For us horror fans Halloween is a year round type thing, we just go mental in October. And as is tradition October marks another year for my 31 Days of Horror film selections. I wanted to try something a bit different this year, so I put it to a vote what type of horror I should focus on. The end result was 'Slasher Movies', so sit back relax and enjoy my selection of slashers to enjoy this Halloween.
October 1st
Peeping Tom
Art by Emanuele Taglietti
Terror Meets Art in a Deadly Game of Cat & Mouse
Mark, a psychologically ill film-maker, murders women and records their dying moments. His neighbour, Helen, becomes curious about his documentaries and watches one of them secretly.
The film is regarded as one of the first slasher films in horror movie history, although it was not the first horror movie to use the convention of seeing things from the killer's point of view as claimed in Scream 4. That technique had already been done in The Lodger and Hangover Square. It is also the first mainstream British film to show female nudity on screen.
The controversial nature of the film, the critical mauling and the public outcry had huge negative effects on the film upon release. The film was pulled from UK cinemas after just five days and banned shortly after effectively killing the career of the film's director Michael Powell.
October 2nd
The Final Girls
Art by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Who Will Survive?
A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer.
The film was conceived and co-written by Joshua John Miller as a way of dealing with the death of his dad, Jason Miller, who had starred as Father Karras in The Exorcist. The script was originally optioned by New Line Cinema, but the studio wanted to eliminate all of the deep character moments and the mother-daughter plot. Eventually, it wound up being produced by Sony, a studio which liked the emotional core but decided to tone down the slasher movie aspect to attain a PG-13 rating.
October 3rd
Hatchet
Art by SamHain1992
True Horror Has Returned.
When a group of tourists in a New Orleans haunted swamp tour find themselves stranded in the wilderness, their evening of fun and spooks turns into a horrific nightmare.
Writer and Director Adam Green created a "No CGI" rule for post-production. Only CGI was used to remove on-screen wires and camera set-ups. For example, the horribly deformed Young Victor Crowley, is actually played by a beautiful young actress named Rileah Vanderbilt. When make-up effects artist John Carl Buechler needed a model to test the latex prosthetic on, Rileah was the volunteer. Because the make-up effects had already been molded to her face for the test shots, Rileah played the role in the film.
October 4th
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Art by Matt Ryan Tobin
The kids of Elm Street don't know it yet, but something is coming to get them in their dreams.
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Wes Craven first came up with the basic idea for the movie from a series of articles in the "Los Angeles Times" over a three-year period, about a group of Southeast Asian refugees from the Hmong tribe, several of whom died in the throes of horrific nightmares. The group had come to the U.S. to escape the murderous reign of Pol Pot, and within a year of arriving, three men had died all in similar situations, the young, otherwise healthy man would have a nightmare, then refuse to sleep for as long as he could. When he finally fell asleep from exhaustion, he awoke screaming, then died. Autopsy results revealed that they had not died from heart failure, but had simply died. It was this inability to find a cause of death that intrigued Craven so much. Medical authorities have since called the phenomenon Asian Death Syndrome, a variant of Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome (SUDS), and Brugada Syndrome.
The film cost roughly $1.8 million to produce, of which only $57,000 was reserved for the ambitious special effects; effects designer Jim Doyle accepted anyway, because he was desperate for work. The movie made its entire budget back in its opening weekend and went onto gross $57 million worldwide. The success of the film essentially saved New Line Cinema from bankruptcy, and was jokingly nicknamed "The House that Freddy Built".
October 5th
You're Next
Art byCreepy Carves
The door may be locked, but it won't protect you.
When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.
The film premiered as part of Midnight Madness at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was picked up by Lionsgate for distribution. However, even though the film subsequently played at other festivals, it was not given a wide release until August 2013.
October 6th
Haunt
Art by Devon Whitehead
Some Monsters Are Real
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an "extreme" haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.
Filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote the script for Haunt while they were also writing the screenplay for A Quiet Place, without the expectation that either film would ever get made. Both have gone onto become highly successful.
October 7th
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Art by Jason Edmiston
The idyllic summer's day that became a nightmare of fear and blood...
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Writer director Tobe Hooper claims to have gotten the idea for Texas Chainsaw Massacre while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store while Christmas shopping. While thinking of a way to get out through the crowd, he spotted the chainsaws.
Surprisingly, this is one of the least bloody horror films of all time. This is because Hooper intended to make the movie for a "PG" rating, by keeping violence moderate, language mild, excluding nudity entirely, and having most of the horror implied off-screen rather than shown in great detail onscreen. However, this plan had actually backfired, and made the film even more horrifying. Because despite cutting and repeated submissions, the Ratings Board insisted on an "X" rating, and it wasn't until the film received the "R" rating when Hooper gave up and released it. Hooper had a similar ratings problem with the sequel.
October 8th
Prom Night
...Some will be crowned, others will lose their heads.
At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.
Director Paul Lynch originally conceived a movie about a psychotic gynecologist to cash in on Halloween, but upon being told that such a movie would be distasteful, retooled it into this. Director Paul Lynch admitted in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, he was having difficulty securing financing until Jamie Lee Curtis signed on.
Once the film was shot, Paramount expressed interest in distributing the movie. However, they only wanted to open it in 300 theaters whereas Avco Embassy Pictures offered to release it in 1200 theaters. Avco Embassy released Prom Night as a result. That same year, Paramount released another independent slasher film, Friday the 13th.
October 9th
Happy Death Day
Art by Creepy Duck Design
Make Every Death Count.
A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.
When asked why a baby mask: Christopher Landon says he needed a combination of something that would pass for a mascot on a college campus, that was both scary and funny at the same time, plus he was expecting a son at that time, so he had "baby on the brain." The Bayfield University Baby killer costume was actually designed by Tony Gardner, who also designed the Ghostface mask (the horror icon of the Scream films) and which is a reworked version of the Father's Death Halloween costume. Landon tested wearing the option of a baby mask for the killer in the office and scared a worker, confirming his choice.
October 10th
Maniac
Art by Ken Taylor
I warned you not to go out tonight!
A traumatic childhood leads a deranged 'mama's boy' on a gruesome killing spree on the streets of New York City.
The dummy used for the exploding head scene had been used extensively by Tom Savini for effects in Dawn of the Dead (1978). After its use in this film, it was so saturated in fake blood and gore that it was decided to retire the dummy (which Tom had named "Boris").
According to Savini, the dummy was locked in the trunk of the car used in the shotgun scene and sunk in the East River. The headless corpse in the end was also used as Betsy Palmer's corpse (Jason's mother) in Friday the 13th's finale. Even Savini has been quoted saying he may have gone "too far" with the gruesome special effects.
October 11th
Child’s Play
Art by Gary Pullin
He wants YOU for a new best friend...
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
The crew working on Child's Play used various ways to portray Chucky, including RC animatronics and little people or child actors. Various animatronics and cosmetics were used for every scene throughout the movie, Chuckie's cosmetics transition from looking toy-like to a more human look. The film created multiple Chucky animatronics such as a flailing tantrum Chucky, a walking Chucky, and a stationary Chucky. The animatronics face was controlled by a remote control through a rig that goes on one's face and captures facial movements.
October 12th
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Art by Matthew Therrien
Jason, Freddy, Myers. We All Need Someone To Look Up To.
The next great psycho horror slasher has given a documentary crew exclusive access to his life as he plans his reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo.
The town, in which the movie is set, Glen Echo, is based on a real neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland, near where Writer and Director Scott Glosserman grew up. A notable feature of the area, being a turn-of-the-century amusement park, that stood mostly abandoned for several decades, as it deteriorated, and earned a fitting "haunted" reputation among locals. The carousel, for which the park is known, is referenced in the Glen Echo Entertainment's (Glosserman's production company) logo.
October 13th
Friday the 13th
Art by Dan Mumford
Don't count on making it to Saturday morning.
A group of camp counselors trying to reopen a summer camp called Crystal Lake, which has a grim past, are stalked by a mysterious killer.
Victor Miller admitted that he was purposely riding the success of John Carpenter's Halloween. Director Sean S. Cunningham even approached Halloween producer Irwin Yablans to produce the film, but he declined, as he wasn't interested in doing another horror movie. Betsy Palmer even admitted that if it were not for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car, she would never have accepted the role of Pamela Voorhees. In fact, after she read the script, she called the movie "a piece of shit". Over the years, however, Palmer did warm up to the film, as it made her more famous than infamous, and made appearances at conventions and in documentaries to discuss it.
The film went on to earn $39,754,601 at the domestic box office on a budget of $550,000 with its worldwide gross was $59,754,601.
October 14th
Motel Hell
Checking in is easy...Checking out is Hell.
A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the "special meat" they are famous for.
The screenplay for this film was written years before it went into production. It had a difficult time finding backing. In 1978, it was picked up by the Camp Hill Company and was shot and completed in 1980. In all, it was nearly three years from the time the script was written to the final release of the film. It has gone on to gain a cult following and is highly regarded amongst the horror community.
United Artists marketed "Motel Hell" as a straightforward horror film rather than a black comedy/slasher, fearing that any quirkiness in the theatrical trailers or the theatrical release posters would drive away potential audiences. However, the tagline "You might just die...laughing!" still appeared on several of the aforementioned theatrical release posters.
October 15th
Sleepaway Camp
Art by Phantom City Creative
You'll go there on a bus...and come back in a bag!
Angela Baker, a shy, traumatised young girl, is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions toward her gets their comeuppance.
Felissa Rose was only thirteen at the time, which is unusual for a feature film. Studios usually cast actors 18 and over who look younger because of restrictions on using actors under 18 for extended-hour shoots. Also, at 13, she was too young to see her own movie in theaters. Her mother did not want her to be the killer because she was so young, so Jonathan Tiersten was the stand-in and hand double for all of Angela's actions during the murders. His more masculine hands with veins could better throw off the audience. He even donned a wig for the back-lit shot in which Angela finds Judy in the dark.
As for that twist during the climax, it was accomplished using a nude man wearing a mask cast from Felissa Rose's face. The thin man who stood in for Angela was a college student who needed to get drunk before he was able to do the scene. Though originally uncredited, it has since been revealed that the identity of Angela's body double was Archie Liberace. It is his first and only screen credit.
October 16th
House of Wax
There's a reason they look so real.
Six friends are on their way to a football game. They decide to camp out for the night and continue driving the next day. The next day the friends find that they're having car troubles, so two of the friends accept a stranger's ride into a small town named Ambrose. The main attraction in Ambrose is the House of Wax. Except something is not right in this town, the wax figures are so realistic and the whole town is deserted - except for two murderous twin brothers. The six friends must fight to survive and escape from being the next exhibits in the House of Wax
The town of Ambrose was constructed in 10 weeks, and was modeled after a real town in Eritrea called Asmara. Asmara was built by the Italians in Africa during World War II in the Modern Style rather than the Deco Style, which was more popular at the time.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra later admitted in an interview with Fangoria magazine that this was basically a remake of Tourist Trap in everything but name, as the plot has almost nothing in common with the original House of Wax. Warner Bros. insisted that "House of Wax" be used as the title instead as it was a more recognisable name.
October 17th
Slumber Party Massacre
Art by The Dude Designs
You bring the pizza....I'll bring the drill.
A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighbourhood.
Rita Mae Brown wrote a screenplay for a parody of teen/slasher flicks, and titled it "Sleepless Nights". However, when she submitted it to the producers, they filmed it as if it weren't a parody, and retitled it "Slumber Party Massacre". As a result, the movie displays a lot more humour, both intended and unintended, than others of this genre.
When the film was completed, the studio held a test screening at a theater on Hollywood Boulevard and Amy Holden Jones was startled by the audience reaction. As she recalls, "They went ape! From the very beginning, they were screaming and laughing and there were people behind me making drilling noises and talking back to the screen!" Amy left the theatre and approached producer Roger Corman, who was listening in the lobby. She said, "My God, Roger. What did we do?" He replied, "We had the best preview in New World history." Jones went on to only direct three more films. None of them were in the horror genre.
October 18th
Wrong Turn
Bad Stuff Happens When You're This Deep In The Woods.
Chris and a group of five friends are left stranded deep in the middle of the woods after their cars collide. As they venture deeper into the woods, they face an uncertain and bloodcurdling fate.
Years earlier before this film was made, cult horror director John Carpenter and another writer James Nichols wrote un-produced horror thriller script titled Prey which had plot that was very similar to both Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes 2. Carpenter described his Prey script as mix of Deliverance and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The main characters of the script were three young women who go on a trip through the woods in order to get to some mountain but then they are captured by inbred family living in the woods, and the father of the family wants to use the women as breeders. At one point in the story of the script the last surviving woman escapes from the inbred family and just like in this movie the family members start hunting after her through the woods but end up being killed by her during the hunt and father of the family getting captured and put in jail.
October 19th
The Strangers
Art by Joshua Kelly
We tell ourselves there's nothing to fear - but sometimes, we're wrong.
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorised by three unknown assailants.
The film was originally titled 'The Faces' According to director Bryan Bertino, the film is partially based on an incident he experienced as a child. One evening a stranger came to his door, asked for someone who was not there, and left. Later, Bertino found out that other homes in his neighborhood had been broken into that night. The only real-life event this can be linked to the 1981 Keddie Resort murders in northern California, although this has not been substantiated by anyone connected with the movie.
October 20th
The Burning
Art by Phantom City Creative
A legend of terror is no campfire story anymore!
At summer camp, some teenagers pull a prank on the camp's caretaker, Cropsy (Lou David). But the joke goes terribly wrong, and the teens leave Cropsy for dead after setting him on fire. But no one keeps Cropsy down. A few years later, the burned and disfigured caretaker returns to camp equipped with his trusty shears, ready to unleash his particular brand of vengeance on a whole new group of teens.
This film was one of the first movies to land on the UK's Video Nasties list, specifically because of the infamous raft massacre. Tom Savini turned down the chance to work on Friday the 13th: Part 2. Whilst he has no regrets, he wasn't happy with the make-up for Cropsy as he was only given three days to work with it.
October 21st
Severance
The Company Is Making Cutbacks.
A team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe goes horribly wrong for the sales division of the multi-national weapons company Palisade Defence when they become the victims of a group of crazed killers who will stop at nothing to see them dead.
The actor who plays the irate bus driver in this film, Sándor Boros is a Hungarian stunt driver, and it is he who drives the bus during the crash scene. In the DVD featurette Crashing a Coach, director Christopher Smith goes into detail about how the crash scene was staged, and in it, he points out how the Hungarian stunt team were "less concerned with health and safety issues" than British stunt teams. Smith explains that for the crash scene, the stunt coordinator told Boros to drive at 35mph, but Boros felt this wouldn't produce a good enough scene, so he hit the stunt ramp at 50mph, producing a much more spectacular crash than Smith wanted.
As it was a one-time only shot, this newly spectacular crash forced a hasty rewriting of the screenplay, as due to the severity of the crash, the characters now needed to be substantially more injured than was originally planned. Smith was also amazed that the only safety equipment Boros used during the scene was a seat belt and a motorcycle helmet. Indeed, during the stunt, Boros was knocked completely unconscious.
October 22nd
See No Evil
Eight Teens, One Weekend, One Serial Killer.
A group of delinquents are sent to clean the Blackwell Hotel. Little do they know reclusive psychopath Jacob Goodnight has holed away in the rotting hotel. When one of the teens is captured, those who remain - a group that includes the cop who put a bullet in Goodnight's head four years ago - band together to survive against the brutal killer.
Glenn Jacobs (Kane) has stated that the best thing about making this movie (due to the hectic amount of traveling as a professional wrestler) was the opportunity it gave him to sleep in the same bed for two months. It was mentioned in some interviews that Jacobs/Kane's co-stars were a little uneasy around the 6 foot 7 tall man. Fangoria magazine mentions the director having to ask Kane to remain seated during cast introductions, since one of the women, who only came up to his sternum, wouldn't come near him.
The role of Jacob Goodnight was originally written for Jacobs, who did all of his own stunts for the film. He also became incredibly proficient his character's weapon of choice (hook and chain) whilst shooting the film, much to the crew's delight. It was originally meant to be done in post production using CGI.
October 23rd
Psycho II
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the shower!
It's 22 years later. And Norman Bates is coming home. After being judged as "legally sane" in a court of law, Norman Bates is released from a mental institution, against the protests of Lila Loomis (the sister of Marion Crane). Upon his return to his home (and the motel which lays in its shadow) Norman strikes up a friendship with Mary, a waitress at a local diner. Just as he tries to adjust back to normality, the murders around the site of the Bates Motel. Has Mrs. Bates returned to pull Norman's strings again, or is the bloodbath someone else's handy work?
Producer Hilton A. Green originally suggested Jamie Lee Curtis to play Mary Loomis because of her being the daughter of Janet Leigh and having success with Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis had a scheduling conflict though, and did not want to return to the horror genre after getting such a huge role in the year's top comedy, Trading Places.
Writer Robert Bloch published the novel "Psycho II" in 1982. The plot of the book is very different than this film. It has Norman Bates escaping from the mental institution and traveling to Hollywood, California to stop the production of a film based on his life. Universal Studios was reportedly upset by Bloch's take on the horror film industry and this led to the development of this 1983 sequel.
October 24th
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Art by Laz Marquez
The Mistake They Made, Is Coming Back To Haunt Them.
After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. But exactly one year later, the dead man returns from his watery grave and he's looking for more than an apology.
Kevin Williamson wrote this script before Scream, but was unable to sell it. Following the big screen success of his next screenplay, "Scream," Columbia Pictures immediately bought I Know What You Did Last Summer. This is the reason many critics and fans felt this was a huge step down from his more clever and innovative Scream scripts.
Writer Lois Duncan was vehemently opposed to her young adult novel being reworked into a slasher film, stating she was "appalled" in one interview. This was due to the fact that her youngest daughter was murdered by an unknown assailant in 1989. She said, "As the mother of a murdered child, I don't find violent death something to squeal and giggle about." Her original book wasn't that far off from a slasher though: it's still a bunch of guilty teenagers being stalked and terrorized by a murderous madman. It's just that nobody dies in her version, so in that sense it's more like an old school mystery.
October 25th
The Hills Have Eyes
The lucky ones died first...
On the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.
Wes Craven was in part inspired by an incident that happened to him while taking a motorcycle trip with his wife. When they stopped in a small Nevada town, a trio of locals shot an arrow past his head and insulted him. When Craven threatened to sue them, they replied they could easily kill him, leave his corpse in a nearby salt mine, and no one would ever know.
The similarities to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were intentional. Craven was a huge fan of Tobe Hooper's film. He considered his film in part an homage to it. The original title for the film was 'Blood Relations'. Producer Peter Locke however disliked the title. Numerous titles were then considered and the film tested best under the title 'The Hills Have Eyes', though Craven himself initially disliked the title.
October 26th
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Art by Steven Luros Holliday
On Friday the 13th,Jason is Back...But this time...He's Met His Match!
Jason Voorhees is accidentally freed from his watery prison by a telekinetic teenager. Now, only she can stop him.
During filming, Kane Hodder's dressing room was a quarter of a mile down a dirt road. One night filming ended at 2 a.m. and while still in the Jason costume he decided to walk through the woods on a path to his dressing room. As he was walking someone approached him and asked if he was with the movie. He didn't reply, because he thought it was a pretty stupid question to ask, as he was standing there in full Jason costume. When the man asked again, Kane took a little lunge at him and grunted. The guy took off, tripping and running. The next day director John Carl Buechler told Kane that the local sheriff was supposed to stop by, but he never showed.
Hodder noted in his book (Unmasked: The True Story of the World's Most Prolific Cinematic Killer) that one of his fondest memories of the Part VII shoot was the film's costume department making his mother a custom "Jason's Mom!" crew member's jacket, which he found very amusing. He says that she would wear it during the whole final two decades up until her passing. He noted that It would be over 90°F in his hometown of Sparks, Nevada, but she would still proudly wear it to the grocery store, hoping someone would say something. In case they inquired, her purse was loaded with signed autographs that he would send to her that were leftovers from his convention appearances. He noted that at times it got "playfully embarrassing" but because it made her beam with pride, he also oddly loved it and holds onto it as a positive memory.
October 27th
Candyman
Art by Heath O’Campo
You don't have to believe... just beware.
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.
The bees were bred specifically for this film. They needed to make sure that the bees were only twelve hours old, so that they looked like mature bees, but their stinger wouldn't be powerful enough to do any real damage. Tony Todd negotiated a bonus of $1,000 for every bee sting he suffered during filming; he was stung 23 times.
Virginia Madsen also had to get up close and personal with those bees, a fact that almost forced her to pass on the role. "When Bernard Rose was first asking me to do the role I said, 'Well, I can't. I'm allergic to bees,'" she told HorrorNewsNetwork. "He said 'No you're not allergic to bees, you're just afraid.' So I had to go to UCLA and get tested because he didn't believe [me]. I was tested for every kind of venom. I was far more allergic to wasps. So he said, 'We'll just [have] paramedics there, it will be fine!' You know actors, we'll do anything for a paycheck! So fine, I'll be covered with bees. "So we a had a bee wrangler and he pretty much told us you can't freak out around the bees, or be nervous, or swat at them, it would just aggravate them. They used baby bees on me. They can still sting you, but are less likely. When they put the bees on me it was crazy because they have fur. They felt like little Q-tips roaming around on me. Then you have pheromones on you, so they're all in love with you and think you're a giant queen. I really just had to go into this Zen sort of place and the takes were very short. What took the longest was getting the bees off of us. They had this tiny 'bee vacuum,' which wouldn't harm the bees. After the scene where the bees were all over my face and my head, it took both Tony Todd and I 45 minutes just to get the bees off. That's when it became difficult to sit still. It was cool though, I felt like a total badass doing it."
October 28th
Terrifier 2
Art by Sahm Hain1992
Who's laughing now?
After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to the timid town of Miles County where he targets a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.
The movie was a completely independently made production. Money was raised through several sources without the aid of a studio, and writer/director Damien Leone created all the special effects himself in order to cut costs. He was able to be uncompromising in his depiction of violence and gore because there was no studio making demands or insisting on cuts.
He also stated on Instagram Sienna is a character that he has been trying to get from page to screen for more than a decade. The writer/director says, "She is my favourite character I have ever written, and seeing Lauren LaVera breathe life into her has been an absolute dream come true that I will cherish always. I cannot wait for all of you Terrifier fans to see her in action. I promise you won't be disappointed." He adds LaVera was born to play Sienna.
October 29th
Scream
Art by Peter Strain
Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving this mystery is going to be murder.
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorised by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Jamie Kennedy was chosen for the role of Randy because he would often improvise humour into his lines, which made director Wes Craven laugh. Matthew Lillard was cast as Stu Macher by chance after accompanying his then-girlfriend to an unrelated audition taking place elsewhere in the same building. Casting director Lisa Beach saw Lillard in the hallway and asked him to audition for the part. He got into the role with "incredible ferocity".
Courteney Cox approached the production to pursue the role. She was interested in playing a "bitch" character to offset her "nice" Friends image. This image was the main reason why the producers initially refused to consider Cox for the part. Cox continued to lobby the studio as she felt she could believably play the character. Her efforts ultimately succeeded. Being a favourite of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, Molly Ringwald was offered the role of Sidney Prescott, but turned it down, saying she'd rather not be playing a high school student at the age of twenty-seven.
Craven had seen Neve Campbell in Party of Five and asked her to audition for the part. He believed she could portray a character who was "innocent", but who could also realistically handle herself while dealing with the physical conflict and emotions required by the role. Campbell was originally going to say "no" as she is especially afraid of horror movies. But when hearing her co-star Skeet Ulrich from The Craft was going to appear, she agreed.
October 30th
Trick ‘r Treat
Art by Saniose
If you don't follow the rules tonight, you won't live to see tomorrow.
Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.
The film is based on Michael Dougherty's 1996 animated short Season's Greetings, which debuted the character of Sam.There were 18 drafts of the script, and one theme that crept in along the way is the idea that each of the stories represents a different stage of a person's experience with Halloween.
"The first story with Dylan Baker and his son is about how you're introduced to the holiday. The second one with the kids is you and your friends roaming around without parents for the first time. This one with Anna [Paquin] and her friends is Halloween in your 20s when it's about sex. The final story with Brian Cox is Halloween in your twilight years. It's the Scrooge of Halloween."
Day 31
Halloween
Art by Benedict Woodhead
The Trick Was To Stay Alive!
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
From a budget of $300,000 over a 20 day shoot, the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office. In 2008, takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million, making 'Halloween' one of the most successful independent films of all time.
Because of the film's tight budget, the production designer Tommy Lee Wallace had to use whatever he had at his disposal, or had to buy materials cheaply. When he created the Michael Myers mask, he made two versions. The first was a Don Post Emmett Kelly smiling clown mask that they put frizzy red hair on. They tested it out and it appeared very demented and creepy. The other mask was a 1975 Captain James T. Kirk mask that was purchased in a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard for $1.98. It had the eyebrows and sideburns ripped off, the face was painted bluish white, the hair was spray painted brown, and the eyes were opened up more. After testing out the mask, the crew decided that it was much more creepy because it was emotionless.
Hope you enjoyed the list. Check back daily throughout October for content on all these films and more!
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