Halloween - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Halloween or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Halloween

[jamie]

Nurse Chambers was smoking Parliament cigarettes during the drive with Dr. Loomis to retrieve Michael Myers on the day before Halloween.

[violet]

Tommy Lee Wallace had worked second unit for John Carpenter on this film and was originally chosen by Carpenter and the producers to direct Halloween II (1981). His approach was more of a Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) approach, where it's five years later and Laurie was in graduate school when Michael resurfaces. But Carpenter insisted this had to be a very next day kind of sequel, and the studio and producers were insisting on a lot more blood due to the success of Friday the 13th (1980). Because of all this, Wallace decided he wasn't comfortable with the sequel, and he declined. However, he did direct Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982).

[ray]

In an interview, Tony Moran claimed that the reason why Michael Myers was played by more than one actor, was because they could only use those who were available on each day of filming. He also added that Michael Myers was actually played by six actors in total (including himself, Nick Castle and John Carpenter).

[gabriel]

That Michael Myers could drive a car despite having been committed to an asylum at the age of six inspired many guffaws. The first movie novelization came up with a simple but effective explanation: when Doctor Loomis drove Michael to sanity hearings over the years, Michael simply watched very closely and carefully as Doctor Loomis operated the car. Remember, even if Michael sat in the back seat and there was a screen of bulletproof glass partition, Michael could still look over the Doctor's shoulder without Loomis realizing the significance. Alternatively Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) provides a retroactive explanation to this question.

[morris]

When Laurie Strode and Annie Brackett are driving in the car, they are listening to "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult. This is on while Michael Myers is driving behind them...

[lena]

Peter O'Toole, Mel Brooks, Steven Hill, Walter Matthau, Jerry Van Dyke, Lawrence Tierney, Kirk Douglas, John Belushi, Lloyd Bridges, Abe Vigoda, Kris Kristofferson, Sterling Hayden, David Carradine, Dennis Hopper, Charles Napier, Yul Brynner and Edward Bunker were considered for the role of Dr. Sam Loomis.

[ethel]

The opening POV sequence took two days to film.

[violet]

As seen during Dr. Loomis's telephone call in the phone booth, the license plate number to his car is B4J 207.

[jesus]

The story is based on an experience John Carpenter had in college touring a psychiatric hospital. Carpenter met a child who stared at him "with a look of evil, and it terrified me."

[kenzi]

To ensure Michael Myers would break the window of the station wagon as Dr. Loomis approaches the insane asylum, a wrench was adhered to his forearm and hand. It was then painted flesh colored to hide from the camera.

[sandra]

Throughout the film, the 1951 film [The Thing from Another World](/category/6679/the-thing-from-another-world) (1951) plays on the TV. "Halloween" director John Carpenter would go on to direct an adaptation of this film in 1982 called The Thing (1982). Coincidentally, Carpenter was approached to direct "The Thing" after the studio was unhappy with the concept provided by Tobe Hooper, director of 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), which also launched a series of Horror/Slasher films with an iconic villain (Leatherface).

[beth]

John Carpenter told broadcaster Fox 5 DC during promotion for Halloween (2018) that the opening shot of the original film had only five takes. The eye holes of the mask were added in post-production by MGM's optical department.

[gerald]

The Myers house is actually an abandoned building the filmmakers found in South Pasadena, California. It became a chiropractor's office.

[gabriel]

John Carpenter told production designer Tommy Lee Wallace to go out and find a "government-looking" car to be used by Dr. Loomis and Marion in the opening scenes, which Michael Myers ultimately steals and uses throughout the film. Wallace went to the nearest car-rental agency and a 1976 Ford LTD station wagon was the only car there that looked the part. Wallace hired it for two weeks, installing a wire-mesh divider between the front and rear seats, and slapping Illinois state decals on the front doors. Carpenter loved it, and the car-rental agency had no idea of the LTD's use in the film.

[tom]

John Carpenter purposely took a more restrained, suggestive approach with the gore in this movie. He learned his lesson with his last movie Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) when he killed off Kim Richards' character and the audience wound up hating him. Because of this he purposely took a more discreet approach to the bloodshed, ala Psycho (1960), as opposed to an over-the-top gorefest ala A Bay of Blood (1971).

[dustin]

John Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there". He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."

[bernard]

Was selected in 2006 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[kim]

To this day, one of the most frequent things people say to Jamie Lee Curtis about this film is "Why did you throw away the knife?"

[camila]

John Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in Psycho (1960).