Halloween Picks:The Night He Came Home

I know that many of you are sitting there saying “Where is Halloween in your Halloween Picks and I have to say that I have been waiting for the right time and to save the best for last but this honestly won’t be the last entry in this series of Blogs.

Now first off this is definitely one of my favorite movie franchises and I can’t tell you why.

Maybe it is because I like the characters that are in the films or the fact that the franchise has always been far accessible to its fans and the fact that the DVD releases have always been outstanding.

Now I do admit that the franchise often takes directions that I don’t always agree with but I always maintain my geekdom.

I have stated many times that I owe my degree to Halloween in the fact that John Carpenter was my inspiration to go into filmmaking and I studied him and the rest of the crew while in college. In 2002 while I was in lighting class I had to do a paper and a presentation on a cinematographer and I naturally chose Dean Cundey as my subject and discussed the opening sequence of the film in my class presentation.

In 2006 Dallas and I entered the Horror Convention Scene and I have been fortunate to have met many associated with the franchise and others I can call my friends.

In 2011 when I moved to Austin I was inter-grading myself into the local events and I attended the Master Pancake screening riffing the film adding it to my ways of viewing the film. Adding to the experience was MST3K Alumni Mary Jo Pehl joining the group to contribute her own brand of comedy.

When the event began The troupe asked the audience if there were any fans of the film in the audience and I raised my hand and was quickly noticed by the men on stage who then referred to me as “The Ultimate Halloween Fan”.

This fact was soon confirmed in their eyes when they asked trivia for the film to win gift certificates for a local all-night café and needless to say I was able to answer many of their questions regarding the events in the film leading to my own involvement in their show much to the delight of the crowd.

Now when they said that I was the Ultimate Fan I felt the need to reflect on the many other fans that I have met over the years at the conventions.

Friends like Donnie aka Boogey Man who I have often made It a point to feature as well as close many of the Texas Frightmare Videos. You see Donnie appears at the conventions in an exact replica mask of the William Shatner mask made famous in the 1978 film and to add to the fact that Donnie will not break character while in costume is an understatement. Donnie can also be seen in the recent 35^th anniversary BluRay release of Halloween on The Night She came home featurette shown waiting in line to get an autograph from Jamie Lee Curtis.

In 2007 a friend of mine tried to fix me up with a girl who had Michael Myers tattooed on her arm, Them along with countless Halloween fans that I have met at the conventions and ones that are also featured on The Night She Came Home featurette.

These are the real ultimate Halloween fans.

Now let’s not discount my own fandom. Before the fire that destroyed my home I not only did I have all of Anchor Bay’s releases of Halloween I had them autographed by the cast and crew of the films as well as masks that I had purchased and posters that were all lost in the fire but that doesn't change that fact that this film is one of the films that allows me to call myself a true fanboy.

Master Pancake asked me what were the reasons that I was such a fan of the films and I had to think of a quick awnser on the spot and I said the “The Story, The film-making, and Good vs Evil”. That final statement led to much heckling from not only the Comedy Troupe but Mary Jo as well. Wich I strangly feel proud of.

Afterward I began to think to myself, Why is Halloween such a major film in my life? 

There are not just the films but the events leading to me seeing them as well as the aftermaths and discussions that I have had by many fans in the past few years.

I was first introduced to Halloween when I was at a young age and that is most likely where it began with me.

Michael Myers was often overlooked in the 1980s by the likes of his slasher brethren in which The Shape was one of the original inspirations. When I was in elementary school Jason and especially Freddy Kruger was all the rage and I was often looked at strangely when I stated that Michael Myers was the king of the slashers and was often disregarded.

Halloween is considered by many to be the originator of the formula but many will consider that honor to belong to Bob Clark’s Black Christmas or Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Carpenter, Hill and Company sought to create a modern age horror film in the vein of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and producer Irwin Yablans pitched to Executive Producer Moustafa Akkad a film about “Babysitters being Stalked by the Boogeyman”. Akkad said that the word Babysitter clicked with him because everyone has either been the Babysitter or had had a sitter and the film was to be titled The Babysitter Murders.

While not a domestic hit Assault on Precinct 13 had proven to be a great hit overseas and Carpenter who had began a relationship with Assault’s Script Supervisor Debra Hill both personally and professionally  and the two had already began a collobrating together on projects. A man named Michael Myers brought Precinct 13 as well as Carpenter and Hill to a Film Festival where they were introduced to Akkad.

Soon Carpenter was approached to direct the film as he stated that he could do the film for $300,000 and the movie was soon in production.

Carpenter and Hill wrote the script as well as the characters and story.

Haddonfield was the town that Hill had grown up in New Jersey and she decided that it should have that every town feel and it was decided that despite the fact that the film was being shot in Pasadena, CA the film would take place in Haddonfield, Illinois.

Due to the low budget of the   film Carpenter and Hill contacted and hired many of their friends to work on the film.

Dean Cundey who owned his own equipment and was brought out as the director of photography of the film and working with what he had created the film’s look.

Using a new camera tool called the Panaglide which was a variation of the Steadicam it was decided to make the opening of the film to be a tribute to Orson Wells’ A Touch of Evil with the opening being one continuous take.

Debra Hill’s hand being the hand of Michael Myers and the murder of his sister Judith Myers who was played by Playboy’s Miss June 1974 Sandy Johnson.

Being that Carpenter and Hill were fans of Psycho the character of Michael Myers’ nemesis Dr Sam Loomis was named after the boyfriend in Psycho and Veteran horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were approached for the film and turned it down due to the budget and Character actor Donald Pleasence took the role at the urging of his daughter who liked the music from Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 which Carpenter was the composer.

Carpenter and Hill deciding on yet another connection to Psycho was none other than Janet Leigh’s daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead role of Laurie Strode who is the only one of the characters that is aware of the Shape’s menacing presence.

Carrie Actress P.J. Soles was cast in the role of Linda the cheerleader that meets her fate along with her boyfriend Bob.

Veteran Carpenter actors Charles Cyphers and Nancy Loomis play the roles of Sheriff Leigh Brackett and his daughter and Laurie’s best friend Annie. It is Cyphers has the line that everyone is entitled to one good scare.

Loomis’ husband Tommy Lee Wallace also works on the crew as prop master and set designer who also steps in occasionally as Michael Myers In certain scenes.

Wallace also was responsible for the mask of Michael Myers and what was originally decided to be a clown Wallace located a Captain Kirk Star Trek mask and after making very few alterations emerged as one of the most famous mask in horror history.

If you don’t know the story of the film (Then why are you reading this Blog?) The tale is that on Halloween night young 6 year old Michael Myers stabbed and murdered his sister and as a result spent 15 Years in a sanitarium under the care of Dr Sam Loomis.

Loomis is the only one seemingly aware of the rue evil in Myers and one night he escapes and after stealing a car heads to his Home town of Haddonfield.

Laurie Strode is a teenage girl who that night while her friends are out with their boyfriends is going to be Babysitting young Tommy Doyle. Throughout the day Laurie encounters Michael Myers and while seeing him lurking outside windows and not thinking too much about these encounters goes to the Doyle house.

The Shape soon begins stalking her friends and after Annie takes her young charge Lindsey Wallace to Laurie is soon murdered by Myers in the front seat of her car.

Linda soon brings her boyfriend to the Wallace house and after having sex the two are soon victims of Myers.

Beginning to get suspicious of the goings on across the street Laurie soon heads over to the Wallace House only to discover the bodies of her friends and is soon attacked by Myers.

After making it across the street back to the Doyle House she is soon attacked multiple times and manages to fend him off.

The children manage to escape the house and while running screaming from the house they attract the attention of Dr Loomis who then enters the house and shoots Myers who falls out the window of the second floor. When Loomis looks out the window he sees that Myers is gone and is still out there.

When Halloween was first released it was not a hit in the theatres however soon word of mouth began to spread about the film and soon the film became a massive hit breaking box office reacords and became the highest grossing independent horror film until the release of The Blair Witch Project in 1999.

The cast and crew of Halloween have mostly gone on to become major players in the industry.

Jamie Lee Curtis has gone on to become a Hollywood A-Lister as well as reinventing herself multiple times over the years and is not only a best selling author of children’s books but has become nobility as well along with her husband Christopher Guest.

John Carpenter has become one of the most famous directors and a Master of Horror in many regards and has inspired generations of filmmakers, myself included.

Debra Hill went on to collaborate with Carpenter on other films such as The Fog, Escape From New York while continuing to write and produce sequels to Halloween before moving on to become the producer of blockbuster films like The Dead Zone, Clue and Adventures in Babysitting. Sadly she passed away in 2005 from cancer.

Tommy Lee Wallace proclaims himself as Carpenter’s protégé and has gone on to direct Stephen King’s IT, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, and Fright Night Part II.

Dean Cundey has gone on to DP many features in Hollywood from Back to the Future and received an Academy Award Nomination for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. 

Nick Castle who was mostly featured as Michael Myers in the film has gone on to direct The Last Starfighter and the Boy who could Fly.

Kyle Richards who played 9 year old Lindsey Wallace has recently found fame on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The success of Halloween inspired many ripoffs that saturated the market and soon a sequel was inevitable.

Knowing that the sequel would be made regardless the crew returned for the sequel hoping to do the original justice.

While remaining on as the writers and producers along with Hill Carpenter stepped down as director and handed the reigns over to AFI graduate Rick Rosenthal.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence reprise their roles from Halloween as well as brief appearances by Cyphers and Nancy Loomis with Dick Warlock taking on the role of Michael Myers. 

Also rejoining the cast is Nancy Stephens reprising her brief role of Nurse Marion Chambers. Stephens would eventually marry Rosenthal after the movie was finished.

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis Halloween 2 picks up right up where Halloween left off and with both locations as well as the original cast this goes off with the only issue is the difference in the mask.

Halloween 2 also features a similar opening title sequence to the original with a slight difference of when the camera zooms to the pumpkin it splots open to reveal an errie skull which in my opinion sums up the darker nature of the film.

Halloween 2 also features much more gore than the original. There is even a scene that many movie goers have considered unnessary to the film where a child is taken to the hospital after biting into a razorblade which is protruding from his mouth.

After the events of Halloween one Loomis is frantically searching for Myers and after an encounter with another man in a similar mask leading to an explosion Myers is considered to be dead and the search is called off and Laurie is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.

Soon a newsbroadcast alerts Michael to Laurie’s whereabouts and he soon finds his way into the hospital.

The staff of the hospital are soon picked off One by One while Laurie struggles to avoid the killer while having strange flashback like dreams about her attacker.

Dr Loomis is soon ordered back to Smith’s Grove by his superiors and Nurse Chambers eventually reveals the largest plot twist that will affect all of the films in the future of Halloween.

Laurie Strode is in reality Michael Myers’ sister who had been hidden from him for many years.

This plot development was attributed to a late night and too much alcohol by John Carpenter while writing the script. It is this addition that shapes the series through 5 sequels, a remake and a sequel to the remake.

Upon learning this fact Loomis hijacks the car and heads to the Hospital leading to a fiery confrontation with Michael Myers.  

I have to confess that Halloween 2 was infact my introduction to the series as it was the one that I watched when I was a child and I guess that it frightened me as I remember walking down a dark hallway similar to the hallways in the hospital and thinking what in fact would be happening if I was being stalked by a killer similar to Michael Myers.

I have spoken to many that consider this film to be far more frightening than the original because hospitals frighten them.

I also have to mention that Pamela Susan Shoop was hot in this film. 

There are also some fun facts in the film.

In the first Halloween there is a conversation between Laurie and Annie where she says that she likes Ben Tramer and eventually Annie begins to set her up with him only to reveal that he had gone out drinking.

In Halloween 2 it is revealed that the young man that was wearing a mask similar to that of Michael Myers that was killed after being struck by a police car and burned to death was in fact Ben Tramer.

While Halloween 2 was in production NBC purchased the rights to show Halloween on it’s network and the times didn’t match the time allotted and Carpenter and crew shot additional scenes for the airing. This is viewed as the television cut and in this version it is highly implied that Laurie Strode is in fact Michael Myers’ sister and more of Dr Loomis is featured in this cut as well.

In the past couple of years these films have received multiple releases on Home Media.

Halloween has been released multiple times by Anchor Bay with Ultimate Editions, a 25^th Anniversary Edition 

a 30^th Anniversary Box set that comes complete with a Mask replica 

a 35^th Anniversary BluRay Release with new Commentaries and transfers.

Halloween 2 featured DVD releases by both Good Times and Universal and a BluRay release in 2011 with The Terror in the Aisles documentary as a special feature.

Halloween 2 was released again by Scream Factory in 2012 with far more special features and commentaries and the long awaited Television cut of the film.

The TV cut features deleted scenes and an Alternet ending.

The 35^th Anniversary and the Scream Factory releases are included in the Halloween Complete Collection that was released this past October along with the other sequels.

This collection is a treat for fans of the franchise as it includes all sequels and many of the special features. It has been a long time coming for this set since the rights for the sequels are owned by different distributers and they have finally joined together.

The only real gripes are releases that were left out.

In 2006 a documentary on the series was released in Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documenting the franchise, The fans, and leading to the future all while taking place at the 25^th anniversary gathering in California. This film would have been a welcome addition to this collection.

I will continue with my coverage of the rest of this box set in the coming weeks.