Halloween [1978]

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1978
Running Times: 91 mins [Australia, USA]     93 mins [Argentina, Netherlands]
Format: Metrocolor     35mm
Ratio: Panavision [anamorphic]     2.35:1
Sound: mono     Dolby [re-release]

PRODUCTION
Copyright: © MCMLXXVIII by Falcon International Production
Presenter Moustapha Akkad
Executive Producer: Irwin Yablans
Produced by: Debra Hill, John Carpenter (uncredited)
Associate Producer: Kool Lusby
Production Manager: Don Behrns

SCRIPT
Screenplay by: John Carpenter and Debra Hill

DIRECTION
Directed by: John Carpenter
Assistant Director: Rick Wallace
2nd Assistant Director: Jack De Wolf

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Dean Cundey
Camera Operator: Ray Stella
Panaglide: Ray Stella
Assistant Cameraman: Fred Victar
2nd Assistant Cameraman: Krishna Rao
Gaffer: Mark Walthour
Best Boy: Josh Miller
Key Grip: Dylan Shephard
Best Boy: Josh Miller
Grip: Walt Hill
Stills: Kim Gottlieb

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Film Editors: Charles Bornstein, Tommy Wallace

MUSIC
Music by: John Halloween
Music Performed by: The Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestrations: Dan Wyman
Music Coordinator: Bob Walters
Music Recording: Sound Arts
Music Recordist and Mixer: Peter Bergren

MUSIC AND ADDITIONAL MUSIC
"Don't Fear the Reaper"
Blue Oyster Cult
courtesy CBS Records

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Tommy Causey
Boom Operator: Joe Brennan
Supervising Sound Editor: William Stevenson
Re-Recording: Samuel Goldwyn Studios

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Makeup: Erica Ulland
Wardrobe: Beth Rodgers

VISUAL EFFECTS
Titles and Opticals: MGM

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Tommy Wallace
Assistant Art Director: Randy Moore
Set Decorator / Property Master: Craig Stearns
Set Painter: Richard Girod

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Louise Jaffe
Production Assistants: Barry Bernardi, Paul Fox

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
"The Thing" courtesy RKO General; "Forbidden Planet" courtesy MGM

LOCATIONS
Locations: North Hollywood, California, USA; Pasadena, California, USA; Rosemead, California, USA; South Pasadena High School, South Pasadena, California, USA; South Pasadena, California, USA

STUNTS
Stunts: Jim Windburn

CAST
Donald Pleasence [Dr Sam Loomis]
Jamie Lee Curtis [Laurie Strode]
Nancy Loomis (real name: Nancy Kyes) [Annie Brackett]
P.J. Soles [Lynda]
Charles Cyphers [Sheriff Leigh Brackett]
Kyle Richards [Lindsey Wallace]
Brian Andrews [Tommy Doyle]
John Michael Graham [Bob]
Nancy Stephens [Marion Chambers]
Arthur Malet [graveyard keeper]
Mickey Yablans [Richie]
Brent Le Page [Lonnie Elamb]
Adam Hollander [Keith]
Robert Phalen [Dr Wynn]
Tony Moran [Michael Myers aged 21]
Will Sandin [Michael aged 6]
Sandy Johnson [Judith Myers]
David Kyle [Judith's boyfriend]
Peter Griffith [Laurie's father]
Nick Castle [The Shape]
John Carpenter [voice of boyfriend on phone - uncredited]
George O'Hanlon [uncredited]

As a young boy, Michael Myers stabs his older sister to death. Years later, he escapes from his psychiatric hospital and, pursued by a doctor, makes his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. On Halloween night, he start picking off babysitters until only Laurie Strode is left to face the apparently unstoppable killer.

The classic slasher movie and an almost perfect example of just how to make a horror movie. Everything about the film works and, if it sometimes seems a little mechanical and contrived, none of that matters one jot while you're being terrified by it. It made Carpenter a horror superstar and created a whole new genre of horror movies heavily indebted to the Italian gialli of the 70s. [Full Review]

Finland
Theatrical Distributor: Future Film

Netherlands
Theatrical Distributor: Indies Film Distribution

UK
Laserdisc Distributor: Odyssey [ODL101]

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Compass International Pictures
Video Distributors: Anchor Bay Entertainment; Media Home Entertainment
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay [DV10324]; [DV10896]; [DV10929]
Laserdisc Distributors: Criterion [CC1462L]; [CC1399L]; Image Entertainment [I5033]

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Argentina
Rating: 18

Australia
Rating: R

Finland
Rating: K-18

France
Rating: -16; -12 [1999 re-release]

Netherlands
Rating: 16

Norway
Rating: 18; 15 [1999 re-release]

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R [MPAA no.25373]

West Germany
Rating: 16

1979
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA
Saturn Award: Best Horror Film - winner

1978
March
Day Unknown: USA - filming begins

October
25: USA - theatrical release

March
14: France - theatrical release

July
13: Finland - theatrical release

August
6: Sweden - theatrical release

1980
January
22: Norway - theatrical release

1994
October
26: USA - laserdisc release [Criterion [CC1399L]]

1995
February
21: UK - planned television broadcast on BBC1 is cancelled [see Production Notes for details]

1996
September
7: UK - laserdisc release [Odyssey [ODL101]]
11: USA - laserdisc release [Criterion [CC1462L]]

1997
December
10: USA - DVD release [Anchor Bay [DV10324]]

1999
September
14: USA - DVD release [Anchor Bay [DV10929]]
28: USA - DVD release [Anchor Bay [DV10896]]

October
27: France - theatrical re-release

2000
May
3: Netherlands - theatrical re-release

The Night HE Came Home

HE came home for HALLOWEEN.

The Babystitter Murders - working title
La nuit des masques - French title

SEQUELS
Halloween II [1981]
Halloween III: Season of the Witch [1982]
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers [1988]
Halloween 5 [1989]
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers [1995]
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later [1998]
Halloween: Resurrection [2002]

SEE ALSO
Black Christmas [1974]
Blood Simple [1984]
Bride of Chucky [1998]
The Burning [1981]
The Collector [1965]
The Dead Hate the Living [1999]
Deliria [1987]
Ecologia del delitto [1971]
Freak [1998]
Frenzy [1972]
Friday the 13th [1980]
Fright [1971]
The Funhouse [1981]
He Knows You're Alone [1980]
I Know What You Did Last Summer [1997]
Loaded [1994]
Mørkeræd [1998]
New Year's Evil [1981]
Offerings [1989]
Prom Night [1980]
Psycho [1960]
Scary Movie [2000]
Scream [1996]
Scream 2 [1997]
Student Bodies [1981]
Wacko [1981]
What Lies Beneath [2000]

INCLUDES FOOTAGE FROM
The Thing From Another World [1951]
Forbidden Planet [1956]
Psycho [1960]

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years of Horror [1996]
The American Nightmare [2000]
Heartstoppers: Horror at the Movies [1992]
Masters of Horror [2002]
Terror in the Aisles [1984]

MAGAZINES

The Dark Side no.55 p.52 [UK]
credits, review

The Dark Side no.60 pp.17-18 [UK]
illustrated review

Killing Moon no.4 p.17 [UK]
review

Mad Movies no.52 p.43 [France]
review

Shivers no.36 p.15 [UK]
review

Strange Adventures Summer Special 1989 pp.6-7 [UK]
review

NEWSPAPERS

The Daily Mail 1 May 1990 p.4 [UK]
illustrated article [Horror film 'took over the mind of a killer' by Margaret Henfield]

The Daily Mail 2 May 1990 p.22 [UK]
illustrated article [Clerk accused of gun spree 'too ill for trial' by Roger Scott]

The Guardian 24 February 1995 [UK]
article [Prime cuts by Farrah Anwar]

The Guardian Section 2 24 April - 1 May 1998 p.17 [UK]
review [by John Pierson]

The Times Magazine 10 June 1995 p.57 [UK]
review

The Western Mail 19 May 1979 [UK]
illustrated review [Welcome, Son of Psycho by David Hughes]

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

serial killers, closets, strangulation, masks, stalk and slash, teenagers, babysitters, knives, halloween

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007