Scores & Soundtracks: Halloween & A Nightmare on Elm Street
So now we are up to the sacred number two on my list of the greatest scores in the world of horror movies. This time out I want to try something a bit different than from the previous weeks. With the number two spot I want to split it between two films: The first being John Carpenter’s Halloween and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Instead of just giving some insight on the theme songs with a brief summary of the movie, I will compare these two monsters and match up their greatness.
The Story
The idea for Halloween is such a simple story, but as soon the opening credits you know that something special is about to go down. The movie follows Laurie Strode and her friends on Halloween night, believing that they are safe and have no idea that they are being stalked by Michael Myers who on the night before Halloween broke free from a County Sanitarium. Simple, yet so effective.
A Nightmare on Elm Street has more imagination and originality than most movies do in general. It’s successful in keeping the viewer guessing through out the feature's running time whether its reality or dream. On Elm Street, a cop’s daughter Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends are having violent dreams. And the one thing they have in common with their dreams is that they all contain a badly burned man who has a razor fingered glove as his weapon.
The Direction
John Carpenter does a wonderful job, love how daylight scenes are just as eerie as the ones done in the night are. He allows the environment to become an important element for the tone of the film. Long empty streets, red, orange, golden leaves, sunlight and moonlight almost become actors in usefully letting the Halloween (the holiday) feel be so present. Carpenter does his thing when it comes to building up the suspense filled scenes; instead of bloody kills he goes the route of atmosphere, strong use of lighting and kick to the gut suspense.
Wes Craven killed this one, which is why to this day Nightmare will always be his most talked about film. The movie moves quick and tight without becoming empty. Craven uses a lot of fade to blacks to bring his scenes to end and I must say it works. It gives the watcher a short time to take in the scares. The movie is all muscle; character development, tension, and shows no mercy.
The Teens
We have a group of high school friends, one being Laurie Strode(Jamie Lee Curtis), the shy book smart student, Annie who’s the sheriff’s daughter and smokes weed and Lynda who plays the cheerleader slut type. I find them to be a likeable bunch; nothing really stands out for me to deem them annoying. They come across as different shades of normal teens.
Though it’s Jamie Lee’s Laurie Strode that’s stands out from the pack. She’s pretty, smart and responsible. At one point during the film, while babysitting Laurie is attacked by Michael she makes sure to get the kids out of harms way and out of the house. To some that might not be a huge deal, yet I just find it cool. She gets my respect and that goes a very long way in a horror movie.
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and a group of her friends including Tina Gray(Amanda Wyss), Rod Lane(Jsu Garcia) and Glen Lantz(Johnny Deep) give off that feeling of real friendships. They all spend the night together at Tina’s house because she’s afraid of being home alone due to her nightmares. Nancy is the strong willed one, Tina dates Rod who is a type of a wild child, but not to the point of being a shit head, and Glen plays the role of the respectful boyfriend to Nancy, who always sticks by her side no matter how mental he believes she’s becoming.
Jamie Lee Curtis might be the original scream queen, yet it’s Heather’s Nancy Thompson who is the quintessential heroine in horror history. At the film’s start Nancy is just a typical happy normal teen, as the movie continues we see her become this sleep deprived bad ass hero. Her friends start dying, her separated parents don’t believe her yet she knows she's right and she knows what has to be done, which is to bring this dream murderer out of her nightmares and into the real world. And right before Nancy sets for battle she puts her alcoholic mother to bed as they reverse roles, Nancy becoming the strong loving parent and her mother down-grading into the helpless child.
Another element that makes Nancy the ultimate horror heroine is that she's not a victim. Unlike Laurie who runs and screams, Nancy brings the fight head on to Freddy. I really feel that if this was any other actress in this role it wouldn’t be so loved as it is. For its Heather’ grace, charm, personality and heart that has made Nancy Thomson such a strong character.
The Evil
At Age 6 Michael Myers brutally killed his sister, the mute child was sent to Smith’s Sanitarium. After 15 years he broke free and returned to his old stomping grounds just in time for Halloween. He moves like a thief in the night and as he moves in, he will murder you. The role was played by Tony Moran and Nick Castle.
Fred Krueger, a child murdered in the 1960’s was released due to a search warrant not being signed in the correct spot. Much to the dismay of the Elm Street parents, they got together found him in his boiler room and set him on fire. Now Fred Krueger gets his revenge by going after the parents’ children but in their dreams. Played by Robert Englund, Freddy lives in the shadows deep in your dreams, not only will he kill you but he’ll have a little fun with you first.
Theme Songs
As I said it’s a tie. For the longest time I could never pick a clean cut winner. So enjoy them and check out the movies. Halloween Theme by John Carpenter gives of the feeling that an evil force is getting closer and closer to you. The theme from A Nightmare on Elm Street created by Charles Bernstein brings chills, claustrophobic darkness all around even in your dreams.
View and listen the other posts in the October theme from Ernest: PART I, II, III
-Ernest
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