Surprising Life Observations from John Carpenter’s Horror Classic
Earlier this week, I took my two oldest daughters to see John Carpenter’s original Halloween on the big screen. When I saw our local theater was going to be showing the film for a few nights only, I knew I wanted to go and I looked forward to sharing the experience with my oldest children.
I anticipated the entire event to be very nostalgic. I grew up watching this movie almost every October with my dad. In my mind, it is the original and best slasher film.
What I did not anticipate were the subtle life lessons hidden within this classic film.
Halloween was made with a budget of $300,000. Half of that went to cameras. Jamie Lee Curtis only made $8,000 for her work. They didn’t even have a wardrobe budget. Curtis bought her costumes at a JCPenney for less than $100. The dark lighting in the movie was due to not having funds for lighting.
For perspective, the budget for Avengers: Endgame was $356 million. That’s over 1000x the budget for Halloween. Endgame is one of the most expensive movies ever made, so the comparison is weak. For a better perspective, the sequel, Halloween 2, had a budget of $2.5 million.
John Carpenter wrote the script for Halloween in ten days. The entire film was shot in twenty days. The shooting took place in Pasadena but was set in Illinois in the autumn. If you look closely, you will notice all the trees in the fictional town of Haddonfield are green instead of the brown, orange, and yellow you would expect in the Midwest in October. Carpenter’s production team bought fake leaves and painted them for filming.
The only actor of any real fame in Halloween was Donald Pleasence, who played Dr. Loomis. Carpenter originally wanted Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee to play Loomis but was pleased when Pleasence accepted the role. Allegedly, Pleasence admitted he didn’t understand his character and didn’t know why he accepted the role, but that he needed to pay alimony and his daughter was a big fan of Carpenter’s music in Assault on Precinct 13. Pleasence was paid $20,000 for five days of work and only 18 minutes of screen time.
Halloween was the first feature for Jamie Lee Curtis and the role of Michael Myers was played by three different actors. Even the mask worn by Myers was found for less than $2 at a local toy store.
So, back to my daughters. Watching this movie was a new experience for them. After the laughter and the groaning that comes with a 40-year-old film, plus the cliches of the horror genre (including the guy in the theater yelling out, “Don’t go in there!”), we dug out a few life observations worth noting.
Sometimes, a slow burn is what we need. Today’s movies are flashy, expensive, and fast. The last movie we all saw together in the theater was Avengers: Endgame. The run time was over three hours and it was pure computer-generated action from beginning to end. Halloween is a mere 90 minutes and is a long, slow burn of anticipation. One must wait for the last ten minutes to finally get to the climactic showdown.
I find myself, in this stage of life, desiring a slow burn over flashy and fast. Jobs, kids, sports, and errands tend to form one non-stop moving picture. There is no time to catch a breath or develop the characters in my story (including and especially myself). What makes Halloween so great is the slow ascent to the climax and the chance to get to know each character, even in the short time allowed.
We probably need to slow ourselves down and spend a precious few minutes with the people in our world to truly get to know them. We definitely need to slow down and get to know ourselves and develop our character in this story.
Life, like movies, should not all be fast and furious.
When I was speaking with my daughters about their thoughts on the movie, each echoed they thought the movie was “boring.” I think they felt that way because they are used to life (and movies) that move fast. The boring spaces are necessary. One of the fruits of the boring spaces is anticipation.
Oh, anticipation. Isn’t that one of the best things in life? The viewer spends the entire 90 minutes of Halloween in anticipation of when Michael Myers and Lori Strode will finally meet each other. Some of those minutes are spent in the aforementioned “boring” spaces, but those are necessary to highlight those less boring moments.
Life is like that, right? It cannot be all action all the time. The excitement we finally experience makes the boring parts worth it. We can fill the slow spaces of life up with anticipation, however. Studies show that our favorite parts of vacation are not necessarily the trips and experiences themselves, but the anticipation of the trips and experiences.
How do we create more anticipation in our lives? One practice is getting ourselves into the habit of jotting down one thing each morning we are looking forward to. This creates a sense of anticipation at the start of each day that will carry us through the humdrum.
A big budget can lead to fireworks. But that doesn’t mean that those of us with less to spend have to settle for a less than exciting story. Halloween has gone on to become one of the most popular and profitable independent movies ever made.
Money doesn’t define our stories. A sense of adventure, creativity, and spontaneity are better ingredients. John Carpenter didn’t have a mask for Michael Myers in mind, just a concept: he wanted something pale. He sent his production guy to the local magic shop and he came back with two masks. One was William Shatner and the other was a clown. Carpenter removed Shatner’s sideburns, cut open the eye slits wider, and spray painted it white. Voila.
Adventure, creativity, and spontaneity created an icon. All for under $2. Great experiences don’t cost a lot of money. Sure, an extravagant CGI-laced super-production is always a good time. But those aren’t always in the budget. Don’t miss the $2 classic story because you are too preoccupied with the flashier, more expensive one.
I doubt that John Carpenter knew his original Halloween film would create a horror franchise, including seven sequels (Halloween III: Season of the Witch not included because it sucks and there is no Michael Myers), two remakes, and another film upcoming.
And therein lies another gem about life from Halloween: sometimes it can surprise you, like the boogie man behind the couch, even though you think your eyes are wide open.
