John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) | Presenting Hitchcock Podcast

Gooooood evening. In this month’s episode of Presenting Hitchcock, Cory and Aaron often find the master inverted as they discuss John Carpenter’s Halloween.

Written by: John Carpenter and Debra Hill

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews, John Michael Graham, and Nancy Stephens

Directed by: John Carpenter

Trailer:

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Hitchcock comparisons:

• Psycho
• The Birds
• Frenzy
• Stage Fright

The original script, titled “The Babysitter Murders,” had the events take place over the space of several days. It was a budgetary decision to change the script to have everything happen on the same day to reduce the number of costume changes and locations required, and it was decided that Halloween was the perfect night for this to happen.

The wealthy film producer Moustapha Akkad had admittedly little interest in this film and helped make it primarily due to the enthusiasm of John Carpenter and Irwin Yablans. However, when the film turned out to be a huge box-office smash, Akkad saw an opportunity and facilitated every ‘Halloween’ sequel, until his death in 2005.

Dr. Sam Loomis is Michael Myers’ psychiatrist. Sam Loomis is also the name of Marion Crane’s secret lover in Psycho (1960). Marion Crane was played by Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother, Janet Leigh, and Annie is played by Nancy Loomis. The name Loomis was also used in Scream (1996). In addition to Psycho being a major influence, the name “Marion” also makes an appearance in the movie as that of the nurse played by Nancy Stephens. Like Marion Crane and Sam Loomis, Marion Chambers is closely connected to Dr. Sam Loomis.

John Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. During the same period, Universal studio producers and director Richard Franklin were trying to enroll Jamie Lee in the new production of Psycho II (1983). After her first day of shooting, she convinced herself she was terrible and would be fired. Instead, Carpenter called to congratulate her and tell her he was very happy with the way things had gone.

Laurie’s father is played by Peter Griffith. He is also the father of actress Melanie Griffith, and the ex-husband of another Hitchcock veteran, Tippi Hedren. 

The scene where The Shape seems to appear out of the darkness behind Laurie was accomplished by using a simple dimmer switch on the light that slowly illuminated the mask. Director of photography Dean Cundey likened it to eyes getting adjusted to the dark. 

Half of the $300,000 budget was spent on the Panavision cameras so the film would have a 2.35:1 scope. The opening POV sequence was shot over 2 nights using the newly created panaglide system. Jamie Lee Curtis was paid a reported $8,000 for her efforts, and Donald Pleasence was paid $25,000 for five days’ work. 

John Carpenter approached Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the role of Dr. Sam Loomis, but both turned him down due to the low pay. Donald Pleasence told Carpenter that he only accepted the part because he had to pay alimony, and his daughter thought the music he did for Assault on Precinct 13 was cool, he also asked the director a lot of difficult questions. Carpenter later discovered that Pleasence was only testing how passionate he was for the project and they became good friends, with Carpenter casting him again in several other films.

John Carpenter’s intent with the character of Michael Myers was that the audience should never be able to relate to him. His direction for Nick Castle in his role as The Shape was minimal. 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.

Because of the film’s tight budget, production designer Tommy Lee Wallace had to use whatever he had at his disposal, or had to buy materials cheaply. When he created the Michael Myers mask, he made two versions. The first was a Don Post Emmett Kelly smiling clown mask onto which they put frizzy red hair. They tested it out and it appeared very demented and creepy. The other mask was a Captain Kirk mask that was purchased in a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard for $1.98. It had the eyebrows and sideburns ripped off, the face was painted bluish white, the hair was spray painted brown, and the eyes were opened up more. After testing out the mask, the crew decided that it was much more creepy because it was emotionless.

John Carpenter and Debra Hill have stated many times over the years that they did not consciously set out to depict virginity as a way of defeating a rampaging killer. The reason why the horny teens all die is simply that they are so preoccupied with getting laid that they don’t notice that there is a killer at large. On the other hand, Laurie Strode spends a lot of time on her own and is therefore more alert.

John Carpenter showed Halloween to an executive before it was finished, without the music. The executive didn’t find it to be scary at all. However, after the film was released, she watched it again and changed her mind, an indication of how much Carpenter’s score adds to the film’s atmosphere. Producer Irwin Yablans confirmed this, stating that while watching the movie in the theater, audience members would regularly block their ears with their hands because the sound and music were so scary. John Carpenter composed the score in only four days.

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Next up, we’ll be discussing Psycho III

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