Halloween (also known as John Carpenter's Halloween) is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and Nick Castle as Michael Myers (listed in the credits as "The Shape"). The film centers on Michael Myers' escape from a psychiatric hospital, his murdering of teenagers, and Dr. Loomis's attempts to track and stop him. Image File history File links Halloween_cover. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Moustapha Akkad (left) directs Anthony Quinn on the set of Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976) Moustapha Akkad (Arabic: مصطفى العقاد) (July 1, 1930 – November 11, 2005) was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the series of Halloween films and directing Mohammad, Messenger of God and Lion of... Debra Hill (November 10, 1950–March 7, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer who co-wrote the horror movie Halloween. ... Irwin Yablans (born July 25, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York) is an independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the horror film industry. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Debra Hill (November 10, 1950–March 7, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer who co-wrote the horror movie Halloween. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor. ... Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is a Golden Globe-winning American film actress and a successful writer of books for children. ... Nick Castle (September 21, 1947)Born in Los Angeles, CA. Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television in 1970. ... Nancy Louise Kyes (b. ... Brian Andrews is an actor who has starred in movies and on television. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Dean Cundey is a celebrated cinematographer born 12 March 1946 in Alhambra, California, USA. He has worked on some of the most influential special effects films in history and has collaborated extensively with directors John Carpenter and Robert Zemeckis. ... Tommy Lee Wallace is a film producer and director. ... Compass International Pictures was a film distribution company founded by Irwin Yablans and Joseph Wolf in 1977. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events February 1 - Bob Dylans film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour premieres in Los Angeles, California March 1 - Charlie Chaplins coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery 3 months after burial March - Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for Star Wars Episode... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... Halloween II (also known as Halloween II: The Horror Continues and Halloween II: The Nightmare Isnt Over!) is a 1981 horror film set in the fictional Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois, on Halloween night, 1978. ... // Events February 1 - Bob Dylans film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour premieres in Los Angeles, California March 1 - Charlie Chaplins coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery 3 months after burial March - Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for Star Wars Episode... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... Halloween, or Halloween, is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets, fruit, and other gifts. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor. ... Dr. Sam Loomis as he appeared in Halloween II. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis (1919 - 1995) was a fictional character in the Halloween film series. ... Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is a Golden Globe-winning American film actress and a successful writer of books for children. ... Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the Halloween horror film series, portrayed by actress Jamie Lee Curtis. ... Nick Castle (September 21, 1947)Born in Los Angeles, CA. Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television in 1970. ... Michael Myers is a fictional serial killer from the Halloween horror series. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called at various places and times, mental hospital, mental ward, sanitarium or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

Halloween was produced on a budget of only $325,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the United States, becoming one of the most profitable independent films ever made, and is generally seen as one of the most effective horror films ever made^[1] Many critics credit this film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The movie originated many of the clichés seen in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s, although first-time viewers of Halloween may be surprised by the fact that the film contains little actual graphic violence or gore.^[2][3] The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano. ...

Critics have suggested that Halloween and its slasher film successors may encourage sadism and misogyny. Others have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of young people in 1970s America, pointing out that many of Myers' victims are sexually promiscuous and substance abusers, while the lone heroine is depicted as chaste and innocent. While Carpenter dismisses these analyses, the perceived parallel between the characters' moral strengths and their likelihood of surviving to the film's conclusion has nevertheless become a standard slasher movie trope. Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ... Misogyny (GA , RP ) is hatred or strong prejudice against women. ... For the Nelly Furtado song, see Promiscuous (song). ... Substance abuse refers to the overindulgence in and dependence on a psychoactive leading to effects that are detrimental to the individuals physical health or mental health, or the welfare of others. ... In literature, a trope is a familiar and repeated symbol, meme, theme, motif, style, character or thing that permeates a particular type of literature. ...

The film was released onto VHS in the early 1980s, by Media Home Entertainment and Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment has released several restored editions of Halloween on VHS and DVD, with the most recent being the 2003 two-disc Divimax 25th Anniversary edition with a lenticular 3D morphing cover and a commentary track including separately recorded contributions by John Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Jamie Lee Curtis plus the documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest. Blockbuster video store This article is about the chain of video stores. ...

In 2006, a remake, began production, directed and produced by Rob Zombie, and will be released in 2008.^[4][5] Halloween is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. ... Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965 ) (age 42)[1]), better known as Rob Zombie, is an American heavy metal and industrial rock musician, director, and writer. ...

Plot

On October 31, 1963, six-year-old Michael Audrey Myers stabs his sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife at their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He is sent to Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium and placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis. Loomis suspects that there is more to Myers than meets the eye and plans to have him committed indefinitely; he senses a tremendous amount of rage behind Myers' blank stare. Loomis explains to Sheriff Leigh Brackett: "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." At the age of 21, Myers escapes from Smith's Grove while being transferred, and returns to Haddonfield with Loomis in pursuit. October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Haddonfield, Illinois is a fictional place in the movie Halloween and six of its sequels. ... Psychiatrist redirects here. ... Dr. Sam Loomis as he appeared in Halloween II. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis (1919 - 1995) was a fictional character in the Halloween film series. ... In religion and ethics, evil refers to the morally or ethically objectionable behaviour or thought; behavior or thought which is hateful, cruel, excessively sexual, or violent, devoid of conscience. ...

Michael Myers, "The Shape," played by Nick Castle

In Haddonfield, Myers stalks seventeen-year-old Laurie Strode (apart from the fact that he sees her approaching his childhood home, no reason is given in the film why he does so; but it is later revealed that she is his younger sister, a retcon introduced in Halloween II). Laurie glimpses a man in a white mask (Michael Myers) from her classroom window, behind a bush while she walks home, and in the neighbor's clothesline from her bedroom window. Michael Myers from the Halloween series of films File links The following pages link to this file: Halloween (movie) Slasher film Michael Myers (Halloween) ... Michael Myers from the Halloween series of films File links The following pages link to this file: Halloween (movie) Slasher film Michael Myers (Halloween) ... Michael Myers is a fictional serial killer from the Halloween horror series. ... Nick Castle (September 21, 1947)Born in Los Angeles, CA. Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television in 1970. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Halloween II (also known as Halloween II: The Horror Continues and Halloween II: The Nightmare Isnt Over!) is a 1981 horror film set in the fictional Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois, on Halloween night, 1978. ...

Later in the evening, Laurie meets her friend Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis), who is babysitting Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) across the street from where Laurie is babysitting Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews). After arranging to pick up her boyfriend, Annie sends Lindsey to stay with Laurie at the Doyle house. Annie heads back to the Wallace house and gets in her car, only to find every window fogged. Myers (who has followed her and Laurie) pops up from the backseat and strangles Annie. Tommy sees him carrying her body into the Wallace house and thinks Myers is the Boogeyman. Laurie dismisses Tommy's terror and sends him and Lindsey to bed. Myers later murders Laurie's other friend Lynda Van Der Klok (P. J. Soles) and Lynda's boyfriend Bob Simms (John Michael Graham) who had arrived at the empty Wallace house and decided to retreat upstairs for a tryst. Nancy Louise Kyes (b. ... Kyle Richards, born January 11, 1969, in Mineola, New York, is an American film and television actress. ... Brian Andrews is an actor who has starred in movies and on television. ... The bogeyman, boogyman, or bogyman or the boogeyman, is a legendary ghostlike monster often believed in by children. ... P.J. Soles (b. ... John Michael Graham is an actor who is best known his only role in the 1978 classic John Carpenter horror movie Halloween as Bob Simms, the boyfriend of P.J. Soless character. ...

Laurie worries after receiving a strange phone call from the Wallace house, thinking it's Annie. It was actually Lynda, screaming as Myers strangled her with the phone cord. She walks across the street and discovers the three bodies and Judith Myers' missing tombstone. She is attacked by Myers but escapes back to the Doyle house. Laurie stabs Myers with a knitting needle in the neck, a clothes hanger in the eye and a knife to the chest, but he continues to pursue her. Eventually, Loomis spots Tommy and Lindsey running from the house and finds Myers in the upstairs hallway. Loomis rescues Laurie, shooting Myers six times and causing him to fall from the house's second-story balcony. Upon looking out the window for Myers' body, however, Loomis discovers that he is nowhere to be found. Bamboo knitting needles A little dexterity is helpful in working with knitting needles A knitting needle or knitting pin is a long stick or rod used as a tool in the manufacture of hand knitted fabric. ...

Production

After viewing John Carpenter's film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters.^[6] In an interview with Fangoria magazine, Yablans stated, "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."^[7] Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled The Babysitter Murders, but Carpenter told Entertainment Weekly that Yablans suggested setting the movie on Halloween night and naming it Halloween instead.^[8] Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 action / thriller movie, directed by John Carpenter. ... Type anti-tank Nationality joint Germany/France Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... A film producer creates the conditions for making movies. ... Irwin Yablans (born July 25, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York) is an independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the horror film industry. ... Film finance is a very secretive and little understood aspect of film production. ... Moustapha Akkad (left) directs Anthony Quinn on the set of Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976) Moustapha Akkad (Arabic: مصطفى العقاد) (July 1, 1930 – November 11, 2005) was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the series of Halloween films and directing Mohammad, Messenger of God and Lion of... Fangoria is a nationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, psycho and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979. ... The Exorcist is an Academy Award-winning 1973 film, based on the novel by William Peter Blatty first published in 1971. ... Debra Hill (November 10, 1950–March 7, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer who co-wrote the horror movie Halloween. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ...

John Carpenter on the set of Halloween in 1978

Akkad fronted the $325,000 for the film's budget, considered low at the time (even though Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, had an estimated budget of only $100,000).^[6][9] Akkad worried over the tight 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 himself only received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to only 10 percent of the film's profits.^[10] Image File history File links John Carpenter File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links John Carpenter File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... For the record label, see Film Score Monthly. ...

Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout, and co-editor. Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98.^[6] Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers' mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. It didn't look anything like William Shatner after Tommy got through with it."^[8] Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless—this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not."^[11] Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Jamie Lee Curtis's wardrobe was purchased at J.C. Penney for around a hundred dollars.^[6] Tommy Lee Wallace is a film producer and director. ... Production designer is a term used in the movie industry to refer to the person with the responsibility for designing the sets and costumes and choosing locations, and thus for creating the overall visual appearance of a film. ... The term art director, is an overall title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games. ... Location Scouting is a process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking. ... James Tiberius Kirk (2233 - 2293/2371), played by William Shatner, is the leading character in the original Star Trek television series and the films based on it. ... William Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for his starring role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ... This article is about the department store chain. ...

The budget also dictated filming location and time. Halloween was filmed in 21 days in the spring of 1978 in South Pasadena, California and Sierra Madre, California (cemetery). An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. Two homes on Orange Grove Avenue (near Sunset Boulevard) in Hollywood were used for the film climax. The crew had to work to find pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes and trick-or-treated them for Carpenter.^[6] Location of South Pasadena in California Coordinates: Country United States of America State California County Los Angeles Incorporated (city) March 2, 1888 [2] Government  - Mayor Philip Putnam [1] Area    - City  3. ... Sierra Madre is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... For the American film industry, see Cinema of the United States, Classical Hollywood cinema, and New Hollywood. ... For the film, see Pumpkin (film). ... A trick-or-treater in Michigan in 1979. ...

In August 2006, Fangoria reported that Synapse Films had discovered boxes of negatives that contained footage cut from the film. One was labeled "1981" suggesting that it was shot as additional footage for the television version of the film. Synapse owner Don May Jr. said, "What we've got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from John Carpenter's original Halloween. Luckily, Billy [Kirkus] was able to find this material before it was destroyed. The story on how we got the negative is a long one, but we'll save it for when we're able to showcase the materials in some way. Kirkus should be commended for pretty much saving the Holy Grail of horror films."^[12] It was later reported, "We just learned from Sean Clark, long time Halloween genius, that the footage found is just that; footage. There is no sound in any of the reels so far, since none of it was used in the final edit."^[13] Synapse Films is a DVD label owned and operated by Don May, Jr. ... The original camera negative is the film in a motion picture camera that captures the original image. ... The original camera negative is the film in a motion picture camera that captures the original image. ... For historical artifacts associated with the cup of the Last Supper, see Holy Chalice. ...

Writing

Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a Fangoria interview with Debra Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes."^[11] Hill explained that the script took only three weeks to write and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that Celtic polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Celts. ... This article is about the Celtic holiday. ...

the idea was that you couldn't kill evil, and that was how we came about the story. We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that's what made Halloween work.^[11]

Hill wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis's speeches on Michael Myers's evil. Many of the details of the story were drawn from Carpenter and Hill's adolescence and early career. The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois came from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where Hill grew up, and most of the street names were taken from Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Laurie Strode was the name of one of Carpenter's old girlfriends and Michael Myers was the name of an English producer who had earlier entered Assault on Precinct 13 in various European film festivals with Yablans.^[6] Carpenter pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with two Halloween characters' names. Specifically, Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) of Rear Window (1954), and Dr. Loomis's name was taken from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) of Psycho, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a film screenwriter. Haddonfield is a borough located in Camden County, New Jersey. ... Location of Bowling Green within Warren County in Kentucky. ... This article is about the English as an ethnic group and nation. ... Actor Wendell Corey in a prisoner uniform from the 1956 film The Killer Is Loose Wendell Corey (March 20, 1914 – November 8, 1968) was an American actor. ... Rear Window (1954) is a motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrichs short story It Had to Be Murder (1942). ... John Gavin (born John Anthony Golenor on April 8, c. ... Janet Leigh (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. ... Leigh Brackett (December 7, 1915 - March 18, 1978), was a writer of fantasy and science fiction, mystery novels and - best known to the general public - Hollywood screenplays, most notably The Big Sleep (1945), Rio Bravo (1959), The Long Goodbye (1973) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). ...

Casting

The cast of Halloween included a motley crew of veteran actors such as Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis. The low budget limited the number of big names that John Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their role. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000; Curtis received $8,000; and Nick Castle earned only $25 a day.^[6] Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor. ...

The part of Dr. Sam Loomis was offered to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee; both declined the part due to the low salary.^[14] English actor Pleasence—Carpenter's third choice—agreed to star. Pleasance has been called "John Carpenter's big landing." Pleasence's daughter supposedly saw Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and liked it, thus encouraging her father to star in Halloween. Americans were already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967).^[15] Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London) is a legendary and prolific English actor known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery. ... Blofeld redirects here. ... Ian Flemings You Only Live Twice is the fifth film in the EON Productions James Bond series, the fifth to star Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond 007, and the sixth film to feature James Bond. ...

Jamie Lee Curtis plays Laurie Strode in her first feature film.

In an interview, Carpenter admits 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. Lockhart, however, had commitments to several other film and television projects.^[8] Debra Hill says of learning 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."^[11] Halloween was Jamie Lee Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star. Image File history File links Halloween_Curtis. ... Image File history File links Halloween_Curtis. ... Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is a Golden Globe-winning American film actress and a successful writer of books for children. ... Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the Halloween horror film series, portrayed by actress Jamie Lee Curtis. ... Anne Lockhart as Lieutenant Sheba in Battlestar Galactica Anne Lockhart (b. ... June Lockhart (born 25 June 1925 in New York City, USA) is an American television and film actress best known for her roles as the mothers on Lassie and Lost in Space. ... Lassie was a American television series which originally aired from 1954 to 1974. ... A scream queen is an actress who has become synonymous with horror films, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre or through constant appearances as the female protagonist. ...

Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis) was cast as Laurie's promiscuous friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began.^[16] Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another promiscuous friend of Laurie's best remembered for dialogue peppered with the word "Totally." Soles was an actress familiar for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). According to one source, "Carpenter realized she had captured the aura of a happy go lucky teenage girl in the 70s."^[17] Nancy Louise Kyes (b. ... Charles Cyphers (b. ... P.J. Soles (b. ... Carrie is a 1976 film directed by Brian De Palma based on the novel by Stephen King. ... A DVD cover for The Boy In the Plastic Bubble The Boy In the Plastic Bubble is a 1976 made-for-TV movie inspired by the lives of David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who had to live in containers that protected them from all pathogens, since they lacked effective immune...

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. After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter (1984), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), and Major Payne (1995).^[18] The University of Southern California (commonly referred to as USC, SC, Southern California, and incorrectly as Southern Cal[4]), located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA, was founded in 1880, making it Californias oldest private research university. ... The Last Starfighter is a 1984 science fiction movie, its subsequent novelization that year by Alan Dean Foster, and a video game based on the movie. ... The Boy Who Could Fly is a 1986 film directed by Nick Castle. ... Major Payne was a 1995 film, starring Damon Wayans. ...

Direction

Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that John Carpenter's directing and camera work made Halloween a "resounding success."^[19] Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial ...."^[20] Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize winning American film critic. ...

Opening title of Halloween

The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire movie. The camera slowly focuses on one of the jack-o'-lantern's eyes while the main music for Halloween plays in the background. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that [the film's] primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception."^[21] Image File history File links HalloweenTitle. ... Image File history File links HalloweenTitle. ... Jack-o-lanterns may be carved with a friendly face, above, a menacing sawtooth scowl, or any look in between. ...

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."^[11] Carpenter seemingly took Yablans's advice literally, filming many of the scenes from a Michael Myers point-of-view that allowed audience participation. Carpenter is not the first director to employ this method or use of a steadicam; for instance, the first scene of Psycho offers a voyeuristic look at lovers in a seedy hotel. Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action."^[22] To film this recreated Victorian London street scene, the cameraman next to the lamp post is using a steadicam and wearing the harness required to support it. ... Voyeurism is a practice in which an individual derives sexual pleasure from observing other people. ...

The first scene of the boy Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith Myers 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."^[23] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Another technique that Carpenter adapted from Hitchcock's Psycho and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) was suspense and murder without blood and gore. Debra Hill states, "We didn't want it to be gory. We wanted it to be like a jack-in-the box."^[11] Film analysts refer to this as the "false startle" or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person."^[24] Tobe Hooper Tobe Hooper (born January 25, 1943) is an American television and film director best known for his work in the horror film genre. ... The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (sometimes written as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is an independent low-budget influential horror film, known to be a true horror classic, that started off a new wave of horror films. ... The startle reaction, also called startle response or alarm reaction, is the response of mind and body to a sudden unexpected stimulus, such as a flash of light, a loud noise, or a quick movement near the face. ...

Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and fear. According to Jamie Lee 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 9 1/2," remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.^[25]

Music

Another major reason for the success of Halloween is the musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists of a piano melody played in a 5/4 time rhythm composed by John Carpenter. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated," but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets."^[2] Carpenter stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note."^[8] In the end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Orchestra" for performing the film's score, but he did receive assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.^[6][26] A symphony is an extended piece of music for orchestra, especially one in the form of a sonata. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Metre or meter (US) is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western music notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... James Berardinelli (born September 1967, New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an online film critic. ... San José State University, commonly shortened to San José State and SJSU, is the founding campus of what became the California State University system. ...

Some songs can be heard in the film, one being an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends who formed a band called The Coupe DeVilles. It is heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle.^[6] Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, appears in the film. ^[27] (Dont Fear) The Reaper is a song by the Blue Öyster Cult from the 1976 album Agents of Fortune. ... Classic rock was originally conceived as a radio station programming format which evolved from the album oriented rock (AOR) format in the early-1980s. ... Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in 1967 and still active in 2007. ...

Reception

Halloween premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri, and a few days later in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.^[28] Although it performed well with little advertising—relying mostly on word-of-mouth—many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. The first glowing review by a prominent film critic, however, came from Tom Allen of The Village Voice. Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant, but applauded Carpenter's camera work as "duplicitous hype" 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).^[29] October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Nickname: City of Fountains Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... The Village Voice is a weekly newspaper in New York City featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City. ... George Romero at the 2006 DragonCon George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 black-and-white independent horror film directed by George A. Romero. ...

Poster used to advertise Halloween to audiences in West Germany; the German subtitle is Die Nacht Des Grauens ("The Night of Horror").

Following Allen's laudatory essay, other critics took notice. Renowned American critic Roger Ebert gave the film equal amounts of praise in a 1979 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, choosing it as one of his top five films of 1978.^[20] 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.^[2] Image File history File links Halloweeninternational. ... Image File history File links Halloweeninternational. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize winning American film critic. ... The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. ...

The film grossed $47 million in the United States^[1] and an additional $8 million internationally, making the theatrical total around $55 million.^[6] While most of the film's success came from American movie-goers, Halloween premiered in several international locations after 1979 with moderate results. The film was shown mostly in the European countries of France, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Yugoslavia, and Iceland. Admissions in West Germany totaled around 750,000 and 118,606 in Sweden, earning SEK 2,298,579 there. The film was also shown at theaters in Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Halloween grossed AU$900,000 in Australia, which was a large and impressive amount of money for a film to gross at the box office in Australia, in that day, and HKD 450,139 in Hong Kong.^[9] Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in Latin, Југославија in Cyrillic, English: Land of the South Slavs) describes four political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ... ISO 4217 Code SEK User(s) Sweden Inflation 2. ... ISO 4217 Code AUD User(s) Australia, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island Inflation 3. ... The Hong Kong Dollar (ISO 4217: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) within the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Halloween was nominated for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Horror Film in 1979, but lost to The Wicker Man (1973).^[30] The film has received other honors since its theatrical debut. Halloween is 68th on the American Film Institute's list 100 Most Thrilling Movies Ever, compiled in 2001. In 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.^[31] The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. ... The Wicker Man is a cult 1973 British film combining thriller, existential, horror and musical genres, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. ... The American Film Institute (AFI) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. ... The 100 most heart-pounding American films as described by the AFI on the evening of June 12, 2001. ... The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Since Halloween's premiere, it has been released on VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and UMD. In its first year on VHS, Halloween earned $18,500,000 in the United States from rentals.^[9] Early VHS versions were released by Media Home Entertainment and Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment has released several restored editions of Halloween on VHS and DVD, with the most recent being the 2003 two-disc Divimax 25th Anniversary edition with a lenticular 3D morphing cover and a commentary track including separately recorded contributions by John Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Jamie Lee Curtis plus the documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest.^[28] The film was included with the 2006 documentary Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Halloween's release. Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Vertical Helical Scan, better known by its abbreviation VHS (and often confused to be Video Home System) is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A UMD The Universal Media Disc (UMD) is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on the PlayStation Portable. ... Media Home Entertainment was a home video company headquartered in Los Angeles, California and established in 1978 as MEDA. The company released many videos from 1978 until 1992 , which were mainly various independent films and some films from the Cannon Films library. ... Blockbuster video store This article is about the chain of video stores. ... The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians, archivists, museums, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images which they contain. ...

Criticism

The film received a mostly positive critical response at the time of its initial release, and in 2006 Halloween maintained a rating of 100 percent "fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes. ^[32] Still, 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."^[33] Many compared the film with the work of Alfred Hitchcock, although TV Guide calls comparisons made to Psycho "silly and groundless"^[34] and critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s blame the film for spawning the slasher sub-genre that rapidly descended into sadism and misogyny.^[35] Almost a decade after its premiere, Mick Martin and Marsha Porter critiqued the first-person camera shots that earlier film reviewers had praised and later slasher-film directors utilized for their own films (for example, Friday the 13th (1980)). Claiming it encouraged audience identification with the killer, Martin and Porter pointed to the way "the camera moves in on the screaming, pleading, victim, 'looks down' at the knife, and then plunges it into chest, ear, or eyeball. Now that's sick."^[36] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pauline Kael (June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... Brian De Palma (born James Giacinto DePalma on September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director. ... Val Lewton Vladimir Ivan Leventon (7 May, 1904-14 March, 1951) was an American screenwriter and producer who was born in what is now Yalta, Ukraine. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... TV Guide is the name of two North American weekly magazines about television programming, one in the United States and one in Canada. ... Look up sadism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Misogyny (GA , RP ) is hatred or strong prejudice against women. ... Friday the 13th is a 1980 slasher film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller, admittedly made to cash in on the success of Halloween, the films theme was to take mom and apple pie and turn it on its head. ...

Many criticisms of Halloween and other slasher films come from postmodern academia. Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography."^[35] Critics such as John Kenneth Muir point out that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Strode, in fact, is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.^[37] Postmodernist architecture of the Stata Center by Frank Gehry Sydney Opera House The term Postmodernism (sometimes referred to as Pomo, Po-Mo, or PoMo [1], [2], [3]) was coined in the early 1960s to describe a dissatisfaction with modern architecture, founding the postmodern architecture. ... Feminism is a collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies largely motivated by or concerned with the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. ... Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόρνη (porne) prostitute and γραφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ...

On the other hand, other feminist scholars such as Carol J. Clover argue that despite the violence against women, slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-Halloween horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that Halloween initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode herself fought back against Myers, wounding him on several occasions. Had he been a normal man, Strode would have defeated him.^[38] Final Girl is a horror film conceit that specifically refers to the last person alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. ...

Other critics have seen a deeper social critique present in Halloween and subsequent slasher films. According to Vera Dika, the films of the 1980s spoke to the conservative family values advocates of Reagan America.^[39] Tony Williams says Myers and other slashers were "patriarchal avengers" who "slaughtered the youthful children of the 1960s generation, especially when they engaged in illicit activities involving sex and drugs."^[40] Other critics tend to downplay this interpretation, arguing that the portrayal of Myers as a demonic, superhuman monster inhibited his influence among conservatives.^[41] American conservatism is a constellation of political ideologies within the United States under the blanket heading of conservative. ... This article is about family values as a political concept. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967 – 1975). ... Patriarchy For other uses, see Patriarchy (disambiguation). ... // Though it also developed in the United Kingdom, the counterculture of the 1960s began in the United States as a reaction against the conservative social norms of the 1950s, the political conservatism (and social repression) of the Cold War period, and the US governments extensive military intervention in Vietnam. ...

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."^[42][14] Morality plays are a type of theatrical allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mural of Mercury in Pompeii. ...

Influence

Although a Canadian horror film directed by Bob Clark titled Black Christmas (1974) preempted the stylistic techniques made famous in Halloween, the latter is generally given credit by film historians and critics for initiating the slasher film craze of the 1980s and 1990s. First-person camera perspectives, unexceptional settings, and female heroines define the slasher film genre.^[43] Riding the wave of success ushered in by Halloween, several films that were already in production when the film premiered, but with similar stylistic elements and themes, became popular with audiences. The Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street films, and countless other slasher films, owe much of their success (if not inspiration) to Halloween, in addition, Friday the 13th director Sean S. Cunningham has credited Halloween as having served as a major inspiration of the film.^[44][45] Benjamin Bob Clark (August 5, 1941[1] – April 4, 2007) was an American director known for the 1982 hit film Porkys and its sequel Porkys II: The Next Day. ... This article is about the 1974 film. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... DVD cover for Friday the 13th (1980) Friday the 13th is a popular series of American slasher films. ... Cover art for the first film A Nightmare on Elm Street is a series of horror films that were exceptionally popular in the 1980s. ... Sean S. Cunningham is a writer, producer and director of films born on December 31st 1941. ...

The unintended theme of "survival of the virgins" seen in Halloween became a major trope that surfaced in other slasher films. Characters in subsequent horror movies who practice illicit sex and substance abuse generally meet a gruesome end at the hands of the killer. On the other hand, characters portrayed as chaste and temperate face off and defeat the killer at the end of the film. Director Wes Craven's dark comedy Scream (1996) details the "rules" for surviving a horror movie using Halloween as the primary example: no sex, no alcohol or illicit drugs, and never say "I'll be right back." Keenen Ivory Wayans's horror movie spoof Scary Movie (2000) likewise parodies this prominent slasher film trope, as does Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2001). Allegory of chastity by Hans Memling. ... Temperance is the practice of moderation. ... Wesley Earl Craven (born August 2, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American film director and writer best known as the creator of many horror films, including the famed Nightmare on Elm Street series featuring the redoubtable Freddy Krueger character. ... The term problem plays is applied to the three plays William Shakespeare wrote between the last of his pure comedies (Twelfth Night) and the first of his pure tragedies (Othello) They are Alls Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida. ... Scream is a 1996 satire of the horror film genre, directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. ... Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958 in New York City, New York) is an American actor, comedian, director and writer best known as the host and creator of the FOX sketch comedy series In Living Color, which also starred Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, his brother Damon Wayans, David Alan... Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long. ... Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth is a film directed by John Blanchard released directly to video in 2000. ...

Television version

Television rights to Halloween were sold to NBC in 1980 for $4 million. After a debate between John Carpenter, Debra Hill and NBC's Standards & Practices over censoring of certain scenes, Halloween appeared on television for the first time.^[11] To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material that include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to six-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 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 Jamie Lee Curtis was now wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978. The new scenes were shot during production of Halloween II. An extended cut of the television version was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2001 as Halloween: Extended Version.^[46] NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Standards and Practices is the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the moral, ethical and legal implications of the program that network airs -- in the vernacular, the censors. Categories: Stub ... Censorship is the removal or withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. ... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Adaptations

Main articles: Halloween (novel) and Halloween (video game)

Halloween novelization by Curtis Richards

Shortly following Halloween's release in theaters, a mass market paperback novelization by Curtis Richards was published by Bantam Books in 1979 and reissued in 1982, although it is currently out of print. The novel elaborates on aspects not featured in the film such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers's life in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. For example, the opening reads: Halloween is a 1979 novelization by Curtis Richards of the horror film Halloween (1978). ... Halloween is a video game for the Atari 2600. ... Image File history File links Halloween_novel. ... Image File history File links Halloween_novel. ... A novelization (or novelisation in British English) is a work of fiction that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work. ... Categories: Stub | Books ... Halloween is a 1979 novelization by Curtis Richards of the horror film Halloween (1978). ... Bantam Books (established 1945), owned by Random House, is a member of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group. ...

The horror started on the eve of Samhain, in a foggy vale in northern Ireland, at the dawn of the Celtic race. And once started, it trod the earth forevermore, wreaking its savagery suddenly, swiftly, and with incredible ferocity.^[47]

In 1983, Halloween was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. Either as the result of poor research by developers or as an effort to save on licensing fees, none of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter who tries to save as many children from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer as possible. The game was not popular with parents or players and the graphics were simple, as was typical of the 1980s. The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck. The main similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears on screen.^[48][49] Halloween is a video game for the Atari 2600. ... The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, was the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ...

Sequels

Main article: Halloween (film series)

Halloween spawned seven sequels, and a remake — tentatively titled Halloween and directed by Rob Zombie — is scheduled for release in 2007.^[50][51] Of these films, only Halloween II (1981) was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Halloween II begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to wind up the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Carpenter did not direct any of the other films in the Halloween series, although he produced Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), the plot of which is unrelated to any of the other films in the series.^[52] Michael Myers peers over the stairs from the original Halloween film The Halloween films are a financially successful series of horror films. ... Halloween is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. ... Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965 ) (age 42)[1]), better known as Rob Zombie, is an American heavy metal and industrial rock musician, director, and writer. ... Halloween II (also known as Halloween II: The Horror Continues and Halloween II: The Nightmare Isnt Over!) is a 1981 horror film set in the fictional Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois, on Halloween night, 1978. ... Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a horror film released in 1982. ...

The sequels feature more explicit violence and gore, and are generally dismissed by mainstream film critics. They were filmed on larger budgets than the original: in contrast to Halloween's modest budget of $325,000, Halloween II's budget was around $2.5 million,^[53] while the most recently released sequel, Halloween: Resurrection (2002), boasted a budget of $25 million.^[54] Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel in the series until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.^[55] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Amman, the capital city of Jordan. ...

Halloween's sequels continue to develop the character of Michael Myers and the theme of Samhain. Even without considering the third film, the Halloween series is plagued with storyline continuity issues, most likely stemming from the different writers and directors involved in each film. ^[51] This article is about the Celtic holiday. ... In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ...

Notes

April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Further reading

See also

• List of films recut by studio
• List of films considered the greatest ever

According to the prevalent framework of film criticism, with Auteur Theory at its core, a film director is viewed as the individual most responsible for the creative aspects of a finished film, and it follows from this that directors should have final editorial control over their films (also known as...

External links

• Official site of the Halloween series
• Official site of John Carpenter
• Halloween at the Internet Movie Database