Trivia / Halloween (1978)

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The script called for Dr. Loomis to look shocked when Michael's body disappears from the lawn. Donald Pleasence argued that he should have an "I knew this would happen" look. They shot it both ways; the latter made the final film. The Oh, Crap! reaction was retained for the 2nd film, however.
  • The actors mostly wore their own clothes due to the tight budget. Laurie's wardrobe however was bought for $100 at a local JC Penney's.
• Billing Displacement: Donald Pleasence gets billed above the main title. While his Loomis is a major character, the film's protagonist is Laurie. This is completely due to Pleasence being the only name actor in the piece, However unlike other films which usually bill the actors that are being introduced after the established actors have been credited, Jamie Lee Curtis is billed right after Pleasence in the female lead position of the credits order. Thanks to the film being a star-making turn for Curtis, she's billed above the title right along with Pleasence in the credits for the film's sequel. Home releases of Halloween nowadays tend to give Curtis top billing on the cover, over Pleasence, as Jamie Lee Curtis is much more well known now.
• Blooper:
  • When Tommy first sees Michael carrying Annie's body, Annie's head is on Michael's left side. It cuts to Tommy's horrified reaction, then back to Michael, and now her head is on his right side.
  • The credits' information is wrong; it's mentioned that Michael was 6 when he killed Judith and 21 throughout the rest of the film, yet the credits say he was 8 and the present-day Michael (specifically Tony Moran) is 23.
• Breakthrough Hit: For John Carpenter.
• California Doubling: The movie was filmed in California in the spring, as opposed to Illinois in the fall. In spite of the set decorators' attempts to scatter dead leaves along all the sidewalks, the trees are all bright green. There are even some palm trees and mountains visible in some backgrounds.
• Channel Hop: The film was produced independently through Irwin Yablan's Compass International, who also distributed the film themselves because the major studios were uninterested, though the prints were struck through MGM. Warner-Columbia released the film in some international territories. On home video, the film was originally released exclusively by Blockbuster, and later Media Home Entertainment (VHS) and The Criterion Collection (LaserDisc). Anchor Bay also released the film numerous times through VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray for almost twenty years before Lionsgate took over the home video rights, and released the film on 4K UHD.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Sweden: All Saints' Bloody Night
  • Italy: Witch's Night
  • France: Night of the Masks
  • Portugal: Return of Evil
• Corpsing: In the scene where Sheriff Brackett surprises Laurie as she walks up the sidewalk with her back turned, she covers her mouth. This was actually Jamie Lee Curtis trying not to laugh.
• Creator Backlash: Both John Carpenter and Debra Hill expressed displeasure at the Sex Signals Death trope's rise in horror after this movie. They said the reason the horny teenagers got killed was because they were too busy trying to do it that they failed to notice a killer approaching; they're punished for carelessness, not pre-marital sex. Laurie only survives because she's on her own for most of the film.
• Creator Couple: Debra Hill and John Carpenter were dating, and co-wrote the screenplay in addition to her producing and him directing.
• Darkhorse Casting: The film's low budget meant that Donald Pleasence was the only name actor in the cast.
• Dawson Casting: The actors playing Lynda, Annie and Bob were all in their late 20s playing high school students. The only "teen" actor close to her character's age was Jamie Lee Curtis, who was 19.
• Divorced Installment: This was originally a sequel to Black Christmas (1974). John Carpenter had approached Bob Clark for ideas and, while the latter didn't want to do a sequel, he did suggest what would happen in one; the unseen killer Billy from the original would have been caught, sent to a mental hospital, escape years later and start killing at the house again, this time on Halloween.
• Executive Meddling: A very positive example. The film's financiers conceived of the idea of a killer pursuing babysitters and hired Carpenter to make the film, giving him full creative control. They requested that the film have scary moments every ten minutes and also suggested the Halloween theming.
• Follow the Leader: Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad approached John Carpenter to make a film that would have the same impact as The Exorcist.
• The Foreign Subtitle:
  • Brazil: Halloween: Night of Terror
  • Finland: Halloween: Night of the Masks
  • Germany: Halloween: The Night of Horror
  • Italy: Halloween: The Night of the Witches
  • Norway: Halloween: The Night the Killer Came
• Funny Character, Boring Actor: Inverted. Jamie Lee Curtis said she related more to the outgoing Lynda and Annie than the shy, bookish Laurie.
• He Also Did: Nick Castle would go on to direct The Last Starfighter.
• Inspiration for the Work: The story is based on an experience John Carpenter had in college touring a psychiatric hospital. Carpenter met a child who stared at him "with a look of evil" that terrified him.
• Missing Trailer Scene: An alternate version of Lynda on the phone with Laurie was shot for the trailer, because PJ Soles's blouse was open in the final film. In the trailers and publicity stills, she is wearing a bathrobe instead.
• No Budget: Only $320,000 was spent for this film. John Carpenter himself received only $10,000 to co-write, score, and direct the film ($43,000 in 2018). Nick Castle, who played The Shape, only earned $25 a day! This is pretty amazing for a film that grossed a total of $70 million.
• Playing Against Type: Donald Pleasence had been primarily playing villains (most famously Ernst Stavro Blofeld) up until this point.
• Production Posse: Many in the cast and crew had worked with Carpenter before, including co-writer/producer Debra Hill (Carpenter's girlfriend), actors Nick Castle and Charles Cyphers, actress Nancy Loomis, and editor Tommy Lee Wallace. He would continue to collaborate with all of them on future projects.
• Romance on the Set: Nancy Loomis dated and later married editor Tommy Lee Wallace. They had two kids and eventually divorced.
• Sleeper Hit: One of the defining examples. An extremely low budget indie film, where Donald Pleasence was the only notable name (and he was a character actor), that was panned in its first week. Then one glowing review (it was Roger Ebert's; ironic, as he loathed the slasher genre this film birthed) compared it to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and it grossed over $1 million in the next week alone. It ultimately grossed $70 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful indie films ever.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Donald Pleasence confessed to John Carpenter that the main reason why he took the part of Loomis was because his daughter Angela (who was a musician) had loved Carpenter's musical score for Assault on Precinct 13 (1976).
• Star-Making Role: For Jamie Lee Curtis. She did get typecast as a Final Girl for a few years before properly shaking that off and establishing herself as a star in her own right.
• Stunt Casting: John Carpenter originally wasn't interested in the unknown Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie. But when he heard she was the daughter of Psycho's Janet Leigh, he cast her in the hopes of drumming up publicity.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Christopher Lee turned down the role of Dr. Loomis. He later said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his career (although he also said the same thing about turning down Leslie Nielsen's role in Airplane!). Also, Peter Cushing was the first choice to play Dr. Loomis, but his asking price was too high, probably as the result of his raised profile from A New Hope. Other candidates included John Belushi (who was busy doing Animal House), Lloyd Bridges, Mel Brooks, Yul Brynner, David Carradine, Kirk Douglas, Sterling Hayden, Dennis Hopper, Kris Kristofferson, Walter Matthau, Charles Napier, Peter O'Toole and Lawrence Tierney.
  • Dennis Quaid was offered the role of Bob (Lynda's boyfriend) since he was dating P.J. Soles at the time, but had to turn it down due to work on another movie.
  • There were two masks to choose from - the more familiar Captain Kirk mask, and a Monster Clown one (as a nod to Michael killing his sister while dressed as a clown). While they found the clown one scary, too, the Captain Kirk one was ruled better because it was emotionless. Other masks considered include Richard Nixon, Spock, and Emmett Kelly.
  • Originally, Dr. Loomis was supposed to have a phone conversation with his wife. Donald Pleasence convinced Carpenter it would be better if the character didn't have a family or a past.
  • There was originally no music in the film at all. When one critic complained the film wasn't scary, John Carpenter composed a score in three days.
• Working Title: The initial story draft was rather bluntly called The Babysitter Murders, since this was the basic premise conceived by the financiers. When they suggested setting the film during Halloween, the new title was an obvious choice. Producer Irwin Yablans denied that this initial title was ever considered, in an interview for The Movies That Made Us, however.
• Write What You Know:
  • Haddonfield was where Debra Hill had grown up in New Jersey.
  • Debra Hill drew on her experience babysitting as a teen and was responsible for writing most of the teenage girls' dialogue.

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