creepy Duck (with an additional box-exclusive poster by Bilheimer), and new liner notes by Brad Sanders, who spoke with Carpenter and the trilogy’s co-writer/director David Gordon Green for the essay. The expanded albums will also be available individually, with color vinyl variants aplenty. Each title and variant will be available October 3.

Carpenter invented the modern slasher film with 1978’s Halloween, a tense thriller that followed teen babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Psycho scream queen Janet Leigh) as she and her friends are stalked by a white-masked killer named Michael Myers – also known as “The Shape” – an escaped psychiatric patient who murdered his sister as a child. The wildly successful film spawned decades of sequels, though only 1981’s Halloween II and 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch (an underrated film that attempted to turn the series into a horror anthology and had nothing to do with Myers or Strode) featured Carpenter’s handiwork. After eight films (including 1998’s Halloween H20, which featured a returning Curtis in a direct sequel to the first two films) and a pair of remakes by musician-turned-director Rob Zombie, the series seemed deader than Myers’ victims.

That all changed in 2018 when Green – working from a script he co-wrote with comedian Danny McBride – returned to Haddonfield, Illinois for a new Halloween story that ignored all but the original film. Here, Curtis returned as Strode, a steely, traumatized survivor prepared to the point of mania for Myers’ inevitable return – a seemingly implausible situation that comes true 40 years after his last escape. The new Halloween was a critical and commercial success, and spawned two very unexpected sequels: 2021’s Halloween Kills picked up where the last one left off, offering fan favorite characters from the series, a COVID-era rumination on paranoia and mob violence and buckets of fake blood and gore. A year later, the unusual, divisive Halloween Ends seemed to intimate Michael Myers’ spiritual evil, infecting a misunderstood teen years after The Shape’s apparent disappearance. Unusually, Ends featured a definitive ending for Strode and Myers’ intertwined stories, and no further reboot attempts have been made yet.

Beyond the committed performances of Curtis and tasteful Easter eggs for fans (including several cameos from Carpenter collaborator/director Nick Castle, who played The Shape in the original film), the new Halloween trilogy’s biggest seal of approval came from Carpenter coming back to score the films. By this point, the Master of Horror had stepped away from filmmaking for some time, partnering with the Brooklyn indie Sacred Bones on his Lost Themes series of electronic albums (on which Cody and Davies also collaborated) and even an anthology of his soundtrack work, including the raw, complex, driving synth theme to Halloween. He gamely returned to Haddonfield for the trilogy alongside his family, with an even chillier rig of synthesizers breathing life into the film’s classic themes along with new, occasionally disorienting ideas.

Amazon links are forthcoming, but the sets can be pre-ordered directly from the label or at Bandcamp, with vinyl variants exclusive to the label store (“toxic pumpkin” for the box, “melted pumpkin” for Halloween, “inferno” for Kills and “tunnel light” for Ends). The latter two newly expanded scores will also be available separately on CD. It’s all available October 3.

Halloween: The Complete Expanded Collection (Sacred Bones SBR-348, 2025)

6LP: Sacred Bones (Toxic Pumpkin / Dried Blood) / Bandcamp
3CD: Sacred Bones / Bandcamp

CD 1/LP 1-2: Halloween (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Expanded Edition) (originally released as Sacred Bones SBR-231, 2019 – original film released 2018)

2LP: Sacred Bones (Melted Pumpkin / Bone White/Orange Splatter) / Bandcamp

  1. Intro
  2. Aaron Meets Michael
  3. Halloween Theme
  4. Laurie’s Theme
  5. Aaron and Dana Enter Laurie’s Compound
  6. Laurie’s Past
  7. Prison Montage
  8. Laurie Breaks Down
  9. Karen’s Flashback
  10. Lumpy Explores Crash
  11. Michael Kills
  12. Hawkins Arrives At Crash Site
  13. Dana’s in the Shower
  14. The Story of Judith’s Death
  15. The Gas Station
  16. Michael Kills Again
  17. Gas Station Aftermath
  18. The Shape Returns
  19. The Boogeyman
  20. The Shape Kills
  21. Hawkins Called to Babysitter’s House
  22. Laurie Sees The Shape
  23. Babysitter Aftermath
  24. Sartain Meets Laurie
  25. Looking for Allyson
  26. Wrought Iron Fence
  27. The Shape Hunts Allyson
  28. Talking to Cops
  29. Allyson Discovered
  30. Gun Closet
  31. Halloween Theme (I’ve Got Eyes)
  32. Sartain’s Gone Mad
  33. Say Something
  34. Through the Woods
  35. Ray’s Goodbye
  36. The Shape Attacks Laurie
  37. The Shape is Monumental
  38. Searching for The Shape
  39. Mannequin Panic
  40. Death Drum
  41. The Shape and Laurie Fight
  42. The Grind
  43. Trap The Shape
  44. The Shape Burns
  45. Halloween Triumphant

Tracks 1, 3-4, 7, 11, 16, 18-20, 22, 26-2729, 33, 35, 37, and 41-45 originally released as Sacred Bones 31067, 2018

CD 2/LP 2-3: Halloween Kills (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Expanded Edition) (original film released 2021)

2LP: Sacred Bones (Inferno / Orange/Green Splatter) / Bandcamp
CD: Sacred Bones / Bandcamp

  1. Logos Kill
  2. Hawkins Discovered *
  3. Flashback *
  4. Spit *
  5. Hey Kid *
  6. The Myers House
  7. Cops Explore *
  8. First Attack
  9. Stand Off
  10. Halloween Kills (Main Title)
  11. Let It Burn
  12. He Appears
  13. From the Fire
  14. Strodes At the Hospital
  15. Cruel Intentions
  16. Phone Call *
  17. Massacre *
  18. Someone’s in the Car *
  19. Halloween Trick *
  20. Back At the Hospital *
  21. Goodbye Michael *
  22. Gather the Mob
  23. Rampage
  24. Frank *
  25. Search *
  26. Frank and Laurie
  27. Evil Dies Tonight *
  28. The System Failed *
  29. Blood on the Door *
  30. Disturbed Man *
  31. Violent Return *
  32. Hallway Madness
  33. It Needs to Die
  34. Look At Me *
  35. Reflection
  36. Hunting a Killer *
  37. Righteous Intentions *
  38. Morbid Discovery *
  39. Unkillable
  40. Payback
  41. Michael’s Legend
  42. Back to His Sister’s Room *
  43. Final Kill *
  44. Michael Answers *
  45. Halloween Kills (End Titles)

Tracks 1, 6, 8-15, 22-23, 26, 32-33, 35, 39-41 and 45 originally released as Sacred Bones SBR-263, 2021

CD 3/LP 5-6: Halloween Ends (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Expanded Edition) (original film released 2022)

2LP: Sacred Bones (Tunnel Light / Orange/Red Splatter) / Bandcamp
CD: Sacred Bones / Bandcamp

  1. Where is Jeremy?
  2. Halloween Ends (Main Title)
  3. Laurie’s Theme Ends
  4. The Cave
  5. Tire Slash *
  6. Cool Kid
  7. Drags to the Cave
  8. Evil Eyes
  9. Transformation
  10. Because of You
  11. Walk with Me *
  12. Requiem for Jeremy
  13. In the Restaurant *
  14. Bridge Fight *
  15. Kill the Cop
  16. Corey and Allyson *
  17. Side of the Road *
  18. Corey and Michael
  19. Slap *
  20. Corey’s Requiem
  21. Take the Mask *
  22. The Junk Yard
  23. Where Are You
  24. Suicide *
  25. What Did You Do *
  26. Bye Bye Corey
  27. The Fight
  28. Before Her Eyes
  29. The Procession
  30. Cherry Blossoms
  31. Halloween Ends (End Title)

Tracks 1-4, 6-10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22-23 and 26-31 originally released as Sacred Bones SBR-315, 2023

Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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