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JOHN CARPENTER'S HALLOWEEN

John Carpenter’s Halloween Returns to Theaters This Fall!

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This fall, John Carpenter’s classic Halloween, the film that started it all, returns to theaters for a limited run, courtesy of Trancas International Films and Compass International Pictures and partner CineLife Entertainment.

 

Scheduled to run from September 27th to October 31st, the restored and remastered digital print was created under the supervision of the world-renowned cinematographer Dean Cundey, and marks the 41st anniversary of the groundbreaking film. In it, protagonist Michael Myers, who has spent the past fifteen years locked away inside a sanitarium for the childhood murder of his sister escapes, and on October 30th of 1978 makes his way back home to Haddonfield, Illinois, turning a night of tricks and treats into something much more sinister for three young women, including Laurie Strode, the star-making role for lead Jamie Lee Curtis.

Participating theaters and show times will be soon posted at www.CineLifeEntertainment.com

LOCAL BOOGEYMAN Releases Officially Licensed Halloween Tees!

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Owned and operated by clothing designer and horror fanatic James Claeys, Los Angeles’ LOCAL BOOGEYMAN’S House of Horror (located at 2151 West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park) has been a horrifically cool and decidedly punk rock destination for horror fans since it opened its doors – and now they’re offering Officially Licensed Halloween apparel.

Founded by Claeys, LOCAL BOOGEYMAN has built a solid reputation for itself in the world of high-end tees and horror apparel. Pre-shrunk and made of vintage inspired and distressed material for an impressive fit and feel (I’ll personally attest to this, as my closet contains a half dozen or so), BOOGEYMAN apparel also features some truly unique graphic designs from horror films both young and old. Need some swag from the yet-to-be-released Rob Zombie flick 3 From Hell? Well, they’ve got it, but what’s got us even more excited is their latest release: a trio of tees inspired by John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, Halloween.

Here’s one of them!

BOOGEYMAN apparel sells out lightning fast, as Claeys does limited runs (and at times one-of-a-kind garments), making them somewhat of a collector’s item, so if you want one (and want to check out the other two), don’t delay.

And if you’re in LA, make sure to swing by their store… there’s often  a pop up haunted house inside.

Local Boogeyman’s official site can be found here, and you can ‘like’ them on Facebook here and follow them on Instagram @greatwhitegrizzly.

 

“She’s” Purely and Simply Evil?

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Over the years, there’s been some rather interesting visual incarnations of Haddonfield’s favorite boogeyman (KNB’s Myers mask for Halloween H20 being one of them), but Kotobukiya’s Officially Licensed Female Michael Myers Bishouja Statue arguably is the most unusual!

Kotobukiya says of their 1:7 scale feminine twist on The Shape, which joins their Horror Bishouja line-up (they’ve previously released their own riffs on Pinhead, Jason Voorhees, Bride of Chucky and more): “The villainous killer is expertly transformed into the BISHOUJO style by talented illustrator Shunya Yamashita. The simple design of the mechanic’s uniform show off the BISHOUJO’s curves, and the details of her unique base evoke the atmosphere of the film. An exquisitely crafted beauty, this BISHOUJO’s blood-splattered coveralls and cold, disdainful expression are sure to remind you of the classic villain!”

Sanding at 9” tall atop a themed base, the Officially Licensed Female Michael Myers Bishouja Statue is currently available at Sideshow Collectibles for $89.99. Check out the photos below, and you can purchase your own here.

Writer Dennis Etchison Passes Away at Age 76

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It’s with a heavy heart that we report the passing of writer Dennis Etchison.

A major contributor and editor of horror fiction, Etchison’s work is most known to Halloween fans via his novelizations of several genre films, the first being John Carpenter’s classic The Fog, under the pseudonym “Jack Martin,” with novelizations of both Halloween II and Halloween III to follow (under the same nom de plume).

Born March 30th, 1943 in Stockton, CA, Dennis William Etchison showed an early interest in writing literary fiction. As a teenager his first published story, “Odd Boy Out,” appeared in the gentlemen’s magazine Escapade, and emboldened he continued, attending UCLA film school in the 1960s (where he would later teach classes on creative writing) before becoming a full-time writer in the 1970s.

Etchison’s work went on to include the original novels Darkside (1986), Shadowman (1993), California Gothic (1995) and Double Edge (1996), as well as several well-regarded horror anthologies, including Cutting Edge (1986), a trio of volumes of the Masters of Darkness books, and the award-winning tomes MetaHorror in 1992 and The Museum of Horrors in 2001, among many others. Elected president of the Horror Writer’s Association from 1992-94 and the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017, Etchison was proclaimed by author Stephen King as, “one hell of a fiction writer,” as well as, “the finest writer of psychological horror this genre has ever produced,” by Karl Edward Wagner.

In addition to his considerable talent for literary fiction, Etchison’s elephantine knowledge of film was also brought to light in King’s non-fiction 1981 book on the horror genre Danse Macabre, on which Etchison served as a historian and consultant. Other efforts within television and film included a gig as a staff writer on the HBO series The Hitchhiker (1983-87), as well as having co-written with John Carpenter an unproduced script for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers in 1986.

Our sincere condolences to his wife Kristina and surviving family.

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Dennis Etchison (May 30th, 1943 – May 28th, 2019)

 

Horror’s Hallowed Grounds Host Sean Clark Talks Screen-Used Halloween Props

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The latest episode of the docu-series Collection Complete (which takes an in-depth look into the lives of artists and the collections that fuel their work) returns for an expanded look into the rarely-seen prop collection of Horror’s Hallowed Grounds host Sean Clark, which includes screen-used items from the Halloween franchise, and a whole lot more.

You can watch the episode below.

The episode (which serves as part two on Clark’s Halloween collection) also chronicles the evolution of his horror location docu-series Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, which has featured many filming locations from the Halloween franchise, from the Myers house in South Pasadena, CA to the home of Halloween II’s Mrs. Elrod in the same. Speaking of which, Clark shows off that cutting board (which he now owns), as well as an original Halloween shooting script, given to him by The Shape himself, Nick Castle.

Horror’s Hallowed Grounds Host Sean Clark Talks His Screen-used Halloween Mask Collection

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The latest episode of the docu-series Collection Complete (which takes an in-depth look into the lives of artists and the collections that fuel their work) takes a deep dive into the rarely-seen prop collection of Horror’s Hallowed Grounds host Sean Clark, which include screen-worn masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch through Halloween: Resurrection, and much more.

You can watch the episode below.

The episode (which serves as part one of two on Clark’s Halloween collection) also chronicles the evolution of his horror location docu-series Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, which has featured many filming locations from the Halloween franchise, from the Myers house in South Pasadena, CA to the home of Halloween II’s Mrs. Elrod in the same, as well as her bloody cutting board (guess who now owns the latter? Well, Clark does, of course).

Horror’s Hallowed Grounds’ Sean Clark Talks Halloween in Collection Complete

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The docu-series Collection Complete (which takes an in-depth look into the lives of filmmakers and artists and the collections that fuel their work) has returned for 2019, and the first episode of the new year takes a deep dive into Horror’s Hallowed Grounds’ filmmaker Sean Clark’s life-long fascination with terror.

From his childhood introduction to Fangoria magazine and that publication’s famous Weekend of Horrors conventions to his jaw-dropping collection of screen-used props (notably here the clown from the classic 1982 film Poltergeist), the episode offers a look into Clark’s rarely-seen personal collection of artifacts from scary cinema.

In addition, the episode also chronicles his evolution from that of a self-proclaimed horror nerd to respected business man via not only his co-shepherding (with Trancas International Films) of the 25th, 35th and 40th Halloween anniversary conventions (which have over the years taken place in Pasadena, CA to much fanfare), but also through the creation of his own celebrity appearance booking company Convention All Stars, which features many of the Halloween film series’ creatives within its roster (the grande dame of final girls, Jamie Lee Curtis, among them).

You can watch the episode below.

Halloween: 40 Years of Terror Convention is Happening Now

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Presented by HorrorHound Ltd., Sean Clark, Trancas International Films and Compass International Pictures, the Halloween: 40 Years of Terror convention which runs today, October 12th through the 14th at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California is upon us, and promises to be the biggest celebration ever of the storied, four decade-spanning franchise.

Featuring celebrity guests from all eleven films in the franchise (the impressive list, which includes notable cast, directors and crew is massive and continues to grow, and contains many first-time ever appearances), one-of-a-kind events, special gallery offerings, cast Q&As, a Horror’s Hallowed Grounds location bus tour, exclusive H40 and Halloween merchandise offerings, a Saturday night after party with live music by Halloween 4, 5 & 6 composer Alan Howarth, myriad vendors and much more, it’s an event not to be missed.

With VIP tickets having already SOLD OUT, admission to the Halloween: 40 Years of Terror convention CAN STILL be obtained here (although I’d predict not for long, so don’t dawdle). For further information on the convention, including schedule, lodging and more, visit the official site here, and stay up to date with them on the convention’s Facebook page here.

My Favorite Horror Movie: Alex Napiwocki on John Carpenter’s Halloween

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With director David Gordon Green’s 2018 feature Halloween fast approaching, we thought it time to further celebrate John Carpenter’s 1978 classic of the same name via a series of essays on the subject.

Culled from the 2018 Amazon best-selling book My Favorite Horror Movie, which features 48 essays by horror creators on the films which shaped them (from our own Editor-in-Chief Sean Decker to filmmaker Matt Mercer and beyond), they serve to explore just why forty years later, The Shape still terrifies.

HALLOWEEN
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ALEX NAPIWOCKI

How does one pick a favorite horror film when there are so many? I love the exploitation of the ‘70s, the pure slashers of the ‘80s, and the gory melt movies of the early ‘90s. How do I narrow it down to just one? The only fair way seems to be to choose the one that started this horror obsession in the first place. The granddaddy of them all, the slasher that defines the genre – John Carpenter’s Halloween.

I grew up as a sick kid – allergies, asthma, the works. This left me with a lot of down time while the other kids were getting brainwashed at school. I’d run the gauntlet of late ‘80s and early ‘90s daytime TV. It was cheesy and I was already beginning to hate commercials. They bring you out of fantasy and back into reality, totally ruining the experience. This is why, at a young age, my tastes started moving from television to movies.

My sister, being seven years older, definitely had an impact on the movies and music I would find myself chasing. Through her, I found punk rock at nine, and horror films not long after. One particular illness left me home for a long haul. I had my tonsils removed and I was allergic to the anesthetic they used to put me under. During the surgery, my heart literally stopped. I was on bed rest for weeks. Blockbuster couldn’t keep up with me and I was running out of new releases left and right.

My sister had a best friend with quite the movie collection. He also had two VCRs hooked up to each other. One day, he sent a stack of VHS tapes through my sister to help me heal. Little did I know that they would change my life forever. One tape had a couple skate punk flicks, Thrashin’ and Gleaming The Cube, both of which I still love to this day. But those are guilty pleasures, not the Holy Grail. Halloween 1-6 were also in the stack, and holy shit, was life about to be worth living.

I’d seen some horror flicks and had an idea what the Halloween movies were. I knew about the Jason movies and the Chucky movies. Most of the horror films I’d seen were part of the ghost, vampire, or werewolf genres. None of those prepared me for what was about to take place. I began watching Halloween. Seeing Michael Myers take the screen was the first time I was truly terrified while watching a film.

Halloween is not a movie that requires gore. It’s the fear of what’s behind you that makes this film truly terrifying. Michael doesn’t move like a man. He doesn’t move like a maniacal monster either. He moves like only Michael Myers can: smooth, stealthy and calculated. He doesn’t have any cheesy catchphrases. In fact, he never says a word, and it makes him so much creepy than any other horror icon.

There’s more to Halloween than Michael Myers to make it my favorite. Jamie Lee Curtis is the quintessential final girl. No one can match her innocence and strength. Following Laurie Strode (played by Curtis) through Haddonfield is how we viewers became locals. The town and Michael are both viewed through her eyes. Her cat and mouse game with Myers is among the best in horror history.

I spent a couple weeks just watching Halloween over and over. I had the whole series up to the Paul Rudd as Tommy Doyle one, but the first flick, I watched twice as much as the rest combined. It has the best characters and the best scares. The music is next level, the lighting is eerie, and the locations are haunting. It’s everything one should strive for when making a horror film.

When the curator of this collection of essays, Christian Ackerman, gave me this task, I don’t think he knew how much he was involved in making Halloween my favorite horror film. He accidentally (or knowing him, quite purposely) taught me the fundamentals of film. He did this by giving me a bunch of VHS tapes in the ‘90s, and it all started with this one perfectly scary flick.

Flash forward to 2015: I filmed my first short film as a writer and director. A trash comedy Halloween slasher titled The Curse Of The Glamulet. My inspirations at the time were definitely more John Waters and Troma than classic horror or even slashers, but the model was Halloween. My film turned into its own take on the final girl and the Halloween slasher. I was even compelled to name the main character Laurie. Forty years later, the film industry still pays homage to this flick. I literally wouldn’t be making films or writing this essay without it. Sorry Jason. Sorry Freddy. My favorite horror movie is, without a doubt, Halloween.

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Check out the new trailer for the re-release of 1978’s Halloween below, and for theater and ticketing info, please visit www.CineLifeEntertainment.com

 

TAKEN FROM THE BOOK
MY FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE
© 2018 CHRISTIAN ACKERMAN/BLACK VORTEX CINEMA
MYFAVORITEHORRORMOVIE.COM

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Trancas International Films or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Haddonfield Comes to Pasadena, CA October 12-14 with Halloween: 40 Years of Terror

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Tickets to the biggest Halloween convention in history are now on sale. Get yours before they sell out!

Presented by HorrorHound Ltd., Sean Clark, Trancas International Films and Compass International Pictures, the Halloween: 40 Years of Terror convention, running October 12th through the 14th at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California is nearly upon us, and promises to be the biggest celebration ever of the storied, four decade-spanning franchise.

Featuring celebrity guests from all eleven films in the franchise (the impressive list, which includes notable cast, directors and crew is massive and continues to grow, and contains many first-time ever appearances), one-of-a-kind events, special gallery offerings, cast Q&As, a Horror’s Hallowed Grounds location bus tour, exclusive H40 and Halloween merchandise offerings, myriad vendors and much more, it’s an event not to be missed.

With VIP tickets having already SOLD OUT, admission to the Halloween: 40 Years of Terror convention CAN STILL be obtained here (although I’d predict not for long, so don’t dawdle). For further information on the convention, including schedule, lodging and more, visit the official site here, and stay up to date with them on the convention’s Facebook page here.