Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers - Expanded

AHI Records, to be distributed by BUYSOUNDTRAX Records, will be releasing a special Limited Edition Expanded release of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. The soundtrack features music composed & performed by Alan Howarth.

The score was performed by Alan Howarth, who had assisted John Carpenter on Halloween II and Halloween III and returning again after scoring Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5.

The transition from one production company to another had a significant impact on the film, specifically in post production as Dimension wanted something with a lot more action and a lot more gore, which forced screenwriter Daniel Ferrands to write some new material for the film and causing the existing version of the film to go through extensive re-cutting along with the addition of new footage.

Because of the re-tooling of the film, Howarth had to completely re-do his musical score to fit the re-cut picture and give it the amped-up energy the new franchise owners wanted. The original version of the film, directed by Joe Chappelle and dubbed the Producer's Cut contained a more traditional Halloween score, going back to the original approach used in the first film, with some subtle changes made possible by new technological advances in the gear Howarth was using to compose the score.

For the Theatrical Version of the film, Howarth returned to the score he had already composed and added drums and guitars, a lot more beats, and more strange, synthetic tones. Howarth was able to salvage some of what he had written for the Producer's Cut but cues had to be rearranged to fit the new length of recuts and to match the newly-filmed footage. In addition to what Howarth was doing for the Theatrical Version, a composer and music editor named Paul Rabjohns was brought in by director Joe Chappelle to add some additional musical material in the rush to finish the final cut, but his music and Howarth's was never integrated together.

For this newly expanded release, the music is presented on 2 CDs. Alan Howarth's original unreleased score (the Producer's Cut) can be found on Disc 1 of this new release while the music as it was heard in the final film is provided with an extended presence on Disc 2. The music has been newly remastered and contains previously unreleased music. The booklet includes exclusive in-depth liner notes written by author Randall Larson, with the participation of the composer.