text:
The Mother (How I Met Your Mother)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Tracy McConnell
How I Met Your Mother character
The Mother appearing in "The Locket"
First appearance
"Lucky Penny (unseen)"
"Something New" (seen)
Last appearance
"Last Forever"
Created by
Carter Bays
Craig Thomas
Portrayed by
Cristin Milioti
Information
Aliases
The Mother
Gender
Female
Spouse(s)
Ted Mosby
Significant other(s)
Max (deceased former boyfriend)
Louis (ex-boyfriend)
Children
Penny Mosby (daughter, born in 2015, played by Lyndsy Fonseca)
Luke Mosby (son, born in 2017, played by David Henrie)
Nationality
American
Tracy McConnell (colloquial: "The Mother") is the title character from the CBS television sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The show, narrated by Future Ted, tells the story of how Ted Mosby met The Mother. Tracy McConnell appears in 8 episodes from "Lucky Penny" to "The Time Travelers" as an unseen character; she was first seen fully in "Something New" and was promoted to a main character in season 9. The Mother is played by Cristin Milioti.
The story of how Ted met The Mother is the framing device behind the series; many facts about her are revealed throughout the series, including the fact that Ted once unwittingly owned her umbrella before accidentally leaving it behind in her apartment. Ted and The Mother meet at the Farhampton train station following Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky's wedding; this scene is shown in "Last Forever", the series finale. The Mother's death from an unspecified terminal illness in 2024, also revealed in the series finale, received a mixed reaction from fans.
An alternate ending was released in the ninth season DVD. In the alternate ending, Tracy Mosby is still living when Ted is telling the story in 2030.[1][2] In the video, future Ted is heard saying, "...When I think how lucky I am to wake up next to your mum every morning, I can't help but be amazed how easy it all really was...", indirectly stating that The Mother is alive. The video ends right after the train passes at Farhampton station and credits start rolling, implying that Ted never went back to Robin as he lived a successful married life with Tracy Mosby.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Casting
2 Character history
2.1 Name
3 Death
4 Notes
5 References
Casting[edit]
During its first eight seasons, the successful sitcom How I Met Your Mother often hinted at the unseen character of The Mother. Well-known actresses often made guest appearances on the show. Many fans expected that another would play one of the most-wanted roles in Hollywood, but creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas wanted an unknown. Using Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams as examples, Thomas said that "We didn’t want it to be a big famous star because we didn’t want the wider audience to have associations with whatever actress this would be ... The whole idea is that Ted’s never seen this woman before, so it better feel that way to the audience", similar to how Cobie Smulders being cast as Robin Scherbatsky had "kept the show alive" when it began. Bays and Thomas also did not want a large casting call.[4][5]
They chose Cristin Milioti after seeing her on 30 Rock and Once; her musical ability was also helpful, as The Mother had been described as a band member. After competing for the role against at least two others, Milioti filmed her first scene—for the last episode of season 8—having never watched How I Met Your Mother; she recalled, "I had ignorance on my side. So I didn’t know what it meant." Milioti learned of the character's importance only after binge watching the show during the summer.[5][6]
Character history[edit]
The Mother was born on September 19, 1984.[note 1]
The Mother, joined by her roommate Kelly, awaits the arrival of her boyfriend Max only to receive a call informing her of his death. After the funeral service, she returns to the apartment to open Max's last gift to her — a ukulele. The Mother spends the next few years grieving the passing of the man she believes was her one true love.[7]
In "Wait for It", it is revealed that the short story of how they met involved her yellow umbrella. In "No Tomorrow", Ted finds the umbrella at a club and takes it home after attending a St. Patrick's Day party which she also attended, as it had been two and a half years since the death of Max, her late boyfriend. She is still grieving, but her roommate Kelly encourages her to go out and date again, bringing her to the same bar where Ted and Barney are celebrating. The two women run into Mitch, her old orchestra instructor; The Mother offers to give Mitch her cello for his work at a school and they head to her apartment. After they start talking, Mitch encourages her to pursue her dreams. The Mother expresses her desire to end poverty by taking up economics in college.[7]
On his first day of teaching as Professor Mosby, as seen in the season 4 finale "The Leap", he is seen in front of the classroom of students, one of which Future Ted says is the titular mother. But in the first episode of season 5, "Definitions", it is revealed that he was actually in the wrong classroom — Economics instead of Architecture. At the same time in "How Your Mother Met Me", the Mother sits her first session in Economics 305 and meets another graduate student named Cindy (Rachel Bilson), whom she offers to move in with her as her roommate. They see Ted enter the room, but when he announces the subject, The Mother thinks she is in the wrong room and runs off. She heads back to the room after seeing Ted scramble to his actual classroom.
Later, in "Girls Versus Suits", Ted dates Cindy, not knowing that her roommate is his future wife. Throughout the episode, Ted notes that Cindy had spent most of their first date talking jealously about her roommate. When in Cindy and the mother's apartment he picks up many of The Mother's belongings, attempting to show how compatible he and Cindy are (thinking the items are Cindy's) and glimpses the mother's foot as she disappears into her room after taking a shower. Ted finds out at this time that she plays bass guitar in a band. Ted forgets to take the yellow umbrella with him when he goes out and Future Ted mentions, "this is how your mother got her yellow umbrella back." In "How Your Mother Met Me", it is revealed that, after Ted left the apartment, the Mother had discovered the umbrella and, upon going to question Cindy, finds her in a state. As she tried to console her, Cindy said that she was a much better match for Ted, and began to lovingly list all of the reasons that Ted would find the mother attractive, before spontaneously kissing her, revealing that her jealousy towards her roommate was actually a crush. While this incident made Cindy realise that she is a lesbian, it also made the Mother decide to go back into dating, as the kiss was her first in a long time.
Some time after this, a man named Darren approaches The Mother and is welcomed into her band named Superfreakonomics. Darren gradually takes over the band.[7]
In the season 6 opener "Big Days" it is revealed Ted meets his future wife "the day of" the wedding at which he is the best man. In the episode "False Positive" Robin asks Ted to be her future best man, should she ever get married. In the episode "Challenge Accepted", it is revealed that Ted meets the mother of his children the day of Barney's wedding. In the last episode of season 7, "The Magician's Code" it is shown that Barney will marry Robin, and Ted will meet the mother "the day of" their wedding. On the premiere of season 8, Ted's wife appears after Barney and Robin's wedding, outside at the "Farhampton" station while holding a yellow umbrella and her bass guitar.
In the season 8 episode "Band or DJ?," Ted runs into Cindy on the subway and tells her that the band Barney and Robin hired to play at their wedding cancelled at the last minute. The end result of the encounter is that Cindy's (now ex-) roommate's band plays at Barney and Robin's wedding.
The Mother is first shown meeting Louis in "How Your Mother Met Me" as she is left to carry the band equipment while the now-lead band member Darren talks to his fans. Later at MacLaren's Pub, she tells him she's not yet ready to date. Louis asks her to give him a call if she changes her mind and they begin dating not long after.
The Mother meets all of Ted's best friends (Barney, Lily, Marshall and Robin) before she meets him. The Mother is responsible for convincing Barney to pursue Robin, as revealed through a flashback in "Platonish". In "The Locket", Tracy meets Lily on a train journey.
In "Bass Player Wanted", the Mother picks up a hitchhiking Marshall, carrying his son Marvin, on her way to Farhampton Inn. On their way, it is revealed that the Mother is a bass player in the band, that is scheduled to play at the wedding reception. But the band's leader, Darren, forced her to quit. The Mother ultimately decides to confront Darren and retake the band. She ends up alone at the bar, and while practicing a speech to give Darren, Darren walks up to her furious the groom's best man punched him for "no reason." Amused by this, the Mother laughs, and Darren quits the band in anger.
In "How Your Mother Met Me", it is shown that after this incident, the Mother returns to Louis' summer cottage not far from the Farhampton Inn where she has been staying for the duration of the wedding weekend. As she walks in the door, Louis proposes to her, but she goes outside to think about it for a few minutes. She declines Louis' proposal and leaves his cottage, going to check in at Farhampton Inn. On her room's balcony, she plays the ukulele and sings "La Vie en Rose". Ted hears her singing from his room next door.
In "Gary Blauman", Ted and the Mother are on their first date. Ted picks her up at her New York City apartment and they proceed to walk to a Scottish-Mexican fusion restaurant for dinner. On the way there, Ted is telling her a story when they nearly have a run-in with Louis. She says that she is in the "weirdest place on earth" right now and that it is too soon for her to be dating. Ted walks her back to her apartment. They say goodnight and Ted begins to walk away. The Mother then stops him and asks him to finish the story he was telling her. When the story is over, they say goodnight again. The Mother takes a step towards Ted and they kiss for the first time, before deciding to carry on their date.
In a flashforward in "The Lighthouse", Ted proposes to the Mother at the top of the lighthouse near Farhampton Inn. She immediately accepts. In another flashfoward in "Unpause", the Mother is revealed to be pregnant with their second child, Luke, in the year 2017. She goes into labor while she and Ted are staying at Farhampton.
Name[edit]
The Mother's real name is not revealed until the series finale, "Last Forever". When Ted meets her at the Farhampton train station, she reveals that her name is Tracy McConnell. In the season 1 episode "Belly Full of Turkey", Ted meets a stripper named Tracy and says "...that, kids, is the true story of how I met your mother". The children react encouraged and appear to believe Ted before he admits he is joking,[9] which led some fans to correctly guess that The Mother's name is Tracy.[10]
Death[edit]
See also: Last Forever
In the series finale, it is revealed that six years prior to Ted telling the story to his children, Tracy died in 2024 from an undisclosed illness. In the finale the characters do not directly state that the mother is dead. Ted says that she "became sick" and his children saying that she has been "gone" for six years. Many fans expressed considerable disappointment to The Mother's death.[11] Milioti cried when she learned her character was supposed to die, but came to accept the ending was what the writers had planned from the beginning.[12] Bill Kuchman from Popculturology said that The Mother was "an amazing character"[9] and that "over the course of this final season HIMYM made us care about Tracy.[13] Kuchman said that "asking fans to drop all of that with a simple line about The Mother getting sick and passing away was a very difficult request", that the finale "advanced too quickly" and that "HIMYM was a victim of its own success on this issue".[9]
A petition was started, aiming to rewrite and reshoot the finale. The petition has over 20,000 signatures and considerable online news coverage.[14][15] On April 5, 2014, Carter Bays announced on Twitter that an alternate ending would be included on the Season 9 DVD. No new material was shot for this scene.[16][17] In the alternate ending, The Mother is still living when Ted is telling the story in 2030.[18][1]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ The Mother celebrates her 21st birthday on the day that "Pilot" is set.[7] The pilot is set on September 19, 2005.[8]
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Debnath, Neela (7 September 2014). "How I Met Your Mother alternative finale leaks online ahead of DVD release". The Independent. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
Jump up ^ Kreps, Daniel (September 6, 2014). "Watch the Happier 'How I Met Your Mother' Alternate Ending". Rolling Stone.
Jump up ^ MacGregor, Rachel (September 23, 2014). "8 reasons why How I Met Your Mother should've used its alternative ending". Metro UK.
Jump up ^ Stransky, Tanner (2013-05-13). "'How I Met Your Mother': Burning questions about the mother". Entertainment Weekly.
^ Jump up to: a b Fallon, Kevin (2013-05-14). "'How I Met Your Mother' Mother Revealed: Meet Cristin Milioti". The Daily Beast.
Jump up ^ Fallon, Kevin (2015-11-03). "How Cristin Milioti Met 'Fargo'—And Left 'How I Met Your Mother' Behind". The Daily Beast.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "How Your Mother Met Me". How I Met Your Mother. Season 9. Episode 16. January 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Pilot". How I Met Your Mother. Season 1. Episode 1. September 19, 2005. CBS.
^ Jump up to: a b c Kuchman, Bill (April 4, 2014). "'How I Met Your Mother' 'Last Forever' Recap: A Divisive Finale and What It Means for 'HIMYM'". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ Rullo, Samantha (10 March 2014). "What is The Mother's Name on 'How I Met Your Mother'? Episode Title Might Hold the Secret". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ "HIMYM Tomatometer Watch: Series Finale Currently Rotten - Majority of critics disappointed by 'Last Forever'". Rotten Tomatoes. April 2, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
Jump up ^ News, A. B. C. (4 October 2014). "Why Cristin Milioti Sobbed for Her Character in 'How I Met Your Mother'". ABC News. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
Jump up ^ Kuchman, Bill (March 31, 2014). "'HIMYM' Finale Instant Reaction". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ Guerrero, Danger (April 4, 2014). "Now There's A Petition To 'Rewrite And Reshoot' The 'How I Met Your Mother' Ending". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ Maresca, Rachel (April 3, 2014). "'How I Met Your Mother' series finale sparks online petition from fans who want ending changed". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ Update for those who've been asking: Alt #himym ending will be on s9 DVD and also in the series box set. https://twitter.com/CarterBays/status/452299544995184640
Jump up ^ James, Lauren (April 5, 2014). "'How I Met Your Mother' May Get Alternate Ending After Petition, Says Carter Bays". Contact Music. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
Jump up ^ Kreps, Daniel (September 6, 2014). "Watch the Happier 'How I Met Your Mother' Alternate Ending". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
[hide]
v
t
e
How I Met Your Mother
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Characters
Ted Mosby
Marshall Eriksen
Lily Aldrin
Barney Stinson
Robin Scherbatsky
Tracy McConnell
Soundtracks
How I Met Your Music
Related articles
Awards and nominations
The Bro Code
Cheerleader effect
"Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit"
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Mother_(How_I_Met_Your_Mother)&oldid=836704260"
Categories:
How I Met Your Mother characters
Fictional characters introduced in 2013
Fictional female musicians
Hidden categories:
Pages using infobox character with unknown parameters
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Dansk
Español
Italiano
Magyar
Tiếng Việt
Edit links
This page was last edited on 16 April 2018, at 11:10.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: th

attrs: colspan style

values: text-align:center;font-size:125%;font-weight:bold;background: #FFCC00; color: #000000;

value: tr

attrs: href class

values: text-align:center;background: #FFCC00; color: #000000;

values: List of How I Met Your Mother characters

values:
infobox
width:22em;border-spacing: 2px 5px;

values:
/wiki/Title_character
mw-redirect
Title character

values: The Time Travelers (How I Met Your Mother)

values:
/wiki/Framing_device
mw-redirect
Framing device

values:
/wiki/Casting_call
mw-redirect
Casting call

values:
/wiki/Binge_watching
mw-redirect
Binge watching

values: Wait for It (How I Met Your Mother episode)

values:
/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Day
mw-redirect
St. Patrick's Day

values:
/wiki/La_Vie_en_Rose
mw-redirect
La Vie en Rose

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values:
/wiki/Daily_News_(New_York)
mw-redirect
Daily News (New York)

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values: How I Met Your Music (Original Songs from the Hit Series "How I Met Your Mother")

values: List of awards and nominations received by How I Met Your Mother

values:
/wiki/The_Bro_Code
mw-redirect
The Bro Code

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:How I Met Your Mother characters

values: Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2013

values: Category:Pages using infobox character with unknown parameters

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: The Mother (nhân vật How I Met Your Mother) – Vietnamese

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-The_Mother_How_I_Met_Your_Mother rootpage-The_Mother_How_I_Met_Your_Mother skin-vector action-view


text:
Soup to nuts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Look up from soup to nuts in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
"Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom that conveys the meaning of "from beginning to end". It is derived from the description of a full course dinner, in which courses progress from soup to a dessert of nuts. It is comparable to expressions in other languages, such as the Latin phrase ab ovo usque ad mala ("from the egg to the apples"), describing the typical Roman meal.
See also[edit]
Soup to nuts may also refer to:
From Soup to Nuts, a 1928 short comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy as butlers hired for a high society dinner party
Soup to Nuts, a 1930 feature film starring the trio who later became the Three Stooges
Duck Soup to Nuts, a 1944 Looney Tunes animated short featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck
"Soup to Nuts", an episode of That's So Raven
Soup2Nuts, a defunct production company known for its animated comedies
Soup to Nutz, an American comic strip launched in 2000
Disambiguation page providing links to articles with similar titles
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Soup to nuts.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soup_to_nuts&oldid=835999978"
Categories:
Disambiguation pages
Hidden categories:
Disambiguation pages with short description
All article disambiguation pages
All disambiguation pages
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Add links
This page was last edited on 12 April 2018, at 02:06.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: img

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

value: td

attrs: href class title

value: b

value: i

value: tbody

value: table

attrs: role class style

attrs: href title

values:
/wiki/Ab_ovo_usque_ad_mala
mw-redirect
Ab ovo usque ad mala

values:
/wiki/Soup_to_Nuts_(That%27s_So_Raven)
mw-redirect
Soup to Nuts (That's So Raven)

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux

values: padding: 0.25em 0.4em; font-style: italic;

values: metadata plainlinks dmbox dmbox-disambig

values: Category:Disambiguation pages with short description

values: Category:All article disambiguation pages

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Soup_to_nuts
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Soup_to_nuts rootpage-Soup_to_nuts skin-vector action-view


text:
Halloween (1978 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Halloween (disambiguation).
Halloween
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
John Carpenter
Produced by
Debra Hill
Screenplay by
John Carpenter
Debra Hill
Starring
Donald Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
P. J. Soles
Nancy Loomis
Music by
John Carpenter
Cinematography
Dean Cundey
Edited by
Tommy Wallace
Charles Bornstein
Production
company
Compass International Pictures
Falcon International Productions
Distributed by
Compass International Pictures
Release date
October 25, 1978 (1978-10-25)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$300,000–$325,000[2][3][4]
Box office
$70 million[3]
Halloween is a 1978 American slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with producer Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut. It is the first installment in the Halloween franchise. In the film, on Halloween night in 1963, Michael Myers murders his sister in the fictional Midwestern United States town of Haddonfield, Illinois. He escapes on October 30, 1978, from Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and returns home to kill again. The next day, Halloween, Michael stalks teenager Laurie Strode and her friends, while Michael's psychiatrist, Samuel Loomis, pursues his patient.[5]
Halloween was produced on a budget of $300,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the United States[2] and $23 million internationally for a total of $70 million worldwide,[3] selling almost 30 million tickets in 1978. It became one of the most profitable independent films.[2] Primarily praised for its direction and musical score, many critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6]
Some critics have suggested that Halloween may encourage sadism and misogyny by audiences identifying with its villain.[7] Others have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of youth and teenagers in 1970s America, with many of Myers' victims being sexually promiscuous substance abusers,[8] while the lone heroine is depicted as innocent and pure, hence her survival. Nevertheless, Carpenter dismisses such analyses.[9][10]
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
3.1 Writing
3.2 Casting
3.3 Direction
3.4 Music
4 Release
4.1 Theatrical run
4.2 Television rights
4.3 Home video releases
5 Reception
5.1 Critical response
5.2 Themes and analysis
5.3 Awards
6 Influence
7 Sequels and remake
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
Plot[edit]
On Halloween night 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, 6-year-old Michael Myers, dressed in a clown costume and mask, stabs his older sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife in their home. Fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, Michael's child psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, and his colleague Marion Chambers arrive at Warren County Smith's Grove Sanatarium. Michael escapes from Smith's Grove, stealing the car that was to take him to court. Returning home to Haddonfield, Michael kills a mechanic for his uniform and steals a white mask, a knife and some rope from a local store.
The following day, Halloween, Michael stalks high school student Laurie Strode after she and Tommy Doyle drop off a key at his former house so her father can sell it. Throughout the day, Laurie notices Michael watching her, but her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van der Klok dismiss her concerns. Loomis follows Michael to Haddonfield in search of him. After discovering that Judith Myers' headstone has been stolen from the local cemetery, Loomis meets with Annie's father, Sheriff Leigh Brackett. The two begin their search at Michael's house, where Loomis tells the sheriff about the danger Michael poses, explaining that Michael is pure evil and capable of further violence, despite years of catatonia. Sheriff Brackett patrols the streets while Loomis waits and watches the house, expecting Michael to return there.
Later that night, Laurie goes over to babysit Tommy while Annie babysits Lindsey Wallace just across the street, unaware that Michael is watching them. When Annie's boyfriend Paul calls her to come and pick him up, she takes Lindsey over to the Doyle house to spend the night with Laurie and Tommy. Annie is just about to leave in her car when Michael, who hid in the back seat, strangles her before slashing her throat, killing her.
Soon after, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob Simms arrive at the Wallace house. After having sex, Bob goes downstairs to get a beer for Lynda, but Michael fatally stabs him with a knife which pins him to the wall. Michael then poses as Bob in a ghost costume and confronts Lynda, who teases him, to no effect. Annoyed, Lynda calls Laurie; just as Laurie picks up, Michael strangles Lynda to death with the telephone cord. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the car Michael stole and begins combing the streets.
A suspicious Laurie goes over to the Wallace house. There, she finds the dead bodies of her friends in an upstairs bedroom, as well as Judith Myers' headstone. As a horrified Laurie cowers in the hallway, Michael suddenly appears and slashes her arm, causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. Barely escaping, Laurie races back to the Doyle house. Michael gets in and attacks her again, but Laurie manages to fend him off long enough for Tommy and Lindsey to escape. Loomis sees the two children fleeing the house, and goes to investigate, finding Michael and Laurie fighting upstairs. Loomis shoots Michael six times, knocking him off the balcony. When Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing. Unsurprised, Loomis stares off into the night.
Cast[edit]
See also: List of Halloween characters
Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
Nick Castle as Michael Myers (credited as "The Shape")
Tony Moran as Michael Myers (unmasked)
Will Sandin as Michael Myers (age 6)
P. J. Soles as Lynda Van Der Klok
Nancy Kyes as Annie Brackett
Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett
Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace
Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle
John Michael Graham as Bob Simms
Nancy Stephens as Marion Chambers
Arthur Malet as Graveyard Keeper
Mickey Yablans as Richie
Brent Le Page as Lonnie
Adam Hollander as Keith
Sandy Johnson as Judith Margaret Myers
David Kyle as Judith's Boyfriend
Peter Griffith as Laurie's Father
Production[edit]
After viewing 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.[11] 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."[12] Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled The Babysitter Murders, but, as Carpenter told Entertainment Weekly, Yablans suggested setting the movie on Halloween night and naming it Halloween instead.[13]
Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time[11] (Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, had an estimated budget of $100,000). Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria, "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits.[14]
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.[11] Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. I can only imagine the result if they hadn't painted the mask white. Children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after Tommy got through with it."[13] Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless—this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not."[15] Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Curtis' wardrobe was purchased at J. C. Penney for around a hundred dollars.[11]
The limited budget also dictated the filming location and time schedule. Halloween was filmed in 20 days in the spring of 1978 in South Pasadena, California, Garfield Elementary School in Alhambra, and the cemetery at Sierra Madre, California. 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's climax.[16] The crew had difficulty finding pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes for trick-or-treat scenes.[11]
In August 2006, Fangoria reported that Synapse Films had discovered boxes of negatives containing footage cut from the film. One was labeled "1981" suggesting that it was 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 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."[17] 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."[18]
Writing[edit]
It took approximately 10 days to write the script. 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 Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes."[15] Hill explained that the script took 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:
...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.[15]
Hill wrote most of the female characters' dialogue,[9] while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the soullessness of Michael Myers. Many script details were drawn from Carpenter's and Hill's adolescence and early careers. The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois was derived 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 previously entered, with Yablans, Assault on Precinct 13 in various European film festivals.[11] In Halloween, Carpenter pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with two characters' names: Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) from Rear Window (1954), and Dr. Loomis' name was taken from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) from Psycho, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, who is the real-life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis). Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a Hollywood screenwriter.
"I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes; the devil's eyes [...] I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil."
— Loomis' description of a young Michael was inspired by John Carpenter's experience with a real life mental patient.[9]
Carpenter's inspiration for the "evil" that Michael would embody came when he was in college. While on a class trip at a mental institution in Kentucky, Carpenter visited "the most serious, mentally ill patients". Among those patients was a young boy around twelve to thirteen years-old. The boy gave this "schizophrenic stare", "a real evil stare", which Carpenter found "unsettling", "creepy", and "completely insane". Carpenter's experience would inspire the characterization that Loomis would give of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the film.[9]
Casting[edit]
The cast of Halloween included veteran actor Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis. The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000, Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day.[11] The role of Dr. Loomis was originally intended for Peter Cushing, who had recently appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977); Cushing's agent rejected Carpenter's offer due to the low salary. Christopher Lee was also approached for the role; he too turned it down, although the actor would later tell Carpenter and Hill that declining the role was the biggest mistake he made during his career. Yablans then suggested Pleasence, who agreed to star because his daughter Angela, a guitarist, had enjoyed Assault on Precinct 13 for Carpenter's score.[9] American audiences were primarily acquainted with Pleasence due to his portrayal of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967).[19]
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. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects.[13] 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."[15] Halloween was Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star. Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis), was cast as Laurie's friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began.[20] Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). According to one source, "Carpenter realized she had captured the aura of a happy go lucky teenage girl in the 70s."[21]
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), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995).[22]
Direction[edit]
Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that Carpenter's direction and camera work made Halloween a "resounding success".[23] 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 ...."[24] The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. 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".[25] 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".[15] Carpenter seemingly took Yablans' advice literally, filming many of the scenes from Michael Myers's 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".[26] Along with the 1974 Canadian horror film Black Christmas, Halloween made use of seeing events through the killer's eyes.[citation needed]
This scene features Michael (right), who pins Bob (left) to the door and observes his dying motions. Remaining relatively un-graphic, this scene displays the use of lighting to create its atmosphere rather than graphic blood and violence.
The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey".[27] Another technique that Carpenter adapted from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) was suspense with minimal blood and gore. Hill comments, "We didn't want it to be gory. We wanted it to be like a jack-in-the box."[15] 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."[28] Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and suspense. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9½", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.[29]
Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was minimal. For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another.[9] The documentary titled Halloween Un-masked, featured in the 22nd anniversary DVD of Halloween, John Carpenter states he also instructed Castle to tilt his head a couple of times as if he was observing the corpse, particularly in the scene when Myers impaled one of his victims against a wall.[9]
Music[edit]
Main article: Halloween (soundtrack)
Another major reason for the success of Halloween is the moody musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" meter composed and performed by director John Carpenter. It took Carpenter three days to compose the entire score for the film. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets".[30] Carpenter stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note."[13] In the end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra" for performing the film's score, but he did receive assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.[11][31]
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 De Villes. The song is heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle.[11] Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, appears in the film.[32]
The soundtrack was first released in the United States in October 1983, by Varèse Sarabande/MCA.[citation needed] It was subsequently released on Compact Disc in 1985, re-released in 1990, and again in 2000.[citation needed]
Release[edit]
Ad, The Village Voice, Nov. 6, 1978: only known, published window for date of film's New York City premiere ("Held over...2nd week")[33]
Theatrical run[edit]
Halloween premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri (at the AMC Midland/Empire) and sometime afterward in Chicago, Illinois, and in New York City. It had its Los Angeles debut October 27, 1978.[33][34] It opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1978.[35] The film grossed $47 million in the United States[2] and an additional $23 million internationally, making the theatrical total $70 million.[3]
On September 7, 2012, the official Halloween Movies Facebook page announced that the original Halloween would be theatrically re-released starting October 25, 2013 in celebration of the film's 35th anniversary in 2013. A new documentary was screened before the film at all locations, entitled, You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween, written and directed by HalloweenMovies.com webmaster Justin Beahm.[36][37]
Television rights[edit]
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
In 1980, the television rights to Halloween were sold to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for $4 million. After a debate among Carpenter, Hill and NBC's Standards and Practices over censoring of certain scenes, Halloween appeared on television for the first time in October 1981.[15] To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of Halloween II. The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then-6-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you, Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978.[citation needed] The television scenes were released on a two-tape "limited-edition" VHS set of the film and the television version of the film was released on a second disc in the two-disc "limited-edition" DVD release of the film in 1999, a stand alone in 2001 as Halloween: Extended Edition on VHS and DVD as well as the Halloween: 30th Anniversary Commemorative Set along with the original Halloween on DVD and Blu-ray, disc one from the 25 Years of Terror documentary DVD and the Divimax editions of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers in 2008 and is featured on the bonus disc in the Halloween limited edition Blu-ray box set released in 2014.[citation needed]
Home video releases[edit]
Since Halloween's premiere, it has been released in several home video formats, including VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, UMD and Blu-ray Disc. Early VHS versions were released by Media Home Entertainment and Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment (succeder in-interest to Media Home Entertainment and Video Treasures) has released several restored editions of Halloween on VHS and DVD, including "Halloween: Unmasked"; a documentary produced and directed by Mark Cerulli which featured an array of interviews with original Halloween cast and crew including Jamie Lee Curtis, Debra Hill, John Carpenter, Nick Castle and others. The most recent release of the film is the 2007 single-disc restored version, with improved picture and sound quality.[38] Anchor Bay has also released an "extended edition" of Halloween that features the original theatrical release with the scenes that were shot for the broadcast TV version edited in at their proper places.[39] In 2003, the film was released on a two-disc "25th Anniversary edition" with improved DiviMax picture and audio, along with an audio commentary by John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and Debra Hill, the A Cut Above The Rest documentary, On Location: 25 Years Later featurette, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, poster and still gallery, and DVD-ROM content. In 2007, the movie was released on Blu-ray as well, marking the film's first ever Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray features a commentary track by Carpenter, Hill and Curtis, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, fast film facts and the documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest.[34] In 2008, a "30th Anniversary commemorative set" was released, containing the film on DVD and Blu-ray along with the "extended edition", disc one of the 25 Years of Terror documentary DVD and the sequels: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, including a replica Michael Myers mask. The DVD release was THX certified. The film has made $18,500,000 in home video rentals.[citation needed]
On June 6, 2013, it was announced that a second, 35th anniversary, Blu-ray release for Halloween is in the works and that John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis have recorded a new commentary.[40] On June 11, it was announced that Dean Cundey is supervising a new high-definition transfer.[41] On July 22, the official cover art for the 35th anniversary Blu-ray release was revealed including the new special features such as the all-new high definition transfer by Cundey, the new commentary track by Carpenter and Curtis as well as a new 7.1 audio mix, the original mono audio mix, a new featurette with Curtis titled "The Night She Came Home", an "On-Location" featurette, the trailer, television and radio spots and the additional scenes from the extended television version. The 35th-anniversary release earned a Saturn Award for Best Classic Film Release.[42]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Although Halloween performed well with little advertising—relying mostly on word-of-mouth—many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in The New Yorker suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and claiming that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness—when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic)—it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do."[43] The first glowing review by a prominent film critic came from Tom Allen of The Village Voice in November 1978. Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant but ceded that the Hitchcock-like technique was effective and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to Psycho and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).[33][44] The following month, Voice lead critic Andrew Sarris wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of Halloween and saying in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes".[45] Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times[46] and selected it as one of his top ten films of 1978.[47] Once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music, and surprised by the lack of blood and graphic violence.[30] On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films."[48]
Many compared the film with the work of Alfred Hitchcock, although TV Guide calls comparisons made to Psycho "silly and groundless"[49] and critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s blame the film for spawning the slasher subgenre, which they felt had rapidly descended into sadism and misogyny.[50] 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."[7]
Years after its debut, Halloween enjoys a reputation as a classic[48] and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978.[47][51][52][53][54]
Themes and analysis[edit]
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."[50] Critics such as John Kenneth Muir state that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.[55]
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 and severely wounds him. Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly at near point blank range with a large caliber handgun, cannot kill him.[56]
Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael's face was temporarily revealed are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful.[57] Critics, such as Pat Gill, see Halloween as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, "No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them."[58]
Another major theme found in the film is the dangers of pre-marital sex. Clover believes that killers in slasher films are fueled by a "psychosexual fury"[59] and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that "guns have no place in slasher films" and when examining the film I Spit on Your Grave she notes that "a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not."[60] Equating sex with violence is important in Halloween and the slasher genre according to Pat Gill, who made a note of this in her essay "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family". She remarks that Laurie's friends "think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him."[58]
The danger of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the movie and the slasher genre itself, Pat Gill states that slasher films "seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city".[61] Halloween and slasher films, generally, are supposed to represent the underside of suburbia. Michael Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment.[61]
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."[9][10]
Awards[edit]
Halloween was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 1979, but lost to The Wicker Man (1973).[62] In 2001, Halloween ranked #68 on the American Film Institute TV program 100 Years...100 Thrills.[63] The film was #14 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments (2004).[64] Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 3rd scariest film ever made.[65] In 2006, Halloween was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[66] In 2007, the AOL 31 Days of Horror countdown named Halloween the greatest horror movie.[67] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[68] In 2010, Total Film selected the film as one of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[69]
American Film Institute lists
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #68
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Michael Myers – Nominated Villain
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
Influence[edit]
Halloween is a widely influential film within the horror genre; it was largely responsible for the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s. Halloween popularized many tropes that have become completely synonymous with the slasher genre. Halloween helped to popularize the final girl trope, the killing off of characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, and the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that Halloween is responsible for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980s.[70][71] Due to its popularity, Halloween became a blueprint for success that many other horror films, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, would follow, and that others like Scream would satirise.[citation needed]
The major themes present in Halloween would also become common in the slasher films it inspired. Film scholar Pat Gill notes that in Halloween, there is a theme of absentee parents[58] but films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th feature the parents becoming directly responsible for the creation of the killer.[72]
There are slasher films that predated Halloween, such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas which contained prominent elements of the slasher genre; both involving a group of teenagers being murdered by a stranger as well having the final girl trope. Halloween, however, is seen by historians as being responsible for the new wave of horror films because it not only used these tropes but also pioneered many others.[70][71]
A mass market paperback novelization of the same name, written by Curtis Richards (a pseudonym that was used by author Richard Curtis), was published by Bantam Books in 1979. It was reissued in 1982; it later went out of print. The novelization adds aspects not featured in the film, such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers' life in Smith's Grove Sanatorium, which contradict its source material. For example, the novel's version of Michael speaks during his time at the sanitarium;[73] in the film, Dr. Loomis states, "He hasn't spoken a word in fifteen years." In 1983, Halloween was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. 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 in Atari 2600 games. In another effort to save money, most versions of the game did not even have a label on the cartridge. It was simply a piece of tape with "Halloween" written in marker. 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 as she runs around exaggeratedly. The game's primary similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears onscreen.[74][75]
Sequels and remake[edit]
Main article: Halloween (franchise)
Halloween spawned seven sequels, a 2007 remake directed by Rob Zombie, and a 2009 sequel to the remake, which is unrelated to the sequel of the original.[76] Of these films, only the first sequel was written by Carpenter and Hill. It begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Halloween II was a box office success, becoming the second-highest grossing horror film of 1981 behind An American Werewolf in London. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the Halloween series, although he did produce Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series due to the absence of Michael Myers.[77] He, along with Alan Howarth, also composed the music for the second and third films. After the negative critical and commercial reception for Season of the Witch, the filmmakers brought back Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), which was successful enough to warrant its own direct sequel with Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), as well as Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995).[citation needed]
The sequels feature more explicit violence and blood and are generally dismissed by mainstream film critics, excluding Halloween II (1981) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), which did receive better reviews than most of the other sequels in the franchise, yet still paled in comparison to the original film. They were filmed on larger budgets than the original: in contrast to Halloween's modest budget of $300,000, Halloween II's budget was around $2.5 million,[78] while the final sequel to the original, Halloween: Resurrection (2002), boasted a budget of $15 million.[79] Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.[80]
With the exception of Halloween III, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. Even without considering the third film, the Halloween series contains continuity issues, which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film.[81] The 10 Halloween films, including the 2007 remake and its sequel, have had eight directors. Only Rick Rosenthal and Rob Zombie directed more than one: Rosenthal directed the first sequel as well as Halloween: Resurrection, while Zombie directed the remake of the original film and its sequel.[citation needed]
On February 9, 2017, Carpenter announced that the new Halloween film would be released on October 19, 2018, and is going to be written by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride and will be directed by Green.[82] It will be a direct sequel to the original film and will ignore all the sequels.[83][84][85] In September 2017, Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed that she would reprise her role as Laurie Strode.[86] In October, Judy Greer entered negotiations to play Laurie's daughter Karen Strode.[87] The film will be distributed by Universal Pictures, their first involvement in the franchise since distributing 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch. On October 17, 2017, Carpenter announced that he would be returning to score the upcoming film, saying "I’ll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I’ll have to see the movie to see what it requires."[88]
See also[edit]
Film portal
Horror portal
1970s portal
List of Halloween characters
Coulrophobia
Evil clowns
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "HALLOWEEN". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Halloween (1978)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Halloween - Box Office Data, DVD and Blu-ray Sales, Movie News, Cast and Crew Information". The Numbers. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Debra Hill, 54, Film Producer Who Helped Create 'Halloween,' Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 8, 2005. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
Jump up ^ Miska, Brad (October 23, 2015). "John Carpenter On Why You Should See 'Halloween' in Theaters (Video)". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Films Selected to The National Film Registry, 1989-2010". National Film Registry. Library of Congress. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b Mick Martin and Marsha Porter (1986). Video Movie Guide 1987. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 60. ISBN 0-345-33872-3.
Jump up ^ Tony Williams, "Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror", in Barry K. Grant, ed., The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), pp. 164 – 165, ISBN 0-292-72794-1.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h John Carpenter, Debra Hill, Nick Castle, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Tommy Lee Wallace (2003). A Cut Above the Rest (Halloween: 25th Anniversary Edition DVD Special Features) (DVD (Region 2)). United States: Anchor Bay.
^ Jump up to: a b Carpenter, quoted in Alan Jones, The Rough Guide to Horror Movies (New York: Rough Guides, 2005), p. 102, ISBN 1-84353-521-1.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Behind the Scenes at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Irwin Yablans, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Carpenter, Entertainment Weekly interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Moustapha Akkad, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Hill, Fangoria interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ "Halloween Filming Locations". Seeing-stars.com. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
Jump up ^ "Synapse Finds Complete Halloween Negatives," August 29, 2006, at Fangoria; last accessed September 3, 2006. Archived February 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ "Holy Grail of Halloween Footage Found" at Dread Central; last accessed on September 3, 2006.
Jump up ^ Pleasence casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Nancy Loomis casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ P. J. Soles casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006
Jump up ^ Nick Castle casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 111, ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
Jump up ^ Roger Ebert, review of Halloween, Chicago Sun-Times, October 31, 1979, at RogerEbert.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ J.P. Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye: The Reflexive Nature of Horror," in Gregory Waller, ed., American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 116, ISBN 0-252-01448-0.
Jump up ^ Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye," pp. 116 – 117.
Jump up ^ Rogers, Halloween, p. 111.
Jump up ^ David Scott Diffrient, "A Film is Being Beaten: Notes on the Shock Cut and the Material Violence of Horror," in Steffen Hantke, Horror Film: Creating and Marketing Fear (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), p. 61, ISBN 1-57806-692-1.
Jump up ^ Curtis interview, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b Berardinelli, James. "review of Halloween". ReelViews.com. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
Jump up ^ Dan Wyman's faculty website at Dr. Daniel Wyman—San José State University; last accessed September 23, 2010.
Jump up ^ Halloween Soundtrack information from HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b c Allen, Tom, "The Sleeper That's Here to Stay", The Village Voice, November 6, 1978, pp. 67, 70. While the review gives no New York City premiere date or specific theater, a display advertisement on page 72 reads: "Held over! 2nd week of horror! At a Flagship Theatre near you". Per the movie listings on pages 82, 84 and 85, respectively, it played at four since-defunct theaters: the Essex, located at 375 Grand Street in Chinatown, per Cinema Treasures: Essex Theatre; the RKO 86th Street Twin, on East 86th Street near Lexington Avenue; the Rivoli, located at 1620 Broadway, in the Times Square area, per Cinema Treasures: Rivoli Theatre; and the Times Square Theater, located at 217 West 42nd Street, per Treasures:Times Square Theater
^ Jump up to: a b Distribution at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Anderson, George. "Low-Budget 'Halloween' on Thanksgiving: More in the Way of a Trick Than a Treat", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 23, 1978. "Opening yesterday at the Gateway, Downtown, the Cinemette East in Monroeville and the Showcase West in Robinson Township...."
Jump up ^ "Here's the Poster for Halloween Re-Release". Shock Till You Drop. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
Jump up ^ "John Carpenter's Halloween Returning to Theaters This Fall". Shock Till You Drop. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
Jump up ^ "Halloween (1978) -> Releases". Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
Jump up ^ Naugle, Patrick (August 24, 2001). "Halloween: Extended Version". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 2004-02-18. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
Jump up ^ Barton, Steve (June 6, 2013). "Anchor Bay working on Halloween 35th anniversary Blu-ray; Carpenter and Curtis record new commentary". Dread Central. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
Jump up ^ Serafini, Matt (June 11, 2013). "Dean Cundey will supervise Halloween 35th anniversary Blu-ray". Dread Central. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
Jump up ^ The 40th Saturn Awards Winners Archived February 29, 2012, at WebCite
Jump up ^ Pauline Kael, review of Halloween, The New Yorker, 1978, at TheManWiththeHypnoticEye.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Allen, Tom. "Halloween" (November 1978 review), reprinted at Criterion.com, "The Criterion Collection, Online Cinematheque"
Jump up ^ Sarris, Andrew. "Those Wild and Crazy Cult Movies", The Village Voice, December 18, 1978.
Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (October 31, 1979). "Halloween Movie Review & Film Summary (1979)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b "Roger Ebert's 10 Best Lists: 1967–present". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2005. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Halloween at Rotten Tomatoes; last accessed October 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ Halloween (review), TVGuide.com Movie Database; last accessed May 19, 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b Rogers, Halloween, pp. 117 – 118.
Jump up ^ "Gene Siskel's 10 Best Lists: 1969–1998". Caltech.edu. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
Jump up ^ "The Greatest Films of 1978". AMC Filmsite.org. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
Jump up ^ "The 10 Best Movies of 1978". Film.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
Jump up ^ "The Best Movies of 1978 by Rank". Films101.com. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
Jump up ^ John Kenneth Muir, Wes Craven: The Art of Horror (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1998), p. 104, ISBN 0-7864-1923-7.
Jump up ^ Carol J. Clover, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 189, ISBN 0-691-00620-2.
Jump up ^ Aviva Briefel, "Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film", Film Quarterly, 58:3, (Spring 2005), 17-18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2005.58.3.16.
^ Jump up to: a b c Pat Gill, "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family", Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 22. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391.
Jump up ^ Carol Clover, "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film", Representations 20, (Autumn, 1987), 194. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507.
Jump up ^ Carol Clover, "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film", Representations 20, (Autumn, 1987), 198. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507.
^ Jump up to: a b Pat Gill, "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family", Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 16. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391.
Jump up ^ Saturn Award Nominees and Winners, 1979 at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills" (PDF). afi.com. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Chicago Critics' Scariest Films". AltFilmGuide.com. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Halloween Added to the National Film Registry". Horror Movies, CA. Archived from the original on April 5, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Jump up ^ 31 Days of Horror Countdown; accessed February 23, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
Jump up ^ Total Film. "Film features: 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time". TotalFilm.com. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Carol Clover, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princetom: Princeton University Press, 1993), 24.
^ Jump up to: a b Ian Conrich, "Killing Time and Time Again: The Popular Appeal of Carpenters Horror’s and the Impact of the Thing and Halloween", in The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror, ed. Ian Conrich, and David Woods (Wallflower Press, 2005), 92.
Jump up ^ Pat Gill, Journal of Film and Video, 54:4, (Winter 2002), 26. "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family".
Jump up ^ Curtis Richards, Halloween (Bantam Books, 1979), ISBN 0-553-13226-1; 1982 reissue ISBN 0-553-26296-3.
Jump up ^ Review of Halloween video game at X-Entertainment.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Gregory D. George, "History of Horror: A Primer of Horror Games for Your Atari" at The Atari Times; last accessed April 19, 2006. Archived April 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed May 19, 2008.
Jump up ^ Behind the Scenes of Halloween III: Season of the Witch at HalloweenMovies.com Archived September 6, 2012, at Archive.is; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Business statistics for Halloween II at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Business statistics for Halloween: Resurrection at Internet Movie Database; last accessed April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ "Moustapha Akkad (obituary)". The Daily Telegraph (London). November 12, 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ "Rob Zombie interview". HalloweenMovies.com. June 16, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2006.
Jump up ^ Hipes, Patrick (2017-02-09). "Halloween & Down? David Gordon Green To Direct New Franchise Take, Pen Script With Danny McBride". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
Jump up ^ Daw, Robbie (2017-10-09). "Q&A: John Carpenter Talks New Album Anthology & The Upcoming Halloween Sequel". Stereogum. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
Jump up ^ Daw, Robbie (2017-10-09). "Q&A: John Carpenter Talks New Album Anthology & The Upcoming Halloween Sequel". Stereogum. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
Jump up ^ Bierly, Mandi (2017-11-13). "Danny McBride on 'Halloween': 'I just hope that we don't f*** it up and piss people off'". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2017-11-14. McBride is keeping mum on plot details, however, other than to confirm what’s already out there. “We’re kind of ignoring all the films past the first one,” he says. “It picks up after the first one, but it’s sort of an alternate reality. It’s as if the first Halloween ended in a slightly different way.”
Jump up ^ Curtis, Jamie Lee [@jamieleecurtis] (September 15, 2017). ""Same porch. Same clothes. Same issues. 40 years later. Headed back to Haddonfield one last time for Halloween. Release date 10/19/18."" (Tweet). Retrieved September 15, 2017 – via Twitter.
Jump up ^ N'Duka, Amanda (October 2, 2017). "Judy Greer Joins Halloween Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
Jump up ^ "John Carpenter Discusses Movie Themes Anthology, Directorial Career & Overcoming Stage Fright". Billboard. 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
Bibliography
Badley, Linda (1995). Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic. Westport, Connecticut, United States: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-27523-8.
Baird, Robert (Spring 2000). "The Startle Effect: Implications for Spectator Cognition and Media Theory". Film Quarterly. 3 (53): 12–24.
Noël, Carroll (Autumn 1987). "The Nature of Horror". Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 1 (46): 51–59.
Cumbow, Robert C. (2000). Order in the Universe: The Films of John Carpenter (2nd ed.). Scarcrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3719-6.
Johnson, Kenneth. "The Point of View of the Wandering Camera". Cinema Journal. 2 (32, Winter 1993): 49–56.
King, Stephen (1981). Danse Macabre. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-10433-8.
Prince, Stephen (2004). The Horror Film. New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3363-5.
Schneider, Steven Jay (2004). Horror Film and Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst Nightmare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82521-0.
Williams, Tony (1996). Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film. Rutherford, New Jersey, United States: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 0-8386-3564-4.
Clover, Carol (1993). Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Conrich, Ian (2005). "Killing Time and Time Again: The Popular Appeal of Carpenters Horror's and the Impact of the Thing and Halloween". In Conrich, Ian; Woods, David. The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror. Wallflower Press. pp. 91–106.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Halloween
Official website of the Halloween series
Halloween on IMDb
Halloween at Rotten Tomatoes
[show]
v
t
e
Halloween
Films
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween: Resurrection
Halloween (2007)
Halloween II (2009)
Characters
Michael Myers
Laurie Strode
Samuel Loomis
Jamie Lloyd
Annie Brackett
[show]
v
t
e
John Carpenter
Filmography
Directed
Captain Voyeur (1969, short)
Dark Star (1974)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Halloween (1978)
Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
Elvis (1979)
The Fog (1980)
Escape from New York (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Christine (1983)
Starman (1984)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
They Live (1988)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Body Bags (1993)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Village of the Damned (1995)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Vampires (1998)
Ghosts of Mars (2001)
John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (TV, 2005)
Pro-Life (TV, 2006)
The Ward (2010)
Written and produced
Halloween II (1981)
Written only
The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970, short)
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
Black Moon Rising (1986)
Produced only
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)
Discography
Studio albums
Lost Themes (2015)
Lost Themes II (2016)
Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 (2017)
Remix albums
Lost Themes Remixed (2015)
EPs
Classic Themes Redux EP (2016)
Scores and soundtracks
Halloween (1979)
Dark Star (1980)
Escape from New York (1981)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
The Fog (1984)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
They Live (1988)
Christine (1989)
Body Bags (1993)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Village of the Damned (1995)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Vampires (1998)
Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2003)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 183290594
LCCN: no98046857
GND: 7671785-9
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halloween_(1978_film)&oldid=816186254"
Categories:
1978 films
English-language films
Halloween (film series)
1978 horror films
1970s serial killer films
American films
American teen horror films
American teen films
Films directed by John Carpenter
Screenplays by John Carpenter
Films set in 1963
Films set in 1978
Films set in Illinois
Films shot in California
Films shot in Los Angeles
American independent films
American serial killer films
American slasher films
United States National Film Registry films
Films scored by John Carpenter
Sororicide in fiction
Hidden categories:
Webarchive template wayback links
Webarchive template webcite links
Webarchive template archiveis links
Use mdy dates from October 2011
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017
Articles needing additional references from November 2016
All articles needing additional references
Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014
Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikiquote
Languages
العربية
Azərbaycanca
Беларуская
Български
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Emiliàn e rumagnòl
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Íslenska
Italiano
Latviešu
Magyar
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Simple English
Slovenčina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 19 December 2017, at 20:44.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

values:
/wiki/Halloween_(disambiguation)
mw-disambig
Halloween (disambiguation)

attrs: role class

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: colspan class style

attrs: scope style

values:
/wiki/Nancy_Loomis
mw-redirect
Nancy Loomis

values:
/wiki/Child_psychiatrist
mw-redirect
Child psychiatrist

values:
/wiki/Lynda_Van_Der_Klok
mw-redirect
Lynda Van Der Klok

values:
/wiki/Lindsey_Wallace
mw-redirect
Lindsey Wallace

values:
/wiki/Judith_Myers
mw-redirect
Judith Myers

values: div-col columns column-count column-count-2

values: -moz-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;

values:
/wiki/Fangoria_(magazine)
mw-redirect
Fangoria (magazine)

values: List of characters in the Halloween film series

values: float: left; clear: left; margin: 0.5em 1.4em 0.8em 0; width:40%; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #aaa; font-size: 88%; background-color: #F9F9F9;

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2017)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values:
/wiki/Meter_(music)
mw-redirect
Meter (music)

values:
/wiki/San_Jos%C3%A9_State_University
mw-redirect
San José State University

values: Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove

values:
/wiki/Standards_and_Practices
mw-redirect
Standards and Practices

values:
/wiki/Silk_blouse
mw-redirect
Silk blouse

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2014)

values: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

values: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

values:
/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc
mw-redirect
Blu-ray Disc

values:
/wiki/Blockbuster_Video
mw-redirect
Blockbuster Video

values:
/wiki/Video_Treasures
mw-redirect
Video Treasures

values:
/wiki/The_Wicker_Man_(1973_film)
mw-redirect
The Wicker Man (1973 film)

values:
/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years..._100_Thrills
mw-redirect
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills

values:
/wiki/Bravo_(US_TV_channel)
mw-redirect
Bravo (US TV channel)

values:
/wiki/Mass_market_paperback
mw-redirect
Mass market paperback

values:
/wiki/Halloween_(novel)
mw-redirect
Halloween (novel)

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html

values: International Standard Book Number (identifier)

values:
/wiki/Starz_Home_Entertainment
mw-redirect
Starz Home Entertainment

values:
nofollow
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/555/
external text

values:
/wiki/Shock_Till_You_Drop
mw-redirect
Shock Till You Drop

values:
/wiki/Criterion_Collection
mw-redirect
Criterion Collection

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.filmsite.org/1978.html

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.films101.com/y1978r.htm

values:
nofollow
external free
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391

values:
nofollow
external free
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.empireonline.com/500/8.asp

values:
/wiki/Empire_(magazine)
mw-redirect
Empire (magazine)

values:
nofollow
external text
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
/wiki/Greenwood_Press
mw-redirect
Greenwood Press

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.halloweenmovies.com

values:
nofollow
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/
external text

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (soundtrack)

values: Big Trouble in Little China (soundtrack)

values:
nofollow
external text
https://viaf.org/viaf/183290594

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/7671785-9

values: Category:Films directed by John Carpenter

values: Category:United States National Film Registry films

values: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

values: Category:Webarchive template webcite links

values: Category:Webarchive template archiveis links

values: Category:Use mdy dates from October 2011

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017

values: Category:Articles needing additional references from November 2016

values: Category:All articles needing additional references

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values:
/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-az badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle

values: Хелоуин (филм) – Bulgarian

values: Halloween – Die Nacht des Grauens – German

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: Η Νύχτα με τις Μάσκες – Greek

values: Halloween, la notte delle streghe – Emiliano-Romagnolo

values: هالووین (فیلم ۱۹۷۸) – Persian

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-fr badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle

values:
https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
Halloween – Icelandic
is
is
interlanguage-link-target

values: Halloween - La notte delle streghe – Italian

values: Halloween – A rémület éjszakája – Hungarian

values: Хэллоуин (фильм) – Russian

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-ru badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: Ноћ вештица (филм из 1978) – Serbian

values: Геловін (фільм) – Ukrainian

values: 月光光心慌慌 – Chinese

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Halloween_1978_film rootpage-Halloween_1978_film skin-vector action-view