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The Rewatchables ·

Halloween

year 1978decade 70sdirector John Carpentergenre Horror
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeck
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 27:51

The closet scene

Chris Ryan: The segment opens with a warning of Loomis monologue impressions; some people would pick the five-minute single-shot opening, likened to the Goodfellas shot.

Chris Ryan: The opening is left out of the picks: the older sister never stands up to a six-year-old with a butcher knife, the teenage boyfriend is upstairs only about two and a half minutes, and the parents just stare at Michael holding the bloody knife.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie? · 1:22:22

Original mask

Bill Simmons: The original mask is the obvious answer, since it no longer exists; the station wagon is also raised.

The film

Halloween (1978)

Directed by John Carpenter · Horror

92 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Donald Pleasence Dr. Samuel "Sam" Loomis
Jamie Lee Curtis Laurie Strode
Nick Castle The Shape (Michael Myers masked)
Tony Moran Michael Myers – age 21 (unmasked)
Will Sandin Michael Myers – age 6
Nancy Kyes Annie Brackett (credited as Nancy Loomis)
P. J. Soles Lynda Van Der Klok
Charles Cyphers Sheriff Leigh Brackett
Kyle Richards Lindsey Wallace
Brian Andrews Tommy Doyle
Nancy Stephens Marion Chambers
Arthur Malet Angus Taylor
Mickey Yablans Richie Castle
Brent Le Page Lonnie Elam
Robert Phalen Dr. Wynn
Sandy Johnson Judith Myers
Peter Griffith Morgan Strode
David Kyle Foster Judith's boyfriend (credited as David Kyle)

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

22:16

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:16Read transcript
  • The Ebert segment is flagged as one of the most surprising for listeners, and the film is given four stars. — Chris Ryan
  • The review is quoted: a visceral experience in which "we aren't seeing the movie, we're having it happen to us"; if you don't like really scary movies, don't see this one. — Chris Ryan
  • Ebert also selected it as one of his top 10 films of 1978. — Chris Ryan
  • A host asks how anyone who saw it could not give it four stars. — Chris Ryan
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58:29

Casting What-Ifs

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee turned down Loomis; Carpenter wanted Anne Lockhart; Dennis Quaid was supposed to be...

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee turned down Loomis; Carpenter wanted Anne Lockhart; Dennis Quaid was supposed to be Bob

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:29Read transcript
  • The hosts say Pleasence was the third choice and that Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee both turned it down because the pay was too low; Lee, remembered as Dracula, would have been weird casting. — Bill Simmons
  • Cushing was coming off Star Wars; Star Wars and Halloween back to back would have been iconic. — Bill Simmons
  • The hosts describe Pleasence as having peaked as a Bond guy and being in The Great Escape, and say he hosted Saturday Night Live in 1981, is considered one of the weirdest hosts, and kept going through the sequels. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts say Carpenter wanted Anne Lockhart, daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, but she was in other stuff, so they went with Jamie Lee, whose mom was in Psycho. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts say Dennis Quaid, then dating P. J. Soles, was supposed to be Bob but was doing another movie, and tell a screening story in which Quaid offers to fight a heckler. — Chris Ryan
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1:02:40

Recasting Couch

Casting left intact; Kurt Russell as Bob

Casting left intact; Kurt Russell as Bob

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:40Read transcript
  • Recasting is refused: the movie is perfect. — Bill Simmons
  • Asked whether Kurt Russell could fit as Bob or the sheriff, the answer is Bob, since Brackett has to be older as Annie's dad. — Chris Ryan
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1:03:05

Half-Assed Internet Research

Carpenter's psychiatric-hospital inspiration; the fear meter; The Babysitter Murders script; California locations; Ca...

Carpenter's psychiatric-hospital inspiration; the fear meter; The Babysitter Murders script; California locations; Carpenter's $10,000 fee; character-name origins; the station wagon's fate; the Orange Grove Avenue houses

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:05Read transcript
  • The hosts report that Carpenter toured a psychiatric hospital in college and met a child who stared at him with "a look of evil," the source of the blackest-eyes idea. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts report the film was shot out of sequence in 20 days, so Carpenter created a fear meter for Jamie Lee. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts report the original script, The Babysitter Murders, took place over several days and became one day for budget reasons. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts point to Southern California shooting visible in palm trees, California plates, and a hardware store on Genesee. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts report that the producer heard as "Yoblins" and Akkad paid Carpenter $10,000 to write, direct and score, that the same producer suggested Halloween, that Carpenter pictured an old haunted-house film, and that the script took 10 days. — Chris Ryan
  • Name origins as the hosts give them: Haddonfield from Hill's New Jersey hometown, Bowling Green street names, Laurie Strode an old girlfriend, Michael Myers a producer, Tommy Doyle a Rear Window homage, Sam Loomis a Psycho homage, and Brackett after a screenwriter. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts report the 1978 Ford LTD station wagon was rented from the Illinois government, auctioned in 1981, left in a barn for 37 years and restored; the host wants it and guesses $95,000 to $100,000. — Chris Ryan
  • The hosts say the two homes are on Orange Grove Avenue, chosen for few palm trees, between Sunset and Franklin. — Chris Ryan
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1:08:56

Picking Nits

Premature boyfriend; repaired wagon window; tombstone theft; sheriff not warning his daughter; no TV or radio warning...

Premature boyfriend; repaired wagon window; tombstone theft; sheriff not warning his daughter; no TV or radio warning; conspicuous station wagon; slow hardware-store response; Loomis missing the wagon; phone-line cutting; Annie's butter strip; parents out on Halloween; extra knife

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:56Read transcript
  • The teenage boyfriend finished fast, which saved his life. — Chris Ryan
  • The wagon's passenger window, smashed to take Marion out, is intact again when he follows Tommy. — Chris Ryan
  • Myers finds the graveyard and his sister's grave at night without a map and carries the heavy tombstone to his car. — Chris Ryan
  • A mailbag reader's point: the sheriff never warns his own daughter about the maniac on the loose. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis rejects warning people via TV and radio because they would see him on every street corner. — Chris Ryan
  • Myers drives a reported-stolen wagon with Illinois State Hospital tags around town all day, and no red flag is raised. — Chris Ryan
  • The sheriff is still handling the hardware store break-in hours later. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis stakes out the Myers house for hours and never turns around to see the station wagon. — Chris Ryan
  • Where did Myers learn to cut a phone line in the asylum? A joke imagines electives such as evasive driving and grave removal. — Chris Ryan
  • Annie stripping in the kitchen over a little butter is a porn-movie setup to get her naked and vulnerable in the laundry room. — Chris Ryan
  • All the parents are out on Halloween, as if at a key party; an indie movie from the parents' perspective is pitched. — Bill Simmons
  • A knife is left downstairs after he takes one upstairs, likely an editing error. — Craig Horlbeck
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1:18:25

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How Myers drives, navigates and refuels; opening the door to a screaming stranger

How Myers drives, navigates and refuels; opening the door to a screaming stranger

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:25Read transcript
  • Myers drives away in a rainstorm despite 15 years locked up, which the film acknowledges; Haddonfield is 150 miles away. — Chris Ryan
  • He would have to know the route from memory as a six-year-old. — Chris Ryan
  • At an average of 11 miles per gallon for 1970s cars, a 300-mile round trip needs gas; did he get it at the gas station? — Chris Ryan
  • After driving all day around Haddonfield, the car is "basically a Tesla." — Chris Ryan
  • A pitch for a movie about a nurse who gives asylum kids driving lessons and explains how to buy gas. — Chris Ryan
  • The answer landed on: if he is the boogeyman he is Satan, and Satan guides the car, gets the gas and cuts the phone lines. — Chris Ryan
  • A pseudo-unanswerable question: would you open the door to a screaming girl a week before Halloween 2021? One would; the other is unsure. — Chris Ryan
  • A late-70s razor-blade apple story in Brookline and stranger danger; neighbors would know the babysitter, so not calling the cops is unrealistic. — Bill Simmons
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