While the raw quality of ASSAULT is deadly serious, DARK STAR is all about having fun with the cheesy sound of no-budget sci-fi music, given the advantage that there was no budget for the soundtrack of this student film-turned-feature begin with. While you can track down the original 13 tracks on Le Band Son, hardcore fans will likely be equally happy with the spot-on job that Howarth has done at recreating Carpenter’s vibe, getting every beat and held pause correct, right down to the ice cream truck jingle for PRECINCT‘s infamous message about why it’s wise to never question your cone’s flavor. There’s also a memorably bluesy theme, conveying the feeling that all is lost, or the exasperation of just being damn tired from shooting the unceasing waves of “Indians” attacking the police fort for Carpenter’s re-imagining of RIO BRAVO. Yet Carpenter is never one-note about his beat approach, ingenious varying his Big Theme so it takes on the quality of stealth drums and mean-ass guitars, coolly going from the energy of the stalk to bullet-piercing sustains and full-on rhythmic assaults.
But PRECINCT 13 is just as memorable in its unpolished way, a lean, mean, percussively melodic machine that conveys a relentless attack from near-invisible gang called Street Thunder.
Originally electro-penned in 19, these scores are repeated pitch-perfect examples of the synth minimalism that Carpenter would turn into one of the most iconic horror themes of all time with 1978’s HALLOWEEN. So if you’re attempting to replicate such a distinctive sound, who better to get then a composer who helped create an unrepeatable sound in the first place? That’s the reason why Alan Howarth, the musician best know for being “in association” with John Carpenter on such genre favorites as HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH and PRINCE OF DARKNESS (the real deals of which are available through Buysoundtrax’s site on Howarth’s AHI label) has had the best success with replicating Ennio Morricone’s Carpenter sound-alike score for THE THING. Now his double bill of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and DARK STAR once again catches musical lightning in a retro bottle, achieving the near impossible of making it seem as if nothing much has advanced in the decades since then, equipment well older than Carpenter had when serving as his own composer. Buysoundtrax has had varied luck when re-performing cult score favorites, especially ones done with then state-of-the-art keyboards like THE BOUNTY and LEGEND.
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