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Sean Decker

Cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe Passes Away

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It’s with sadness that we report the passing of longtime John Carpenter collaborator and cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe.

According to Halloween director Carpenter’s official Twitter account, Kibbe was 79 years of age at the time of his passing.

Born January 9, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, Kibbe got his start in film working as a camera operator on several features in the 1970s, with his first Carpenter collaboration coming in 1981 by way of Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II (which Carpenter produced), and his second on 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China, which Carpenter directed. Kibbe would later go on to photograph the majority of Carpenter’s films produced since the mid-1980s, including Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988), Body Bags (1993), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), Escape from L.A. (1996), Vampires (1998), Ghosts of Mars (2001).

Further credits as a cinematographer include 1984’s Sixteen Candles, 1986’s Stand by Me, the 1992 Tales from the Crypt episode “King of the Road,” and additional photography on 1996’s The Crow: City of Angels.

 

Our sincerest condolences to Kibbe’s friends and family from everyone here at HalloweenMovies.com.

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l-to-r: Gary B. Kibbe, John Carpenter & Roddy Piper on the set of They Live (Photo Credit: Cinephilia & Beyond)

Excl. Interview & BTS Photos: Dan Roebuck Talks Halloween – Part 2

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From his debut turn as a teenaged murderer in Tim Hunter’s 1986 cult drama River’s Edge to his role of “Arnold Walker” in the television sci-fi series “The Man in the High Castle,” prolific actor Dan Roebuck has over the span of his thirty-five year career demonstrated an impressive diversity working within multiple genres. But with over two hundred roles under his belt, the often-maligned category of horror remains to this day his personal favorite.

Dan Roebuck in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II

A monster fan from an early age and a lifetime collector of genre ephemera (his assemblage of oddities range from life-sized Frankenstein props and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines to vintage 70s wax museum pennant banners and Don Post Studios masks, and most everything in between), Roebuck would also go on to further explore his love of horror through the arts via several genre roles, including but not limited to turns in Final Destination (2000), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and Larry Blamire’s 2009 cult indie The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (among others), as well as his own creation of his horror persona “Dr. Shocker,” host of Dr. Shocker’s Vault of Horror.

It’s his appearance though as “Lou Martini” in both Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Halloween II which genre fans may most recognize him for, and of which we dug into recently while chatting with the affable actor and filmmaker in his Los Angeles home cum-museum.

“For (2007’s) Halloween, I auditioned,” recalled Roebuck, who at the time had already worked with filmmaker Zombie on The Devil’s Rejects in 2005 (in which he appears as “Morris Green,” a role he’d reprise some years later in 2019’s 3 From Hell). “I’m not precious when it comes to that. Even though I had worked for Rob before I had to prove myself again. This is what I do. I’m an actor, so I don’t mind.”

Of the audition Roebuck remembers, “I actually was coming from a read for something else, and I had glued on a moustache and a beard, because the character I was reading for (in Halloween) was Chester Chesterfield, this groundskeeper that Michael Myers kills at a cemetery.”

“That role ended up going to Sid Haig,” continued Roebuck, “so I didn’t get that part, but Rob said, ‘Do you want to play the part of the strip club owner instead?’ So, that’s how I was cast in Halloween. And I remember I acted opposite Gary Grossman, who was the nerdy guy in (the 1984 film) Bachelor Party, and I was so excited, because I love that film. Gary was the other guy at the bar, and we shot a day or two.”

(left-to-right) Dan Roebuck & Gary Grossman in a scene deleted from Rob Zombie’s Halloween

Reminiscing on principal photography of Halloween, Roebuck offered, “It was in Valencia, California, at The Rabbit in Red set which they had built there. And while there is a shot of me in the movie, one brief glimpse, I think it turned out to my benefit that I got cut out of the film. Because of that, there was no definitive end to my character, which allowed Lou to come back in Halloween II. And that was more of a meal certainly than the role as it was written in the first film. In the first one I had one or two scenes, one of which was a nice one with Sheri (Moon Zombie). But the second film, the role was a much larger one, and it had a great death scene for my character, which we ended up shooting twice, because the first time we shot it, when Michael killed me, he wasn’t wearing the mask.”

As for Roebuck’s return in Halloween II, the actor recalled, “Because I had been in Halloween, it was assumed I suppose that I would be in Halloween II if the character were to return. So, three or four weeks before they were to shoot Halloween II, Rob calls me up and says, ‘Dan, we were just thinking, this guy in the script who’s this Frankenstein guy, I thought maybe it should be Lou Martini. What are you doing this weekend?’ I said, ‘I’ll be wherever you need me to be, Mr. Zombie.’ So, I flew right to Atlanta (Georgia) to the film’s production offices.”

With over two decades having passed in narrative since the introduction of his character in Rob Zombie’s Halloween, the character of Martini was not only required to look older in Zombie’s follow-up, but also at times to sport the previously mentioned Frankenstein’s Monster getup as the script necessitated.

(left-to-right) Dan Roebuck & Wayne Toth (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

“So, it was (makeup department head) Douglas Noe who handled the age makeup and the sideburns, and (special effects makeup designer) Wayne Toth who created the second Frankenstein look,” remembered Roebuck. “So, I went down there, and I was like a kid in a candy store! Wayne is a great makeup man, and on top of that I had friends in the Atlanta area, fellow monster collectors, and they got to come to set and to meet Rob, while the makeup department established the looks.” (Writer’s note: additional never-before-seen photos at the end of this article).

“And I’ll tell you what my favorite part of it was,” expounded Roebuck. “I was in the wardrobe trailer waiting on something, the pants I was going to wear or whatever, and there were some Don Post masks in there. I said, ‘Oh, are you using these in the film?’ And they said, ‘No, we can’t get permission (from Don Post Studios) to use them.’ So, I called Don Post Jr., and he answered the phone, and I said to him, ‘Don, I’m on the set of this new Halloween movie that Rob Zombie’s doing, and do you know this mask? And this mask? Can they use them in the movie? And Don said, ‘Yeah.’ So, I said to production, ‘OK, you now have permission to use these masks in the film!’ So somewhere in the background of Halloween II are those Don Post masks! What are the odds?”

As for Roebuck’s death scene as originally shot in Halloween II, the actor stated, “The first time, you know, it wasn’t much of a death. Tyler kind of just threw me into a locker, and that was that. He had already stomped Jeff Daniel Phillips, and I don’t remember what he did to Sylvia Jefferies’ character. But the deaths were much quicker. And then, when we went to re-shoot with Tyler wearing the mask, we shot all that totally inappropriate stuff. You know, the, ‘You want to bang Frankenstein’s monster?’ stuff.”

(left-to-right) Sylvia Jefferies & Dan Roebuck in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II

Of that, Roebuck recalled, “So, my wife called during filming and asked, ‘How’s it going? What are you up to?’ And I said, ‘Oh, it’s a hard day, you know, I’m up here with this naked actress.’ My wife said, ‘What? She’s naked? How naked?’ And I said, ‘Well, naked.’ You know, you can’t for the life of you convince someone who you’re married to that spending a day with a gorgeous naked lady is work. So, don’t even try.”

Regarding his death scene redux, “I’m sure that I have brain damage from it, to this day,” he laughed. “When we were shooting the scene in the (strip club’s) hall, and I’m trying to think of how the shots are configured, but I think I was running away from (Michael Myers actor) Tyler Mane, and the camera was behind him and he yelled, ‘Dan!’ And I turned around to see that he was running at me in huge steps, and he probably covered thirty-five feet of hallway in just five of them, and I was like, ‘Ahhh!’ Because he was Michael Myers, and I hadn’t seen him in the mask up until that point. And that was quite simply total immersion: the immersion of your child self into your adult self, and from the kid to the artist. None of that was lost on me. From the boy who was inspired by movie monsters to act and to create to the adult who later was working with movie monsters, it was full circle. It was a gift.”

As for Roebuck’s personal relationship with the 6’ 8” Mane, “He’s just quite simply a really nice man. You know, my daughter has always called him ‘Buttercup,’ because as a little kid she gave all of my friends nicknames. So, she told him, ‘I’m going to call you Buttercup.’ And he just smiled and said, ‘OK.’”

For more, check out part 1 of our interview with Roebuck here, and for those interested in Roebuck’s latest endeavors, you can visit achannelofpeace.org for more.

(left-to-right) Gary Grossman, Dan Roebuck, Ken Foree & Rob Zombie (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

(left-to-right) Dan Roebuck, Tyler Mane & Sylvia Jefferies (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

(left-to-right) Douglas Noe & Dan Roebuck (Photo Credit: Dan Roebuck)

(left-to-right) Dan Roebuck & Rob Zombie (Photo Credit: Dan Roebuck)

Between takes on the set of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

 

 

Fright-Rags’ Latest Halloween Tee Goes International

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Shipping the week of March 20th, 2020, pre-orders are currently available for one of Fright-Rags’ latest Officially Licensed Halloween tees, this one featuring artwork by Kyle Crawford.

Bearing a celebratory collage of international marketing from John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, the long sleeve tee is made of 100% pre-shrunk ringspun cotton.

To grab yours, head on over to Fright Rags here, and follow them on their Instagram account @FrightRags for more Myers related apparel.

 

Excl. Interview & BTS Photos: Dan Roebuck Talks Halloween, River’s Edge & More

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The Rabbit in Red. For horror audiences watching John Carpenter’s classic film Halloween in 1978, the crimson book of matches which bore that name served merely as a quasi MacGuffin: a piece of strategically placed production art intended to communicate antagonist Michael Myers journey from Smith’s Grove to a remote set of train tracks outside Haddonfield. For Halloween fans though, who often obsess over minutia, the lounge’s name itself would become a ‘deep cut’ as emblematic as the film’s iconic poster art, with the Rabbit logo finding its way first onto black market merchandise, and later licensed product.

The Rabbit in Red – Rob Zombie’s Halloween 

Rockstar turned writer and director Rob Zombie also took notice, and in penning his 2007 reimagining of the film he appropriated the Rabbit name, transforming it from a simple Midwestern lounge to a full-blown strip club in which young Michael Myer’s mother Deborah works. The Rabbit in Red would also go on to make an appearance in Zombie’s follow-up to his remake, 2009’s Halloween II. And as with most cinematic portrayals of strip clubs, it wouldn’t be complete without a colorful owner.

Enter prolific actor Dan Roebuck, who as The Rabbit in Red’s proprietor “Lou Martini” not only inhabited the role Zombie had written, but also imbued it with some of his own monster loving tendencies.

Sitting down recently with Roebuck in his Los Angeles home-cum-museum (the actor and filmmaker has over time amassed an entirely awe-inspiring collection of antiquities and artifacts, which combined work as a living history of the horror genre itself), we chatted of his involvement in Zombie’s divisive take on Halloween, as well as his early beginnings as an actor opposite Dennis Hopper in 1986’s infamous River’s Edge, and a whole lot more.

Dan Roebuck (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

“I first saw John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1979 at the Boyd Theatre in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,” recalled Roebuck of his teenaged introduction to the film, “and I was obsessed. What Carpenter presented in that movie was something lacking in modern horror film, which was, he re-introduced suspense to the story, as opposed to the William Castle approach of it simply being, “Thrills and Chills!” So, it became a mixture of the two. And I remember being absolutely 100% interested in how that was different.”

Not content with simply being a passive viewer (Roebuck had already at an early age shown an interest in movie monsters and magic, as evidenced by his self-applied makeups using Imagineering products, in direct emulation of his film idol Lon Chaney), the actor decided to augment Michael Myers’ silver screen scares by terrifying captive theater-goers himself.

“I actually made myself up with a rubber white face, because I don’t think anyone knew then that Myers’ mask was actually a (modified) William Shatner mask,” said the now fifty-seven year-old, “and I came back later and ran through the theater while Halloween was playing, just like they used to hire people to do during screenings of The Tingler (in 1959). Bob Clausen, the theater’s manager, he knew I liked to do makeup, and as some friends and I had already started a Rocky Horror Picture Show revival there called the Lehigh Valley Rocky Horror Players, he’d asked me to do it. I guess it didn’t bother him that my fifteen year-old self was running around a screening of a R-rated horror film. But being killed on the screen by Michael Myers himself so many years later? I couldn’t have seen that coming.”

Roebuck’s pubescent interest in Halloween didn’t wane, and following Rick Rosenthal’s follow-up Halloween II in 1981, he like many was eager to see what next the series would bring, and for him the Myer’less third film, 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch, didn’t disappoint.

“By Halloween III they had me,” remembers Roebuck, “because by then I was reading Fangoria magazine, and I was well aware that the masks in the film, the glow-in-the-dark skull, the lime-green witch and the jack-o’-lantern, were made by Don Post Studios, and I lusted after Don Post masks.”

From Dan Roebuck’s Collection. (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

While his love of horror and sci-fi continued to grow, so did his passion for performing, and a move to Hollywood, California, would soon follow. Roles came quickly, and  his second feature film (following his top-billed 1985 comedy Cavegirl), Tim Hunter’s previously mentioned River’s Edge, found Roebuck inhabiting the role of a teenaged murderer opposite the late Dennis Hopper.

Written by Neal Jimenez and co-starring a young Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Crispin Glover and Joshua Miller (who had made his own film debut in Halloween III), the suburban, post-punk flick is based on an actual 1981 crime, in which a sixteen-year-old Milpitas, California resident raped and murdered his fourteen-year-old girlfriend before boasting about the crime to his peers, who then took over two full days to report it.

In River’s Edge, Roebuck portrays a representation of that murderer, the unhinged and disassociated “Samson.”

“I went in as the character,” Roebuck recalled of the audition. “I greased my hair down and put on clothes that were very similar to the (eventual) costuming in the film, like a plaid shirt over some kind of t-shirt, and I walked into the room with a can of beer, cracked open the can and said, ‘Go ahead.’ As far as (director) Tim Hunter knew, I was just some dirty, crazy kid (casting director) Carrie Frazier had found. And the scene I was reading was the scene at the river with (Dennis Hopper’s character of) Feck. You know. ‘So, why’d you kill her? She tell you to eat shit?’ All of that stuff. It was crazy.”

(left-to-right) Actors Roxanna Zal, Josh Richmond, Daniel Roebuck and Ione Skye between takes on River’s Edge (Photo Copyright: Daniel Roebuck)

Already a legend having appeared in such iconic American films as Rebel Without a Cause and Easy Rider, prolific actor Hopper (1936-2010) was however at the time working on a career revival following a recent stint in rehab. Of the trio of films which helped him attain it, one was David Lynch’s Academy Award nominated Blue Velvet, which he had wrapped just prior to principal photography of River’s Edge.

“I only remember the Blue Velvet thing because when we were shooting outside of Feck’s house,” remembered Roebuck. “River’s Edge cinematographer Fred Elms, who had also served as director of photography on Blue Velvet, gave Hopper a wax ear acupuncture model, and none of us knew why. But Dennis was very entertained by it, and I remember it so well.”

As for working with the seasoned actor (many of their scenes together found the two shooting nights on the banks of the American River outside Sacramento, California), “I probably wasn’t smart enough to be intimidated by him,” Roebuck said. “And that’s not a joke. I was such a fan of his. But it was so intimate, him and me. I mean, he’d work with the other kids, then they’d all leave, and I’d have night upon night upon night with just him, and only him. All to myself. And I was elated, actor to actor.”

Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper share a laugh on the set of Rivers Edge (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

Of those scenes which they share in River’s Edge, inarguably the most disturbing revolve around the two characters’ admissions to one another of the unrelated murders of two women, an act Hopper’s character of Feck tearfully regrets onscreen.

“I remember him saying to me off camera while he was crying, that he was thinking of (actress) Natalie Wood,” recalled Roebuck. “She had just died, and she’d been his friend who he’d acted with in Rebel Without a Cause. It was very weird too. Rarely does an actor share the emotional place they go to in order to ‘get there.’ It’s such a personal thing, and I started to weep while watching him cry.”

(left-to-right) Roxanna Zal, Crispin Glover, Josh Richmond, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Phil Brock, Daniel Roebuck and Danyi Deats relax between set-ups on the Rivers Edge (Photo Copyright: Dan Roebuck)

Upon theatrical release in 1986 River’s Edge achieved critical acclaim and cult status, and as a result Roebuck’s career was in full swing. Over the next two decades he’d book well over one hundred film and television roles, including turns in 1987’s Dudes, 1993’s The Fugitive and 2000’s Final Destination, but it wouldn’t be until the late 2000s when his career came full circle. The Pennsylvania teen and monster enthusiast, who’d once frightened theater-goers in his self-applied faux Myers makeup, was about to be murdered on the silver screen by that very masked killer in Rob Zombie’s reimagining.

And that’s what we jump into in part two, which you can read here.

Danielle Harris, Wendy Kaplan & Tamara Glynn Wish Don Shanks a Happy 70th Birthday

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On Michael Myers actor Don Shanks’ 70th birthday, our absolute best wishes from HalloweenMovies and Trancas International Films and his Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers co-stars Danielle Harris, Wendy Kaplan and Tamara Glynn! Here’s to you, Don!

Trick or Treat Studios Unveils Officially Licensed Michael Myers 1:6 Figures

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With the 2020 Toy Fair currently in full swing at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, New York, Trick or Treat Studios has unveiled their brand new officially licensed Michael Myers 1:6 scale figure line from Halloween, and we’ve got an early look!

Priced to retail for $119.99 each (with pre-orders set to go live in the coming weeks, specific dates to be determined), the first releases in the 12” articulated figure line are faithful recreations of cinema’s most iconic slasher Michael Myers from the films Halloween (1978), 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and 1989’s Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, as well The Shape from 2018’s Halloween (coming late 2020), with  portrait sculpture for all by Justin Mabry, additional sculpting by Alex Ray and clothing design by Tinela Ayres.

For all things Trick or Treat Studios related, visit their official website here, and follow them on Instagram at @trick_or_treat_studios

The Official HalloweenMovies Discussion Group is Live!

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We know that you’re a vocal, passionate, opinionated and ardent fan community (so are we!), and thusly we thought, “Why not just create a specific destination where we can not only discuss the Halloween series overall, but also what things we’d all like to see in the future?” The result? The Official HalloweenMovies Discussion Group, which is now live on Facebook.

From Halloween ‘78 to Halloween Ends and everything in between, we wanted to create a space that’ll not only allow your voices to be heard, but one in which we may interact as well, as a supportive community of people who love all things Haddonfield, as moderated by former Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Dread Central, Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton.

Join the conversation here. We’ll be listening (and from time to time giving away some cool stuff too)!

Happy 72nd Birthday to The Master!

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From his 1978 groundbreaking masterpiece Halloween, a film which single-handedly introduced the slasher genre to general audiences worldwide (while simultaneously going on to become one of the most successful independent films of all time), to his early classic features The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing and Christine (and many more), John Carpenter’s unique and subversive work as a filmmaker has been instrumental in defining genre cinema as we know it.

As for his efforts as a musician and composer, he’s further created some of the most iconic melodies ever written for the screen (you’re humming the “Halloween Theme” right now, aren’t you?) and he continues to do so to this day, as evidenced by his recent “Lost Themes” albums and live performances, and his score for Halloween (2018), among others.

In celebration of the man and his incredible and still growing body of work, everyone here at HalloweenMovies.com would like to wish Mr. Carpenter a very happy 72nd birthday!

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Halloween (1978)

The Fog (1980)

Escape From New York (1981)

The Thing (1982)

Christine (1983)

John Carpenter 2018 Tour Promo

Exclusive Interview: Halloween 5’s Wendy Kaplan Speaks! – Part 2

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On the heels of the box office success of 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, series producer Moustapha Akkad was eager to expand the narrative of Haddonfield’s reinvigorated slasher (following the decidedly lackluster reception of its predecessor, the then maligned and now rather celebrated feature Halloween III: Season of the Witch). The result was Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, a feature film directed by Swiss-born director Dominique Othenin-Girard.

Co-written by Girard and screenwriters Michael Jacobs and Shem Bitterman (following the director’s literal trashing of the original Bitterman script titled Halloween: The Killer Inside Me, which was intended as the follow-up), Halloween 5 was rushed into production in order to make its announced release date of October 13th, 1989. The outcome? A picture which proved polarizing for fans, and one which was received with far less fervor, both critically and financially, than its forerunner. Additionally, the narrative, which introduced audiences to the Cult of Thorn mythos, and which additionally was the victim of both reshoots and a post-production process which left entire sections on the cutting room floor, created some confusion within the Halloween fan base.

In part two of our recent interview series with Halloween 5’s Wendy Kaplan (see part one here), the actress talks the film, the rather infamous party scene at the hotel used to house the cast and crew, her offer to potentially appear in Halloween 6, her surprise at the truncated Haddonfield police station massacre as it appeared theatrically, and her thoughts on the flick thirty-one years later.

Wendy Kaplan as ‘Tina Williams’

With principal photography on Halloween 5 kicking off in Salt Lake City, Utah a mere five months before the film’s scheduled release, and script changes occurring consistently throughout production (in fact the script itself wasn’t complete when cameras started to roll), Kaplan recalls that set life too played fast and loose.

“It was a festive group of people,” Kaplan, who portrayed Halloween 5’s (“I’m never sensible if I can help it!“) ‘Tina Williams’ recalled. “It was pretty fun. You can imagine yourself at twenty-three years old, which is how old I was when I made the movie. We were all young actors, excited and on location, and we were crazy.”

Touched on in the bonus feature Dead Man’s Party – The Making of Halloween 5 contained in Anchor Bay and Shout Factory’s 15-disc Halloween Blu-ray box set, Kaplan alluded of the after-hours festivities, which included makeup effects artists Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger of K.N.B. EFX Group (a trio known then for not only their exemplary FX work, but also their penchant for the Sunset Strip’esque revelry of the late 80s), “It was like summer camp. We didn’t have phones or the internet to muck it up. And the party sort of followed the three of them. That sort of rock star thing. Everybody was just sort of trailing along.”

“We were doing night shooting,” she continued, “and then we would come home to the hotel at daybreak and have a party in somebody’s room. And I felt kind of terrible for the other guests, but I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is your typical Hollywood kind of scene.’ I don’t know that we trashed a room, but we would hang out a lot. Even at night we would come home and hang out in this little Salt Lake City hotel bar and ask the bartender to turn up the music, and we would dance. It was fun. I guess every set has that kind of feeling.”

Wendy Kaplan as ‘Tina Williams’

As for her character in the film, conversation turned then to her rather nebulous fate: while indeed stabbed by The Shape (actor Don Shanks) in the third act, she’s never shown definitively as having perished. Was this intended as a set up for Kaplan’s potential return for a Halloween 6?

“I think in the original screenplay it was never really clear what happened to my character,” Kaplan offered. “You know, Tina saved Jamie in the script, but there was no like, ‘Tina’s dead or Tina’s alive, or ‘Jamie goes and visits Tina in the hospital,’ sort of thing. I think it was very open ended, what happened to Tina. And I think that it may have been based on me signing a contractual clause that said I would do a part 6, but my agent didn’t want me to sign it. So, the producers I guess kind of left it open. It could have been that they wanted to hire a whole new crop of people, because I know we were probably a pain in the ass for Moustapha. We were a little crazy when we were shooting Halloween 5. But I do know I didn’t sign on for 6, because my agent was like, ‘Well, it’s really good for you to do Halloween 5, and it’s a significant role in a movie, but it is a horror movie, and we don’t want to make any more commitments.’ But I wound up going back to New York in 1990 and doing a bunch of theater, so it didn’t really have any bearing on anything anyway.”

With the narrative fluctuating as director Girard improvised aspects of the Halloween 5 story-line, and with whole sections missing from the theatrical cut, including the massacre of the Haddonfield police force at the hands of the mysterious Man in Black, Kaplan commented, “I felt that things had to be missing (from the film). They shot in that jail location for a long time, and in the film it’s just Michael sitting in a jail cell, with his mask still on. I was really surprised by that.”

Regarding the heavily edited first act scene featuring Tina and Rachel (as portrayed by actress Ellie Cornell) and an introduction to (as originally posited) a BMX bike-riding Billy Hill (actor Jeffrey Landman), Kaplan recalled, “I think that we had more to say to each other in that scene where we’re walking. There’s actually a lot more to it. I mean, I guess it just went on forever and they cut a lot of it. Which I don’t blame them, I guess. And the script, it kept changing.”

From the Trancas vault, Page 38 of the Halloween 5 Shooting Script, dated 5/2/1989.

Thirty-one years after the film’s release and six films later, and with an ever-growing international fan-base surrounding the franchise, Kaplan mused of her place in the genre, “It’s meaningful and it’s heart-warming. I really appreciate that people for whatever reason really gravitate towards the movies. And also towards Tina, for whatever weird and polarizing character that she is. I never expected that. I just was tagged in an Instagram post that said, ‘Tina’s the best character in the whole series!’ When people say things like that, it’s sweet. It’s a crazy character that came out of me years ago, and people are still kind of, you know, loving or hating her. I guess we all have the power to effect people.”

Fan-made doll of Halloween 5’s Tina Williams by Heath Newman

“With all of the stuff going on in the world right now,” the actress concluded, ”if people have a few moments where they can sit down and watch a horror movie, and they can release some of their fear, then that’s a great thing. I feel like a lot of people have come up to me at conventions and have said, ‘Tina made me feel that it’s okay to be who I am, and that it’s okay to be me.’ And I find that to be the best thing that anybody could ever say to me. Because I didn’t expect that this movie would impact the lives of people. The idea that people can feel like they can express themselves because they watched Tina in the movie is just great, because I feel that way about that character. People should be able to be themselves, and to actualize themselves, and to feel okay. Like, if these people are doing it, then I can do it too. I can be who I need to be.”

Carpenter, Rosenthal & Green Wish Jamie Lee a Happy Birthday!

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On Jamie Lee Curtis’ sixty-first birthday, our absolute best wishes to a true talent and a woman dear to our hearts from HalloweenMovies, Trancas International Films and her Halloween directors John Carpenter, Rick Rosenthal and David Gordon Green!