By Steven Michaels
The HALLOWEEN movies have for twenty years now been part of the American culture. Almost everyone in the country and in most parts of the world has heard about or seen at least one of the movies. It was one of the first of its kind in the "special day" slasher genre. Although the idea of a masked maniac escaped from a mental asylum who goes around his former hometown to repeat the murder he committed years ago seems unoriginal nowadays, it was an interesting idea back then, and it spawned a load of imitations, and of course, sequels. Presented here is the chronicling of the history of these films, from the beginning to the present day and the projected future. Depicted in this chronicle is the origins of the series, the troubles it went through, how it became what it is today, and many other interesting facts.
This is a slightly updated version of the original text from the old website. I have tied up the loose ends about the seventh and eighth installments, though you will find much more detail about those films leading up to the last two entries.
Sometime before 1978, a man in Hollywood named Irwin Yablans got a hit idea for a new movie. This rather original and previously unthought of plotline had a masked man with a knife who had escaped from a mental asylum going after babysitters on one fateful night. The idea was thrown back and forth for a while, and eventually was picked up by producer Moustapha Akkad, and a man named John Carpenter later came into the picture. Carpenter and his associate Debra Hill got to work on a screenplay based on Yablans' idea. Carpenter took it a step further and had the murders taking place on Halloween night. The story was that Michael Myers had killed his older sister on Halloween night in 1963 for no apparent reason. He was locked up in Smith's Grove Sanitarium until he broke out fifteen years later and went after three young women and any others who got in his way, killing them with a butcher knife and wearing a white mask. For some reason, the producers had not yet thought of the idea of wearing a hockey mask and killing people, so a William Shatner mask based on Star Trek was touched up and painted white. The eerie soundtrack was performed by the creator, John Carpenter, and has become a spooky horror theme that almost everyone knows.
Now it was complete: a killer wearing a mask of a face was stalking babysitters on Halloween night, 1978, opposed by his former psychiatrist who had now become his nemesis, portrayed memorably by the brilliant British actor Donald Pleasence. Jamie Lee Curtis made her feature film debut as the star babysitter in this horror film distributed by a small independent company called Compass International, and released to critical acclaim in October, 1978. Not only did the critics love its clever execution of victims and the elements of suspense surrounding almost every scene, but the filmgoing audience loved the picture as well. Everyone was so intrigued by its setting of Halloween and murder and suspense surrounding this setting that "HALLOWEEN" became the most successful independent horror film ever made, considering a modest budget of less than $320,000. The film was so successful that it was re-released to theaters every following year until the release of its sequel in 1981.
Most of the original crew from the first Halloween film returned to aid in the production of the sequel to that smash hit. Moustapha Akkad again hired John Carpenter and Debra Hill to pen the sequel to the script they had written for one of the hit movies of 1978 and the years following. This sequel, unlike others, picked up right where the original left off. It also added more twists and story elements to the saga. The script explained that Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee Curtis' character, was actually Michael's sister. She had been adopted by the Strodes following the death of the Myers parents. John Carpenter was again the main musician on the soundtrack, in association with Alan Howarth.
Although the story and surviving main characters were still basically the same, this sequel was partly influenced by the new horror flicks that had started in the 1980s. Most of these included scenes of gore and graphic death makeup effects. So, some of these elements were added to HALLOWEEN II, differentiating from the very minute volume of blood glimpsed in the original. Because of the huge success of the original, the franchise was now picked up by Universal Pictures. Irwin Yablans returned as Executive Producer, along with Joseph Wolf. This time, however, Carpenter would not direct. He would only get the title of producer and writer, along with Debra Hill, while the experienced Rick Rosenthal took the helm to direct a sequel that, in the end, was true to and worthy of the original, in this author's eyes, despite the critical acceptance that did not match up to the overwhelming that of the original. The story was meant basically to close the cliffhanger ending left by the original, and it eventually killed off all major characters in the story except for Laurie Strode. Michael Myers and his psychiatrist/nemesis were dead, both killed in the same explosion. The terror was over. Or was it?
Following the release of HALLOWEEN II, which fared well at the box office but not too well with critics, new ideas began to circulate around Universal for a HALLOWEEN III. However, the plot and climax of the previous movie left little room for story expansion. The solution the producers came up with was to start a whole new storyline. John Carpenter's idea was now to release a different Halloween-themed movie each year, without Michael Myers or any of the characters or story elements from the previous movies. So, HALLOWEEN III was penned. John Carpenter again oversaw in the position of producer while Tommy Lee Wallace, who worked on production design on the first two films, directed Tom Atkins, who had starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis in Carpenter's 1980 effort THE FOG, and Stacey Nelkin, along with Don O' Herlihy, who went on to play the CEO of OCP in ROBOCOP and ROBOCOP 2. John Carpenter again wrote and performed the score for this science-fiction/horror entry in the series, along with Alan Howarth. The story here was that a mad mask manufacturer in a small town who owned the company Silver Shamrocks was cooking up an evil scheme to kill children on Halloween. Somehow, whenever someone wearing the masks saw the Silver Shamrocks commercial on Halloween night, they were hypnotized by it and eventually were gruesomely killed by the masks. Tom Atkins, who plays the hero of the story, tries to stop the commercials from airing before it's too late, but one is still on the air as hundreds of kids sit around their TVs watching...
And the movie ends. Carpenter had again left his audience on a cliffhanger ending with what was supposed to be a "classic" HALLOWEEN film. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, was released to theaters in October of 1983. The audience was left wondering where Michael Myers was, and for that matter what happened to all the original characters and storylines. The fact that the TV spot for the original HALLOWEEN was shown on a TV in a bar in part III added to the confusion. Ultimately, HALLOWEEN III was a bomb and was viewed as a mistake by Universal, who opted not to renew the franchise for another installment. It was at this time that John Carpenter left the sequels and has never had anything to do with the production of any HALLOWEEN movie after that.
For five years, moviegoers everywhere were left without a new Halloween movie at the theaters. Of course all the previous entries aired on television at that time of the year, but the story was not yet complete. In 1988, things began to pick back up. Moustapha Akkad returned as executive producer, along with producer Paul Freeman, to cater to the fans and the audience once more. A story was devised at this point by three men by the names of Dhani Lipsius, Larry Rattner, and Benjamin Ruffner, that had Michael Myers returning from a coma ten years after his original rampage of murder in the first two films. His long-time nemesis, Doctor Samuel Loomis, was also found to be alive, surviving an explosion he caused in the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital that supposedly had killed him and Myers. The killer was returning to Haddonfield to kill his niece, Jamie Lloyd, after Laurie Strode and her husband had died in a car crash. Alan B. McElroy, an enthusiastic fan of the first two movies, was brought in to touch up the story and eventually pen the screenplay that would ultimately be produced as HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS.This time however, the movie did not have a major picture distributor such as Universal to aid them in the well-faring of this film intended to revive the series that had supposedly died with HALLOWEEN III Trancas International Films, the main force behind which was Moustapha Akkad, won the legal rights to the HALLOWEEN franchise as the production company. The film was released to theaters as a Galaxy Release, directed by Dwight H. Little, who went on to direct several successful films such as 1996's MURDER AT 1600. Donald Pleasence returned as Dr. Loomis, who was after Michael Myers again, who was played this time by George P. Wilbur.
Although the new Halloween movie was a hit at theatres and received improved critical reviews over the past two films, John Carpenter had opted not to be associated with the film at all. He had his mind set that he did not want to have anything at all to do with any HALLOWEEN sequels from now on, forgoing the title "Based on Characters by John Carpenter". Despite his protests, the title "Halloween Theme by John Carpenter" does appear by itself in the main title sequence. Of course, this time, he really had nothing to do with the performace of the soundtrack, which was solely performed by Alan Howarth, who had assisted Carpenter on the soundtrack for the first three films.
Because HALLOWEEN 4 had done surprsingly well, as it had brought back popular characters Dr. Loomis and Michael Myers, work was almost immediately started on a fourth sequel to the original hit. Moustapha Akkad and his Trancas International Productions hired producer Ramsey Thomas to recruit Michael Jacobs to pen the script to the fourth sequel, from a story formulated by Jacobs, director Dominique Othenin-Gerard, and Shem Bitterman. It was to pick up one year after the last one, as the movie would be released on year after the last one. So, in Michael Jacobs' story, Jamie Lloyd (again played by Danielle Harris) was now in a childrens' hospital in Haddonfield, and because of her ordeal in the fourth film, she could no longer speak. Meanwhile, Michael Myers had apparently survived a task force shootout and lived with a hermit for a year, until he killed the hermit and went on his way, again after his niece, who was apparently his last living relative. This time, however, Jamie had a telepathic link with her uncle, and knew where he was all the time. Dr. Loomis tries in this story to use her psychic abilities to stop Michael from killing again. Time after time, he fails, as most of the teenage cast is killed off. In the end, Loomis for some reason uses the girl to lure Michael to his house, where he traps him in chains and has a stroke. At the police station, a mysterious "man in black" (referred to in the scripts as "The Stranger") breaks in and shoots everyone with a machine gun while Jamie waits outside. When she goes in, Michael is no longer in his cell...
HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS was again distributed by Galaxy Pictures and hit theaters in October of 1989. But audiences were again disappointed. The story power did not match that of the original and its sequel, and did not seem like a worthy successor to THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS. The film had made several mistakes and had several flaws. These mistakes and flaws are practically innumerable, as the fifth entry in the series was definitely not the most powerful. One of the many mistakes was killing off Ellie Cornell's character, Rachel, early into the film, even though she had survived all of the carnage-ridden "Return" in 1988. Another mistake was all the stupid and unlikable characters, such as the two dumb cops who instigate stupid clown theme music and are eventually (and thankfully) killed off by Michael; and the assortment of teenagers that had to have been set up to diminish the definition of this movie to another "teen slasher flick", who add to the stupidity of this film. Another flaw is that the Myers House is now a totally different castle-type, 18th century dwelling place that looks nothing like the house in the original. The movie also sets up the story for a Part 6 without knowing quite what it is doing, with a mysterious "Stranger" in a black trench coat and wing tip shoes walking around throughout the whole film and eventually rescuing Michael from the police station. He and Michael both have a branding on their wrists of a mysterious symbol of "Thorn"...
Moustapha Akkad and Trancas International planned to carry on their recently instated year-after-year marathon of new Halloween sequels with a sixth entry in 1990. However, mysterious legal battles and problems prevented them from doing so. As a result, Halloween fans waited for five long years once again (as they had before from 1983 to 1988), but this time were not as satisfied with what was released.
The rights to the series were acquired in 1994 by Miramax Films, which had recently been bought by Buena Vista Pictures Distrivution. Miramax planned to finance and release a sixth entry under their "Dimension Films" subsidiary that was dedicated to movies of horror and the paranormal. It had been started in the late 1980s and released normally straight-to-video flicks such as "Godzilla Vs. Bollianite" and other cheesy films. Moustapha Akkad again returned. Several scripts were screened until Daniel Farrands was finally hired as the writer of the script they wanted to use. This diehard fan of the series had written several drafts of the script, but his original storyline and action did not fit the set Miramax budget for the film, which was somewhat low. So, they opted for a more barebones script that explained the "Thorn" symbol of the last entry.
Daniel Farrands' HALLOWEEN 6: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS script dealt with "Thorn", which is, in reality, a Celtic rune used to forsee the future. The story explained the reason behind the murders. The constellation of Thorn was appearing in the sky every year he killed. Tommy Doyle, a young survivor of the first film, was now obsessed with tracking Michael Myers, whom he believed to be alive. He had somehow figured out that a Celtic cult was somehow controlling Myers and sending him out to kill in order to appease the god of Thorn. Donald Pleasence returned as Dr. Sam Loomis, which would ultimately be his final role. Danielle Harris was not hired to play Jamie, who was in the script but was eventually killed off, although she reportedly walked in to the casting sessions and demanded she play the role. J.C. Brandy, who is now on one of the STAR TREK shows, was eventually hired to play a much older-looking Jamie Lloyd. Joe Chapelle was hired to direct the film, Paul Freeman was hired as the returning producer from the fourth installment. Other characters included Kara Strode who was the cousin of the adopted Laurie and played by Marianne Hagan. Her son Danny was portrayed (somewhat badly) by Devin Gardner, a ten year old kid.
Filming was wrapped in January of 1995, and shortly thereafter Donald Pleasence sadly passed away, having completed his final film, an installment of his most famous role. He had originally liked the script that Daniel Farrands had written, and said in an ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT interview that it was "the best one since the first". However, during the course of the film's editing, Joe Chapelle decided to alter the film majorly. Trailers were assembled to play in theaters over the summer, and they featured scenes from the original cut that Paul Freeman had compiled. The release date was said to be October 13, 1995. But Joe Chapelle went in and changed the whole concept of the film. Almost the last thirty minutes of it were seriously altered to a state of confusion. The original ending sequence had Tommy Doyle stopping Michael in the Smith's Grove Sanitarium with the Celtic rune stones he had acquired. He, Kara, and Danny escaped the hospital, but left Dr. Loomis there. He went into the hospital and uncovered Michael, who was now Wynn. They had apparently switched clothes, and Michael was now the Man in Black. Wynn makes Loomis look at his wrist, and there he finds the Thorn symbol. He cries out, and Michael, now the Stranger, hears him. The film ends.
Joe Chapelle felt compelled to change all that. Now, Tommy beat Michael (supposedly to death) with a bid lead pipe. All around the hospital were syringes of strange green fluid and dead fetuses of some sort in aquariums in one room. (To this day, no one except for Joe Chapelle, not even credited writer Daniel Farrands, really knows what all this means.) Scenes from the alternate cut were intercutted to this new version where Donald Pleasence's character was needed, but Dimension had to bring back Marianne Hagan, Paul Rudd (Tommy Doyle), and Devin Gardner for days of tedious re-shoots, in which a whole assortment of doctors were butchered by someone who looked like Michael. The end had Myers surviving after Kara and Tommy had left, and Dr. Loomis' scream of horror from the alternate version. This messed-up incarnation of HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS was eventually released on September 29, 1995, from Dimension Films. All in all, the film had been ruined by three factors: Miramax, the director, and the producer, who had convoluted the original story that had explained the events of the last installment. A whole lot of other differences exist between the two versions. As a result, there are two versions existent: the theatrical cut, now on video from Dimension Home Video, and a "Producer's Cut", a bootleg tape available only from bootleggers and unofficial corporations. I, however, do not know currently or exactly where a copy of the "Producer's Cut" can be bought.
HALLOWEEN IN THE 21ST CENTURY (1998- ?)
Fans had again been disappointed by the confusing sixth entry in the series. Disputes over what could have been better and how arose and have been lasting ever since its release. Daniel Farrands has spoken out and explained to many interviewers, including myself at 73 Miles to Haddonfield, that two-thirds of the story was not what he had written. By now every true Halloween fan knows the real horror story of "Halloween 6". But could it be redeemed by a seventh entry? Kevin Williamson, writer of the hit horror flick SCREAM and enjoyer of recent surprise success, wrote a 7-page treatment for a HALLOWEEN 7 as a favor to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the guys in charge of Miramax. Although this treatment attempted to explain away Parts 4, 5, and 6, and move on with the Jamie Lee Curtis character living under an assumed name, the screenplay eventually based on this treatment completely ignored the latter sequels. Strangely, Williamson didn't even get a "Story by" credit even though he provided the basic structure of the story, as one can see when they compare Williamson's treatment with the finished HALLOWEEN: H20 - 20 Years Later. That being one of the most ludicrous titles of all time, the film was almost as ludicrous, throwing the stars of Dawson's Creek and other teeny-boppers (plus, of course, a famous rapper) into a weak plot where they are stalked by a rookie stuntman wearing a poor imitation of a Myers mask and doing an overall poor imitation of the character.
However, since SCREAM had been all the rage, everybody seemed to love this film, and it "brought the franchise back". But if bringing the franchise back involves throwing a new rapper into the mix with every outing and the plots getting so ridiculous as the internet-broadcast story of HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, then I would rather see it stop. But it's too late. Too much damage has already been done and now the HALLOWEEN films have a life of their own. Frankly, there is no telling what is next for this franchise. But almost certainly it will not be attractive to true diehard fans of the original.