Writer's Note: My apologies on the slight delay for this article- I had a lot going on this past weekend and earlier this week. I did indeed see the latest Halloween, and I will be reviewing it on Friday. I wanted to give everyone a little more time to see it, as not everyone goes to movies on opening weekends.
In the meantime, in honor of the 40th Anniversary (!) of the opening of the classic original film, here's a look back at John Carpenter's Halloween. Enjoy!
In the meantime, in honor of the 40th Anniversary (!) of the opening of the classic original film, here's a look back at John Carpenter's Halloween. Enjoy!
As my loyal readers know, John Carpenter's Halloween is nothing less than my all-time favorite horror movie. I saw it on cable long ago and, along with the original Amityville Horror, it served as a sort of gateway drug to my love of the horror genre in general- and you never forget your first.
I've already written about it at length before- in fact, it was my very first re-post on this blog, which you can read here- and, at this point, a basic retrospective along the lines of the ones I've been doing with the rest of the series seems kind of redundant.
After all, does any Halloween fan worth their salt need to be told yet again that the original mask was one of William Shatner painted white? Or that they had to import leaves and paint them autumn colors and re-use them over and over again because the film wasn't actually shot in the Fall?
Or that, if you look close enough, you can see little mistakes like director John Carpenter's cigarette smoke wafting through the frame? Or the shadow of a cameraman? Or actress P.J. Soles tripping over a dolly track? And so on...
So, instead of regurgitating trivia that you all know by heart and which can be found in any one of the numerous exhaustive documentaries or books about the film or Carpenter's oeuvre in general, I thought I'd go the personal route again, and break down why I love the film so much by the numbers.
The following is a list of some of the things I love about the film, but by no means all of them. We'd be here all day if I listed them all, obviously. But I thought this would be cooler and more engaging than yet another retrospective.
Rest assured, we will go back to the regular format moving forward, as I tackle H2-3, H2O, Resurrection and the new one. Those haven't been done to death like this one, so I feel the format is still valid for those films. But, in the meantime, here is a Top 10 list of my favorite things about Halloween, in no particular order.
1. The Title Sequence
It may seem like no big deal- it's just words on a screen, after all- but I can't think of anything that gets me in the spirit of the Halloween holiday more than seeing that familiar orange/yellow font and that crudely-carved jack-'o-lantern, as the iconic music plays and one of my all-time favorite casts and crew's names plaster the screen.
Watching it now feels more like an acknowledgement of all the creative talents that came together in such a special way to make undeniable magic happen, and it only feels right to pay one's respects at the feet of the mystical pumpkin before the action begins in earnest. In short, this sequence helps establish the mood and allows one to settle in before the action begins in earnest.
The ones in the first sequel, Halloween II, are admittedly cooler in the grand scheme of things (love the hidden skull- seen above) and I also dig the old-school computer graphics of H3's opening credits, but those original credits will always be iconic to me.
2. The Music
Legend has it that producer Irwin Yablans saw an early cut of the film and lamented to himself that it just didn't work- it simply wasn't scary. Deciding that it was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained- after all, it was his core idea: babysitters stalked and killed on Halloween night- Yablans considered it a write-off, but director John Carpenter assured him that all hope was not lost, as he had yet to add the music to the soundtrack.
Yablans was skeptical, but when he attended a screening of the film later on, joined by his own son (who had a bit part as Richie, one of the kids that bullies young Tommy Doyle), he noticed that he and others kept covering their ears. Thinking that perhaps the theater had the volume up too loud on the sound system, he asked his son about it afterwards.
Richie told him it wasn't that- it was the music. It was just too scary. Whenever it came on, you knew something bad was about to happen. It was at that point that Yablans realized he might just have a hit on his hands after all. To that end, he started showing the film all over the US, and word of mouth eventually led to a massive hit. Indeed, until The Blair Witch Project, it was the highest-grossing independent film of all time.
A key part of that is undeniably the music, which was credited to "The Bowling Green Symphonic Orchestra," but was actually written and performed by Carpenter himself, with a little help from his friends, including music professor Dan Wyman. Remarkably, the score was composed and recorded in a matter of days. The theme song remains one of the most iconic in horror movie history- if not movie history, period.
Meanwhile, the first song we hear playing on the radio is also Carpenter, along with Tommy Lee Wallace (who also worked second unit on the film and would go on to direct Halloween III) and Nick Castle (who was the primary actor playing "The Shape," aka the adult, masked Myers), performing as "The Coupe De Villes."
The group intentionally aped the retro-50's vibe that was all the rage at the time for the song, thanks to the likes of groups like Sha-Na-Na and movie musicals like Grease and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They would go on to record a still-unreleased (but heavily bootlegged) album and the title tune from Carpenter's underrated Big Trouble in Little China that were more in keeping with the New Wave sub-genre that was popular in the 80's.
On a side note, I also dig the “songs” that the girls sing throughout the film, all of which were completely improvised and not really based on any real song. Judith Myers, Laurie and Annie all sing little ditties to themselves, much as we all might do when alone, along with a little whistling, which Annie also does. While not “music,” per se, it’s certainly musical, and as such, is worth a mention, at least.
Last but not least, there's the lone ringer in the film- the classic rock radio staple "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," from shock rock pioneers Blue Öyster Cult. While undeniably their most well-known and celebrated song- not to mentioned amusingly spoofed on SNL in a memorable sketch- the band is well-worth checking out beyond that iconic tune.
I highly recommend the albums Agents of Fortune (which features "Reaper," plus several songs co-written by punk rocker/poet Patti Smith) and Fire of Unknown Origin (featuring another classic rock staple, "Burnin' for You" and the superb "Joan Crawford," which is creepy as all-get-out), but most of their 70's-early 80's output is well-worth hearing, honestly. They're super underrated, IMHO.
Minus the two pop songs, the complete soundtrack is readily available on CD and for download, both in its original, abbreviated incarnation and in an expanded, anniversary edition that features the music in film order, complete with dialogue samples for context.
Which you prefer probably depends how you feel about the latter, which some hate. (See also the soundtracks for Natural Born Killers and Pulp Fiction, to name but a few that divided listeners.) Either way, at least one of them is a must-own if you're a fan of the film.
3. The Opening Sequence
The first scene in Halloween is nothing less than horror's own Touch of Evil (with apologies to Dario Argento's almost-equally impressive, similar-type sequence in Tenebrae) - and indeed, it was intended to be precisely that. Carpenter, a die-hard Old Hollywood lover, was a big Orson Welles fan, and indeed, part of the reason actress Jamie Lee Curtis was cast was because she was the daughter of none other than Janet Leigh- the original Scream Queen in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
Leigh was also the star of Touch of Evil, a down-and-dirty Film Noir that, for my money, is infinitely better than Welles' more-celebrated Citizen Kane. That said, Halloween may well be the Citizen Kane of horror movies- or at least, slasher movies, for whatever that's worth. Part of that is definitely the now infamous opening sequence.
It's hard to replicate that gut punch most people probably felt at the end of the sequence, once they realized with absolute horror, that the killer at hand was a six-year-old boy who brutally stabbed his own sister to death with a butcher knife. There's a reason Carpenter has everyone at the end of the scene stand still, frozen in time- it's to let what just happened sink in, forever preserving it in the viewer's mind.
The scene was notoriously shot in two long takes seen as one continuous long shot from a single character's point-of-view. It's something that many a director, horror or otherwise, has been imitating ever since. I won't say this film was the first to do it, as that's probably not true, but certainly, few films to try such a stunt had an impact quite like this one.
Lest we forget, Halloween launched an entire sub-genre almost single-handedly, with respect where it's due to the proto-slashers that came before it, such as Psycho, Dementia-13, Strait-Jacket, Homicidal, Peeping Tom, Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve), Deep Red, The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre and Black Christmas, just to name a few.
A lot of that was due to this attention-grabbing opening sequence, which sets the tone for all that follows. After all, if a little boy can inflict such damage as a mere child, what might he be capable of as an adult? We soon find out, but it's this opening scene which helps establish a sense of dread that plagues the viewer from there on out.
4. The Additional Scenes (aka the "TV version")
While, granted, most of them are pure filler, with some bits noticeably drawn out for maximum time-killing impact (notably the scene with Dr. Loomis and the staff at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, with its many...pregnant...pauses), there are some nice moments here that help tie this in better with the then-impending Halloween II, which these scenes were shot by Carpenter concurrently with the shooting of, to help pad out the film’s running time on TV.
For instance, the bit set in the aftermath of Michael's escape, where we see his trashed room and the fact that he scrawled "Sister" on the door. To be sure, it's some full-on ret-conning before such things were commonplace, but it does help sell the iffy "twist" for viewers more used to it coming out of nowhere, which is why I often watch the "TV version" on the Limited Edition DVD every so often, especially to people who haven't seen it, of if I'm planning to go right into the second part afterwards.
The one on the DVD is still uncensored, it just shoe-horns the scenes into the regular R-Rated version, so you're not missing out on things you would if it were actually playing on TV in its edited form, but seeing the original film with a little something "extra." I will never forget seeing it for the first time, since, by that time, I was already a huge fan of the film, but had never seen it on regular TV before, so the "new" scenes were indeed new to me.
Easily my favorite of these scenes is the one with Laurie, Lynda and Annie. After seeing this so many times over the years- I don't think I can name a movie I've seen more times than this one, in fact- those girls have come to seem like real friends I get to spend a little time with every year. To be gifted with just a little bit more of that was truly a welcome development.
Also, the scene adds in a nifty way to the overall mythos and canon of the series, as we discover that Michael followed Lynda to Laurie's, continuing his stalking as he focused in on these three girls in particular. We also find out that it was Laurie's birthday blouse that Lynda was wearing when she was died, which Laurie begs her not to damage. Oops! Guess she broke that promise, albeit not of her own volition.
In the most prominent scene, we get a little more "crazy" Loomis talk about Michael, as he tries to continue to warn the staff at the sanitarium of the danger Michael still poses to society, seemingly comatose or not. We also learn Michael and Judith's full names: Michael Aubrey Myers and Judith Margaret Myers. Even better, we get a neat bit with a slightly older Michael than we see at the beginning, as Dr. Loomis pays him a visit.
"You've fooled them all, Michael, haven't you?" he says, as Michael almost unblinkingly stares vacantly out the window. It's of note that this short bit was almost certainly what inspired director Rob Zombie to expand his own sequences at Smith's Grove into a considerably longer span of time- for better or for worse, depending on your point of view.
As inconsequential as most of this is, it's still a neat "gift" to long-time Halloween fans, as it gives us just a little more to savor of one of our favorite films, and I'll take whatever I can get. On a side note, a fan recently picked up some tossed deleted footage of the film that was found and auctioned off. If shared with the world at some point, that would truly be the Holy Grail of Halloween footage. Fingers crossed! (Here's a link to a podcast about it for more.)
5. The Shape Escapes
How to follow up one of the most iconic openings in horror movie history? With an almost-equally epic one, but of course. It's a dark and stormy night, and Dr. Loomis and Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens, who'd be back for the sequel) are en route to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, almost fifteen years exactly to the day Michael Myers killed his sister on Halloween night in 1963.
Myers, now 21, is to stand trial as an adult for the crime he committed at a mere six years of age, and needs to be transferred to a jail cell in another part of the state to await his impending trial. Along the way, Dr. Loomis warns the nurse to be on her guard against "it." The nurse grimaces at the word: "Don't you think we could refer to 'it' as him?" Without skipping a beat, Loomis replies: "If you say so."
This scene is crucial, as it lays down the foundation for the mythos of a now-adult Michael. Here's someone who, as a child, brutally killed his own sister. What must he be like as an adult? According to Loomis, his own doctor, nothing good. This establishes a sense of dread for what might come next, a sense that only increases as the two arrive, only to see a host of hospital-gown-clad patients milling about on the lawn outside of the sanitarium.
"Since when do they let them wander around like that?" asks the nurse. "They don't," flatly states Loomis, who jumps out of the car to investigate personally. No sooner has he left the station wagon than Michael is upon it, terrorizing the poor nurse and eventually sending her screaming into a ditch as he jumps into the car and drives off, leaving her and Dr. Loomis stranded.
"He's gone!" shouts Loomis. "The evil is gone from here!" And with that, the film begins in earnest. It's a taut, intense sequence, filled to the brim with primary colors- bright reds, blues and yellows, in what can be seen as an intentional nod to the proto-slasher Italian-based sub-genre, the Giallo. The scene is tightly choreographed for maximum claustrophobic effect, giving the viewer the feeling that they are right there alongside Dr. Loomis and Nurse Chambers as everything happens in real time.
It also firmly establishes a sense of dread that will permeate the following proceedings, as we travel back to Michael's former stomping grounds in Haddonfield, Illinois and witness first-hand what type of terror an adult Myers can afflict on an unsuspecting small town when they least expect it.
Combined with the opening sequence, it sets us up for what is to come expertly and efficiently, instilling just enough concern in the viewer to carry them through the next section of the film, as we meet Michael's potential victims, and forge a bond with them and worry about their safety as "The Shape" lurks about, watching and stalking them throughout the day.
6. Let's Hear it for the Girls
It's at this point that Debra Hill essentially takes over the narrative, the bits with Dr. Loomis notwithstanding. Wisely recognizing that he needed a pinch-hitter to deal with the teenage girls of the piece, Carpenter drafted his then-girlfriend to contribute some realistic girl talk and to help craft some believable female characters.
Hill rose to the occasion admirably well, inventing three characters of different strata of society to best ensure there was someone for everyone to engage with. As our heroine and eventual Final Girl, there's Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), a book-smart, socially-awkward young woman that can deftly answer a teacher's questions while seemingly daydreaming, while at the same time taking note of her immediate surroundings with mounting concern, as it becomes clear that something is not quite right. She's like the 70's equivalent of Hermione Granger, of Harry Potter fame.
Her best friends are the more social, popular girls of the school, Lynda and Annie. Lynda is the prototypical head cheerleader type, a social butterfly that could care less about school and is all about partying and boys, speaking in an affected pre-Valley Girl tone, peppered with slang like her repeated exclamations of "Totally!"
Meanwhile, Annie is that snarky, sarcastic friend who always tells it like it is, and is quick with a comeback for any occasion. Like Lynda, she's equally obsessed with boys and having fun, but is just this side of mature and grounded about it and not at all scared to be proactive, as evidenced by her attitude towards hooking Laurie up with a guy she likes or figuring out a way around baby-sitting when the opportunity to meet up with her own boyfriend presents itself.
In just a few short scenes, Hill tells us nearly everything we need to know about these girls, and in no time, we feel like we know them, like they're our friends, too. Not unlike some of the best teen-driven movies of the 80's and 90's (i.e. John Hughes' early movies, Dazed & Confused, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, et. al.), this does wonders for the movie's re-watchability factor, as further viewings feel like hanging with old friends we've come to know and love.
Along with producing the film itself, this is Hill's major contribution to the movie, and it works wonders for it. Just to prove my point, take a look at almost any other film within the franchise at random and compare how likable the main teen characters are there to the ones here. There's no comparison, really- these are easily the most memorable of the entire series, and that is a testament to Hill's writing here.
(Fun Fact: Hill is a Jersey girl, specifically from... wait for it... Haddonfield, so you can also add that to the things she contributed to the film, as most of it is set there. Not sure how her hometown feels about being the namesake stomping grounds for one of the most notorious movie serial killers ever, but hey, would you have heard of it otherwise?)
Yes, younger generations, there was a time when- gasp! - audiences actually liked the main younger characters in a slasher movie and didn't just want to see them get an axe or knife in their heads as soon as possible. It seems like an easy enough thing to accomplish, but sometimes it takes seeing how wrong it can go to appreciate how effective it can be when done right and you actually, you know, care about the characters at hand.
7. The Use of Widescreen
Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey, who would go on to be one of the most respected cameramen in the business, working alongside not only Carpenter on multiple projects (notably The Fog, The Thing and Escape from New York), but going on to work for such acclaimed directors as Robert Zemeckis (the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - which earned him an Oscar nod) and Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park), really got everyone in Hollywood's attention with this film in a big way.
Marveling at the use of the then-new Panaglide camera throughout the film and the seemingly one-continuous shot of the opening sequence, Halloween garnered near-unanimous praise for its inventive use of the camera and of the widescreen format in particular. Until that point, it was rare for horror movies to take advantage of that format, but Carpenter was different, having been raised on a steady diet of John Ford and Howard Hawks, and making it a point to adopt the expansive use of their surroundings to his own work, genre-oriented though it might have been.
While Halloween may have been a more intimate film, in terms of the small-town setting and limited location work, Carpenter and Cundey really do make it feel bigger and bolder than it really is, though their clever use of space, lighting and framing. In one of the film's most celebrated shots, we see Laurie cowering in the hallway of the Wallace house, as The Shape slowly appears, seemingly from thin air, from out of the shadows.
Cundey achieved this through cool use of a light dimmer, which he slowly turned up until you could see Myers, with the end effect one of the coolest in the entire film, as Michael seems to practically materialize from the darkness. Fans of the movie would be asking about how that scene was achieved for years to come, and it's rare in the horror genre in general to see such inventiveness from a cinematography stand-point as one finds here, which is precisely why it's one of the all-time greats.
The entire film is filled with such clever touches, from the opening sequence to the very end, which ends with a mysterious montage of all the places Michael Myers could be next, eliciting a chill in the viewer as they contemplate the possibility that The Shape might be lurking in a location near them, just waiting in the shadows for the opportunity to strike again. Now THAT'S how you end a horror movie.
8. The Shape of Things
According to legend, when actor Nick Castle, who was the primary actor to play "The Shape," aka the masked incarnation of Michael Myers, asked Carpenter what his motivation for a particular scene was, the director told him "to walk from here to there."
In another scene, after The Shape had stabbed a victim to death, pinning him to a door, leaving him hanging in mid-air, his toes curling downward in his death throes, Carpenter instinctively told Castle to tilt his head one way, then another, like a dog hearing a strange noise.
The idea was that Myers was "admiring his handiwork," as it were, but it would also result in one of the most iconic scenes in horror movie history, and in many ways, tell you everything you needed to know about the character in one fell swoop. This was a death machine, with only one purpose in life: to kill and kill again. Like a shark in the water, he has to keep continuously moving forward, on to the next kill, only sitting still long enough to plan and plot his next move.
In another iconic scene, Michael cleverly dons a sheet and the glasses of his victim, in order to sneak up on his next prey while hiding in plain sight. In some ways, this is even more unnerving than his usual look, because we know what the other character in the scene doesn't: this isn't her boyfriend playing a prank- it's death come to call.
It's funny how something as seemingly minor as the way one carries themselves can make such a huge difference, but damned if it doesn't. If you don't believe me, compare Castle's work here to that of the various stuntmen who have taken on the role since. There's just something about how Castle, who took dance lessons growing up, moves across the landscape and grounds of the area that is inherently unnerving. Indeed, it was that very walk that drew Carpenter to cast him in the first place, even though it could have easily been anyone.
Of course, several other people did play Michael in the film, from the first murder sequence (those are Debra Hill's hands that pick up the knife and mask in the opening) to the younger incarnation we see at the end of that scene (Will Sandin) to other various scenes in the film (Tommy Lee Wallace also played Myers in a few bits) to the final reveal when Michael's mask is removed (Tony Moran, whose appearance elicited screams from audiences, despite the fact that, as Carpenter put it, he's just "some dude").
Be that as it may, when people think of Michael Myers at his most iconic and scary, it's undeniably Castle they're thinking of, in his guise as The Shape. To that end, the new incarnation of Halloween finally broke down and invited Castle back to play the character one more time (albeit in limited form, as a stuntman was needed for some of the more extreme sequences), in hopes of getting back some of that magic that had been lost along the way. I get that, and I think a lot of his fans do, too. There's just something about that walk! Castle just nails it.
9. The Long Walk
Speaking of memorable walks, in another of the film's most iconic sequences, Laurie, concerned about her friends, goes across the street to investigate, after getting a concerning call from Lynda, in which she seemed to be choking to death. As with a lot of the most effective sequences in the film, this one is methodically paced for maximum effect, as Laurie, after getting no answer from the front door, goes around back and in through the back door instead.
She calls out to her friends, but gets no reply. Immediately noticing how quiet it is- too quiet- she instantly anticipates a prank being played at her expense, but nothing is forthcoming, and no one jumps out- yet. Climbing up the stairs, she notices a glowing, orange light emerging from the darkness under a door at the end of the hallway. She slowly cross towards it, convinced that it's all still an elaborate joke for the time being.
Then she opens the door and the nightmare begins in earnest. First, she sees her friend Annie, carefully laid on the bed, with a gravestone placed behind her and a smiling jack-o'-lantern off to the side, providing the only light in the room to this grisly display. She stifles a scream, backing into something as another body lurches down, and then another, Lynda, her other friend. All dead, all lifeless and bloody and coldly staring into nothingness.
Then the screams come and Laurie flees, only to pause in the hallway to contemplate her next move. She doesn't have long as The Shape soon slinks out of the shadows and is upon her, causing her to fall over the balcony and onto the floor below, almost certainly breaking or at least fracturing something in the process. She unhesitatingly gets up and flees, pain be damned.
From there on out, the film doesn't let up, except to lull the viewer into a false sense of security. Of course, nowadays, much like Randy in the movie Scream (which owes a huge debt to Halloween and indeed, plays throughout the ending of that film), we all know the drill- just when it seems like the killer must be dead, has to be... he strikes yet again, unrelenting and determined to claim another victim.
Back then, though, audiences didn't know the tropes of the slasher genre, because there wasn't really a slasher genre yet, much less tropes. That would all change after Halloween, of course. Next thing you know, the big screen would be littered with unstoppable killers, partying teens being killed off one by one after (or sometimes during) bouts of sex, drugs and alcohol, with one lone survivor (if that) left to come across the killer's handiwork in the final reel as she (and it usually was a she) fought for her life.
There's something to be said for that, even if early movies like this have lost some of their effectiveness over the years. Be that as it may, as this was one of the first horror films I ever saw, even as many times as I've seen it, this final sequence always gets me to a certain extent, and that's in large part due to Carpenter's skilled direction, Cundey's excellent cinematography, and, of course, that pounding, relentless score to go along with that unstoppable killer.
10. The Ending
What would an iconic slasher film be without that final cliffhanger? In this case, it's easily one of the best, not in the least because it was so unexpected at the time. After coming after Laurie time and again, in spite of her best efforts to defeat him- would you stop tossing aside that knife, damn you!!!- The Shape just won't, perhaps can't stop. He just keeps going and going, like a deadly Energizer Bunny.
Even after all this time, the way that Michael rises up from the floor after Laurie's closet attack is still chill-inducing and scary as all get out. Once again, there's just something about the way Castle moves that is creepy as hell. Factor in the dramatic reveal of Michael's face and, of course, the last-minute arrival of Dr. Loomis to save the day- at least in the short term- and you have one pulse-pounding, tense ending.
But the real kicker, of course, is what happens after Loomis shoots Michael six times, sending him careening off the balcony. After the now-iconic exchange of dialogue that ends the film, that is: "Was that the Boogeyman?" asks a weeping Laurie. "As a matter of fact, it was," says Loomis, cementing Myers' reputation as one of the scariest horror villains of all time.
Loomis goes to look over the balcony, only to see that Myers is long gone. Reportedly, actor Donald Pleasence offered to do the scene two ways: either with a look of total shock, or with a look that said "I knew this would happen." Guess which one Carpenter went with?
With that, we get the final, aforementioned montage of the various locations Myers could be, and that theme music kicks in, and a horror classic is officially in the books. It doesn't get much better than that, folks.
Bonus Round: The Book
They don't do a lot of it these days, but back in the day, it used to be a common thing for the people behind the movies that weren't already based on a book to commission a so-called "novelization" of the movie. As most were released before home video and video rentals were a thing, it was a way for fans to "relive" the experience of watching a movie they loved before the film became more readily available on television.
One neat thing about these books was that they were often based off of earlier incarnations of the scripts, so long before DVDs with deleted scenes were commonplace, you got the literary equivalent of one via these novels, which often featured these scenes before they were cut out, giving the reader a little "bonus" for their money.
In some cases, these included radical departures and even different endings, such as the one found in the novelization of the slasher film April Fools' Day, which actually is better than the one in the movie, IMHO. The one for Gremlins is considerably more violent and features more deaths than the film version, as well as a sort of origin story for the Gremlins themselves, in which its revealed that they're actually space aliens who came to Earth years ago!
In addition, sometimes the filmmakers would give the writers some creative leeway to make things their own. For instance, in the novel based on the movie The Funhouse, author Dean Koontz, writing under the pen name of Owen West, creates an elaborate back-story for everyone that includes all sorts of bizarre touches that aren't remotely alluded to in the movie, but which, taken with the movie, can actually enhance it by making it all all-new experience.
The adaptation of Halloween by writer Curtis Richards basically hews pretty closely to the movie, albeit with some neat interior monologues that further enrich the characters in a cool way. If you're looking to spend a little more time with these characters and get that much more insight to them and who they are as people, look no further.
However, what makes this essential reading for die-hard fans is undeniably the prologue, in which an elaborate back-story is given not just to Michael's family, but to what amounts to The Shape as well, along with a nifty little history lesson on the holiday of Halloween itself. Some of this would be mined by writer Daniel Farrands for his screenplay for The Curse of Michael Myers, albeit to iffy effect.
Some may prefer no explanation at all, which I totally get, having thought some of the sequels, particularly Rob Zombie's, went a bit overboard in trying to show us why Michael is why he is through elaborate back-stories and the like.
But for those who want just a little bit more without going into full Serial Killer 101 mode, the explanation given in the book is a happy medium, leaving the story firmly rooted in the supernatural, as it should be, IMHO. It also helps establish the Halloween mood, coming across as something akin to the ghost story John Houseman tells at the beginning of Carpenter's The Fog.
At the same time, it's just an aside at the beginning of the story as well. Once you get past it, the book is basically a straight-forward adaptation of the movie. As such, for those who want to relive the experience of the movie in a more unique way, the book is well-worth checking out. While I've never seen it in stores, it's pretty readily available on the likes of Amazon, eBay and iOffer. (And if you're lazy, you can always listen to the audio version on YouTube, lol.)
Well, that about does it for my list. Be sure to join me next time for the long-awaited eleventh (!) installment of the franchise: David Gordon Green's highly-anticipated Halloween, which serves as a hard reboot of the franchise, ignoring everything but the original film, which should be interesting. Will they get it right this time? Find out in my review later this week! 🎃
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