Halloween - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[tom]

All of the actors wore their own clothes, since there was no money for a costume department. Jamie Lee Curtis went to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe. She spent less than one hundred dollars for the entire set. She shot the film while on hiatus from the sitcom Operation Petticoat (1977).

[linda]

A rare slasher movie where we see the killer driving. Another famous example is Pamela Vorhees picking up doomed hitchhiker Annie in her jeep and then killing her in Friday the 13th (1980).

[jessica]

Producer Irwin Yablans suggested the title "Halloween". John Carpenter admits that's when the story started taking shape for him.

[janice]

Laurie Strode remarks that she would rather go out with unseen character Ben Tramer. The name came from Bennett Tramer, an old college friend of director John Carpenter.

[melinda]

Debra Hill wrote most of the dialog for the female characters, while John Carpenter concentrated on Dr. Loomis' speeches.

[sara]

When Dr. Loomis is fuming at Dr. Wynn about Michael Myers' escape from the sanitarium the night before, there is a glimpse of the real-life place that stood in for Smith's Grove: La Viña Hospital and Sanitarium in Altadena, California. The institution name is prominently displayed on the welcome mat as they exit the facility.

[toni]

Of the female leads (all the girls are supposed to be in high school), only Jamie Lee Curtis was actually a teenager at the time of shooting.

[bernice]

The only blood seen in the movie is when Judith Myers is killed, when Laurie discovers the dangling body of Bob Simms and laid out body of Annie Brackett whose slit throat with its blood is visible, body of the man Michael killed for his clothes after Loomis makes the phone call along the railroad tracks. It is also see on Laurie's hand and arm after escaping from Michael.

[albert]

The original script, titled "The Babysitter Murders", had the events take place over the space of several days. It was a budgetary decision to change the script to have everything happen on the same day (doing this reduced the number of costume changes and locations required) and it was decided that Halloween, the scariest night of the year, was the perfect night for this to happen.

[jessie]

P.J. Soles went to a screening of the movie after it was released, sitting in the fourth row of a regular audience. She was very amused when during her nude scene and line of "see anything you like?", a male audience member in front shouted out "Hell yes I do!", unaware she was right behind him. Dennis Quaid, who Soles was dating at the time, asked her if she wanted him to confront the man, but she declined, too amused from the experience. Quaid was originally supposed to play Lynda's boyfriend, Bob Simms, but scheduling conflicts prevented this.

[frederick]

When Terry Gross interviewed Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel live in front of an audience for a fundraiser for radio station WBEZ in Chicago in 1996, Terry asked them about the scariest movie they have seen. Roger mentioned how the first "Halloween" movie was extremely scary and then recounted how when Gene saw it at a local movie theater, he was so scared, he took a cab home, even though he only lived two blocks from the movie theater. Gene then recounted how when he got home, he went to the shower and pulled the curtain back to see if anyone was in there.

[gabriel]

The movie that Tommy and Laurie are watching is [The Thing from Another World](/category/6679/the-thing-from-another-world) (1951). John Carpenter went on to direct The Thing (1982).

[victoria]

The film takes place primarily in the fictitious town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Haddonfield, New Jersey is the hometown of screenwriter Debra Hill.

[bryan]

John Carpenter was only paid $10,000 to write, direct and score the film.

[russell]

Debra Hill worked for no salary and a percentage of the profits. As the film grossed in excess of $70 million, this proved to be highly lucrative.

[alyssa]

Dr. Sam Loomis is Michael Myers' psychiatrist. Sam Loomis is also the name of Marion Crane's secret lover in Psycho (1960). Coincidentally, Marion Crane was played by Jamie Lee Curtis's mother, Janet Leigh, and Annie is played by actress Nancy Kyes, who was credited as Nancy Loomis. The name Loomis was also used in Scream (1996).