10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween II (1981)

10. Amped Up Music

When it came to crafting the sound of the sequel, Carpenter teamed with legendary composer and sound designer, Alan Howarth, to create an updated take on his instantly-iconic score.

Fittingly, the score for Halloween II is very similar to the film itself; a beefed up version of what came before it, with a higher level of production and a bigger budget, but arguably less effective. Carpenter and Howarth completely eschew the simplicity of the piano keys in the original score in favour of creating a synth and organ-heavy soundtrack.

Howarth has since essentially taken all the credit for these updates, saying:

"Basically, I overdubbed me over John. John was still there on tape, and then my overdubs were what shaped the sound of Halloween II."

So while Howarth was working with the bones of Carpenter's original tracks from the first film, he was the one actually writing and recording the new parts. And while the music is undoubtedly great and arguably a much better recording from a musical standpoint than the original, it's never quite able to capture the off-kilter edge and uneasiness that Carpenter's score embodied so well.