Halloween – Soundtrack

Despite whether or not you personally enjoy his work, Rob Zombie knows how to tell a story. Whether through music, movies, or simply speaking, the guy does a good job of stringing together interesting tales. The soundtrack to Zombie’s latest film, a remake of the 1978 classic horror film Halloween, is no different.

What is different this time around is the lack of original material. (Then again, I’m still trying to forget Zombie’s version of “Brick House 2003” from his House of 1000 Corpses Soundtrack (Review.) Zombie’s Halloween sountrack consists of twelve tracks: two Tyler Bates scored tracks from the film (“Halloween Theme 2007” and “The Shape that Stalks Laurie”), and ten classic hits from the 70s. Each of the twelve tracks are preceeded by a short sample from the film, bringing the overall number of tracks to twenty-four.

The first half of Zombie’s remake takes place in the 1970s, focusing on Michael Myers’ childhood. Songs from that era have been pulled and used to connect the samples and tell a complete story. After seeing the film and listening to the soundtrack I doubt you’ll think of Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” and KISS’s “God of Thunder” in the same light. In that regard, Zombie is able to breath new life into old tunes.

Production quality varies among the presented tracks, with some of the older tracks such as The Misfits’ “Halloween II” and Iggy Pop’s “1969” sounding muted and under produced compared to the others. Then again, I’m pretty sure both of those artists would take that as a compliment. Most of these songs originally appeared on 8-tracks anyway; I’m guessing “high”-fidelity had a completely different meaning back then.

Although the music presented here is all essentually kid-friendly, the in-between movie samples are definitely not. While some of the soundtrack’s songs (like Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed”) may have been controversial when they were originally recorded, there’s nothing offensive contained within. That stands in direct contrast to the audio samples, which contain f-bombs aplenty.

01. These Are the Eyes (Dialogue)
02. Halloween Theme 2007 by Tyler Bates
03. Is the Boogieman Real? (Dialogue)
04. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult
05. Are You Saying Michael Did This? (Dialogue)
06. Love Hurts by Nazareth
07. I Hope She Likes Cripples (Dialogue)
08. Baby, I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton
09. A Taco Deluxe Supreme (Dialogue)
10. Tom Sawyer by Rush
11. Driven By Pure Animal Instinct (Dialogue)
12. Let It Ride by Bachman Turner Overdrive
13. Trick or Treat, Baby (Dialogue)
14. God of Thunder by KISS
15. Satan’s Mother (Dialogue)
16. 1969 by Iggy Pop
17. Talking About The Anti-Christ (Dialogue)
18. Only Women Bleed by Alice Cooper
19. Needs to Get Laid (Dialogue)
20. Halloween II by The Misfits
21. Was That the Boogieman? (Dialogue)
22. The Shape That Stalks Laurie by Tyler Bates
23. The Scream (Dialogue)
24. Mr. Sandman by Nan Vernon

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