John Carpenter Brings Horror to Homestead

John Carpenter
Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
July 10, 2016

By Kellie Gormly

It was a most delightfully unique show on Sunday at the Carnegie Library Music Hall, when the audience saw a legendary filmmaker perform music.

Wait – a filmmaker, performing at a musical concert? Yes, that is what horror guru John Carpenter is doing on his tour. The show gives the audience the eerie music-movie hybrid experience of watching Carpenter and his six-man band perform the spooky, intense synthesizer-driven soundtracks he composed, while watching matching clips from his classic horror films on a big backing screen.

Carpenter stood at the front of the stage and played a keyboard, with a drummer and other keyboards and guitars supporting him. The audience – maybe about 60 percent middle-aged men – seemed mesmerized. The people screamed the loudest when Carpenter played the creepy music from probably his best-known masterpiece, “Halloween” (1978). Other highlights included clips from the gory “They Live” (1988), the bizarre “The Thing” (1982) and the creepy “The Fog” (1980), which came with the effect of a real foggy haze on the stage.

Carpenter ended the short concert – just an hour and 15 minutes with no opener – with a touch of macabre humor. He admonished us to drive home safely, as killer car Christine may be out there. And then, the band ended with the menacing scene from “Christine” (1983) with the matching music.