31 Days 31 Scores
October 9th
“Well, my gauges must be wrong. I’ve got a wind blowing due east. Now what kind of a fog blows against the wind?”
It wouldn’t be 31 Days 31 Scores without at least one score from the master of horror John Carpenter. Today we feature the score to Carpenter’s 1980 film The Fog. Carpenter was still riding the success of Halloween from 1978 and The Fog would be his follow-up. The score is exactly what you’d expect from Carpenter of this era, layered synth. The score is simplistic but that is part of its charm. It creates exactly the right type of vibe for the film because the music is coming from the mind of the director. I have always admired Carpenter for this. While some say his scores are too simplistic I think they fit perfectly. The main theme while derivative of the Halloween theme, it does eventually in its own direction. This is probably Carpenter’s best score from a music standpoint as it really feels like he was trying to create a perfect soundscape for his score and movie. The cues “Antonio Bay” and “Reel 9” do this quite effectively acting as both score and sound effects. Carpenter’s score on the whole is quite effective at creating the right vibe for his film. You can hear in this score the template that Carpenter would use for his future scores. This score is definitely worth a listen especially in the dark on headphones.
The score I’m referencing here is the 2000 Silva America release with has about 34 minutes of score, 13 minutes of Bonus tracks and an opening by John Houseman and an interview with Jamie Lee Curtis. 2012 also saw a 2 disc expanded version also by Silva.
Join me tomorrow for more 31 Days 31 Scores where “Death Is Just The Beginning…”