All language subtitles for Episode 01 Halloween
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1
00:00:11,510 --> 00:00:15,680
Trick or treat.
Halloween night, 1978.
2
00:00:16,474 --> 00:00:19,103
The world watched in horror…
3
00:00:19,811 --> 00:00:21,940
as this spine-chilling…
4
00:00:22,021 --> 00:00:23,902
…blood-splattering…
5
00:00:23,981 --> 00:00:25,902
"I don't want a lot of blood.
I don't want gore."
6
00:00:25,942 --> 00:00:28,242
Wait, there's no blood?
No blood.
7
00:00:28,318 --> 00:00:29,318
Okay.
8
00:00:29,821 --> 00:00:33,201
Well, the making
of this bloodless horror classic…
9
00:00:33,283 --> 00:00:35,292
You know, it's Halloween.
10
00:00:35,368 --> 00:00:37,948
…wasn't without blood, sweat, and tears.
11
00:00:38,037 --> 00:00:39,078
None of that's true.
12
00:00:39,164 --> 00:00:42,543
And was less horror
and more family comedy.
13
00:00:42,625 --> 00:00:44,994
Nancy was married to Tommy Wallace.
14
00:00:45,085 --> 00:00:46,665
That's my brother-in-law.
15
00:00:46,755 --> 00:00:49,375
Barely held together by enthusiasm…
16
00:00:49,466 --> 00:00:51,375
We were Scotch tape and chewing gum.
17
00:00:51,468 --> 00:00:52,637
…and inexperience.
18
00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:56,348
Our high school days were just
in our rearview mirror.
19
00:00:56,430 --> 00:00:58,481
However, these novice filmmakers…
20
00:00:58,557 --> 00:01:02,188
"We'll have this mask, put it on
and be the killer." I went, "Yeah, okay."
21
00:01:02,270 --> 00:01:04,519
…went on to reshape a genre.
22
00:01:04,605 --> 00:01:06,975
It's about stretching things out.
23
00:01:07,067 --> 00:01:09,027
And proved…
Theater of the mind.
24
00:01:09,109 --> 00:01:10,609
…that what you can't see…
25
00:01:10,694 --> 00:01:13,314
In the springtime,
it's very hard to find pumpkins.
26
00:01:13,406 --> 00:01:16,115
…is probably scarier than what you can.
27
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,831
You can see the wrench.
You can just see it.
28
00:01:18,912 --> 00:01:19,912
Totally.
29
00:01:20,537 --> 00:01:23,668
This is the story of how this young team
30
00:01:23,750 --> 00:01:27,960
executed one of the greatest
horror films of all time.
31
00:01:28,045 --> 00:01:30,466
It just started turning into this monster.
32
00:01:30,548 --> 00:01:33,337
Under the guidance
of a creative visionary…
33
00:01:33,426 --> 00:01:35,596
Direct, write, do the music, everything.
34
00:01:35,677 --> 00:01:38,307
…who was practically a crew unto himself.
35
00:01:38,389 --> 00:01:39,929
It's real unusual.
36
00:01:41,893 --> 00:01:44,983
When you haven't got any money,
it's... it's not unusual.
37
00:02:06,501 --> 00:02:10,170
These are The Movies That Made Us.
38
00:02:12,841 --> 00:02:15,431
Here's a pleasant neighborhood.
39
00:02:15,509 --> 00:02:19,930
Just any old street in America
where teenagers gossip…
40
00:02:20,014 --> 00:02:22,984
I hate a guy with a car
and no sense of humor.
41
00:02:23,058 --> 00:02:24,228
…kids are annoying…
42
00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:26,150
Can we make jack-o'-lanterns?
Sure.
43
00:02:26,228 --> 00:02:29,399
…and men in masks stand near laundry.
44
00:02:29,481 --> 00:02:30,361
It's Halloween.
45
00:02:30,441 --> 00:02:33,700
That's right.
Halloween, or more precisely,
46
00:02:33,777 --> 00:02:35,408
John Carpenter's Halloween.
47
00:02:35,487 --> 00:02:37,617
It's a simple, shocking tale…
48
00:02:38,615 --> 00:02:40,985
…of a babysitting shift
gone horribly wrong.
49
00:02:41,076 --> 00:02:42,796
I'm not about to let anything
happen to you.
50
00:02:42,871 --> 00:02:45,040
We'll see about that.
51
00:02:45,122 --> 00:02:47,962
It's the story
of a small, cold-blooded killer…
52
00:02:48,042 --> 00:02:49,211
Michael!
53
00:02:49,293 --> 00:02:53,014
…who, after murdering his sister
on Halloween night, which is illegal,
54
00:02:53,088 --> 00:02:57,139
settled in for a long life
of high-security institutionalization.
55
00:02:57,218 --> 00:03:00,177
He hasn't spoken a word in 15 years.
56
00:03:00,263 --> 00:03:02,393
But one stormy night…
57
00:03:02,473 --> 00:03:05,562
…the patient escapes and returns home…
58
00:03:05,643 --> 00:03:09,902
…to begin the systematic slaughtering
of all teenagers he can get his hands on.
59
00:03:13,067 --> 00:03:17,276
But hot on the heels of this
troubled villain, aka Michael Myers,
60
00:03:17,362 --> 00:03:18,783
aka The Shape,
61
00:03:18,865 --> 00:03:20,064
is his old physician…
62
00:03:20,158 --> 00:03:21,578
I'm his doctor.
63
00:03:21,658 --> 00:03:24,449
…who understands
the true nature of his ex-patient.
64
00:03:24,537 --> 00:03:27,417
Death has come to your little town.
65
00:03:27,497 --> 00:03:29,127
And along with the bravery
66
00:03:29,209 --> 00:03:31,538
and professional resilience
of this babysitter…
67
00:03:31,627 --> 00:03:33,587
Do as I say! Hurry!
Is it the boogeyman?
68
00:03:33,670 --> 00:03:36,260
…the Shape gets his comeuppance.
69
00:03:37,216 --> 00:03:38,926
Which does him in for the night
70
00:03:39,009 --> 00:03:41,969
and leaves everyone completely unsettled,
71
00:03:42,096 --> 00:03:44,216
wondering where on earth he went.
72
00:03:45,015 --> 00:03:47,015
The end. Sleep well. Good dreams.
73
00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:50,771
But despite being far
from your average Hollywood blockbuster,
74
00:03:50,854 --> 00:03:54,895
the inception of this
iconic horror film, well, it does start
75
00:03:54,984 --> 00:03:58,574
amidst the glitz and glamour
of Tinseltown, also called…
76
00:03:58,655 --> 00:03:59,485
Los Angeles.
77
00:03:59,572 --> 00:04:00,491
And…
Hollywood.
78
00:04:00,573 --> 00:04:04,242
Where the lights shine bright
and the stars twinkle.
79
00:04:04,911 --> 00:04:07,621
From the red carpet to the...
80
00:04:08,455 --> 00:04:11,876
Well, actually, it all gets quite
unglamorous very quickly after that,
81
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,379
because making movies
is a lot of hard, sweaty work,
82
00:04:16,463 --> 00:04:19,764
and our story begins
with one of the sweatiest of all.
83
00:04:19,841 --> 00:04:22,851
I found myself a job at Warner Bros.
Actually loading trucks.
84
00:04:24,555 --> 00:04:27,595
In those days, we still used 35mm cans.
85
00:04:27,684 --> 00:04:31,024
A print of a film was two cans
of a hundred pounds of film.
86
00:04:31,103 --> 00:04:35,653
And with this kind of strength,
it didn't take Irwin long to lift himself
87
00:04:35,733 --> 00:04:37,533
out of the lifting business
88
00:04:37,610 --> 00:04:39,819
and into the booking business.
89
00:04:39,903 --> 00:04:43,033
Eventually, they took notice of me and
offered me a chance to become a booker.
90
00:04:43,115 --> 00:04:47,656
A booker was the guy who physically
booked the films into the movie theaters.
91
00:04:47,745 --> 00:04:49,574
It was logistical more than anything else.
92
00:04:49,663 --> 00:04:54,004
But in the '60s, anything else
may have been a better choice…
93
00:04:55,168 --> 00:04:57,918
…because the movie industry
wasn't doing well.
94
00:04:58,005 --> 00:04:59,005
It was dying.
95
00:05:01,009 --> 00:05:03,178
Everybody said,
"Why are you in the movie business?"
96
00:05:03,261 --> 00:05:05,050
"It's a dying business.
Get into television."
97
00:05:05,137 --> 00:05:06,927
We hope you have a wonderful time.
98
00:05:07,014 --> 00:05:09,805
The movie business was doomed,
everyone thought.
99
00:05:09,891 --> 00:05:12,651
Doomed and dying…
100
00:05:12,728 --> 00:05:16,149
Irwin navigated
the ghoulish cinematic landscape.
101
00:05:16,231 --> 00:05:20,451
That became a long progression
of different jobs for Warner Bros.
102
00:05:20,528 --> 00:05:22,528
One of which eventually became
103
00:05:22,612 --> 00:05:26,283
actually a quite important part
of the moviemaking process.
104
00:05:26,367 --> 00:05:29,576
I was responsible
for setting up sneak previews.
105
00:05:29,661 --> 00:05:31,372
Before a film was finished…
106
00:05:32,165 --> 00:05:33,534
try it out with an audience…
107
00:05:34,625 --> 00:05:38,454
see the reactions,
and make some decisions.
108
00:05:38,545 --> 00:05:40,625
And after those sneak previews…
109
00:05:40,715 --> 00:05:43,584
They'd always turn to me
and ask what I thought.
110
00:05:43,675 --> 00:05:47,466
My wife would be with me a lot of the time
and she thought I was… I was brilliant.
111
00:05:47,555 --> 00:05:50,305
One day, we were driving home
from one of these.
112
00:05:50,391 --> 00:05:53,191
You know, she said,
"If you know so much about making movies,
113
00:05:53,269 --> 00:05:54,348
why not make 'em?"
114
00:05:54,437 --> 00:05:56,726
So, thanks to the love of his life…
115
00:05:56,814 --> 00:05:58,444
She should be here to hear this.
116
00:05:58,524 --> 00:06:02,454
…Irwin got to work on creating
a career he was passionate about.
117
00:06:02,528 --> 00:06:05,028
I knew that in my heart,
beat the heart of a filmmaker.
118
00:06:05,113 --> 00:06:06,994
I knew that's what I wanted to do.
119
00:06:07,074 --> 00:06:09,404
Now, speaking of true love…
Hello.
120
00:06:09,494 --> 00:06:11,504
…elsewhere in Los Angeles at the time…
121
00:06:11,579 --> 00:06:14,829
All the girls were clustered
around this guy playing the guitar
122
00:06:14,915 --> 00:06:17,245
and I was like, "I see."
123
00:06:17,334 --> 00:06:21,045
And this heartthrob to which
Tommy Lee Wallace refers…
124
00:06:21,129 --> 00:06:22,670
Shut up.
He's cute!
125
00:06:22,757 --> 00:06:24,627
…is his buddy John Carpenter,
126
00:06:24,716 --> 00:06:27,637
who he grew up with
in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
127
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,470
So, I went and harmonized with him,
then the girls clustered around me, too.
128
00:06:31,557 --> 00:06:34,226
But really, it was John, Tommy, and Nick…
129
00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:35,139
Hi.
Yes, hello.
130
00:06:35,228 --> 00:06:37,437
…who creatively clustered
around each other.
131
00:06:37,521 --> 00:06:39,651
I met John Carpenter at USC.
132
00:06:40,774 --> 00:06:43,685
We loved music. We loved rock and roll.
We were both in bands.
133
00:06:43,778 --> 00:06:46,278
And we would start doing music
for each other's projects.
134
00:06:46,363 --> 00:06:49,994
But these troubadours made more
than just beautiful music together.
135
00:06:50,076 --> 00:06:51,865
I worked with John on some shorts.
136
00:06:51,952 --> 00:06:53,752
Some of which Irwin is now wearing.
137
00:06:53,829 --> 00:06:56,790
Short films. Short... Short films.
138
00:06:56,874 --> 00:07:00,343
But with his time at USC
coming to a close,
139
00:07:00,420 --> 00:07:02,509
John Carpenter put on his big-boy pants
140
00:07:03,004 --> 00:07:05,464
and directed his very first feature film…
141
00:07:05,550 --> 00:07:06,759
Dark Star.
142
00:07:06,843 --> 00:07:09,552
…with a measly $60,000 budget.
143
00:07:09,637 --> 00:07:12,466
He enlisted the help of me
and lots of other buddies.
144
00:07:12,557 --> 00:07:14,637
Kind of Scotch tape and chewing gum
145
00:07:14,725 --> 00:07:17,055
out of the trunk of our cars
on the weekend.
146
00:07:17,144 --> 00:07:20,014
Are you with me?
It was all hands on deck.
147
00:07:20,105 --> 00:07:22,815
I moved props. I helped behind the camera.
148
00:07:22,899 --> 00:07:25,449
I was supple enough,
I guess, to get behind it
149
00:07:25,528 --> 00:07:27,658
and do this and pretend
like it was breathing.
150
00:07:27,737 --> 00:07:29,317
That's right. Nick was also…
151
00:07:29,406 --> 00:07:31,447
This crazy little beach ball monster.
152
00:07:31,533 --> 00:07:33,744
Here, boy!
Painted like a tomato.
153
00:07:33,827 --> 00:07:35,497
Nick was this tomato.
154
00:07:35,579 --> 00:07:39,209
And while these guys squeaked out
this low-budget feature,
155
00:07:39,292 --> 00:07:42,002
Irwin Yablans's dream of making movies
156
00:07:42,086 --> 00:07:43,875
with the encouragement of his wife…
157
00:07:43,963 --> 00:07:46,262
"Why don't you make it?"
…had stalled.
158
00:07:46,340 --> 00:07:50,220
Now I've got this company,
and I got about $50,000 in the bank…
159
00:07:50,302 --> 00:07:53,312
but I don't have any movies.
Not like he hadn't been warned.
160
00:07:53,389 --> 00:07:55,478
"Why are you in the movie business?
It's dying."
161
00:07:55,557 --> 00:07:59,687
Well, not so fast,
because around that same time,
162
00:07:59,769 --> 00:08:03,860
in another part of town,
John Carpenter's momentum was building.
163
00:08:03,940 --> 00:08:05,990
After John did Dark Star,
164
00:08:06,067 --> 00:08:09,237
and it was very good, actually,
got a little bit of recognition…
165
00:08:09,322 --> 00:08:11,242
I told him you were one of the best.
166
00:08:11,324 --> 00:08:14,793
…he got some money to do
this modern-day Howard Hawks movie,
167
00:08:14,869 --> 00:08:16,999
which is one of his favorite directors
of all time.
168
00:08:17,079 --> 00:08:21,038
It was a take on
the 1959 movie, Rio Bravo, titled…
169
00:08:21,167 --> 00:08:22,286
It's a goddamn siege.
170
00:08:22,375 --> 00:08:24,375
Right. Now just lose that first part.
171
00:08:24,461 --> 00:08:26,552
The Siege.
That's it.
172
00:08:26,630 --> 00:08:30,721
Made for about $100,000
of some friend's dad's money,
173
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:32,140
The Siege fizzled.
174
00:08:32,220 --> 00:08:33,470
Jesus! Come on.
175
00:08:33,553 --> 00:08:38,524
But it also introduced a pivotal member
of the Carpenter filmmaking family.
176
00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,941
His script supervisor
on that show was Debra Hill,
177
00:08:42,020 --> 00:08:46,230
and in post-production,
Debra was along as assistant editor.
178
00:08:46,317 --> 00:08:49,736
And after they'd done
their editing and assistant editing…
179
00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:52,279
We all felt we'd done
a pretty good movie, but...
180
00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:54,575
But nobody else really did,
181
00:08:54,658 --> 00:08:58,538
and Carpenter couldn't find
any major studio to distribute The Siege.
182
00:08:58,620 --> 00:08:59,620
This can't happen.
183
00:08:59,705 --> 00:09:02,705
A reality that coincided
with Irwin's predicament.
184
00:09:02,792 --> 00:09:04,091
I don't have any movies.
185
00:09:04,168 --> 00:09:06,248
Which was about the time his phone rang.
186
00:09:07,754 --> 00:09:09,544
I got a phone call from an agent.
187
00:09:09,631 --> 00:09:10,471
Hello?
188
00:09:10,549 --> 00:09:13,429
He said, "Irwin, I have this
young man who's just made a movie."
189
00:09:13,510 --> 00:09:15,010
"He's looking for distribution."
190
00:09:15,096 --> 00:09:18,385
I said, "Sure, send him over.
What's his name?" "It's John Carpenter."
191
00:09:18,474 --> 00:09:20,144
And after watching The Siege…
192
00:09:20,225 --> 00:09:22,475
It would be a privilege
if you'd walk outside with me.
193
00:09:22,562 --> 00:09:24,861
I was astonished.
This is an incredibly good movie.
194
00:09:24,938 --> 00:09:28,649
I said, "Amazing that no studio is willing
to take a chance on this picture,
195
00:09:28,734 --> 00:09:30,073
let alone this young man."
196
00:09:30,152 --> 00:09:32,491
And so, Irwin took a chance on both.
197
00:09:32,572 --> 00:09:33,412
Hello?
198
00:09:33,489 --> 00:09:35,869
I said, "Fellas,
I think your movie is brilliant,
199
00:09:35,950 --> 00:09:39,200
and I'd like to distribute it."
I'll kill you if this is a joke.
200
00:09:39,287 --> 00:09:40,616
It was no joke.
201
00:09:40,705 --> 00:09:44,325
I know how to distribute a movie.
I'm a one-stop Warner Bros.
202
00:09:44,417 --> 00:09:47,836
And so, Irwin's one-stop studio started.
203
00:09:47,919 --> 00:09:49,549
I said, "I wanna change the title."
204
00:09:49,629 --> 00:09:51,590
Assault on Precinct 13.
205
00:09:51,673 --> 00:09:52,844
I made the trailer.
206
00:09:54,217 --> 00:09:56,847
I designed the poster.
And most importantly…
207
00:09:56,928 --> 00:10:00,599
I had a relationship with the exhibitors,
so I was able to call in old favors,
208
00:10:00,682 --> 00:10:02,043
and I got the picture distributed.
209
00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:03,100
Right. Bye.
210
00:10:04,144 --> 00:10:07,934
And finally, John Carpenter
would have an audience.
211
00:10:08,024 --> 00:10:09,573
Assault came out, and…
212
00:10:09,649 --> 00:10:10,649
No.
213
00:10:11,277 --> 00:10:12,106
Sorry.
214
00:10:12,193 --> 00:10:13,703
…didn't do anything much.
215
00:10:14,279 --> 00:10:15,700
That is, until…
216
00:10:15,780 --> 00:10:17,161
Until it went to England.
217
00:10:17,741 --> 00:10:20,871
Because Irwin received
another important phone call.
218
00:10:20,952 --> 00:10:23,753
And I answered the phone.
"Irwin Yablans?" "Yes."
219
00:10:23,831 --> 00:10:25,331
"My name is Michael Myers."
220
00:10:27,335 --> 00:10:29,835
"And I'd like to enter your film
in the London Film Festival."
221
00:10:29,919 --> 00:10:30,919
He got my attention.
222
00:10:31,004 --> 00:10:34,794
Someone in the central office wanted
to give you something special.
223
00:10:34,884 --> 00:10:37,644
He did indeed enter it
into the London Film Festival.
224
00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,559
It won the first prize.
225
00:10:39,639 --> 00:10:43,769
Suddenly, it's the darling
of UK-London cinema.
226
00:10:43,850 --> 00:10:45,900
That sure got around fast.
227
00:10:45,977 --> 00:10:47,977
Inexplicably, it was a hit in England.
228
00:10:48,063 --> 00:10:49,573
People just went wild for it.
229
00:10:49,649 --> 00:10:54,239
And I think that had some echo effect
back here in the States.
230
00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,409
But, as with all echoes, they fade.
231
00:10:57,490 --> 00:11:01,289
And so, with a degree
of urgency, Irwin thought…
232
00:11:01,369 --> 00:11:04,369
I gotta find something for...
To make with John Carpenter.
233
00:11:04,455 --> 00:11:07,955
And immediately began
bouncing ideas around in his head.
234
00:11:08,042 --> 00:11:11,552
I'm racking my brain. "What can we do?
What kind of movie can we make?"
235
00:11:12,129 --> 00:11:16,428
And out of nowhere, I thought,
"Why not make a movie about babysitters
236
00:11:17,134 --> 00:11:19,724
being terrorized in a single night?"
237
00:11:19,803 --> 00:11:21,474
Hey, now that's wonderful.
238
00:11:21,554 --> 00:11:23,465
But not just any old night.
239
00:11:23,557 --> 00:11:25,596
"Why not make it
on the scariest night of the year?"
240
00:11:25,643 --> 00:11:27,982
And he's not talking
about Valentine's Day.
241
00:11:28,562 --> 00:11:29,731
Halloween.
242
00:11:30,773 --> 00:11:32,982
Diane was in bed, my wife.
He woke her up.
243
00:11:33,067 --> 00:11:35,187
I told her the story.
She said, "Sensational."
244
00:11:35,277 --> 00:11:36,486
Cute, Bob. Real cute.
245
00:11:36,570 --> 00:11:40,200
"Call John right now." And I did.
I got him on the phone at night.
246
00:11:40,282 --> 00:11:43,792
I said, "Can you meet me tomorrow?"
I told him the story. He got it instantly.
247
00:11:44,370 --> 00:11:47,750
And when they all went
back to bed, they could rest easy
248
00:11:47,831 --> 00:11:49,672
knowing that Irwin Yablans
249
00:11:49,750 --> 00:11:53,960
had just created the movie
that we'd all come to know as…
250
00:11:54,046 --> 00:11:57,086
The Babysitter Murders. Okay, fine.
251
00:11:57,173 --> 00:11:59,183
And with this simple idea…
252
00:11:59,259 --> 00:12:02,100
A horror film set on Halloween,
253
00:12:02,178 --> 00:12:04,469
called Halloween.
So, not The Babysitter Murders?
254
00:12:04,557 --> 00:12:06,096
No, none of that's true.
255
00:12:06,182 --> 00:12:10,273
There was no such thing
as Babysitter Murders ever.
256
00:12:10,354 --> 00:12:13,234
Well, that's not
what the internet says, so…
257
00:12:13,315 --> 00:12:17,184
No. Remember, I'm the sole source,
because it came right from here.
258
00:12:17,278 --> 00:12:18,317
That's the idea.
259
00:12:18,903 --> 00:12:22,124
But Irwin's magnificent idea was a horror,
260
00:12:22,198 --> 00:12:27,369
which is funny to think, at the time,
John Carpenter wasn't known for.
261
00:12:27,455 --> 00:12:29,784
I enjoy suspense
262
00:12:29,874 --> 00:12:31,423
and action and thrills.
263
00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:34,129
And I enjoy comedy.
I guess, mainly, the genres.
264
00:12:34,211 --> 00:12:36,711
Exactly. Carpenter had no interest
265
00:12:36,797 --> 00:12:39,677
in making your average 1970s
horror movie.
266
00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:41,548
You know the ones.
267
00:12:46,557 --> 00:12:47,886
God is dead!
268
00:12:47,975 --> 00:12:49,684
Hail Satan!
Satan lives!
269
00:12:49,769 --> 00:12:52,979
And as it happened,
Irwin saw Halloween differently, too.
270
00:12:53,062 --> 00:12:55,113
Ma'am?
Answer the question.
271
00:12:55,191 --> 00:12:58,740
A vision he laid out
to John Carpenter at lunch.
272
00:12:58,818 --> 00:13:01,109
I remember I had a tuna fish sandwich.
273
00:13:01,197 --> 00:13:04,277
And I said, "John." I said,
"I'm the last of the radio generation."
274
00:13:04,365 --> 00:13:07,905
When I was a kid, I would listen to
Inner Sanctum and Lights Out,
275
00:13:07,995 --> 00:13:09,904
radio horror shows.
276
00:13:10,581 --> 00:13:13,380
And I wanna tell you, I would get
under the covers with the radio,
277
00:13:13,458 --> 00:13:16,048
and nothing you could
possibly see on a screen
278
00:13:16,128 --> 00:13:18,918
could match
what I would conjure up in my mind.
279
00:13:19,005 --> 00:13:21,586
And I want this movie to play like that.
280
00:13:21,674 --> 00:13:23,044
Theater of the mind.
281
00:13:23,134 --> 00:13:24,965
Which meant less of this.
282
00:13:26,554 --> 00:13:28,715
"I don't want a lot of blood.
I don't want gore."
283
00:13:28,807 --> 00:13:30,597
And more of this.
284
00:13:30,683 --> 00:13:33,403
I want the audience
to be frightened, not repulsed.
285
00:13:33,479 --> 00:13:36,479
Drag their eyes to the right
and scare them on the left.
286
00:13:37,899 --> 00:13:41,740
But hang on. How would
the director take this direction?
287
00:13:41,821 --> 00:13:44,071
He would've made a movie
about my tuna fish sandwich.
288
00:13:44,155 --> 00:13:47,446
The Tuna Fish Murders?
He just wanted to make a movie.
289
00:13:47,534 --> 00:13:49,784
Ideally, not about tuna.
290
00:13:49,870 --> 00:13:52,000
But it wasn't quite that easy.
291
00:13:52,081 --> 00:13:54,630
John Carpenter did have
a couple of demands.
292
00:13:54,707 --> 00:13:56,918
John says he wants $10,000.
293
00:13:57,001 --> 00:13:59,261
As just a deposit or something?
294
00:13:59,337 --> 00:14:03,798
Now this is, direct, write,
do the music, everything.
295
00:14:03,884 --> 00:14:05,144
And his next request…
296
00:14:05,219 --> 00:14:07,558
John asked if Debra Hill
could produce the movie.
297
00:14:07,638 --> 00:14:09,847
Because since Assault on Precinct 13…
298
00:14:09,932 --> 00:14:12,942
She and John
got to know each other much better.
299
00:14:13,018 --> 00:14:15,477
They were together.
Professionally and personally.
300
00:14:15,562 --> 00:14:18,363
I said, "Sure, she can produce,
if you think she's up to it, go ahead."
301
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:20,778
But there was one last thing.
302
00:14:20,860 --> 00:14:23,490
He said to me,
"Can I have my name above the title?"
303
00:14:23,571 --> 00:14:26,240
Which I thought was a hell of a request
from a novice filmmaker.
304
00:14:26,322 --> 00:14:27,743
And I remember what I said to him.
305
00:14:27,825 --> 00:14:30,534
"If you can do this movie
for $300,000 the way I like it,
306
00:14:30,619 --> 00:14:32,288
you can have anything you want."
307
00:14:32,370 --> 00:14:36,500
Except a free lunch,
because for all Irwin's promises…
308
00:14:36,584 --> 00:14:38,384
I didn't have the 300,000.
309
00:14:38,460 --> 00:14:40,340
Well, maybe this guy did.
310
00:14:40,421 --> 00:14:41,921
Moustapha Akkad,
311
00:14:42,005 --> 00:14:45,505
a moviemaker who, at this point,
had joined forces with Irwin.
312
00:14:45,592 --> 00:14:48,643
We became fifty-fifty partners.
Fifty-fifty?
313
00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:50,811
Actually, he got 51 percent.
314
00:14:50,889 --> 00:14:54,230
Of course, because?
He had access to a lot of money.
315
00:14:54,309 --> 00:14:57,190
But Moustapha wasn't
exactly an open checkbook.
316
00:14:58,230 --> 00:15:02,399
Based in London,
Halloween wasn't exactly his cup of tea.
317
00:15:02,484 --> 00:15:05,323
Moustapha said, "I worry
when a movie is too much money."
318
00:15:05,403 --> 00:15:08,874
I said, "Moustapha,
if $300,000 is too much,
319
00:15:08,948 --> 00:15:10,948
we'll skip it. We won't make the movie."
320
00:15:11,034 --> 00:15:12,904
"No, no, no, no." His pride.
321
00:15:12,995 --> 00:15:15,705
And just like that…
He agreed to the 300,000.
322
00:15:15,788 --> 00:15:16,788
Okay.
323
00:15:17,499 --> 00:15:19,338
Three hundred thousand.
324
00:15:19,418 --> 00:15:23,587
Not to burst the bubble,
but it really wasn't a lot of money
325
00:15:23,672 --> 00:15:25,471
compared to movies of the day.
326
00:15:25,548 --> 00:15:30,389
Nevertheless, it was time to kick
this low-budget movie into high gear,
327
00:15:30,471 --> 00:15:31,890
beginning with the script,
328
00:15:31,971 --> 00:15:34,312
which John Carpenter wrote
with Debra Hill.
329
00:15:34,390 --> 00:15:37,270
The heart and soul
of Halloween is John and Debra.
330
00:15:37,352 --> 00:15:39,903
Halloween was originally
written by Debra Hill,
331
00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:44,529
and then John came in
and layered in the mythology of…
332
00:15:44,610 --> 00:15:45,440
Evil.
333
00:15:45,527 --> 00:15:48,197
You know, the nature of evil,
how you can't kill evil.
334
00:15:48,279 --> 00:15:50,029
The blackest eyes.
335
00:15:50,950 --> 00:15:52,029
The devil's eyes.
336
00:15:52,116 --> 00:15:57,287
It also didn't stretch too far
beyond a relatable domestic experience.
337
00:15:57,373 --> 00:15:59,883
The fact that this could happen
to anyone, anywhere.
338
00:15:59,959 --> 00:16:00,999
It's a normal town.
339
00:16:01,085 --> 00:16:03,544
John knew absolutely what he was doing
340
00:16:03,629 --> 00:16:08,298
and all the tricks that go with
creating an atmosphere of unease.
341
00:16:08,384 --> 00:16:12,974
But it was Debra who basically
shaped Laurie, her friends.
342
00:16:13,054 --> 00:16:16,095
You totally never showed.
That's not true. Here I am.
343
00:16:16,182 --> 00:16:18,982
About two weeks later…
They presented me with a first draft,
344
00:16:19,061 --> 00:16:20,561
and that was it.
345
00:16:20,645 --> 00:16:22,056
And as casting began,
346
00:16:22,147 --> 00:16:24,856
John Carpenter and Debra Hill
began considering
347
00:16:24,942 --> 00:16:27,861
who their murderous
Michael Myers would be.
348
00:16:27,945 --> 00:16:29,654
"My name is Michael Myers."
349
00:16:29,738 --> 00:16:32,528
As a thank you
for giving Carpenter a start
350
00:16:32,615 --> 00:16:34,196
with Assault on Precinct 13.
351
00:16:34,283 --> 00:16:37,963
His wife was upset for years, because
they had no participation in the movie.
352
00:16:38,038 --> 00:16:39,748
She felt they were owed something.
353
00:16:39,831 --> 00:16:43,381
Bit awkward. But, anyway,
the character did have another name.
354
00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:45,799
The Shape.
Yes, The Shape.
355
00:16:45,879 --> 00:16:49,588
There's very little mention of him
as Michael Myers in the script.
356
00:16:49,674 --> 00:16:50,875
He was always The Shape.
357
00:16:50,967 --> 00:16:53,758
Well, anyway,
they'd come back to that one.
358
00:16:53,846 --> 00:16:58,556
But in the meantime, John and Debra
focused on casting Dr. Samuel Loomis.
359
00:16:58,642 --> 00:17:00,601
Johnny came to me
and wanted Christopher Lee.
360
00:17:00,686 --> 00:17:02,395
Christopher Lee.
361
00:17:02,479 --> 00:17:06,439
Prestigious,
seasoned and even bloodthirsty.
362
00:17:06,525 --> 00:17:07,684
Count Dracula.
363
00:17:07,776 --> 00:17:10,145
But despite his unquenchable bloodlust…
364
00:17:10,237 --> 00:17:11,817
Christopher Lee turned it down.
365
00:17:11,904 --> 00:17:14,315
Take it away!
366
00:17:14,407 --> 00:17:16,038
Just as well
for Irwin, because…
367
00:17:16,117 --> 00:17:20,077
I had seen a movie called Will Penny.
Starring Charlton Heston.
368
00:17:20,163 --> 00:17:23,794
And while Charlton Heston's
unyielding dispersal of pain
369
00:17:23,875 --> 00:17:25,455
was rather terrifying…
370
00:17:25,544 --> 00:17:26,804
Get up!
371
00:17:26,878 --> 00:17:30,088
…it was another performance
in this 1968 Western
372
00:17:30,173 --> 00:17:32,804
in which Irwin saw
a potential for Halloween.
373
00:17:32,884 --> 00:17:35,384
Merry Christmas.
Well, close enough.
374
00:17:35,471 --> 00:17:39,431
Donald Pleasence had played the insane
patriarch of a bunch of crazy brigands.
375
00:17:39,516 --> 00:17:42,635
You ain't seen the last of me!
And he's not wrong.
376
00:17:42,728 --> 00:17:45,268
In fact, this seasoned star
of stage and screen
377
00:17:45,355 --> 00:17:47,184
had been seen in countless films.
378
00:17:47,273 --> 00:17:48,483
Hello.
379
00:17:48,567 --> 00:17:51,896
Having evaded Nazis
with Steve McQueen in The Great Escape…
380
00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:54,817
Almost evaded.
381
00:17:54,906 --> 00:17:56,737
…to tormenting James Bond in…
382
00:17:56,825 --> 00:17:57,825
You only live twice.
383
00:17:57,910 --> 00:17:59,079
He knows.
384
00:17:59,161 --> 00:18:03,211
I said, "If you get Pleasence, you'd get
gravitas to the part and the movie."
385
00:18:03,289 --> 00:18:05,130
But would Carpenter agree?
386
00:18:05,209 --> 00:18:06,128
John agreed.
387
00:18:06,210 --> 00:18:07,710
He agreed.
That's right.
388
00:18:07,795 --> 00:18:09,664
With the Loomis role cast,
389
00:18:09,755 --> 00:18:14,835
attention was turned to filling the role
of the film's lead teen, Laurie Strode,
390
00:18:14,926 --> 00:18:18,557
for which Carpenter and Hill wanted
the relatively unknown actress…
391
00:18:18,638 --> 00:18:20,769
You buy that here?
…Jamie Lee Curtis.
392
00:18:21,933 --> 00:18:24,144
Unknown to everyone except Columbo.
393
00:18:24,228 --> 00:18:25,397
I can come back.
394
00:18:25,479 --> 00:18:27,729
And she was a charming,
polite young lady.
395
00:18:27,815 --> 00:18:30,494
And clearly impressed...
Didn't impress me one way or the other.
396
00:18:30,526 --> 00:18:32,776
I'm really terribly sorry.
397
00:18:32,861 --> 00:18:36,871
While her résumé wasn't that impressive,
her pedigree very much was.
398
00:18:36,949 --> 00:18:39,699
When I found out who Jamie Lee Curtis was,
399
00:18:39,785 --> 00:18:41,994
I wanted her immediately.
400
00:18:42,078 --> 00:18:44,328
Well, Jamie Lee came
from impressive stock.
401
00:18:44,413 --> 00:18:46,544
The daughter of
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.
402
00:18:46,625 --> 00:18:48,535
Yes, that Tony Curtis.
403
00:18:48,626 --> 00:18:49,836
I'm Spartacus!
404
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,049
And, yes, that Janet Leigh.
405
00:18:52,131 --> 00:18:54,131
Meaning…
406
00:18:54,215 --> 00:18:55,925
Her mother had starred in Psycho.
407
00:18:56,009 --> 00:18:58,259
Curious.
That was good enough for me.
408
00:18:58,345 --> 00:19:01,595
And if John thought she could cut it,
that was good enough for me.
409
00:19:02,182 --> 00:19:05,271
Having found their
wholesome and thoughtful Laurie,
410
00:19:05,352 --> 00:19:10,771
it was then time to cast her decidedly
less wholesome and thoughtful friends,
411
00:19:10,857 --> 00:19:11,688
Annie and Lynda.
412
00:19:11,775 --> 00:19:14,234
So, here it says, "Lynda says, 'Totally, '
413
00:19:14,318 --> 00:19:17,199
and Lynda,
'This is totally silly.'" And…
414
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,990
Luckily, Carpenter and Hill
found the total package with…
415
00:19:21,576 --> 00:19:24,497
P.J. Soles. She was just adorable.
416
00:19:24,579 --> 00:19:28,500
And this young actress was also
no stranger to the world of horror.
417
00:19:28,584 --> 00:19:31,423
They saw her in Carrie and thought
she would be perfect for Lynda.
418
00:19:31,502 --> 00:19:33,673
Totally.
And for the role of Annie,
419
00:19:33,755 --> 00:19:36,545
Carpenter and Hill hired
from within when they cast…
420
00:19:36,633 --> 00:19:38,343
Dr. Sam Loomis.
No!
421
00:19:38,926 --> 00:19:40,636
Nancy Loomis.
A Loomis.
422
00:19:40,721 --> 00:19:41,810
Loomis.
423
00:19:41,888 --> 00:19:45,179
Loomis... Well, besides the fact...
No relation to the doctor.
424
00:19:45,267 --> 00:19:48,057
She'd had a part in Assault on Precinct 13
425
00:19:48,144 --> 00:19:52,065
and was perfectly happy to go on
and do the next film, Halloween.
426
00:19:52,148 --> 00:19:54,318
But she'd be carpooling to work.
427
00:19:54,401 --> 00:19:57,151
Nancy was married to Tommy Wallace.
428
00:19:57,237 --> 00:19:58,356
And Tommy Lee Wallace…
429
00:19:58,447 --> 00:19:59,947
Hello.
…well, he'll tell you.
430
00:20:00,031 --> 00:20:02,201
I did a lot of jobs on Halloween.
431
00:20:02,284 --> 00:20:06,753
Most significantly,
production designer and film editor.
432
00:20:06,829 --> 00:20:08,329
But Nancy Loomis's husband
433
00:20:08,414 --> 00:20:11,535
wasn't the only multi-hyphenate
in this Hollywood power couple.
434
00:20:11,626 --> 00:20:13,376
Since she and I were together,
435
00:20:13,461 --> 00:20:16,721
she was part of the art department,
doing the costumes.
436
00:20:16,798 --> 00:20:19,127
It was really a family affair.
437
00:20:19,218 --> 00:20:22,887
A bit of a friend affair, too.
We were all friends from other movies.
438
00:20:22,971 --> 00:20:26,141
For example,
take script supervisor, Louise Jaffe.
439
00:20:26,224 --> 00:20:30,555
The first film I worked on,
Nancy Loomis was the wardrobe person,
440
00:20:30,645 --> 00:20:32,145
and we became great friends.
441
00:20:32,230 --> 00:20:35,691
But Nancy Loomis
also knew makeup artist, Erica Ueland.
442
00:20:35,776 --> 00:20:38,445
Nancy'd been a friend of mine
for many years.
443
00:20:38,528 --> 00:20:40,817
Which makes sense when you consider that…
444
00:20:40,905 --> 00:20:43,276
Louise is my roommate on Gower Street.
Yes.
445
00:20:43,366 --> 00:20:47,156
Or cinematographer Dean Cundey,
who knew best boy, Steve Mathis.
446
00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:49,955
Dean and I go way back.
I did several movies with Dean.
447
00:20:50,039 --> 00:20:53,039
And second assistant
camera operator, Krishna Rao.
448
00:20:53,125 --> 00:20:55,955
Dean trained me to be a camera assistant.
449
00:20:56,087 --> 00:20:58,008
That's my brother-in-law.
450
00:20:58,089 --> 00:20:59,880
Consider the point made.
451
00:20:59,967 --> 00:21:02,426
Debra had assembled a crew that was young…
452
00:21:02,510 --> 00:21:05,851
Our high school days
were just in our rearview mirror.
453
00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:06,810
…hungry…
454
00:21:06,890 --> 00:21:09,309
This was a real movie for all of us,
it was cool.
455
00:21:09,393 --> 00:21:10,643
…and one more thing…
456
00:21:11,394 --> 00:21:15,394
We were all young, hungry, and poor.
Cheap, which was just as well,
457
00:21:15,481 --> 00:21:19,112
seeing as how this was
a very moderately-budgeted…
458
00:21:19,193 --> 00:21:20,653
Scotch tape and chewing gum.
459
00:21:20,737 --> 00:21:21,856
…type of operation.
460
00:21:21,946 --> 00:21:24,196
But there was one line item on the budget
461
00:21:24,282 --> 00:21:27,083
that Carpenter insisted they not skimp on.
462
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,039
I was the cheap part.
No, not Dean Cundey.
463
00:21:30,122 --> 00:21:32,541
The one thing was Panavision equipment.
464
00:21:32,624 --> 00:21:34,173
Of the $300,000,
465
00:21:34,250 --> 00:21:37,300
we spent almost 70,000
of that at Panavision.
466
00:21:37,378 --> 00:21:40,338
A sizable chunk was spent on…
The Panaglide.
467
00:21:41,258 --> 00:21:45,097
…a high-end camera rig that would help
this low-budget film look…
468
00:21:45,177 --> 00:21:46,677
Like a zillion bucks.
469
00:21:46,762 --> 00:21:50,272
Because while most cameras
of the day were pretty stationary,
470
00:21:50,349 --> 00:21:55,150
the brand-new Panaglide camera,
as demonstrated by Dean Cundey himself,
471
00:21:55,230 --> 00:21:57,150
could move around quite freely.
472
00:21:57,231 --> 00:21:59,902
John saw the camera
as the audience's eyes.
473
00:21:59,984 --> 00:22:03,565
So, I think that any time
you can play a shot in one,
474
00:22:03,654 --> 00:22:07,275
it's better because
it's moving the audience smoothly,
475
00:22:07,366 --> 00:22:11,287
as if they were actually walking
through a scene or a moment.
476
00:22:11,371 --> 00:22:14,671
Which would be the perfect
touch for a film like Halloween.
477
00:22:14,750 --> 00:22:16,000
The only problem was…
478
00:22:16,084 --> 00:22:20,344
It was maybe the second film
to use the Steadicam.
479
00:22:20,422 --> 00:22:23,432
So, while Dean and his team
learned how to be smooth operators…
480
00:22:23,508 --> 00:22:26,597
In the parking lot of Panavision.
Yeah.
481
00:22:26,678 --> 00:22:29,768
…Tommy Wallace was grappling
with his own daunting assignment.
482
00:22:29,847 --> 00:22:33,097
So, my assignment was, go find a mask.
483
00:22:33,184 --> 00:22:36,394
But not just a mask, the mask.
484
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,609
The script described it
as a kind of blank face.
485
00:22:39,691 --> 00:22:44,780
So, Tommy headed straight
to the epicenter of creepy, blank faces.
486
00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:46,663
Down on Hollywood Boulevard…
487
00:22:49,201 --> 00:22:54,161
…at a magic company that sold
a lot of masks and costumery…
488
00:22:55,123 --> 00:23:00,053
Up on the shelf were these full face masks
of people like Richard Nixon.
489
00:23:00,127 --> 00:23:01,337
Well, I'm not a crook.
490
00:23:02,963 --> 00:23:06,554
And down at the end was a Mr. Spock mask.
491
00:23:07,259 --> 00:23:08,180
Fascinating.
492
00:23:08,260 --> 00:23:11,810
And right next to it was
this kind of blank-faced
493
00:23:12,391 --> 00:23:13,391
Captain Kirk.
494
00:23:14,101 --> 00:23:16,730
Come on. The lovable Captain Kirk?
495
00:23:16,811 --> 00:23:19,311
I'm Captain Kirk!
496
00:23:19,397 --> 00:23:21,268
He is terrifying.
497
00:23:21,357 --> 00:23:23,028
So, I grabbed one of those,
498
00:23:23,109 --> 00:23:27,240
and I grabbed
an Emmett Kelly sad-sack clown mask.
499
00:23:27,321 --> 00:23:30,781
And so Tommy headed back
to his shop and began customizing.
500
00:23:30,866 --> 00:23:32,737
Opened up the eye holes.
501
00:23:33,577 --> 00:23:34,907
Took off the eyebrows.
502
00:23:34,996 --> 00:23:38,536
Took off the sideburns,
which sort of punkafied the guy.
503
00:23:38,625 --> 00:23:40,744
Painted the face appliance white,
504
00:23:40,836 --> 00:23:44,415
and I darkened the hair down.
Looked pretty good.
505
00:23:44,506 --> 00:23:46,875
But John and Debra
would be the judge of that.
506
00:23:47,634 --> 00:23:49,513
We tried out the clown mask first.
507
00:23:51,179 --> 00:23:53,888
We all agreed,
"that's strange, that's eerie."
508
00:23:53,973 --> 00:23:57,064
Strange and eerie.
Captain Kirk, anyone?
509
00:23:57,144 --> 00:23:58,483
I'm Captain Kirk!
510
00:23:59,354 --> 00:24:03,074
As soon as the second mask
came out of the dressing room,
511
00:24:03,150 --> 00:24:06,150
we were all, "Fuck me."
512
00:24:08,028 --> 00:24:10,739
That mask looked so creepy.
513
00:24:10,824 --> 00:24:13,084
It's just something about that blank face.
514
00:24:14,118 --> 00:24:17,499
There's no personality.
It's just purely evil.
515
00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:20,250
And so we knew we had a movie.
516
00:24:20,333 --> 00:24:22,883
What they still didn't have was a Shape.
517
00:24:22,961 --> 00:24:26,131
However, as principal photography
was gearing up
518
00:24:26,213 --> 00:24:28,433
in sunny South Pasadena, California,
519
00:24:28,508 --> 00:24:32,097
standing in for a dreary
Haddonfield, Illinois,
520
00:24:32,179 --> 00:24:36,388
lurking amongst
the suburban shrubbery was
521
00:24:37,142 --> 00:24:38,142
Nick.
522
00:24:38,184 --> 00:24:39,265
Nick was in the bush.
523
00:24:39,352 --> 00:24:43,021
It was very close to, where I lived.
524
00:24:43,105 --> 00:24:45,976
But not being
specifically involved with this project,
525
00:24:46,067 --> 00:24:47,396
their old buddy said…
526
00:24:47,486 --> 00:24:50,655
"You know, John, you know what'd be cool?
If I could just hang."
527
00:24:50,739 --> 00:24:52,618
The words hung in the air.
528
00:24:52,699 --> 00:24:57,038
The broad-shouldered Nick Castle
awaited John Carpenter's response.
529
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:58,210
"Okay, no problem."
530
00:24:58,288 --> 00:25:01,877
But having a useful
contributor just standing around
531
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,750
like a nosy neighbor,
532
00:25:04,836 --> 00:25:07,006
didn't make any sense whatsoever.
533
00:25:07,087 --> 00:25:08,508
Or did it?
534
00:25:08,589 --> 00:25:13,140
He needed someone to do
all of these walking, lurking shots.
535
00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:15,220
So, John Carpenter said…
536
00:25:15,305 --> 00:25:17,805
"Wait a minute,
why don't you just put the mask on
537
00:25:17,891 --> 00:25:19,641
and walk around and be the killer?"
538
00:25:20,143 --> 00:25:21,522
And I went, "Yeah, okay."
539
00:25:22,019 --> 00:25:25,480
And by simply
putting on this mask and walking about,
540
00:25:25,565 --> 00:25:29,565
Michael Myers,
aka The Shape, came to life.
541
00:25:29,653 --> 00:25:31,492
And Nick had a good walk.
542
00:25:31,570 --> 00:25:34,701
His father was a dancer
and choreographer,
543
00:25:34,782 --> 00:25:38,083
so Nick just naturally had
a good gait about him.
544
00:25:38,161 --> 00:25:40,161
I think that's kind of bullshit.
545
00:25:40,247 --> 00:25:42,957
John and I really didn't
discuss anything about,
546
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,090
you know, what I was supposed to do.
547
00:25:45,167 --> 00:25:48,958
Basically, what's my motivation?
You know, I was... I'm suddenly an actor.
548
00:25:49,047 --> 00:25:52,626
But Carpenter wasn't looking
for a murderous method actor.
549
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:54,757
He only needed a shape.
550
00:25:54,844 --> 00:25:56,354
He just said, "Walk towards me."
551
00:25:57,972 --> 00:25:58,972
Or, "Stand there."
552
00:26:00,558 --> 00:26:01,939
"Now tilt your head to the right."
553
00:26:04,019 --> 00:26:06,609
It was this direction…
"What's this supposed to mean?"
554
00:26:06,690 --> 00:26:09,400
…that left Nick
scratching his tilted head.
555
00:26:09,483 --> 00:26:12,153
And it wasn't until
I kind of looked at the dailies
556
00:26:12,237 --> 00:26:15,277
and went, "I see.
He's kind of admiring his work."
557
00:26:15,365 --> 00:26:17,325
"That's cool. What a great idea!"
558
00:26:17,409 --> 00:26:21,288
And thus, this newly minted
thespian found his motivation.
559
00:26:21,371 --> 00:26:23,500
Just do whatever John says.
560
00:26:23,582 --> 00:26:26,461
While directing Nick
was a walk in the park,
561
00:26:26,542 --> 00:26:27,843
or wherever he was walking,
562
00:26:27,919 --> 00:26:31,419
the production's big-name actor
had other ideas.
563
00:26:31,506 --> 00:26:34,125
He was kind of annoyed
that he had to be in this movie.
564
00:26:34,217 --> 00:26:36,846
In other words, I think
the script is a bit overwritten.
565
00:26:36,927 --> 00:26:40,847
That's... I don't know, it's difficult
to find an expression other than that.
566
00:26:40,932 --> 00:26:44,771
But any misgivings
Pleasence had over the role didn't show.
567
00:26:44,853 --> 00:26:48,232
He was a good actor after all.
He handled it like a pro.
568
00:26:48,315 --> 00:26:50,644
He was drinking a lot of wine.
569
00:26:50,733 --> 00:26:52,693
Yeah.
Are you all right?
570
00:26:54,028 --> 00:26:56,489
Well, it's a good thing he wasn't driving.
571
00:26:56,573 --> 00:26:59,452
The night that we were out
in the rainstorm,
572
00:26:59,534 --> 00:27:03,544
he had a bottle or two
of red wine in his trailer.
573
00:27:03,622 --> 00:27:06,422
I was worried that he wasn't even
gonna be able to walk down the steps.
574
00:27:07,250 --> 00:27:10,500
It was a very difficult scene,
because all those people were out
575
00:27:10,586 --> 00:27:14,666
and walking around in their robes,
all the people from the sanitarium.
576
00:27:14,758 --> 00:27:17,218
And for Donald Pleasence's character,
577
00:27:17,301 --> 00:27:19,432
actually a really important scene.
578
00:27:19,511 --> 00:27:25,021
And he had in-the-car dialogue with
that nurse, and it had to be coherent.
579
00:27:25,809 --> 00:27:27,849
You haven't anything to worry about.
580
00:27:27,936 --> 00:27:31,567
No, John Carpenter
had plenty to worry about.
581
00:27:31,650 --> 00:27:34,490
Donald Pleasence just opened up on John.
582
00:27:34,568 --> 00:27:36,778
"You're making me look like an ass."
583
00:27:36,863 --> 00:27:38,163
It's a little melodramatic.
584
00:27:38,865 --> 00:27:41,984
And there, with his entire crew watching,
585
00:27:42,076 --> 00:27:45,457
and his star two bottles of red wine in,
586
00:27:45,538 --> 00:27:47,998
the novice director was put to the test.
587
00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:51,133
John was beyond his years
588
00:27:51,211 --> 00:27:55,050
in terms of his ability
to handle people and handle situations.
589
00:27:55,131 --> 00:27:57,840
And that night,
he handled Donald Pleasence.
590
00:27:57,925 --> 00:27:58,756
Wait.
591
00:27:58,843 --> 00:28:03,682
During a scene when
sobering coherency was, well, key.
592
00:28:03,765 --> 00:28:06,684
And it was totally coherent,
even though he was…
593
00:28:07,268 --> 00:28:09,597
In a rush to get back to his trailer?
594
00:28:10,896 --> 00:28:16,027
While the angry yet oddly coherent words
of Donald Pleasence cut like a knife,
595
00:28:16,111 --> 00:28:19,911
the next challenge of the night
involved a blunt instrument.
596
00:28:20,448 --> 00:28:22,698
Yeah, the window was tough to break.
597
00:28:22,784 --> 00:28:24,953
But, as the movie's art director,
598
00:28:25,036 --> 00:28:26,786
Tommy Lee Wallace knew what to do.
599
00:28:26,871 --> 00:28:30,290
He's up on top of the roof
of the station wagon and, bam!
600
00:28:30,375 --> 00:28:33,795
If you look, you can see
the wrench right here.
601
00:28:33,877 --> 00:28:36,627
Taped with flesh-colored tape.
You can just see it.
602
00:28:36,714 --> 00:28:38,164
After a grueling shoot…
603
00:28:38,258 --> 00:28:42,218
That was possibly the most
difficult day of the entire shoot.
604
00:28:42,302 --> 00:28:44,432
…they prep themselves for more.
605
00:28:44,513 --> 00:28:46,273
And the worst was yet to come,
606
00:28:46,348 --> 00:28:51,148
because Tommy Lee Wallace
faced a… pumpkin shortage.
607
00:28:51,229 --> 00:28:54,398
Believe it or not,
in California in the springtime,
608
00:28:54,481 --> 00:28:56,481
it's very hard to find pumpkins.
609
00:28:56,567 --> 00:28:58,448
We only had three pumpkins.
610
00:28:58,528 --> 00:29:00,238
There's one.
611
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:01,451
There's two.
612
00:29:02,030 --> 00:29:03,030
And there's…
613
00:29:04,366 --> 00:29:06,116
There's three.
God!
614
00:29:06,201 --> 00:29:09,662
John did it on take one.
615
00:29:10,707 --> 00:29:13,126
Well, worst case, Nick had experience
616
00:29:13,209 --> 00:29:15,749
puppeteering fruit and veg, so, you know.
617
00:29:16,628 --> 00:29:18,628
For the rest of their pumpkin needs…
618
00:29:18,714 --> 00:29:21,335
We found some kind of South American gourd
619
00:29:21,425 --> 00:29:26,925
that was dark green,
so, naturally… "Paint department!"
620
00:29:27,015 --> 00:29:28,134
Would that be you?
621
00:29:29,893 --> 00:29:33,103
But pumpkins weren't the only thing
this production was short on.
622
00:29:33,188 --> 00:29:36,357
I just kept wondering, "Where's the blood?
Where's the blood?"
623
00:29:36,441 --> 00:29:37,730
It didn't need blood.
624
00:29:37,817 --> 00:29:40,947
Because true to Irwin's
original direction…
625
00:29:41,028 --> 00:29:42,318
Theater of the mind.
626
00:29:42,905 --> 00:29:47,536
…John Carpenter was drawing from earlier
master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
627
00:29:47,618 --> 00:29:51,749
It's like Psycho.
You never see the knife hit Janet Leigh.
628
00:29:51,830 --> 00:29:53,976
As a viewer, you were able to use
your imagination more
629
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:55,750
and it makes it more horrifying to imagine
630
00:29:55,835 --> 00:29:59,375
what happens the other side of the window
when Annie's being killed in the car.
631
00:29:59,463 --> 00:30:02,723
But more than just
leaving things to the imagination…
632
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,300
Carpenter was going for something
633
00:30:05,385 --> 00:30:07,346
that was a little bit more nuanced.
634
00:30:07,430 --> 00:30:09,930
And here's a good example.
635
00:30:10,016 --> 00:30:12,935
There's a scene in the film where
Jamie Lee is at the top of the stairs…
636
00:30:15,230 --> 00:30:17,480
And there's a shadowy area.
637
00:30:19,233 --> 00:30:22,903
Which John uses
that empty space as like, what's there?
638
00:30:22,987 --> 00:30:24,856
Well, Nick was there.
Hi.
639
00:30:24,948 --> 00:30:26,198
He was everywhere.
640
00:30:26,281 --> 00:30:30,372
John said, "How can we make
Michael Myers sort of appear?"
641
00:30:30,994 --> 00:30:33,285
There in the dark? Well, the answer was…
642
00:30:33,373 --> 00:30:34,423
By using lighting.
643
00:30:34,499 --> 00:30:37,419
And I said,
"How about if we put it on a dimmer
644
00:30:37,501 --> 00:30:39,842
and we'll have a light on his face?"
645
00:30:39,921 --> 00:30:44,800
And I wanted the audience to feel like
their eyes are getting used to the dark.
646
00:30:44,884 --> 00:30:46,094
And the light comes up.
647
00:30:49,180 --> 00:30:50,890
And that's when I realized…
648
00:30:50,973 --> 00:30:52,604
"God, this is real scary shit."
649
00:30:52,683 --> 00:30:54,443
The stabbing.
650
00:30:54,519 --> 00:30:57,108
I had the blood, if they needed it.
They didn't.
651
00:30:57,896 --> 00:31:00,977
And when it came to Jamie Lee Curtis…
652
00:31:01,733 --> 00:31:04,284
the crew found themselves falling for her.
653
00:31:04,362 --> 00:31:07,122
It was fun acting with Jamie.
654
00:31:07,198 --> 00:31:10,488
Hang on, "acting?"
Isn't Tommy the art director?
655
00:31:10,576 --> 00:31:13,616
We only had money
for one of these fake doors.
656
00:31:13,704 --> 00:31:17,994
And he said, "I'd better do it because
if I screw up, then, yeah, it's my fault."
657
00:31:18,084 --> 00:31:20,713
"I don't want you to screw up."
And you know, then I...
658
00:31:21,753 --> 00:31:24,923
Look in there and do The Shape.
Yeah, that was fun.
659
00:31:25,008 --> 00:31:27,087
And as for the lead actor…
660
00:31:27,175 --> 00:31:31,215
Jamie, from day one,
was kind of the girl scout next door.
661
00:31:31,306 --> 00:31:33,675
She was just great.
662
00:31:33,766 --> 00:31:38,226
She loved the crew, she carried
camera cases when she wasn't too busy
663
00:31:38,313 --> 00:31:41,573
doing her… day job, you might say.
664
00:31:41,648 --> 00:31:43,898
Day job or sometimes, night job.
665
00:31:45,528 --> 00:31:47,407
But as production neared its end…
666
00:31:47,488 --> 00:31:50,157
We had one day left to shoot.
667
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,580
…this one would be an all-night job.
668
00:31:52,660 --> 00:31:55,369
And it all came down to one last shot.
669
00:31:55,454 --> 00:31:59,994
Which, in itself,
was a long shot in every way.
670
00:32:00,084 --> 00:32:02,804
… just to be clear, it was really long.
671
00:32:02,878 --> 00:32:05,209
And he said,
"We want to walk up to the house."
672
00:32:05,839 --> 00:32:08,970
Move up, around to the side,
look through the window.
673
00:32:09,051 --> 00:32:11,761
There's the couple there.
Michael's around someplace.
674
00:32:11,846 --> 00:32:14,056
We look at the window, the light goes out.
675
00:32:14,140 --> 00:32:17,140
And as he described it, we would walk it.
676
00:32:17,226 --> 00:32:18,556
But as they walked it,
677
00:32:18,644 --> 00:32:21,015
the challenges they'd face
pulling this shot off
678
00:32:21,105 --> 00:32:22,605
became more and more apparent.
679
00:32:22,690 --> 00:32:27,069
In the film, the house is in good shape
at the beginning and deteriorates.
680
00:32:27,153 --> 00:32:30,913
Anybody live here?
Not since 1963 when it happened.
681
00:32:30,990 --> 00:32:32,119
But we shot in reverse.
682
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,750
We shot all the deteriorated stuff
and then just painted what we would see.
683
00:32:35,827 --> 00:32:37,958
Low-budget filmmaking at its finest.
684
00:32:38,038 --> 00:32:41,078
And one of the reasons
that budget was so low
685
00:32:41,166 --> 00:32:44,166
was because of that
fancy Panaglide contraption
686
00:32:44,252 --> 00:32:48,512
that Dean Cundey was expected
to lug about for this epic shot.
687
00:32:48,590 --> 00:32:52,641
It gives you a great deal more flexibility
of how you can move the camera.
688
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,349
But it also gives you
a much smaller film magazine,
689
00:32:56,432 --> 00:32:59,642
limiting their takes
to four minutes and 26 seconds.
690
00:33:00,269 --> 00:33:03,148
Somebody was timing it
as they were practicing,
691
00:33:03,230 --> 00:33:07,361
and it was clear that
we weren't going to get the whole shot.
692
00:33:07,442 --> 00:33:08,742
Terrific.
693
00:33:08,819 --> 00:33:11,950
Debra jumped in and said,
"Well, we need a cut point."
694
00:33:12,030 --> 00:33:13,990
It was a lot of fun to devise that.
695
00:33:14,075 --> 00:33:15,484
And the solution?
696
00:33:15,576 --> 00:33:18,195
We'll block the lens with a mask.
697
00:33:18,287 --> 00:33:21,497
We'll put the mask on
in exactly the right spot for the eyes,
698
00:33:21,582 --> 00:33:23,382
and we'll continue the shot.
699
00:33:23,459 --> 00:33:25,548
And so, after the first take,
700
00:33:25,627 --> 00:33:26,958
they did another take,
701
00:33:27,046 --> 00:33:28,086
and then another one.
702
00:33:28,172 --> 00:33:29,471
A lot more takes.
703
00:33:29,548 --> 00:33:32,429
Reset everything, get it going,
so we could do another take.
704
00:33:32,509 --> 00:33:35,430
"Move this couch.
It was in the way of going up the stairs,
705
00:33:35,512 --> 00:33:37,472
but we wanna see it coming down.
Move the lights."
706
00:33:37,515 --> 00:33:39,724
And so you'd see people
jumping out of windows,
707
00:33:39,808 --> 00:33:41,528
and standing on balconies
with their lights.
708
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,060
I was there with a bucket of blood.
709
00:33:44,939 --> 00:33:46,608
Now there's blood.
710
00:33:47,607 --> 00:33:51,278
With crew dangling from balconies
and doing anything to clear the shot,
711
00:33:51,362 --> 00:33:53,412
they did a lot of takes.
712
00:33:53,489 --> 00:33:58,659
Did over 20. We wore Ray Stella out.
Dean put the rig on. We wore Dean out.
713
00:33:58,744 --> 00:34:03,365
We just kept doing it, the same shot
over and over and over and over.
714
00:34:03,458 --> 00:34:07,048
I'm convinced that if it was still night,
we'd still be shooting.
715
00:34:07,127 --> 00:34:10,297
But of course, the sun did eventually rise
716
00:34:10,380 --> 00:34:13,221
on a very exhausted but happy crew.
717
00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:17,431
I'm very tired, but I can see
that this is going to be
718
00:34:17,512 --> 00:34:20,483
a significant moment for the film.
719
00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:23,599
The revolutionary Panaglide camera rig
720
00:34:23,686 --> 00:34:26,226
proved well worth
its steep share of the budget.
721
00:34:26,313 --> 00:34:33,074
Each take was gold.
It was this thrust for 15 or 16 hours.
722
00:34:33,153 --> 00:34:36,373
Nobody thought about whether
we were tired or whether we weren't tired.
723
00:34:36,449 --> 00:34:39,199
We were just resetting and going again.
724
00:34:39,284 --> 00:34:42,244
It was actually
a beautiful way to end the film.
725
00:34:42,329 --> 00:34:43,539
And with that…
726
00:34:43,623 --> 00:34:46,083
John turned to everybody and said,
"I got my shot."
727
00:34:46,166 --> 00:34:48,036
…Halloween finished shooting.
728
00:34:48,126 --> 00:34:49,996
Right, then. Time for editing.
729
00:34:50,088 --> 00:34:52,797
And to do that,
they brought in a serious...
730
00:34:52,882 --> 00:34:55,431
Hello.
It's just... Tommy just did it.
731
00:34:55,510 --> 00:34:57,849
Along with assistance
from Charles Bornstein.
732
00:34:57,929 --> 00:35:01,969
And together, the two refined
the film's dreadful pacing.
733
00:35:02,057 --> 00:35:03,557
In a good way.
734
00:35:03,643 --> 00:35:06,603
Tommy and John
always likened it to a rubber band.
735
00:35:06,686 --> 00:35:09,476
How far could you stretch
the rubber band…
736
00:35:13,110 --> 00:35:15,400
…before you knew it was going to snap?
737
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,159
And it's just about stretching things out
738
00:35:20,242 --> 00:35:24,213
to make it so that when you know
that something horrible is gonna happen…
739
00:35:25,623 --> 00:35:29,632
it creates this horrible dread,
and you just want it to be over.
740
00:35:29,710 --> 00:35:32,550
They even found a way
to stretch that dread…
741
00:35:33,797 --> 00:35:35,797
past the ending of the film.
742
00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:39,550
How about having them
go out of the theater
743
00:35:39,637 --> 00:35:43,637
dreading to go to their car,
because that empty street
744
00:35:43,724 --> 00:35:48,153
could have the boogeyman hiding
behind a telephone pole or something?
745
00:35:48,228 --> 00:35:50,938
Or the bushes.
He does seem to like the bushes.
746
00:35:51,023 --> 00:35:53,483
But the idea was born in the cutting room.
747
00:35:53,568 --> 00:35:56,398
Well, the original ending
was from Loomis's point of view,
748
00:35:56,487 --> 00:35:57,606
from inside the house.
749
00:35:57,697 --> 00:35:59,657
Loomis's point of view,
750
00:35:59,739 --> 00:36:04,289
"The backyard, the neighboring yards,
the street, all are empty, quiet, dark."
751
00:36:04,369 --> 00:36:07,369
"There is only the sound
of the wind swelling in the trees."
752
00:36:07,456 --> 00:36:11,335
"Michael is gone. Period. Fade to black."
753
00:36:11,418 --> 00:36:12,668
"Roll end titles."
754
00:36:12,753 --> 00:36:17,302
But to change perspective
this late in the game was a big challenge.
755
00:36:17,382 --> 00:36:18,762
We just didn't have
756
00:36:18,842 --> 00:36:22,563
a bunch of establishing shots
of places to work with.
757
00:36:22,637 --> 00:36:25,677
Establishing shots like this.
But luckily for them…
758
00:36:25,766 --> 00:36:28,726
I saved a lot of the stuff
that normally you would throw out.
759
00:36:28,811 --> 00:36:31,610
Tommy would go through
and he would find
760
00:36:31,688 --> 00:36:33,978
a piece of the empty staircase
761
00:36:34,065 --> 00:36:38,735
before the slate came in,
shots of just empty locations.
762
00:36:38,820 --> 00:36:40,621
We just stole every,
763
00:36:40,697 --> 00:36:45,827
absolutely every little shot we could find
to put that montage together.
764
00:36:45,911 --> 00:36:48,661
A spine-tingling end
to a distressful thriller
765
00:36:48,748 --> 00:36:51,038
that for John Carpenter,
was far from over.
766
00:36:51,125 --> 00:36:52,994
John was the composer.
767
00:36:53,085 --> 00:36:55,085
He was Bowling Green Symphony Orchestra,
768
00:36:55,170 --> 00:36:56,880
which is credited on the screen.
769
00:36:57,590 --> 00:36:59,090
All the music came from John.
770
00:36:59,175 --> 00:37:01,005
And it all came rather quickly.
771
00:37:01,092 --> 00:37:03,143
I think he did it in, like,
three days or something.
772
00:37:03,221 --> 00:37:07,231
The thought of which is almost
as terrifying as the main theme itself.
773
00:37:07,307 --> 00:37:08,307
You know the one.
774
00:37:14,065 --> 00:37:17,644
So simple. The riff is repeated
and repeated and repeated,
775
00:37:17,735 --> 00:37:19,815
but it isn't repeated the same way.
776
00:37:21,989 --> 00:37:24,579
Music tells you how you're supposed
to feel about this stuff.
777
00:37:24,659 --> 00:37:27,748
John's music for Halloween
was masterful with that.
778
00:37:27,827 --> 00:37:30,918
And after masterfully
marrying that music to picture…
779
00:37:30,998 --> 00:37:33,577
It was like another movie.
I jumped out of my chair.
780
00:37:33,668 --> 00:37:35,588
As for the movie's financial investor…
781
00:37:35,670 --> 00:37:38,880
And Moustapha came with me
to screen the movie,
782
00:37:38,965 --> 00:37:40,925
I'll never forget,
we came out of the screening
783
00:37:41,007 --> 00:37:42,717
and Moustapha was quiet, pensive.
784
00:37:42,802 --> 00:37:44,641
What's the matter with you?
785
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:48,019
And he turned to me
and said those immortal words to me.
786
00:37:48,516 --> 00:37:50,806
"I don't see my name
anywhere on the screen."
787
00:37:52,103 --> 00:37:54,693
Easily fixed. But more importantly…
788
00:37:54,771 --> 00:37:58,822
At that moment, I knew
we had a big, important movie.
789
00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:01,030
And so, things came full circle
790
00:38:01,112 --> 00:38:04,782
when Irwin arranged a sneak peek
preview screening of his own movie.
791
00:38:04,864 --> 00:38:07,235
And I invited all the studios to come.
792
00:38:07,326 --> 00:38:09,445
But they didn't.
The studios never sent anybody.
793
00:38:09,536 --> 00:38:12,367
Instead, a bunch of college students did.
794
00:38:12,456 --> 00:38:13,916
Is that any help?
795
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,710
The big studios weren't interested
in making horror pictures.
796
00:38:17,795 --> 00:38:20,045
That was déclassé for them.
797
00:38:20,130 --> 00:38:22,130
You're not doing very much
to prove me wrong.
798
00:38:22,215 --> 00:38:24,175
And as for those college kids…
799
00:38:24,260 --> 00:38:26,179
The screening was a howling success.
800
00:38:26,262 --> 00:38:28,851
Jamie Lee Curtis drops the knife
a number of times.
801
00:38:28,931 --> 00:38:30,251
And the last time she dropped it,
802
00:38:30,307 --> 00:38:33,807
some wise guy from the audience yelled,
"You deserve to die!"
803
00:38:33,893 --> 00:38:37,114
Despite what the studios thought,
804
00:38:37,188 --> 00:38:38,688
Halloween didn't deserve to die.
805
00:38:38,773 --> 00:38:41,943
So Irwin fell back
on another talent from his past.
806
00:38:42,027 --> 00:38:43,068
Loading trucks.
807
00:38:43,153 --> 00:38:45,034
No, what he did after that.
808
00:38:45,114 --> 00:38:46,414
A booker.
You got it.
809
00:38:46,489 --> 00:38:48,949
And he distributed Halloween himself.
810
00:38:49,034 --> 00:38:51,494
I decided that I would open the movie
in a small city.
811
00:38:51,579 --> 00:38:54,918
If I got good reaction,
I could use them to my advantage.
812
00:38:54,998 --> 00:38:57,378
If they weren't that good,
I could bury the news
813
00:38:57,460 --> 00:38:58,920
and go on to the next market.
814
00:38:59,003 --> 00:39:01,262
So, stealthfully and silently,
815
00:39:01,338 --> 00:39:05,219
the film crept up on moviegoers
five days before Halloween
816
00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:10,561
at an AMC in Kansas City,
Missouri, in 1978.
817
00:39:10,639 --> 00:39:14,938
And I settled back that weekend
and waited for the result.
818
00:39:15,018 --> 00:39:17,898
And by the end of the first day…
819
00:39:17,980 --> 00:39:21,190
You know, it wasn't great,
but it was respectable.
820
00:39:21,275 --> 00:39:24,644
"Respectable." There you go.
Take that, studio.
821
00:39:24,737 --> 00:39:26,856
But the next day, it was double.
822
00:39:27,530 --> 00:39:30,661
And the third day,
exponentially double again.
823
00:39:31,242 --> 00:39:33,413
That means that
everyone who saw that movie
824
00:39:33,496 --> 00:39:35,746
was on the phone when they got home.
825
00:39:35,831 --> 00:39:38,960
Halloween was going viral,
late '70s style.
826
00:39:39,043 --> 00:39:41,802
So now that I knew I had a movie
that people really wanted to see,
827
00:39:41,878 --> 00:39:44,298
I thought I'll take a chance
and take it to a big city
828
00:39:44,382 --> 00:39:46,342
where I might get a decent review.
829
00:39:46,425 --> 00:39:49,175
Next, taking the movie to Chicago.
830
00:39:49,260 --> 00:39:53,391
Beat out every movie from
every major studio and ran for two months.
831
00:39:53,474 --> 00:39:55,643
With rave reviews from Roger Ebert
832
00:39:55,726 --> 00:39:58,186
and Tom Allen from The Village Voice.
833
00:39:58,269 --> 00:40:00,860
More theaters got added,
and then more theaters got added,
834
00:40:00,940 --> 00:40:03,690
and it just started turning
into this monster.
835
00:40:04,818 --> 00:40:07,278
And, like The Shape,
Halloween left audiences…
836
00:40:07,362 --> 00:40:08,992
Screaming.
Laughing together.
837
00:40:09,072 --> 00:40:10,322
Talking to the screen.
838
00:40:10,407 --> 00:40:13,447
Can't you answer me?
As if the third wall had broken down.
839
00:40:13,536 --> 00:40:16,706
"Don't go in there, you crazy woman!
What are you doing?" You know?
840
00:40:16,789 --> 00:40:19,958
They weren't watching a movie.
They were experiencing this movie.
841
00:40:20,708 --> 00:40:22,958
Without the big studios behind him,
842
00:40:23,045 --> 00:40:25,085
audiences had to wait their turn.
843
00:40:25,172 --> 00:40:27,172
It wasn't a hit right away.
844
00:40:27,257 --> 00:40:28,878
It sort of rolled out slowly,
845
00:40:28,967 --> 00:40:31,177
and just kept building and building.
846
00:40:31,262 --> 00:40:34,222
And perhaps the momentum may have fizzled
847
00:40:34,306 --> 00:40:36,726
if it hadn't been for one key detail.
848
00:40:36,809 --> 00:40:40,309
Identification with the holiday
is what made this thing work.
849
00:40:40,396 --> 00:40:43,476
Yeah. Halloween comes 'round every year.
850
00:40:43,565 --> 00:40:46,146
If we had made this movie and called it
"The Babysitter Murders,"
851
00:40:46,235 --> 00:40:47,635
I don't think we'd be sitting here.
852
00:40:47,695 --> 00:40:50,815
So, by Halloween of 1979,
853
00:40:50,905 --> 00:40:53,405
The Shape resurfaced in theaters.
854
00:40:53,492 --> 00:40:57,751
Then again in 1980, and then in 1981…
855
00:40:57,829 --> 00:40:59,079
Halloween II.
856
00:40:59,164 --> 00:41:04,625
…came along, and by then, it had firmly
cemented its status as a horror classic.
857
00:41:04,711 --> 00:41:08,092
Word of mouth. You can't buy it.
By the end of its run,
858
00:41:08,173 --> 00:41:11,764
Halloween grossed over $70 million,
859
00:41:11,844 --> 00:41:17,603
which was just a little bit more
than that $300,000 budget.
860
00:41:17,682 --> 00:41:20,063
It's like winning
the Kentucky Derby, I suppose,
861
00:41:20,143 --> 00:41:22,903
or hitting a grand slam
in the World Series, that's how it felt.
862
00:41:22,980 --> 00:41:24,519
It's a film that changed films.
863
00:41:24,606 --> 00:41:28,356
Halloween just puts it all together
for the first time and becomes
864
00:41:28,443 --> 00:41:31,994
the root of, like, every slasher
that would come after it.
865
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:37,500
But the success of Halloween
didn't just inspire imitation.
866
00:41:37,577 --> 00:41:40,998
Made lots of people raise hand and say,
"I wanna do that." Including myself.
867
00:41:41,081 --> 00:41:45,090
And today, a whole new generation
of fans-turned-filmmakers
868
00:41:45,668 --> 00:41:49,628
are keeping the sick
and sordid saga of Michael Myers
869
00:41:49,715 --> 00:41:54,295
just as successful and relevant
as it was over 40 years ago.
870
00:41:54,385 --> 00:41:57,175
A fun mythology
to be invited into the world of.
871
00:41:58,139 --> 00:42:00,980
And as for the man
who created that mythology,
872
00:42:01,059 --> 00:42:04,769
John Carpenter took
the extraordinary success of Halloween
873
00:42:04,855 --> 00:42:07,224
and built it into a multi-decade career,
874
00:42:07,315 --> 00:42:12,735
directing over a dozen films including
Escape from New York and The Thing,
875
00:42:12,820 --> 00:42:16,161
often collaborating
with the same family of filmmakers
876
00:42:16,242 --> 00:42:18,742
that helped him make Halloween.
877
00:42:18,827 --> 00:42:22,536
Tommy and Nick would go on
to direct their own movies,
878
00:42:22,623 --> 00:42:26,672
and Debra Hill became
one of the top producers in Hollywood.
879
00:42:26,751 --> 00:42:28,592
She was head of production at Paramount.
880
00:42:28,670 --> 00:42:31,590
Producing hits like Clue
and The Fisher King.
881
00:42:32,382 --> 00:42:33,382
And…
882
00:42:34,260 --> 00:42:35,639
Man, then she passed away.
883
00:42:36,302 --> 00:42:39,353
And while her life
was tragically cut short,
884
00:42:39,431 --> 00:42:43,440
her legacy lives on
in those characters she brought to life.
885
00:42:43,518 --> 00:42:45,938
The success of the characters,
886
00:42:46,021 --> 00:42:48,320
especially the female characters
in the movie,
887
00:42:48,398 --> 00:42:50,478
could really be attributed to Debra Hill.
888
00:42:50,568 --> 00:42:52,898
Not only female film characters,
889
00:42:52,987 --> 00:42:55,237
but female filmmakers.
890
00:42:55,322 --> 00:42:59,661
Debra was especially conscious
of women's role in filmmaking,
891
00:42:59,742 --> 00:43:03,663
helping women step up
and get more opportunity.
892
00:43:03,746 --> 00:43:05,827
And while the passage of time
893
00:43:05,916 --> 00:43:08,746
has spread the Halloween family
far and wide,
894
00:43:08,835 --> 00:43:12,585
the house where it all began
keeps the memories alive.
895
00:43:12,672 --> 00:43:17,762
Here, in South Pasadena,
where every day is Halloween.
896
00:43:21,556 --> 00:43:26,556
Especially when The Shape himself
returns to haunt the grounds,
897
00:43:26,644 --> 00:43:31,894
and who to this day is still armed
with his razor-sharp…
898
00:43:32,610 --> 00:43:33,650
memory?
899
00:43:33,735 --> 00:43:36,485
This was Judith Myers's room.
900
00:43:36,989 --> 00:43:38,989
This original Halloween house
901
00:43:39,074 --> 00:43:42,414
has been preserved
as a California Registered Landmark,
902
00:43:42,494 --> 00:43:44,914
including a small museum out the back.
903
00:43:44,996 --> 00:43:46,496
Let's go see what it's like.
904
00:43:47,123 --> 00:43:49,793
It's locked.
Probably for the best.
905
00:43:49,876 --> 00:43:51,496
It happened in here.
906
00:43:52,003 --> 00:43:54,173
I'm sure that
you get a lot of fans out here.
907
00:43:55,923 --> 00:43:57,224
Hey, guys.
908
00:43:58,217 --> 00:44:01,967
What's going on?
Please, please, up, up. No!
909
00:44:02,472 --> 00:44:04,273
I've done a lot of movies on my own,
910
00:44:04,349 --> 00:44:06,639
but this is the one
I'll be remembered for,
911
00:44:06,726 --> 00:44:08,516
being behind a mask.
912
00:44:08,603 --> 00:44:11,193
And it's just...
That's the way it goes in Hollywood.
913
00:44:11,773 --> 00:44:13,233
They kept it pretty good?
914
00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:18,409
But even before
The Shape first stalked these halls…
915
00:44:18,489 --> 00:44:19,778
Many moons ago.
916
00:44:19,864 --> 00:44:22,235
…there was one guy, following his dream.
917
00:44:22,326 --> 00:44:24,996
"If you know about
making movies, why don't you make 'em?"
918
00:44:25,079 --> 00:44:29,539
Who rolled up his sleeves,
put on his shorts, and got it done.
919
00:44:29,625 --> 00:44:33,954
Look, my whole life, in a sense,
could be defined by Halloween now.
920
00:44:34,045 --> 00:44:38,876
It enabled me to move on
to other things and make more movies.
921
00:44:38,967 --> 00:44:42,597
And, in fact,
it did the same for everyone.
922
00:44:43,514 --> 00:44:47,273
It gave careers to people
like John Carpenter, Debra Hill,
923
00:44:47,351 --> 00:44:52,061
and that whole host of brigands,
those wonderful kids that made that movie.
924
00:44:52,146 --> 00:44:54,016
This was our big break.
925
00:44:54,108 --> 00:44:58,648
And the fact that we got it and
it turned out to be a good fucking movie
926
00:44:58,737 --> 00:45:00,527
is just icing on the cake.
927
00:45:00,614 --> 00:45:04,373
From their microscopic budget
to a pumpkin shortage,
928
00:45:04,451 --> 00:45:07,661
the team that made
Halloween weren't handed much.
929
00:45:07,746 --> 00:45:12,835
It took so many things to go right
with that movie to make it what it was.
930
00:45:12,918 --> 00:45:16,338
But when you combine
a great group of friends
931
00:45:16,422 --> 00:45:18,342
with some scary costumes,
932
00:45:18,423 --> 00:45:20,514
maybe a few bottles of wine,
933
00:45:20,592 --> 00:45:24,891
well, that's all you need
for a perfect Halloween.
934
00:45:24,972 --> 00:45:28,561
Fifty Halloweens from now,
people will be watching this movie.
935
00:45:28,641 --> 00:45:32,061
"Fade to black. Roll end titles. The end."
77090