ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - October 25th
"HALLOWEEN" premiered in Kansas City on 1978
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On Halloween night of 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, 6-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin), dressed in a clown costume and mask, stabs his sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife in his house. On October 30, 1978, Michael's doctor, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) arrives at Smith's Grove Sanitarium to find most of the patients wondering around the grounds, While he leaves to investigate, Michael - now 21-years old (Tony Moran) - steals his car and escapes.
Above: Michael Myers (Will Sandin) moments after murdering his sister!
The next day, Halloween, in Haddonfield, high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is walking home with her friends Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda van der Klok (P. J. Soles), when she begins to notice a stange man, known as the Shape (Nick castle), following them. Annie and Lynda dismiss her fears and continue to discuss their plans for the night; both Laurie and Annie were expected to babysit that night, while Lynda tries to convince one of them to let her and her boyfriend Bob (John Michael Graham) come over to use the empty house to make out. Meanwhile, Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and meets with Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers), convincing him of the danger and allowing him to stake out the old Myers' house for Michael to return.
That night, Annie's boyfriend Paul calls her to come pick him up. Excited, Annie takes Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) to the Doyle house to spend the night with Laurie and Tommy (Brian Andrews). But when Annie gets into her car later to leave, Michael suddenly appears from the backseat and strangles her before sliting her throat. While playing hide-and-seek with Lindsey, Tommy sees Michael carrying Annie's body into the Wallace house, and, believing he is the "boogeyman", tries to tell a skeptical Laurie about what he saw. Later, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob enter the Wallace house to have sex. Afterwards, Bob goes downstairs and is ambushed by Michael, who impales him. He then poses as Bob in a ghost costume and confronts Lynda, who teases him, to no effect. Annoyed, she calls Laurie; just as Laurie answers the phone, Michael strangles Lynda with the telephone cord. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the car Michael had stolen, confirming his beliefs that Michael is in Haddonfield.
Becoming suspicious, Laurie goes over to the Wallace house and finds her friends dead in the upstairs bedroom. Michael suddenly appears and slashes her arm. Barely escaping, she retreats to the Doyle house, where she wakes up Tommy, who lets her in, and tells him to hide upstairs with Lindsey. Michael gets in through an open window and attacks Laurie; she stabs him in the neck with a knitting needle, and he collapses. Laurie goes upstairs and tells Tommy and Lindsey she killed the "boogeyman"; Tommy says "You can't kill the boogeyman" as Michael reappears behind her. Tommy and Lindsey hide in the bathroom while Laurie opens the balcony doors and hides in a bedroom closet. Michael destroys the closet door to get to her, but she undoes a metal clothes hanger and stabs him in the eye with it. He drops his knife and she stabs him with it, and he collapses again. Laurie exits the closet and asks the children to go to the neighbor's house and have them call the police. As they leave, Michael gets up again.
Loomis sees Tommy and Lindsey flee the house, and goes inside to find Michael attacking Laurie upstairs; Laurie pulls off Michael's mask and he stops attacking her to reapply it. Loomis shoots Michael six times and he falls over the second story balcony. Laurie, in shock, concludes "It was the boogeyman" and Loomis replies, "As a matter of fact, it was." Loomis looks down over the balcony to see that Michael is gone. Places where Michael had previously been are shown as his breathing is heard, indicating he could be anywhere!
That night, Annie's boyfriend Paul calls her to come pick him up. Excited, Annie takes Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) to the Doyle house to spend the night with Laurie and Tommy (Brian Andrews). But when Annie gets into her car later to leave, Michael suddenly appears from the backseat and strangles her before sliting her throat. While playing hide-and-seek with Lindsey, Tommy sees Michael carrying Annie's body into the Wallace house, and, believing he is the "boogeyman", tries to tell a skeptical Laurie about what he saw. Later, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob enter the Wallace house to have sex. Afterwards, Bob goes downstairs and is ambushed by Michael, who impales him. He then poses as Bob in a ghost costume and confronts Lynda, who teases him, to no effect. Annoyed, she calls Laurie; just as Laurie answers the phone, Michael strangles Lynda with the telephone cord. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the car Michael had stolen, confirming his beliefs that Michael is in Haddonfield.
Becoming suspicious, Laurie goes over to the Wallace house and finds her friends dead in the upstairs bedroom. Michael suddenly appears and slashes her arm. Barely escaping, she retreats to the Doyle house, where she wakes up Tommy, who lets her in, and tells him to hide upstairs with Lindsey. Michael gets in through an open window and attacks Laurie; she stabs him in the neck with a knitting needle, and he collapses. Laurie goes upstairs and tells Tommy and Lindsey she killed the "boogeyman"; Tommy says "You can't kill the boogeyman" as Michael reappears behind her. Tommy and Lindsey hide in the bathroom while Laurie opens the balcony doors and hides in a bedroom closet. Michael destroys the closet door to get to her, but she undoes a metal clothes hanger and stabs him in the eye with it. He drops his knife and she stabs him with it, and he collapses again. Laurie exits the closet and asks the children to go to the neighbor's house and have them call the police. As they leave, Michael gets up again.
Loomis sees Tommy and Lindsey flee the house, and goes inside to find Michael attacking Laurie upstairs; Laurie pulls off Michael's mask and he stops attacking her to reapply it. Loomis shoots Michael six times and he falls over the second story balcony. Laurie, in shock, concludes "It was the boogeyman" and Loomis replies, "As a matter of fact, it was." Loomis looks down over the balcony to see that Michael is gone. Places where Michael had previously been are shown as his breathing is heard, indicating he could be anywhere!
[Loomis explains Michael to Sherriff Brackett]
Dr. Sam Loomis: I met him, fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.
Top: Michael's doctor, Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is determined that Myers' will never be released;
Above: Unfortunately, Michael soon escapes for the sanitarium, stealing the car of nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens)
After viewing John Carpenter's film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters, later statingd, "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as The Exorcist." Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled The Babysitter Murders, with Hill writing most of the dialog for the female characters, while Carpenter concentrated on Dr Loomis' speeches, and written ina style similar to a radio play; with scares every ten minutes. Mutiple influences were brought together during the scripting process; The young Michael Myers character was based on an experience Carpenter had in college while touring a psychiatric hospital, and ter met a child who stared at him "with a look of evil, and it terrified me." Carpenter was also heavily influenced by Bob Clark's Black Christmas, and had even sought out Clark to write the screenplay for Halloween as a sequel to the 1974 cult horror classic. Carpenter's and Hill first draft of The Babysitter Murders had the events take place over the space of several days, but for budgetary reasons it was decided the events should all take place on the same day (doing this reduced the number of costume changes and locations required). And it was Yablan who was the first to suggest that it would be a great concept to set these "babysitter murders" on the holiday - choosing Halloween because it was the scariest night of the year - perfect night for this to happen - and, he was surprised to find out, no previous horror movie had actually used the title Halloween! With these ideas, Yablans convinced an excited Carpenter to re-write the script and direct the film.
The wealthy film producer and financier Moustapha Akkad had admittedly little interest in Halloween in the beginning and had only helped make it primarily due to the enthusiasm of Carpenter and Yablans. Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time; Coincidentally, Akkad said he was producing and filming a major motion picture at the same time starring Laurence Olivier which was costing his company roughly around $300,000 a day. When Carpenter told him the fixed price of his movie, he immediately funded it! Still, Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria, "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter ultimately did receive $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, as well as retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits with Hill (who had by now signed on as Halloween's producer).
The wealthy film producer and financier Moustapha Akkad had admittedly little interest in Halloween in the beginning and had only helped make it primarily due to the enthusiasm of Carpenter and Yablans. Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time; Coincidentally, Akkad said he was producing and filming a major motion picture at the same time starring Laurence Olivier which was costing his company roughly around $300,000 a day. When Carpenter told him the fixed price of his movie, he immediately funded it! Still, Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria, "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter ultimately did receive $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, as well as retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits with Hill (who had by now signed on as Halloween's producer).
[examining the empty grave of Judith Myers]
Dr. Sam Loomis: He came home.
Top: In Haddonfield, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) begins to notice (Above) the Shape (Nick Castle) following her.
For the leading role of Dr Samuel Loomis, Carpenter approached Hammer Horror film stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee for the part, but both turned him down due to the low pay (Lee later said it was one of the biggest mistake he had ever made in his career). Fellow British actor Donald Pleasence was then cast, being hailed in the industry press as "John Carpenter's big landing." (American audiences being already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967). Pleasence later confessed to Carpenter that the main reason why he took the part of Loomis was because his daughter Angela (who was a musician) had loved Carpenter's musical score for his previous movie Assault on Precinct 13. Initially Carpenter was quite intimidated by Pleasence of whom he was a big fan and who was easily the oldest and most experienced person on set. Although Pleasence asked Carpenter difficult questions about his character, Pleasence turned out to be a good-humored, big-hearted individual and the two became great friends (Pleasence went on to appear in two other Carpenter film, Escape from New York and Prince of Darkness).
Carpenter himself admitted that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects. However, when Hill learned that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho." Halloween would be Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star, and was reportedly so disappointed with her early performances that she became convinced she would be fired after only the first day of filming. When her phone rang that night and it was Carpenter on the phone, Curtis was certain it was the end of her movie career. Instead, Carpenter called to congratulate her and tell her he was very happy with the way things had gone!
Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis) was cast as Laurie's friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began. Carpenter then chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). Soles was also at the time dating fellow actor Dennis Quaid at the time of filming, so Carpenter and Hill wanted to cast him in the role of Lynda's boyfriend Bob. Unfortunately, Quaid was busy working on another project and John Michael Graham was cast in the role instead.
Carpenter himself admitted that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects. However, when Hill learned that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho." Halloween would be Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star, and was reportedly so disappointed with her early performances that she became convinced she would be fired after only the first day of filming. When her phone rang that night and it was Carpenter on the phone, Curtis was certain it was the end of her movie career. Instead, Carpenter called to congratulate her and tell her he was very happy with the way things had gone!
Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis) was cast as Laurie's friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began. Carpenter then chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). Soles was also at the time dating fellow actor Dennis Quaid at the time of filming, so Carpenter and Hill wanted to cast him in the role of Lynda's boyfriend Bob. Unfortunately, Quaid was busy working on another project and John Michael Graham was cast in the role instead.
[inside Myers' house]
Dr. Sam Loomis: Hey... What is that?
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: A dog.
[Loomis and Brackett walk next to dog]
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: It's still warm.
Dr. Sam Loomis: He got hungry.
Top: Laurie and her friend Annie (Nancy Loomis) drive to their babysitting jobs;
Above: Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and warns Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) about Michael Myers.
The role of "The Shape" — as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits — was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University of Southern California. Originally, Castle was only on set just to watch the movie being filmed, when carpenter suggested he play the character. Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was fairly minimal. For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another. Carpenter also instructed Castle to tilt his head a couple of times as if he was observing the corpse, particularly in the scene when Myers impaled one of his victims against a wall. In fact, two other actors would also play Michael Myers in Halloween; Will Sandin as Michael Myers at Age 6, and Tony Moran as the unmasked Michael at Age 21 (although credited as Age 23 in the end credits - odd since events are supposed to take place 15-years after he murdered his sister when he was 6).
During the conception of the plot, Yablans instructed "that the audience shouldn't see anything. It should be what they thought they saw that frightens them". Carpenter seemingly took Yablans' advice literally, filming many of the scenes from Michael Myers's point-of-view that allowed audience participation (not doubt influenced again by Clark's Black Christmas), being one of the first films, after Marathon Man, Bound for Glory, and most notably The Shining. The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey".
With an estimated half of the $300,000 budget being spent on the Panavison cameras so the film would have a 2.35:1 scope, there was hardly any money left for a costume department. So all of the actors wore their own clothes, with Curtis going to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe, where she spent less than one hundred dollars for the entire set. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9½", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter!
During the conception of the plot, Yablans instructed "that the audience shouldn't see anything. It should be what they thought they saw that frightens them". Carpenter seemingly took Yablans' advice literally, filming many of the scenes from Michael Myers's point-of-view that allowed audience participation (not doubt influenced again by Clark's Black Christmas), being one of the first films, after Marathon Man, Bound for Glory, and most notably The Shining. The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey".
With an estimated half of the $300,000 budget being spent on the Panavison cameras so the film would have a 2.35:1 scope, there was hardly any money left for a costume department. So all of the actors wore their own clothes, with Curtis going to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe, where she spent less than one hundred dollars for the entire set. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9½", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter!
Lindsey Wallace: I'm scared!
Laurie: There's nothing to be scared of.
Tommy Doyle: Are you sure?
[Laurie nods]
Tommy Doyle: How?
Laurie: I killed him...
Tommy Doyle: [shouts] But you can't kill the boogie man!
Top: The Shape stalks the houses Laurie and (Above) Annie are babysitting.
Another major reason for the success of Halloween is the moody musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" meter composed and performed by Carpenter. Carpenter composed the iconic track in three days, replacing the old score after a female critic mentioned while viewing an early screening of Halloween that the music wasn't scary enough!
Halloween premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri (at the AMC Midland/Empire) and sometime afterward in Chicago, Illinois, and in New York City. With very little advertising — relying mostly on word-of-mouth — many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in The New Yorker suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and claiming that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness—when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic)—it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do." The first glowing review by a prominent film critic came from Tom Allen of The Village Voice in November 1978, Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant but ceded that the Hitchcock-like technique was effective and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to Psycho and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). The following month, Voice lead critic Andrew Sarris wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of Halloween and saying in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes". Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, and selected it as one of his top ten films of 1978. Afterwards, once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music, and surprised by the lack of blood, gore, and graphic violence. From a budget of $300,000, the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office (in 2008 takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million!) making Halloween one of the most successful independent films of all time!
Halloween premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri (at the AMC Midland/Empire) and sometime afterward in Chicago, Illinois, and in New York City. With very little advertising — relying mostly on word-of-mouth — many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in The New Yorker suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and claiming that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness—when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic)—it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do." The first glowing review by a prominent film critic came from Tom Allen of The Village Voice in November 1978, Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant but ceded that the Hitchcock-like technique was effective and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to Psycho and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). The following month, Voice lead critic Andrew Sarris wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of Halloween and saying in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes". Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, and selected it as one of his top ten films of 1978. Afterwards, once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music, and surprised by the lack of blood, gore, and graphic violence. From a budget of $300,000, the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office (in 2008 takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million!) making Halloween one of the most successful independent films of all time!
TRIVIA: P.J. Soles went to a screening of the movie after it was released, sitting in the 4th row of a regular audience. She was very amused, when during her nude scene and line of "see anything you like?" a male audience member in front yelled out "Hell yes I do!" unaware she was right behind him. Her boyfriend at the time, Dennis Quaid, asked her if she wanted him to confront the man, but she declined, too amused from the experience.
Top: The Shape impales Lynda's boyfriend Bob (John Michael Graham) before (Above) killing Lynda (P.J. Soles)
In 1980, the television rights to Halloween were sold to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for $4 million. After a debate among Carpenter, Hill and NBC's Standards and Practices over censoring of certain scenes, Halloween appeared on television for the first time in October 1981. To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of Halloween II. The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then-6-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you, Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978.
Halloween is a widely influential film within the horror genre, helping to popularize the final girl trope, the killing off of characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, and the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that Halloween became a blueprint for success for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980's, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there". He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."
Halloween is a widely influential film within the horror genre, helping to popularize the final girl trope, the killing off of characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, and the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that Halloween became a blueprint for success for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980's, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there". He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."
[last lines]
Laurie: It was the boogeyman...
Dr. Sam Loomis: As a matter of fact, it was.
Top: Laurie manages to get the children to safety, but the Shape is right behind her!;
Above: Loomis arrives and shots Michael, before discovering his body has disappeared!
Tommy Lee Wallace had worked second unit for John Carpenter on this film and was originally chosen by Carpenter and the producers to direct Halloween II (1981). His approach was more of a Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) approach, where it' s five years later and Lorie was in graduate school when Michael resurfaces. But Carpenter insisted this had to be a very next day kind of sequel, and the studio and producers were insisting on a lot more blood due to the success of Friday the 13th (1980). Because of all this Wallace decided he wasn't comfortable with the sequel, and he declined (he did direct Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) however). Halloween II begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, and was directed by Rick Rosenthal. Halloween II was a box office success, becoming the second-highest grossing horror film of 1981 behind An American Werewolf in London. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the Halloween series, although he did produce Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series due to the absence of Michael Myers. He, along with Alan Howarth, also composed the music for the second and third films. After the negative critical and commercial reception for Season of the Witch, the filmmakers brought back Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), which was successful enough to warrant its own direct sequel in 1989 with Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). Jamie Lee Curtis would then return to the role of Laurie Strode for the next two installments Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). Financier and executive producer Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.
Above: Writer and director John Carpenter on location with star Jamie Lee Curtis
With the exception of Halloween III, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. But then, even without considering the third film, the Halloween series contains continuity issues which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film - only Rick Rosenthal and Rob Zombie directed more than one: Rosenthal directed the first sequel as well as Halloween: Resurrection, while Zombie directed the remake of the original film, Halloween (2007) and it's sequel Halloween II (2009). Then, on May 23, 2016, it was announced that Miramax and Blumhouse Productions were developing a new Halloween film which they will co-finance. John Carpenter is set to produce the project and act as creative consultant. Carpenter said, "Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I'm going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all!"
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 94%
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