Halloween (1978) — Episode 57

Following the buzz around his first film “Assault on Precinct 13,” director John Carpenter was sought out by a pair of producers named Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad to make a movie about a psychotic killer who stalked babysitters. 

Carpenter agreed to do the project so long as he had complete creative control over the film. He then got to work on the script with his girlfriend Debra Hill with the original title of the film as “The Babysitter Murders.” 

The script reportedly took only a couple of weeks to complete with Carpenter and Hill working in tandem on the story and the dialogue. Once finished, it was the producers who mentioned the possibility of releasing the film around Halloween and with that suggested the title of the movie should change as well. 

Shot on a shoestring budget of just $300,000, Carpenter’s unique approach to several different shots including the iconic point-of-view from the killer have been praised by other directors for more than 40 years. Carpenter also managed to compose the entire score himself, which included arguably the most iconic horror theme of all time. 

The film absolutely terrified audiences as a faceless psychopath named Michael Myers stalked his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois and killed any and every babysitter that stood in his path…

In the latest episode of Rewind of the Living Dead, we’re going to put on our William Shatner masks and sharpen up our kitchen knives as we discuss the iconic 1978 film “Halloween”…

Follow the hosts:

 Damon Martin @DamonMartin

Patrick Guera @DirectorPatrick

Email us questions at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Andrew Scott Bell and Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

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