John Carpenter agrees to score Bong Joon Ho’s next horror movie
Horror icon John Carpenter has volunteered to score Mickey 17 director Bong Joon Ho’s next movie, a horror project he has been pondering for more than two decades.
Bong and his translator, Sharon Choi, interviewed Carpenter after a 4K restoration screening of his classic 1982 sci-fi horror The Thing at the Academy Museum. Naturally, the conversation quickly turned to Carpenter’s incredible legacy of composing synth-heavy scores for his movies.
Bong then began speaking of his “next, next movie” which would likely go into production following the completion of his animated film about sea creatures, potentially titled The Valley. The Parasite director revealed his next movie will be a horror film with action elements set in a Seoul subway station. Its scale is said to be similar to 2006’s The Host, Bong’s only previous horror picture.
Referring to the film as his “life project” (via Vulture), Bong admitted he’s been thinking about it since 2001. Before he could officially ask Carpenter to come on board, though, the legendary Halloween director interjected, “I wanna do your score.” An excited Bong eagerly shook Carpenter’s hand and assured the audience that the collaboration was “officially” and “seriously” going to happen.
All that was previously known about Bong’s upcoming return to horror was what he said to MBC Korea. He spoke about imagining the film’s open minute: “We’re running through the underground section of the subway. In the car next to us, people wearing similar clothes start to come over to our side. We’re running. A lot of people start to come over to our side.”
As for Carpenter, while he hasn’t directed a feature film since 2010’s The Ward, in recent years, he has become something of a travelling rock star, playing his iconic scores and original music at live shows worldwide. He has also dipped his toe back into the world of movie scores, working with his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies on the scores for David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy and 2022’s Stephen King adaptation Firestarter.
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