179: Halloween (1978) Commentary | Halloween Every Week

Alex completed his 2025 movie challenge of watching John Carpenter’s “Halloween” once a week for the entire year. 

In Part 1 (00:01:10) of this episode, Alex does a solo commentary on the film, reporting all the fun things he learned by watching the movie so much. 

In Part 2 (01:32:03), Alex brings Nick on to talk about every “Halloween” sequel, the four franchise timelines, John Carpenter’s music, the worst “Halloween,” Sam Raimi’s “Send Help,” and much more.

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Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex Withrow and Nick is going to be here, but later it's going to be a mixed bag episode because I watched John Carpenter's Halloween once a week for all of 2025, and during my final viewing of the year, I recorded a solo commentary. So that's what you're going to hear. First, my findings of watching the same film 53 times in one year. And then after the commentary, I bring Nick on and he interviews me about watching Halloween once a week. And that section. I'm going to talk a lot about the sequels, musical time signatures, and of course, my 2026 movie challenge, which I have already started. But first the commentary. So we'll do the commentary first and roll right into my conversation with Nick. Commentary begins in three, two, one. Okay okay, okay. All right. Here we go. The music starting. Oh, God, I'm excited. So again my name is Alex Withrow. I'm recording this on December 31st, 2025. And I'm a little out of my mind in mid 2024, I thought it would be a fun challenge to watch the same movie once a week for all of 2025. Halloween was the first movie that popped into my head to take on such a challenge, and I batted a few other movies around and just kept it simple. Stuck with Halloween. I wanted to see how it would go and it has been a blast. This recording. Right now I'm watching it doing a live commentary. This is the 53rd time I've watched it this year. I've watched it in every way. I have watched it in every way imaginable, under every circumstance imaginable, on every device imaginable, every format. It has been a blast. I never got sick of it. I'm actually we've done a lot of commentaries for the pod, and I've never been more excited than to record this one. I think fast, I talk fast if I'm curt, it's because time is a factor. We only have 90 minutes here. I have a lot to say. This is me reporting on watching Halloween once a week for all of 2025 opening credits sequence. I mean, just one of the all time greats. You're getting hit with this music right away. This music that was done by John Carpenter and the very unique five four time register. So it just it just makes it feel a little off, a little spooky. And it's so simple. It's just I think, I honestly think the score to this film is the most iconic aspect of the movie. God, I mean, 53 viewings, you know, I was a fan of Halloween before I watched it, maybe once a year around Halloween, and I have an appreciation for the sequels. You know, I appreciate them for what they are. I that was another fun thing about doing this year challenge, because I was familiar with Halloween, but not necessarily obsessed with it. And then I also dedicated one sequel to each month. So Halloween was just Halloween. I always had to watch Halloween every week, but then in February I did Halloween two, so I watch that once a week as well. March, Halloween three, and so on all the way up to David Gordon. David Gordon Green's last one, Halloween Ends. But I'm going to try to not talk about those too much because I'll do a little addendum after this commentary. Here we go. Shot one. I did indeed sit down and count all the editing cuts, all the shots. The figure I came up with was 606, so I counted 606 editing cuts in this movie. And it's kind of hard to, you know, get a definite number because there's a few hidden cuts even in this scene. But this thing is so impressive. I mean, they shot this last and this is not what the house looked like. The house looked like how it looks throughout the rest of the movie. It was decrepit rundown. So they literally had to, like, throw all this stuff up. Just this lipstick, this wallpaper, couches, rugs, all this stuff to make it look presentable just for this shot. And they spent all night doing this. And what came out is one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history, let alone horror. This scene just changed an entire genre of filmmaking. Can you imagine seeing this in 1978? I have a funny story about that, about something I heard. And here we go. All right. You know, this scene gets criticized a lot. I think they were, they were having fun on the couch. I think he was probably a little riled up. You know, they're going upstairs. They're already taken off their clothes. And while I'm not saying this is a long amount of time, I'm acknowledging that it is a quick amount of time, but I don't think it's unrealistic. What is he, 17 or just about at the 32nd mark, you got to imagine, you know, they're, rolling around. Things are getting done. This is Debra Hill, producer Debra Hill's hand as is. Did I just love it? I loved it, you know, there's all these things, like, look at there. Right here. You're going to see a camera shadow it. I don't mind these things. I've never minded camera shadows. What was I just watching the other day? Mulholland Drive. And I caught some camera shadows at the winky scene, and I'm like, yeah, I mean, who cares? They're making this for almost no money. Like $300,000 independently, no studio involvement. And there's everyone on set. Like all the crew. They're right behind the camera, reshuffling stuff, making sure lights are in the right position. Because, again, this house was falling apart, you know, and there we see him again. So that's been every girl it's been about. There we go. It's been about 70s. I'm not saying that I agree with his stamina, but I'm saying that it is plausible for 17 year old. That's not even the best thing to happen to him tonight. I mean, he left. I imagine if he stuck around, he'd be toast to. How's that guy doing now? Survivor's guilt. They should have brought him back in some sequel, I don't know. Anyway. You cannot overstate how effectively creepy this is. This intro is just even the the sloppiness of it. The camera bumps the movements here. We're going to get a cut because, you know, they have to put something over the camera. So that's fine. That's what I mean about the editing cuts. It's just so I mean, I saw this Halloween is a movie you can watch kind of young because there's not too much blood in it. And, you know, maybe misremembered as having blood, but there's not too much blood. And so I, I think you can watch it kind of young. You can play it on TV. There's no F-bombs. I actually don't believe there's a single F-bomb in the movie. So you can see this young and you can scare the shit out of you at any age. And this shot gets criticized when it looks over the life. I love that it's kind of like a what am I doing thing, like, oh my God, I like, am I doing this? Or like, you know, watching it go in this kind of disassociation? I don't know, I always really like that. The best the kicker of the scene is taking that damn mask off at the end. It is so freaky. It is so scary to see that he's just like this normal looking kid with normal parents. Michael. God. In addition to counting cuts, I also counted camera setups. Now, it's not possible to know how many takes they did. Like this. This is going to be a crane shot away from this terrifying looking kid with the knife. There's stared at him. No words. I don't know how many times they did this. They could have done it two times. They could have done it ten. But you count as one camera setup. So when I counted camera setups, there's only 245. And the whole movie. That's nothing. Just setups. That's it. That is crazy. I mean, again, cannot overstate that. They had almost no money. It was kids making this. A lot of them had they had done a few movies, they had been with Carpenter on a few, but nothing like they just they never could have known what they were doing and what they were making. I mean, they knew what they were doing. They never could have known they were going to make this masterpiece of horror cinema. Also researching this movie, you find out just how simple they made things. So like, yeah, that's a car driving like in the street in the rain. And then this is, you know, a camera mounted in front, like in the car just pointing outside. This is in a garage. This is two actors in a car in a garage with grapes shaking the car with a hose with some water. That's it. And it's so effective. It just they call it poor man's process. And it works so well. I've never once watch this movie and gone, oh, man, I don't know. It really could tell they shot that in garage. Just like the pumpkin in the opening credits. It's just in a garage. They just pushed in on the pumpkin. Simplicity. Simplicity. Nancy Stevens here as Marion, the nurse, the smoking nurse. A really cool thing to keep in mind. This is the only scene she's in in this movie. It's just this. She was in some sequels later, but and had a very key exposition dump in part two, which we don't need to go into. But this is it for this movie. She's not in it that much, and she makes such an impact. The compassion is overwhelming. What do I give him when we're taking the phone? And one thing about her role in Halloween two, that film was directed by her husband, Rick Rosenthal. They got married that same year, and they are still together today. Isn't that great? It's so funny watching a movie this many times in a row. You're like, you didn't need that. You didn't need like the matchbook insert. It's fine because they just, you know, they have that for when he finds, the mechanic, which I think is hilarious. It's like, did he go around the bush and see that the mechanic was laying dead there? Did he just, like, stop at the truck and the hospital gown? Donald Pleasance here, 244 acting credits total. He's. So. It's just a flawless performance. I've seen it so many damn times. I love what he cuts her off right there because it is the law, and he kind of feels bad. You can see it. He's like, it's right here. It's one of my favorite line readings. Most. It's just grips walking around in the rain like hospital gowns. It's it. It's the music that makes it so haunting. It's the music that never escapes you. And you're like, oh my God, you just have this response. This is the worst thing imaginable. I love Donald Pleasance. He played Loomis five times and I have watched all the sequels many, many times. There's not I mean, the sequels get ridiculous, you know? Of course, but he's so committed always, even with like, the stupid burns on his face. It doesn't matter. He's so committed. And he is fantastic in this movie. And he was a good sport when they made it. A few different guys played Michael Myers in this movie, Nick Castle most notably, but this might this might have even been Tommy Lee Wallace jumping up on the car here. They do a commentary. You know what I also want to say, if you haven't in 4K and the 4K looks amazing, people are like, oh, he's holding a wrench here. That's you can clearly see it. That's a continuity error. That's how he broke the window. And like, what if he had a wrench? Was Michael Myers got a wrench for he left a hospital? I don't know, I'm very forgiving of this movie. Another great line delivery. The best. The evil is God for me. All right. Oh, I don't know if I'll be able to stop. It's just great. He just leaves her. That's it. She's gone. Nancy Stevens out of Halloween one. I love all of her cameos in the. Oh, I mean, she's in H2O. I'm going to do a really bad job of not referencing sequels, but H2O. They even bring her back for Halloween Kills. I like I like it, I like her a lot. Oh, here it is. So yeah, it's December 31st, 2025. Nick and I, my podcast partner Nick and I were just here. We went to all the locations or a lot of the locations, and this is in Pasadena, California, not in Illinois, because it wouldn't look like this. And it's over at Illinois. And, it's just like where that white pole is down at the right. That's where we parked. Like it all looks like this. Still, it's just so cool. Like the curb structure. Heathers. That little bump up with the curb in the grass. This house is easy to spot because that double car garage, it's just, you know, if I love going to movie locations and if you're a fan of it, this is a great one because they look exactly the same. Not so much the houses in Hollywood later, but this stuff, like there's a library right next to that park. Think it's a library? Those little, what do you call those those things that she's going to sit on later? Those things, you know, those little stools, that guy here's a fun little bit of trivia to some that is Tippi Hedren, husband to others, that is Melanie Griffith's dad, to even others, that is Dakota Johnson's grandfather. The actor's name is Peter Griffith, and he is not a cartoon. Jamie Lee Curtis This was indeed her first movie. She had a few TV credits, but this was it. She was cast in part for being the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and Janet Leigh, who was, of course, the iconic Marion Crane in Psycho. But I also want to say that I love her and other things like Act of Violence, Touch of Evil, The Manchurian Candidate, The Fog, Halloween, H2O, Great Little Cameo with her daughter there. I just she had a way bigger career than just psycho. I love Janet Leigh and I love Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie. She has played, I mean, you know, could keep going. Who knows? As of this recording, she has played Laurie Strode seven times over 44 years. That is impressive. She's won an Oscar. She's, been in a gazillion movies that people know true lies. I mean, come on, she's Jamie Lee Curtis. And it all started here. And I love her in this. That is what the Myers house looked like. This is what it looked like. So that's the same house as the opening shot. But they had to pretty it up and gussy it up. Like this is what it looked like the whole time. The whole time. And I want everyone to pay attention very closely. This is a key scene in the movie because this is the first time Michael's going to spot Laurie Strode and little Tommy here. And this is important because if we join Mike in his day and join his POV, a little bit, you may see some justifications as to why he's doing what he's doing. But it all kind of starts here. I'm going to get to that later down this little teaser. It's also fun to track those stings. You know, those music stings when he uses him and when he doesn't because there isn't one right here. And it seems kind of obvious, like as soon as he would walk into frame, it would just be there. But it's so smart to not do that, so smart to leave it out. Nick Castle is the primary actor who played The Shape iconically, and one of the things I, one of the things I love most about this guy is I'm a child of the 90s. I grew up in the 90s. He directed Dennis the Menace from 1993 and Major Payne with Damon Wayans. I don't know, I just love that. Haven't talked about the cinematography enough. This is all one shot. There's a lot of stealth oners in the movie. You know, obviously that opening was made to look like one shot, but it was like still only three like that. Now it's very, very difficult to do. This is all one. This doctor, this is, you know, this is it for him in this movie. And then if you are familiar with the sequels, he has, a stupid arc later down the line. He's doing very well last night. Sorry. Dammit. How many people I gotta piss off? Oh, I love this teacher. And talking about fate I have ever seen kind of memorized in order. You know, if you listen closely, fate is an immovable object. The teacher's kind of talking about, Mike Myers. You know, evil personified that whole thing. So it fits. I love her voice. It sounds like. I think it sounds like a voice. An assault on precinct 13 for me. Like a secretary or phone operator voice. I don't know who it is. I just always like the. I like the voice, so. All right, I can't do it yet. I already want to jump to Mike. Stay. But yeah, he's like, who's this girl who showed up at my house? She's going to check in on me. I'm going to check in on her. So yeah, I'm going to follow her around. He's not getting much visibility on her because, you know, she's in class. So he's like, I'll go to that little pipsqueak school. They gotta be let it out soon. I'll definitely keep track of him. Right. That fate was somehow related only to religion, where Samuels felt that, well, if it was like a natural element, like Earth, they're fire and water. That's right. Samuels definitely personified faith. In Samuel's writings. Faith is immovable, like a mountain stands where man passes away. Faith never changes, of course. We went to Pasadena and Nick and I went to the locations. Didn't go to this one. Don't know why. Just completely slipped my mind. So there's that again, not counting shots or counting. Even shot setups like this is one. And then they're even going to go back to that setup when Myers runs into him. When Mike runs into Tommy is could suck man. Ruined another man's pumpkin like that. Well, oh, Lonnie is going to get the bejesus scared out of him later. Tommy, this kid's cute. This is Brian Andrews. Is Tommy cute kid. I have only ever seen him or recognize him in The Great Santini. He was one of the Mitchum sons. Good little actor. That kind of gave him the shaft. Not bringing him back for Halloween Kills. But, you know, Anthony Michael Hall does kind of kick ass in that until he doesn't, I hope Tommy learned to stand up for himself. I mean, he's going to after this night. He should have bragging rights all over school. Do you have any idea what I've been through? That's a great sting. Music. Sting. That always scares the shit out of people. And part of my viewing for Halloween, like in the past before 2025, I love to see it in the theater because every time I go in the theater, you know, they usually play it around Halloween. Alamo is really good about it. You can tell you're always in there with people who have not seen it before, and they are scared. When you're supposed to be scared, they laugh when you're supposed to laugh. I love seeing these older movies in the theater and hearing and seeing in real time how they still work. It's fantastic. And this one just absolutely in every way still works. That was a fun little continuity error. When he was walking, you could see his station wagon on the other side of the street, but now he's in it on the opposite side of the street. I don't mind any continuity errors in this movie except one, and we're going to get to it on a little bit. Has to do with the hardware store. That's just silly. It's a really silly thing. And this poor kid being tracked got. This next scene's great because you're like, so okay, Mike. I mean, you know, you got to imagine circumstance here. Maybe. Mike. Like, something happened with the station wagon. He pulls over. This guy, helps him. Who knows? Or the tow truck was already pulled over. But Mike just basically killed this guy for his, like, jumpsuit. That's the only reason. And I love that Lubitsch does it. As far as I can tell, he doesn't think to go around and see if the mechanic is there. Also, I wondered, is he talking to Sheriff Brackett here? He's talking to someone of authority in the town. And you know, I'm telling you, he is coming. It's your funeral. I've always wondered that because it seems like when they meet out on the street, they are meeting for the first time. Maybe I'm thinking too much about this. Like, did he go around the corner to see that he's dead? Or is he like, all right? Mike stopped here to ditch his clothes. He didn't take this new car. He kept the station wagon and. All right. Barry Bernardi plays the corpse here. It's kind of funny because he was a PA in this movie, and now he produces most of Adam Sandler's movies. All those Adam Sandler movies on Netflix. Is the dead mechanic in Halloween? Once upon a Time in Hollywood? Yeah, that that's like for, you know, first time. That's for night. I guess that's 1978 stuff. They were trying to give people a little help to see if they could, you know, track along with the story. Oh, yeah. So he was here. Okay. I get it. Oh, here they come. I love these girls. Debra Hill and John Carpenter were together when they wrote, produced, wrote and produced Halloween. They developed it together. And in the writing, Debra Hill was largely responsible for the Laurie Strode stuff, the girls, the banter back and forth. I think that's part of the reason why it feels so authentic, so totally authentic. Carpenter stuck with the Loomis stuff, and then they merged them together. But Debra Hill's responsible for a lot. She cast Jamie Lee Curtis. She made the production run as smoothly as she could, cannot again, you cannot overstate the importance of her contribution to this movie. It's almost in tandem with the great John Carpenter. Here we have P.J. soles. Is Linda smokin Linda? She's so good in this. You understand her personality immediately. All of them. You understand their personalities so well. This is Nancy Loomis, later known as Nancy Keys, playing Annie. So the Loomis thing confuses matters even more. She is the same last name as the main character in the movie. Now, this is also a very important scene because this is some interaction with Mike. So just in developing Mike's day, if we're in Mike's logic going down that rabbit hole, this is a key, key scene to remember. Key scene because it's obvious to me that Mike does not like to be yelled at. Oh, I just love the banter though, between these three. The passing of the cigaret. I also found it funny that Jamie Lee Curtis said she told Carpenter like right before they started filming, that she in real life is not very much like Laurie. She's more like Andy. Yeah. Oh, Mike doesn't like that. Mike doesn't like it one bit. One day you're going to get us all into a lot of trouble. Yeah, she is so much trouble. In fact, that she ain't going to make it. This is my 50th viewing. I noticed this continuity continuity error, my 50th viewing. Look all the way to the right. All the way as they walk. You're going to see a guy walking in a white shirt, clearly like walking with the camera. Look all the way to the right against the bush. You know, I didn't even notice until I was watching on my 4K for the, I don't know, the 30th time this year, and it was just a quick little shirt of a guy walking. I love that. And he's such a smart ass. Like, good. I have you two options. Listen, do you screw around or talk to you because that's so bad to talk to your friend. They're great. And their banter keeps going. Like this stuff isn't even subtitled. They're just talking about, like, boys smoking. Like, I love all that. Now, this was a favorite location of mine, because this thing is just. I mean, this is right out of the 1978, not the shot. This all of this looks exactly the same. It is so cool. We part just a little doubt, like where that stop sign is a little past that. And this is all exactly it. It is so cool. You can do these camera moves. This walk I don't know. I love that stuff. I love it so much because also keep in mind, you know, they're making plans. This is the last time Annie and Linda are ever going to see each other. They will never see each other again by, I said. I mean, what? Laurie won't even see Linda again. They'll talk on the phone briefly, but that's the last time she's going to see her. There it is. That Bush still stands. That hedge bush looks exactly the same. They've maintained it. And the one after that. Bigger Greenbush. I did a video of myself. Well, Nick took a video of me going behind the bush. It is still there. It's awesome. The people who live in that house must be very nice because as you'll see when Andy goes around it. Hey, creep, you're just in their yard like that's their front yard and it still looks exactly like that. So when you do the step behind the bush, you're in their yard. Here's some John Carpenter's cigaret smoke going by. Camera left smoking during you take. I love that. So yes I, I wanted I get really embarrassed and shy at that stuff. So I'm like, all right we have to be quick next like no, do another take. It's still like that house. I mean, they clearly have done that on purpose just to try to maintain it again. The houses in Hollywood have clearly done some work to not be, distinguishable, you know, not gather fans and stuff like that. But this it looks the same. And I appreciate that. It's just really cool. Well, there's a guy. Oh, there's guys standing on the porch back there. I never knew that. I never saw that. Holy shit 53 times in one year. And I just saw guys. I said to me, crew member standing on Linda's porch, like, this is hilarious. All of that leaf gets caught in her hair. Oh, here he is. This guy's great. Charles Cyphers is great. Sheriff Brackett, and he's dad. I love him just for John Carpenter. He was in assault on precinct 13. Someone's watching me. Elvis. The fog. Escape from New York, Halloween two. They brought him back for Halloween Kills. I love this guy, and he's a good man. He wants to help. I've heard some chatter that he, checks out Laurie here, that he checks out her derriere. It's not true. Look, he's staring right at the back of her head. He's good man. He is not a creep. That's that. Justice for Sheriff Brackett. I always wondered if they shot this right at the same time as when she left in the morning. Was saying bye to her dad. That guy who's not a cartoon kind of looks like the same type of day. Who knows? Yep. This little courtyard, like that whole little intersection looks exactly the same right in Pasadena. And this is something you don't really notice. I mean, they didn't have a lot of money on this, so they couldn't afford a lot of extras. I didn't really notice until, like, I don't know, 25 viewings in the same year that there are already kids trick or treating. And like, I didn't take issue with it as what I mean. I've heard people have issues, but I don't know, the smaller kids definitely went out trick or treating before it became nighttime, at least in my neighborhood growing up. So I guess that's what that means. But again, I don't really think these details matter to John Carpenter's Halloween. Oh, this is so freaky. All right, well, okay. This is what I'm here to do. I'm here to combat all the criticisms. So she's going to look out and he's going to be standing right here. Also. Very creepy, of course. And then we come back to her. And then when we go back outside now, he's going to be gone. I don't think it's out of the realm. People are like, where did he go? Oh, she must just be in her imagination. That's an error. I just have always assumed that he walked off like he did behind the bush. And I mean, with her looking at him, he just walked right off and I they probably didn't want to show that again because they just showed it at the bush. Or maybe it is in her head, I don't know, whatever. I never took issue with it. For the kids out there, this is what you used to do back in the day, before phones, before texting. You make a plan and then if something you know, maybe a little change in the plan, think about all the stuff you text today like, oh no, can we meet it? Ten minutes later? Can we meet ten minutes earlier? Can we take your car? My car broke down. This not. You'd have to actually call the person back. So you may have just stopped talking to them in front of her house three minutes ago, and now you got to call him back. That's the way it was. Didn't you mess up the number on those rotary phones? Start all over. Had to slam it down. Start all over. I love Eddie. She's really good. She's really effective. And Nancy Loomis was part of the, the gang, the carpenter gang. You know, she was in assault on precinct 13 and the fog and this. It feels fair to mention the sequel here. She has a cool, like, ex wife role in Halloween three, the one movie in the franchise that doesn't have anything to do with Michael Myers, per se. And one of the cool things about her in that movie is that she was married to the director, Tommy Lee Wallace, who also had a big hand in this movie as the production designer and the coeditor. And the wheels on the bus go round and round. Now, this I actually did do. I made Nick take a picture of me. He's kind of send those to me. Went right out to the stool. Is that what it is? Still, I don't know what the hell and sat on this. They're still there. You can still go and sit and wait for your friend to pick you up with the joint. Yep, yep. All those leaves they had, like, three of those big black trash bags of leaves, and they would have to scoop them up for every shot, reassemble and spread them out again, because there were no brown leaves in Pasadena when they filmed this. That's a hoot. This has to be a stolen shot, this next one, because that's, Genesee. Yeah. You see that road, Genesee Avenue, that's in Hollywood? That's much closer to the houses. That they're going to that ain't in Pasadena, so it must be a stolen shot. Comes in with the car. We just have time. I just mentioned Tommy Lee Wallace there. The song playing on the radio here is by a band called the Coupe de villes, the members of which were Nick Castle, Tommy Lee Wallace and John Carpenter. I'm dead serious. It's great. You got to love it. The sheriff's daughter is the bad influence. Just perfect. This guy, Arthur Mallet is the graveyard keeper. Whole Charlie balls. I mean, this guy was in a ton. He was a Mary Poppins. In the heat of the night, young Frankenstein played Tootles and Hook. Anyone seen hook? That's Tootles. And this all, for the most part, is going to be one shot. And once they get to the gravestone, it's going to be one shot. I love the story. It just gets cut off. What do we think old Charlie Balls did there? Did he go back in and hack them all up? He says it's about 15 years ago, which was the Michael Myers, you know, when Michael Myers killed his sister. And if Russellville is like the next town over, that was a hell of a, you know, what was that, 63? That was a hell of a 63. You got old Charlie Bulls hacking up his family, presumably Michael Myers ice and his sister out the hell's going on in Illinois at this time? Row 18, black 20. I shouldn't know that, but I do just love this guy. Why do they do it? Plus, it's so over it. So yeah, that was all one shot. Now we'll do some, you know, insert some quick back and forth. Here Mike's plan is becoming a little clear. Don't know the order in which he did stuff. But it's like all right. Yeah I'm going to have a little, little decoration party here with this gravestone. Why not? What else am I going to do? Eat? I got dog for that. Sick bastard. Another bit of fun trivia. This song is be very well known. Don't fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. This was the first time this song was used in a movie, and it has been used in countless movies and TV shows since. It's used a lot as a callback to Halloween in the sequels. What's the pumpkin for? But yes, very. I mean, what a what a well-known song. Look, it might just stalking about stalking about my favorite part about them getting high is when they're on the phone later because they both play high so well, like, and he's got the very glassy eyed kind of standing there. Laurie's got the giggles. Very effective. Giggles are authentic. I mean, they really seem stoned, but yeah, Mike's not even playing now because now Mike's like, oh my God, that's the woman that yelled at me, okay, oh my God, it looks exactly like that. Still, this is Dean of that little medium in the middle. Nick and I got into a mini argument because he said, there's no way those trains, these trains were here in Halloween because the train tracks are because the train tracks are very prominent part of this intersection. I'm like, yes, they are. You can see them when when they're at the hardware store. Hardware stores, like a coffee shop now or something. Now this is great. Okay. Can't smell the weed. Or maybe he does, but he doesn't care. It's my one continuity error that I an issue with in the movie. When you watch the movie enough times. This is just silly. He's saying that you know someone broken in the hardware store. Halloween mask, a couple knives, rope. So that's Mike. Mike was in there stealing that stuff. We know that he's been in the mask all day because we saw him when Laura was at school. In the mask. Meaning if Mike robbed this store, then that alarm's been going off all day. Come on. Like they're the alarm. Just didn't even need to be going off. You could just be like, yeah, I, you know, I that's just it. There's no way the alarm would be going off all day. Tell them to say I re-created the shot. It's so fun. Yeah. All that looks exactly the same. Look at that, Nick. Train tracks. He'll never listen to this. So it kind of seems like they're meeting for the first time. I just, I don't know, I always wondered if that's who he was talking to on the phone. Maybe he's talking to, like, a someone at, like, dispatch or something. And it's like, to crank. Didn't even pass it off to bracket. That's what it was. Oh, this is a nice little sleight of hand here. Of course he misses it. The car that he was just in a few hours ago just goes right past him. Still has the insignia. These are some, pickups. They had to. They shot these after the fact. I think it helps, you know, I think to, capture more of the passage into night because it was pretty bright for that hardware store. Oh, another cool thing about that hardware store, if you go visit that now again, it's like a coffee shop. They moved the Michael Myers house, so it's like right next to it. It looks like a dentist office or something. It's just like a normal office and it's blue and looks really nice, but I swear they moved like, I don't know how they moved it or if they, you know, literally recreate it board by board. But it looks exactly the same. And if you go to that location, the hardware store and Halloween, you'll be right next to the Michael Myers house. I'm not saying like four blocks away. I'm saying like, right there, it's right there. So yeah, they had to pick this stuff up. I love this hearing about Ben Trimmer. They do a cool, camera effect here in Camera effect, where they turn the aperture down in camera to make it look a little darker. There will pan here again. He's just right on it, man. They should have given thing in school. They would have learned a little bit about tracking where you follow. See it. Let us do a cool in-camera trick. And then once we go to night we stay at night. Just about halfway through the movie, but not quite kind of fade down a little bit. Yep. Before we harsh cut boom, cut to night. The cinematographer of this film was the great Dean Cundey, who did The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Halloween one and two, psycho two. All three. Back to the future, big Trouble in Little China, nominated for an Oscar for Who Framed Roger rabbit, he shot Jurassic Park, Apollo 13. Amazing DP amazing. These are fun to visit. And I think the most interesting thing. So behind these cars, like a half a block behind them, is bustling, driving Sunset Boulevard right in the heart of West Hollywood. If you watch the movie closely, we never really see that side of the street because, I mean, I have to assume in 78 it was still bustling. You can go watch movies that were shot around the time that take place, you know, on the strip or in West Hollywood. And it's it's right there. It's kind of cool that you are. It's on North Orange Grove Avenue, kind of, by coincidence, the Freddy Krueger house is just a few blocks away. It's right below sunset on Genesee. That road I referenced earlier. But yeah, these locations, they're like five blocks from the famed Chateau Marmont, where the actor Johnny Marco once lived. That house looks very different now. I bet they had a lot of fans, a lot of business. That tree still exists, so you can recreate the shot, as Nick and I did. There were just two dudes chilling on the porch having a beer. I'm like, this is embarrassing. But that, like, where the adults are walking right now, that's a garage. That's all. In addition. But the pillars on the front are still the same, but that one looks different. The house that Laurie is in looks more or less the same. I mean, people add like shrubbery, fences. I get it, they don't want you going and visiting this shit we tried to go to, like, the John Cassavetes house from, you know, a woman under the influence of this massive, like, brick gate up. Now, in the movie, she just, you know, kind of wanders out of the front yard and wanders on the sunset. I think you can't, you know, no front yard anymore. Probably annoyed as hell with visitors. Yeah. This is what the house looked like. This is what it looked like. Usually in movies you do set dressing to make stuff look like this, but it already looked like this. People could have fallen to boards. There's literally boards that are just sprung up. This is bad. Mike firmly believes that dogs got no reason to live. He got hungry. He kills poor Lester. Just doesn't even think twice coming up. Could have us and wouldn't do that. This isn't. Oh my God. I mean, Pleasants in these monologues, like he he didn't have to be this committed. And it's about three times he has to do that. I watch I watch him for 15 years, you know, different variations, variations of that. And it's fantastic. Like he's just so believable. You don't see holes in it, even if you watch it 53 times in 52 weeks. I only watch it once a week. I guess it's because the first week of the year and the last week of the year, like, bleeds into, you know, the different years. So that's why he kind of got, I don't know, whatever turned around. Here's a question I have for the listeners and viewers who cannot respond to me. Do you know what this is that hits the window? It's one of those things that, like, I had seen Halloween a bunch of times before 2025, but you just don't really think about it. It scares the shit out of you because it's really loud. So it is. I mean, they bring this screeching to it. The grass, the glass breaking is loud so that. Do people know what that is? Because they never explicitly say like, oh, that was crazy when that gutter fell. That's what it is. It's a gutter. I don't know, I don't know. I had to find that out through research after again like my 30th feeling on what the hell is that thing like, what is that supposed to be, you know, falling either enlighten some people because they didn't know that was a gutter, or some people are like, this dude's an idiot. It's obviously a gutter. Oh, look at the just the composition a little below, the light in the left side of his face, but not too much is. I mean, it's a beautifully shot movie. And again, they didn't have any money widescreen to give it some, you know, some validity to make it. I think Cambridge said he wanted to give it, you know, some visual credibility, make it look more expensive than it was. And I think half the budget was for the photography. And that worked. That paid off. That is one of the reasons why this movie just keeps on living, because it still looks good. It doesn't have any wild, dumb, crazy shit in it. No dated shit in it. That is so. Oh man, he's just in it. I love that, you know, brackets, skepticism. And I'm not gonna, you know, you're telling me they're lined up for a slaughter? Not so much this one, but, you know, more fancy talk. You just. He's great. He's kind of. He's with him right now, like. All right and all right. Everyone thinks every kid in Haddonfield thinks his house is haunted. Now, I got to deal with this guy, this child doctor who seems nuts, who seems just plain scared. To put a little pen in Tommy Lee Wallace. Because I was talking about him. That guy is a horror film icon, his IMDb. It's just a great read because he did so, so many different things for so many different movies. He wrote and directed Halloween three, like I mentioned, and Fright Night Part two, and he directed the eight mini series from 1990, the one when I was a kid. And yeah, he appears as Michael Myers in this film, and he was also the production designer and coeditor with Charles Bornstein, and he worked with Carpenter a lot. He's a key figure to the Halloween franchise. Yeah, this is a phone call where they play Stone so well. I love the. And he's kind of confidence. Guess who I called? I called Ben Trimmer for you. Poor Ben, not seen in this movie, but if you have seen Halloween two. Poor guy. And I just love the way Jamie Lee is laughing. Just a giggles. It's great. It's really authentic. So in this sequence here, while Annie spills butter and she got to clean it up and get stuck in the window, I thought it'd be fun to talk about the various ways I watch the film this year. I watched it in 4K. I watch it in Blu ray. I watched the original color timing Blu ray. I watch it on DVD, watch an extended edition with deleted scenes added in, watch the VHS version, watch the 35 millimeter print version, which I detected very early, was probably not a 35 millimeter print. It was just a lot of post-production editing effects that someone did. But, you know, whatever. I watched it with three different official commentaries and a ton of fan commentaries on YouTube. Like this one is trying to be. I watch it at home, in hotels, in my car and airport bars and the movie theater, once watching in black and white on mute, with Carpenter's isolated score playing. I watch it at 1.25 speed. Watch it. While this was fun, I watch it while playing other famous horror films at the same time. Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th was hysterical because you realize how much of a damn near identical rip off that movie is from the original Halloween. Some of the shots and camera movements are the exact same, pretty much at the exact same point in both movies. It was really fun. I also did that with the original A Nightmare on Elm Street and Black Christmas. It was most effective and most fun to do it with the original Friday the 13th, I recut Halloween, Halloween two and Halloween H2O so that we only focused on Michael and Laurie. So I called it the Michael and Laurie cut, and I only had their scenes throughout that cut. It was just kind of cool to something to do for fun. I counted editing cuts, as I mentioned, counted camera setups. I watched it at dawn. I watched it in the dead of night. I watched it sober, drunk high, watched it in a good mood, watch it in a sad mood. Watch it in a fun mood. The only time I burnt out. The only time. And this was my fault. This was bad planning was when we covered it on this podcast as part of the WW New Hollywood Film Project. We recorded that episode in July 2025 and I prepped for it extensively. I researched the movie a bunch. I watched it like 2 or 3 times, leading up to that recording with the commentaries on watch all the sequels. I crammed like a test, and I often do that for the pod. But then when we do that for another movie, I can just let the movie go for a little bit and, you know, I'll find it'll find its way back to me eventually, no matter what it is. But this one, I had to keep going. So those few weeks toward the end of July and the beginning of August were rough because I felt like I had done the work. And I'm like, well, you should have saved that episode for right now. But now our listeners are getting two Halloween themed movies in, I guess, six months if the math adds up. So I'm sure I watch it in more ways than that. But yeah, I, I tried to have fun with it. My buddy Mark gave me some great tips on how to watch it. It was his idea to watch, I should say. His idea to watch. It was Friday the 13th playing. It was a great idea. I went, oh shit, I never even thought about that. This is funny. This is actually one of the longest shots in the movie. Just the shot of this TV and how, you know, serendipitous that this carpenter would go on to make this movie. And it is a Carpenter classic. The thing from 1982. I actually watch the original The Thing From Another Planet because of this movie is pretty good. Very different than Carpenter's film, very different. This is a funny scene because I remember if for no other reason than it is the exact midpoint of the movie. This is the exact midpoint of John Carpenter's Halloween, when she when the camera angle cuts and she's talking to him like there wasn't anyone there. Like, you know, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. So there you go. We're just full of useless information today. I also loved it. She was the one off, freaked out right earlier. Like calling her friend. Oh, look, there's a guy in the bushes. Look, I thought it was a prank caller. This and that. And now that she's a little baked in, now that she has a responsibility, she's putting on this good show of, like, there's no boogeyman. There's no one out there. And I'm like, is she talking to herself? Think she's giving herself advice? You know, this right here is the exact midpoint of the movie. You're all welcome. Obviously, I was no stranger to John Carpenter. Love, John Carpenter. I've always been a fan of his films, 18 films. As a director, he made more for TV. Dark star was his first a student film at USC with friends that I've mentioned, like Nick Castle, Tommy Lee Wallace. I love that movie. I have it on Blu ray. I think it's a lot of fun. Assault on precinct 13. God, that movie is gnarly. That movie is so hardcore. I I've heard him say that for Halloween for the horror film. They wanted it scaled back the violence because it was so controversial. And Assault on Precinct 13. I mean, of course it's like the kid getting killed, which is really early, but I don't know, it's still like that guy with the shotgun at the end. Like, man, he can whip that shotgun around. And I should know that actor's name. Halloween was right after assault, and he did the fog escape from New York, the thing, Christine star man, big trouble in little China. On and on and on. Prince of darkness, they live. I mean, there's so many I think. Assault on precinct 13, Halloween, escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They live. Those keep him in cinema icon status as a director forever. Of course he made other movies, other good movies. But though that's enough Halloween in that thing like that's enough to keep you as a legend for the rest of my life. And and I think his score for Halloween maintains his icon status as an artist for the rest of my life. Not I mean, I'm talking like even a buzz film direction like this. The Halloween score, the Halloween things. You see that guy in the background in the left ducking behind the couch? I mean, it's it's just wild. It's so crazy how famous it became and how it's used in every sequel is used. It's just used so much. And I think that I think that's the most famous aspect of this movie. I think it's batshit that it wasn't the movie, it was just too, small. And it wasn't back by studio. I was going to say batshit that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar for score, but they would not have known what they had at the time. Of course, this is Kyle Richards as Lindsay. They, unlike poor Brian Andrews, is Tommy. They did bring her back for Halloween Kills and ends. And in between, you know, she was in some stuff. She really seems here. Like she'd be fit for reality TV. You know what I mean? I don't know, it's just a I don't know, it's like a weird vibe. Very funny to think of that. The little girl on Halloween would go on to become a reality TV star. So there's no Irwin Galanis and Mustafa Acar. These are names you hear a lot in this franchise. You. This was a film producer and a card was a financier. They liked Assault on Precinct 13 so much that they offered. John Carpenter said, hey, we want you to make our next movie, which is about babysitters getting, you know, hacked up. So Carpenter thought about it. No one had used the title Halloween for a movie. Isn't that weird? Like no one had set a scary movie at Halloween and called it Halloween weird. So he and Debra Hill did that, and they got, you know, about, like I said, $300,000,$1.98 of that was dedicated to a Captain Kirk mask that they made some modifications on. And I mean, the mask and one and two are the same. And then the masks ever since have been they are the source of so much ridicule, and there's always something to them, like whether it's pink and blond hair at one point, whether it's CGI, like people love to have issues with the mask and it's just so funny how, again, this movie is. I'm not saying it's simple. I'm saying there was a level of simplicity in the making of it, like the poor man's process of stuff in a shooting in a garage, the mask not costing that much money because you're putting all your focus into other things, like the structure of the movie is perfect. The performances for, you know, they were discussed and not been in that many movies. Of course, Donald Pleasance had. Yep. No bad girl, and he's just pawning off her work to Laurie. How does that work? Like if he's getting paid to babysit, I feel like Laurie she get have to have the commission now. She did all the work. She puts her to bed. I love the little manipulation. Like, well, what if you can watch TV with Tommy Doyle? Then will you go? Yeah, sure. Okay, that's it. Every. Everyone but Laurie's got boys on the mind. It's so. It's also so funny how they didn't do that on purpose. Debra Hill and John Carpenter were not making a movie about how the, quote, virginal girl lives in. If you're sex crazed and doing that, then you're not paying attention and you die. They weren't. That was not intentional at all. And that became such a staple of horror movies. And it's just not what this is. It's so funny how things just turn into something. They weren't having that nice little music staying in a while. Yeah, that house looks a little different. There's some gates up, different shrubbery, but those pillars in the front, that's how you can tell. They filmed Halloween for 20 days over four weeks in May 1978, and that sucker was in the theaters a few months later for Halloween. I do have a funny story about someone seeing this movie for the first time. It was, I guess it was two couples and they went to a movie theater, and it was the noon showing of Halloween. No one really knew much about it, so decided to get really high in the parking lot and the back of the theater again. This is like opening day, so no one really knows about the movie. So they stumble into the theater and the credits are going, so you know those long opening credits, everything's black. They can't see anything. They don't know where the hell to sit. So they're stumbling around. They're all stoned, they're giggling. Then that opening scene happens. They're scared shitless. And as soon as the first daytime scene happens, they look over and they realize that they are sitting next to the only other two people in the theater. They're sitting directly next to them and being loud and probably reaching. So they start laughing hysterically, and they get up and move and they sit somewhere else. And I, I always got a huge kick out of that story. And then just a few years later, two of the people in that story helped create your loyal podcast host here. The 70s, again, the sequence of events is all going to pay off when I dive deep into Mike's day. Mike's POV. I love that detail of the cars locked and, presumably because he's in it and then she's going to come back and it's going to be unlocked, but she doesn't even notice because, you know, she's distracted. He's got to go pick up Paul Singer a little tune windows are going to be all fogged out because he's in there. He's he's worked up. He's worked up. This doesn't really matter to anything. But it was like my 35th viewing that I notice this clock on the wall says 31st. I'm like, oh, right there. Yeah, 31st. I mean, that's good continuity working there. How long have we gone in the movie without, you know, there was that death in the beginning. We saw the that the mechanic had been killed, but we didn't see that death. And then here we go. I mean, it's going to rev up, but again, this is not a movie with a high body count, not a movie like he's not a slasher in the throat right here. And there's no gore. My God, that's so scary. That's one of the ways, you know, someone hasn't seen it for the first time because they scream in a movie theater. It's great. Yeah, she yelled at him earlier. That's why he hasn't even been paying attention to Laurie. He's only been on Annie. He's been stalking Annie out. And how is he killing her? By grabbing her by her throat so she can shut her big mouth and not yell about his driving. That's it. This might be the only murder he wants. The only body he wants to catch tonight. It might just be this one. I mean, again, the tow truck. We don't know what happened with the tow truck guy. Maybe he deserved it. We don't know about that guy's life. We don't know what he's been through. His journey. So this could be it. And now Mike's not going to do anything. Mike just has to sit in this house and people are going to show up. A security will be maintained upon landing. And until further notice at it all, artificial gravity. This is hilarious because Tom, he's now the only. What? Like, any time he looks over, he looks out the window. He I mean, he's become Laurie. He's like he's adopted Laurie's fear because everything that she was afraid of earlier, now he's see the same thing. No one believes him. It's just so funny to me that she's like, oh, be quiet, Tommy. And it's like, what you you were scared about this dude earlier in the day. Scary shit. Dude is watching him come over and kick this door and carrying any. Oh, man. But yeah, this, I mean, this could be it. Maybe he was just driving around looking for purpose. He's like, oh, this one reminds me of my sister. I guess I'll kill her. And, you know, like, get to decorating. But he's not going to have much time because he's going to get interrupted. He's just trying to have a nice, relaxing evening by himself. Keeps getting interrupted. Jamie is so good with the kids. Like Jamie Lee, Curtis doesn't even act with adults much in this movie. Not much at all. It's mostly either with people her own age or these kids. And she's so authentic. She's so genuine. This is one of one, if not my favorite performance from her, which is wild because she was a kid and it was her first role. Even the way she does this little leg to herself, like, yep, that's that's me. I can put up with it. Like, these damn kids. I just love it. Like, okay, I can't win. All right? Also, I love how Lindsey believes him. He just scared the shit out of her. It's like I believe you. Do you? This is one of the. I mean, one of the most genuine laugh lines in the movies. It's not just that he scares them off. I mean, it is that, you know, this little shithead Lonnie here. It's the. The pure satisfaction he has on his face at scaring the hell out of these three little kids is so funny. And what if Mike was still there? You know what? If Mike had to come back to his house and was just still chillin there and boom, he could have grabbed these kids. I have no idea how lucky they are. It's so good. It's such a good little bit to do the show that he has. You look at that. He's so content. He's just so pleased with himself. If only he would turn around and see the station wagon. I turned around there. Didn't he know station wagon I love, he goes, don't just go. Oh, just kids. That parking get a guy. It's parking. Part of the mischievous things that kids do. Or is it parking? I thought. But I like it. You know, he's got a it's got a little bit of a wild daughter. So. Takes it easy. Takes it easy on the kids in town. I mean, she's not that wild. She's all right. She's a little rebellious, Annie. Well, she's dead now, actually, so that's kind of sad to think about. He's never going to see her again. Yep, yep. And again, all that stuff like these, it's almost like the same angle is in the house or a little below or on the right side of him. He's just delivering this stuff. So much conviction. I love this message. Get like more fancy talk. Charles Cyphers is great. If you're a fan of John Carpenter. You've seen him so much, and he's just he's a great character actor. Love the voice. He was taking that work seriously. And Halloween Kills as well, like he was. He was going for it. I love that damn you for letting him go. Like, yeah, he knows that he's. Yeah. See shit rolls downhill. It's way it happens. He's catching shit now but he's he was mad at the doctors at Smith's Grove. Yeah. Here they come. Yep. Oh, Linda. Linda's here with Bob. PJ soles was the main villain in Carrie a few years earlier. She was in Breaking Away, private Benjamin, stripes. Sweet dreams. I love sweet Dreams. Jawbreaker, the Devil's Rejects Jackson has a cameo as a teacher in the 2018 Halloween, the first David Gordon Green movie, and at this time, in 1978, she was married to Dennis Quaid, and he almost played this role. He almost played Bob. That would have been funny because this guy playing Bob has not been in anything else. And it just it'd be funny to watch the movie decades later and see that that's a young Dennis Quaid in the part. But probably didn't know that he was going to, you know, turn out to be Dennis Quaid. Did this for me, this all. This is totally silly. Yeah. And this is very important because, you know, the lights are off. Mike's is doing his own thing. He can't be setting up the bed yet because they would see it. So he's not he hasn't set up Annie and the gravestone yet, but. Yeah, I mean, I'm telling you, if you watch, if you think about his perspective, he's not. He's just. Have people fallen into his lap all day. Someone showed up at his house. Who ls this? Someone is yelling at him in the street. Who is she? She's gotta go now. I'm in this house. It's not even my house. The girl I just killed. It's not even her house. I don't even know whose house I'm in. At least two other people show up. I'm like, I'll go through the day shortly. I promise. Yeah. And he's. I mean, just imagine what he's thinking. Like, who the hell are these people? We know Mike doesn't like fornication. He is not a fan. It upsets something within him. So, I mean, terrifying. Another little detail when he came over that I've always wondered about. Laurie was scooping out, you know, the the inside of the jack o lantern. Shouldn't the kids be doing that? That's, like part of the fun. What did the kids do? They were sitting there watching TV. Or rather, Tommy was watching TV when they came over. And I'm like, what? You should be doing that with the kids or making them do it? I don't know, these are the things you think about. And and they're about to talk. Laurie and Linda are about to talk. But it was out, you know, out in front of her house. That was the last time she ever saw her. What a tragic day. Linda's killing PJ souls is killing in the movie is the most savage killing in the movie. Which I'll get to that when you. When I have a theory of why it's being done the way it is. That is brutal. And he's killing was pretty brutal too. She has virtually no idea who did that. She and she would have no idea who's grabbing on the back of her neck. None. I mean, Laurie gave her hints like, oh, I think I saw someone behind the bushes, but she wasn't thinking about that. That was hours ago. She's about to go pick up her boyfriend. She's got way more stuff on her mind. So that's scary when you don't know, you know who's attacking you. You're just like, in the car, ready to go. Where do you go then? You get get grabbed. So yeah, they talk. There you go. Oh, if in the car she was like, don't rip my blouse. It's expensive, you idiot. And that becomes it's like really stupid. Hook of the added scenes that they did later when they were making Halloween two, they did some like, pick up scenes to help fill up a two hour block on television. And one of this about like Lori lending her the blouse. It's just kind of silly if you if you also looked at her when P.J. soles was walking, she kind of tripped and she's tripping over a dolly track. See, I actually think this love scene is funnier than the first one that I did the timing on, because watch, it's like the photos about the rig. And if you have subtitles on or you listen carefully, Linda goes, oh, not again. Like because she has to stop and I'm like, well what? Not again. Like did it is it the phone? Did the phone just ring and now it's ringing again? Or is he unable to perform or like what I just love that. Like, oh not again. And then yeah, they're going to take it off the hook and they're going to you know this is all one shot. So this is a this is a quick a quick romp as well. But she seemed satisfied. It was fantastic. Totally. Look at Mike. Like he didn't even have to go anywhere. They're just fallen or fallen into place here. He's like watch this. I'm going to walk across the room while they go at it. They're not even going to notice me. He's going downstairs right now. He's like, I'm not even going to know. I got a much better way to go about this. Watch this. He's scheming. What have you been doing for 15 years? It's been watched that by Loomis, and he's been scheming. But he couldn't have known. I mean, he's a very good improviser. Mike couldn't have known the way the night was going to go at all. These two are great together. Again, I know I mentioned early, but any Linda like you have such a good grasp of their personalities right away. And that has to the fact that Debra Hill wrote helped write. This has to play into that. There. There really is an authenticity. That's like the 10th time I said that word is commentary talent. But there is in the way that they talk and, you know, that banter going back and forth, it doesn't feel cheap. It just feels very lived in. It feels like they're friends and they have their very specific personalities. Similar to Annie, poor Bob here has no idea who kills him. I also love right before he gets attacked, he calls his girlfriend an asshole. He's like Linda, you asshole. That's just so funny to me. Like who calls their girlfriend an asshole? But yeah. No. No idea what's going on here. It's caught no whiff of, like, there's some crazed stalker going around. And, I mean, it's a pretty, you know, it's a quick one. He gets it right to the chest. Nice. Still on the wall. So he's raised up, elevated off the floor. Oof! But yeah. Terrifying. Boom. Back back checking door. Checking door. And you're like it's it feels so obvious. Like of course he's going to pop out, but then it's just the right amount of times. Like now he wasn't outside. No, he's not in there. And just when you're like now maybe still upstairs boom. And another another kill, that just scares the shit out of everyone when you watch it, especially the first time or many, many times after that. Of course, the tilting his head like a dog is just so iconic, like the studying of it, studying of his work. What more can I even say? God, the way the blade, the light called the blade so it reflected into the camera. Couple of kids, $300,000. Not production money, you know. I mean, just a couple hundred thousand dollars. Making a movie, doing their best. Lo. Did it work out? Lighting is so effective. It is so good. The blues coming in the way that like the flower and, wood. What the hell is that called? Cutting board. To the left. All right. This is savage. This is. I used to make fun of this, like. Oh, I did, Mike, I tell you to put on a sheet. We didn't have time to do this and poke holes in it. I don't know when he did that. He just did it. Okay, whatever. But he has Bob's glasses on this and he does not know who killed her. That was a surprise. Bob does I know who killed him? That's a surprise. No idea. Linda thinks this person is her boyfriend. She has no reason to believe that it is anyone else. She's calling him Bob the whole time. She gets so frustrated with him that she's like, screw this, I'm going to call Lori. This is going nowhere. As she's being strangled, one has to presume that she thinks it is Bob. That is savage, she thinks. And for her dying breath that her boyfriend is killing her. Why, I don't know. She should have maybe gone and gotten the beer. Maybe, you know, maybe he didn't like being made fun of for his sexual inadequacies. Whatever was going through her head, it is that my boyfriend is strangling me to death right now, and that just sucks. That's the harshest death in the whole movie. I mean, the sister in the beginning, that's pretty tough because, like, your little brother's just like, hacking you up. So, I mean, that's a tough one. But, you know, in the core narrative of the film here, Linda's death is the harshest, no question. So that is why I believe Mike puts on the sheet. It's not to be funny. It is not to know any sort of sleight of hand. I think he's doing it thinking the most evil shit I can do right now is pretend to be her boyfriend and ice her out that way, and when he picks up the phone, this is my one of two favorite shots in the movie. I love the blue hitting his mask and he just slowly holds the phone up. I love that. Oh yeah, that's a tough one. It's a tough one because again, she didn't see that mask. She didn't she didn't see anyone else around. That was Bob who did that. So she thinks, oh this shot is great. Look at this. Amazing in 4K stunning. Okay, I think it's about time I got the lights off again. I think it's about time to go through Mike's day here, just from my perspective. But I'm just saying if we if we watch Halloween in Mike's point of view, which my loyal co-host attempted to do and attempted to explain in our previous Halloween episode, but it didn't make any damn sense. So I'm going to give it a shot. Now. What I think could be the most charitable read of Mike logic. So, you know, Mike bust out okay. He nabs a car, drives to his hometown, robs a hardware store, digs up his sister's gravestone, goes to his childhood home. He also killed a driver on the way. The tow truck guy. But nobody's perfect. You know, maybe the driver insulted him a little bit. Now, Mike, he goes home, he's chillin at home. He's thinking he hit a dog. Nobody's perfect, but he's minding his own business. And then out of nowhere, some schoolgirl and some little boy show up, disturbing his peace. So he follows him. Why not? Why not? He hasn't seen normal people in 15 years. He goes for a drive all afternoon, checks in on him at school, and suddenly he's yelled at for a girl for driving too fast. And who is that girl with the other girl who showed up at his house? That's a great gag. That he never saw the car. That's just, That's hysterical. I mean, it's it's right there. Just a few blocks down. I found the car. After Mike is yelled at. After Mike is yelled at by Annie, now it's on. So Mike follows them. And who does he stalk? He does not stalk Laurie. The first girl he sold. He stalks the girl who yelled at him, who yelled about his driving and I, as I said, how does he kill her? By grabbing her by her throat so she can't open her big mouth. Then he slashes her throat to make sure she stays silent. Now he was just chilling again. Who knows what he's getting ready for? And out of nowhere, two more people show up. And who is the female? She was the other girl who was with the girl who screamed at him. And she's got a shithead boyfriend around. Who the fuck are they? They gotta go. We know Mike isn't a fan of sex, so they have to go. That's where he got his most devious. He kills. He kills Bob first, but then he makes Linda believe that her boyfriend is killing her. That is savage. And now, presumably at this point in the movie, Mike is just doing a little interior decorating, right? He's got Annie sprawled out on the bed. It's got a sister's gravestone. There must have been heavy picked up, put at the top of the bed. He's lit some candles. I believe he stashed Linda's body stash. Bob's body, and he's just, I don't know, having a little seance, maybe. Who knows? But he's relaxing. It's probably a lot of hard work, and he's just doing nothing and relaxing and enjoying his work. And out of nowhere, who is going to walk into the house he is in? He doesn't go anywhere. The girls who showed up at his childhood home out of nowhere. What the hell is going on? He feels threatened. He's scared. He's alone. So this girl has to go. And now there's a chase. And as we know, that Chase is going to end with his child psychiatrist at 15 years, shooting him down like a dog. Bad day for Mike. Loomis. So I. You know, I'd be cute there, but it is kind of funny to go through. Like, I have to imagine that Carpenter and Hill thought about that a little bit. Well, you know, yeah, he's going, but okay. So he decides to follow Laurie, but then he gets yelled at. Cindy follows Andy. I haven't heard him talk about that, but that's the kind of the best justification I can put on his motivations. And he's, of course, evil. I mean, it's great, Loomis discovered that car with like, 20 minutes left in the movie. I mean, it's literally it's like 18 minutes left and we're going to be like, okay, so 20 minutes left in the movie and it's like, end of credits that we will be done and we're gonna, we're just cooking here. And after those 3 or 3 murders, I'm gonna set two. Now, you know, we had that build up, and now we're just resting in this patience of like, walking around houses when you when you break the movie down into, like, the mechanics of the movie, this is just an actress. Like walking around a house at night. The music makes it very effective. But this isn't, you know, tonally massive special effects or anything. You don't need that. It's just really convincing storytelling, terrifying, convincing storytelling. I love Tries every name. Bob ends with Bob. And watching this again, you watch it so many times and I've seen it with so many different crowds. Watch it with so many different people. Some people who haven't seen it, some people who don't remember it that well. And the tension in these moments is very, very palpable. There's that great clip on YouTube part of Halloween Party, the thing with old movies back in the day, they could release them like let's say, Halloween 1978, and maybe it wouldn't take off. Like maybe, you know, I said the the two people, the two of four people who went to see it opening day, the movie theater was not packed because that could happen. Like, maybe it just didn't. Maybe it wasn't marketed the right way. Who knows? And very often they would rerelease movies because the movie would gain popularity, like who knows? So in 1981, they rereleased Halloween. That's also when Halloween two came out. So they're probably trying to have that push, and it exploded in popularity. So the movie was popular in 1978, but the 1981 rerelease, it just went mad with popularity. And there's a great audio recording on YouTube that is apparently an authentic. Did I just say that word again? Damn it. There's apparently a real recording from 1981 of a packed movie theater, and it's the scene when Michael sits up in the background and you can just hear people screaming for their lives like they're terrified. It's so good. And even this, like, you, you just had to add to, like, the shrieking in the theater. It's really a fantastic economy of storytelling, because this is a damn near repeated shot from the beginning, when young Mike was walking up the stairs. Again, I've tried to avoid going in-depth about the sequels during this commentary, but I am going to do a little addendum after the fact, and that'll be available wherever you get your podcasts. Talking about what I think of each sequel, how the you know, the performances, the recurring performances, how they changed new characters that came in and all that. But yeah, here he goes. One could presume that he is content with his work. He did it all like he even stashed those other bodies out of the way because he didn't need them. Okay? He didn't like candles that candles lit by mistake. He's got I mean, he's got the heads on there. That's good. He's, you know, the headstones being immortalized by Andy. They're, you know, whatever he's trying to do. And he just got these other stash. They they're not intended to be part of this show. So this other person comes over and he's like, okay, great. Well, now there's someone else that I have to take care of is actually my second favorite shot or one that one of him on the phone. And then this one, they're like tied as my favorite shot, I should say. One a, one a, one B is, you know, they had that little dimmer light and that has brought it up in the background. So you can see his face slowly come in all the way to the right. It's freaky. There it is. It's just a dimmer. It's just a dimmer light. Nothing fancy. Funny that Mike is a pretty effective killer, but he he cannot he cannot trap Laurie. Tries to stab several times. Misses. I mean, you know, that was, that was a scrape. So scared. I think that was Nick's favorite shot. It's like when, falling down the stairs and him at the top of the stairs like that. I certainly have not talked about that music enough. I could keep talking about it forever, but here's, you know, a different variation. Dun dun it. So it's not exactly the same, but scarier than shit every time. That was cornstarch the and he was using to try to get out the butter that she spilled on her shirt. I've listened to a lot of commentaries and stuff, and people are like, what the hell is she doing? She spilled butter when she was talking to Laurie, but that was about 45 minutes ago, so no need to mention that now. Got to break that glass. You just got to do it. I don't know, the first movie they did the back and forth thing. Duh. The, the young girl is running away from the killer and, you know, trying to get into the house and the door won't open. And, you know, whether you got to find the keys, and the keys fall on the ground, you got to do that or you got to let sleeping Tommy Doyle, you know, wake him up to let you in. I don't know the first time a movie did that, but it it still works so well here. It's the perfect amount of cut back and forth. It's not too much the distance, like the scale of it, is perfect. And yeah, you got to imagine no one's going to open this for her, right? I mean, maybe in the 70s, but they're probably like, oh, these damn kids, damn kids. Why do they do it? Yeah, they're like, I'm not I'm not dealing with this noise tonight. I don't want that smoke wise. I really wish they would have put a pin in that boyfriend. You know, the sister's boyfriend. What happened to that guy? Do you think they thought he did it? No, no, no, what am I saying? They saw Mike. I mean, do they think he was involved in some way, though? Like, hey, do you try to talk that kid into it? Yeah. Just the perfect amount of scale. Like not breaking stride. The walk is perfect. Nick Castle I don't think anyone else ever got the walk as right as well as he did, as good as he did. For Tommy, I don't know if Tommy could go faster, like, he's. He's delirious. He's been up on candy. He's sugar crash. So he's like, man. All right, fine with that. What is this about? Whatever. Was that window open like the. I know there's a screen on it, but it'd be a cold bedroom for an Illinois fall. Let me tell you. Yeah. Take your time, bud. Take your time. I'd be scared, too. Yeah, it's a boogeyman. Another thing Laurie Strode has been criticized about in this film is inflicting some damage, but not following through with it. So not, you know, finishing the kill, throwing the knife away twice. And again, I she does that because she's not a killer. Like I get that she's not ready to. She doesn't even know what the hell's going on. Who is this guy? It could be anybody. It could be your dad who is not a cartoon. It could be anybody. You know, here. Here he goes, miss number two. He just grazed her. We can see there. He grazed her shoulder a little bit, but boom. I mean, that could have been. He could have gone for her head. Oh, this is a fantastic fall. This is great. It's falls right back and then boom! What a great fall I love. He just eats it. Few, like, steps back. What the hell did. And, yeah, she tosses a knife. Y'all. That's a great shot. Iconic. Right there. That's all you got to do. Right over the right over the couch. Put the camera right there. She got him. Good. Look how deep. How much blood is on that knitting needle thing? I mean, I guess it's pretty obvious by now that Michael Myers can die. She doesn't know that, but that would take any normal man down. This isn't a man. She's funny. Jamie Lee Curtis is funny in the commentaries because she is not afraid to call a movie out. Even a movie she's in and she's like, they really should have gone for the close up there so they could see the anguish in my face and the fear in my face for holding this knife. I'm not a killer. Laurie Strode isn't a killer. They would have had a close up tear. It would have paid off for them like slick 30 years ago when she recorded this commentary. She's great. I found the car. I love that feel. Their favorite line delivery. Another sheriff slick. All right. Fine. All right. How many child psychiatrist walk around with a gun? A loaded gun in their pocket, a six shooter? This one does because he knows he watched in 16 years. Walking around, he didn't. I have to start somewhere. It was like 5 or 6 days. Pleasants on this was on this shoot. That's it. They shot him out in 5 or 6 days. You can't tell. You can't tell. It's not like it doesn't feel like a rush job. Anything like that. Very committed. This this is like, his superpower just coming up in the background. She says she killed him. And this, I think, you know, joining Mike's POV again, this, I think, speaks to his character a little bit. He doesn't go after the kids. They're easy to find. He she puts them in a door not unlike the one she hides behind. I mean, he's not death. Lock the door. Stay in there. Like he could easily go in that door too. But he doesn't. I don't think he's dumb either, because he doesn't fall for that trick. She didn't jump out there. I'll never forget. Well, you know, one of the reasons I ultimately decided on Halloween, just to get a little, briefly personal really quick. This was my my mom and I, one of our favorite movies together. This one, probably psycho, which was also in the competition for to watch once a week. But that one. Oh my God, I've seen psycho so many times, so it's been a lot of fun to every time I rewatched the movie, I think of my mom a little bit who passed away a few years ago and who I miss dearly, and God, I mean, just this, this scene immediately makes me think of her and her telling me how scared she was in the theater. And it's just, you know, also, as a 90s kid, my favorite scary movie growing up was scream, still one of my favorite movies of all time. And these sounds are like they're in they're so imprinted in my head because they're in scream, they're watching it in scream. It is not in real time, by the way. I have timed it too. And Jamie Kennedy is watching in that movie with this it's a little off, but that even her like squealing and everything you hear, I've heard it so many times. I've seen scream a gazillion times as well. And that was another movie with my mom. So it's been fun to go down that track as well. I think of all the injuries Mike has sustained, this would hurt the most more than the next shot that I the coat hanger to the eye. Perfect shot that I mean, it might even hurt more than this. This is like an uppercut blade to the chest, a great move. Boom. She even put her legs into it a little bit. That's a great hit. But again, Laurie Strode is not a killer. She's the kind of like animal in the wild that only defends themselves when necessary. She's not a predator. She's not Mike. So she tosses a knife away. I don't see it as I see it. It's kind of, you know, you go, oh, no, you shouldn't have done that. But I think it fits with her character. So does she. She talks about it a lot. Yeah. Coat hanger to the eye. That's got to be the worst thing. What about the people who live in these houses? Like, this is what I mean. This is where Annie was babysitting. Like, what the hell do these people think? And then you know what? They're going to come back and be like, what are. Okay, so our kids are alive. You did that well. But, like, who are all these dead people? What's going on? And you had sex in my bed. Yeah. This is the scene. You can find on YouTube. And they're just, just must have been terrifying. I have seen the movie many, many times. And if you look close enough, his left knee is bent a little bit. I think that's how the actor is able to literally and physically sit up. Because just if your legs were straight, that'd be tough. But wow, is it scary in the music? The music doesn't start when he sits up. The music starts when its head turns. It's those little details that make it, slick back there. What a fantastic shot. Oh, my God, the silence of it. Yep. Boom boom. That's all Loomis needs now. He's got the sense that, the evil is in that house. Tommy's like, come on, go down to the Mackenzies house. Which is exactly what the parents, the dad, Drew Barrymore, his dad, and scream tells his wife, go down to the Mackenzie house. You know, when they can hear the daughter on the phone? Mom? Behind you. Jamie, look behind you. And again, it's going to be another miss. That's three misses in a row for Mike. I not really I mean, he grabs her and stuff, but he doesn't finish the job. Here's another person playing Mike. This is an actor Tony Moran. Fun fact about him is that his sister in real life played Joanie and Happy Days. Joanie loves Chachi. And you can see his eyes all jacked up from that coat hanger hit. That was a tough hit. Captain Kirk. Six shots. If you watch Halloween two and they recreate this intro, it's seven shots. Why? Who knows? Six shots in that gun. Donald Pleasence told John Carpenter, when I look and he's not there, I can give you one of two things. I'll give you one of two things. So for one take he gave him. Oh, God, I can't believe this happened. Oh, man. Here he's gone in the second take was, oh, my God, I knew this was going to happen. Holy shit. This is bad. And they went with that one. Shows how well he understands the material. What a great line it was the boogeyman. As a matter of fact, it was great countenance. Here from Donald Pleasance. Great look on his face on the music. And then she doesn't even need to see it. She knows that he's God. She just starts crying. Oh it's perfect. The back and forth getting each other. And then we're just going to get these exteriors of places we have already been, where we have seen horror unfold, where Michael's breaths will get louder and louder. When they made this movie, they didn't know they were going to make a sequel. They would not have known about the massive success. Of this film. And here and what it would do it now, would spawn a franchise that is still going. The last active movie of this franchise was 2022. There's no way they're going to end. I don't know what they're going to do next. But there's, you know, this is property that can go forever down any rabbit hole, whether they start a new whether Laurie Strode is still connected somehow. Here's our final shot with Michael Myers breathing at the top, haunting us forever. 53 viewings in one year. Wow, I never bored. Never. The real question is, when will I watch it again? See, I'm going to have to watch it again to edit this, to edit the commentary. But then when will I like on my own, not involved with the podcast, not involved with anything? When will I sit down and rewatch it? I don't know, that will be the real test. David Kyle. It's either Laurie's father. There he is. David Kyle got away cleaned and he lucky bastard. You know this movie, it just part of why I could tolerate it all years. Because of of how well-made it is. It? Oh, it made me get into all of the sequels, which, again, I will talk about in the second part of this episode. And I didn't have the best opinion of every sequel. I still don't. Some of them are very good movies, but I appreciate them all. All of them, for what they are. There's Barry Bernardi. I appreciate them all for what they are and what they represent to the franchise. Again, not all of them are good. I'm excited to kind of talk about those and break them down, but obviously Halloween two is a really fun double feature because the first five minutes of that or the last five minutes of this film, although not as effective as Halloween, I think most people would agree. But God, this is what a journey I don't. I don't really have a channel. I don't have a similar challenge for 2026. I do not have a plan to watch one movie a week. So plan on reinvestigate. I plan on investigating some Criterion's. Maybe that. Maybe that'll be the challenge. One new to me criterion a week, but I've never done anything like this. Watch a movie this many times and this, you know, condense of a time period with the commentary over. Please be sure to check out this podcast on other platforms. Apple, Spotify to hear part two of this episode. Thanks for listening and happy watching. All right. Next here. Hello. I told you, I promised. I promised the listeners you'd be on. This is going to be a quick kind of, well, quick ish. We'll see, we'll see. The evil is gone. The evil is. God is. God forbid. Go on. Boom! Oh, my God, I love him so much. Yes. In 2025, I, Alex Withrow, watched like, Michael Myers's John Carpenter's Halloween. Once a week for the entire year. And this is going to be Nick kind of just us talking about the initial insanity behind the challenge and how it worked out for me. But I can report up top that, you know, there are 52 weeks in a year. I watched it 53 times because my first my first watch was on January 4th, 2025. My final watch was on December 31st, 2025 and it was great. I mean, there's nothing there's no like big thing to report because I just had a blast the whole time. With the exception of right after we recorded our episode on it, when we recorded our new Hollywood film project on Halloween, I prepped for that, I crammed for it, and then that was in July. And then I kind of crashed out and I was like, oh, I didn't know. What do I do now? Like, I, I prepped for it, but that only lasted for like 2 or 3 weeks. I also, I like right after that I traveled to Europe. So I'm, you know, having to watch it on my phone in Europe twice. And, and then I kind of got over that and I'm like, no, just pushed through. And I had a blast. I learned so much because it wasn't just sitting there and watching it, which I did, but I also watched a sequel. Every week I try at least one sequel every week as well. Did all the research. So yeah, it was amazing. And now I'm here to talk about it. I don't even know what I think is more insane, the initial idea, or the fact that you follow through with it and bitter end to the bitter end, and you have logged in 53 weeks of watching the same movie. I mean, I guess congratulations are in order. Thank you, thank you. This is, I, I've never heard of anything like this. I've heard a lot of I've heard a lot of directors like these movie fanatic directors talk about doing some crazy shit. Did this happen? Like, I've never heard them do anything like this. Did this come to you from a director that had done this, like, or any sort of like what? What where did this idea even come from? Oh, that's a good question. No one ever asked me that. Well, people asked why, and I was like, there's no why. I have no idea. I, I've never really been like a movie challenged person when my blog became popular in the early 20 tens. Yeah, I noticed that fellow bloggers would be would do movie challenges usually related to like how many can I watch or blind spots? Like how many can I watch that I haven't seen stuff like that. So I've, I've done that. But yeah. What was it, 2023? I started logging all my movies and I'm like, let me see if I can do that. 2024 was the first time I tried to. I'm like, I'm gonna watch at least one movie a day. And then 20, 25, I went, I don't know, let me just see. Like I'm already doing at least one movie a day. Can I actually watch the same movie at least once a week? And I had Halloween was the very first movie that jumped into my head. So the challenge, the very first one, and I spent about a month like just doing, overthinking it. Like we talked about adding ten movies to the list and going, none of these are had no cause, and none of them had that sequel franchise value. And I knew that would help me. I knew didn't like really diving into every sequel, some of which are not good movies. I knew that would help just carry Halloween through. And you know, I loved Halloween. I was a huge fan of it. I usually watch it once a year around Halloween. And yeah, you know, Alamo is really good about playing it. So I have seen it in the theater multiple times. I used to watch it with my mom all the time, so it's not like I was unfamiliar with the movie. So that was my biggest concern. And do I already know this movie well enough that I'm going to get bored by like February March? But then minus that little speed bump in the summer, something weird happened in like November, December where I was it felt like a drug and I couldn't wait to sit down and watch it. And I'm like, sweet, it's Halloween day and I my excitement for actually grew. And this is true. The year ended, January happened, and I had to rewatch it because I recorded a commentary for it. Just a solo commentary about all my findings, and I rewatched it. So that was technically the 54th time. And in my head I went, what if I just keep it going? Oh my gosh, 26 I watch it and then I literally put my hands up. It took a step back and I was like, you have to let go. You have to let go. And I did. So no more. It's 2026 is not Halloween every week. It's just, you know, now the big challenge is when will I watch it again? Truly. Like, I have no idea when, you know, I don't know, like why I have it. I will know the movie inside it out. I mean, for the rest of my life for the. I know the scene like the order of the scenes. I know the dialog. So yeah, just just a truly, truly great time that I don't know why it popped into my head. It was it was one of the most it was a challenging thing, but not like I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to go. I'm going to watch it every day. That is not that. Like, that's that's crazy. I'll start with like some things that I did, I learned what I learned is that a good movie does get better with multiple viewings, even if you watch it a crazy amount. Like I didn't get sick of it watching it 53 times in a year, I didn't. I got extremely familiar with it, but I never got bored with it. And so that was a kind of a cool lesson to learn. That was my biggest concern, when you were embarking on this challenge, was I was like, man, I really hope like that. By the end of this, you just have like a relationship to the movie where you're like, I can't ever watch it again. Like, I've done it, like, yeah, not that like, it would be so funny if that was the case, you would be talking to somebody and then they'd be talking about Halloween and you just go like, oh yeah, I can't with that. And then they'll be like, what do you mean you can't? With Halloween, you're like, you understand, bro, I watch that movie every week for a year, and from now on, whenever it's mentioned, I give it a go. Yeah. Old friend Halloween. They'll say, that's cool. You didn't even. Have you seen any of the sequels? And I'll say I've seen parts six, seven times because there's two versions of it, and I hate that movie out of hate. I mean, I grew to kind of like them, like them all, but yeah, now I could just talk kind of, endlessly about Halloween. Oh, another big thing. Waited, like, didn't know if we were going to do it. Waited until December. But you and I deciding to go to the film locations for Halloween. That was so cool. Was a highlight of the year. It was something where I'm like, I mean, I don't know, like we have to weave it into the trip. It was the first thing we did that weekend. I came out there and, God, it it just would have been a mistake to not do that. It was so cool to see them, especially the Pasadena locations, which really seemed untouched. It was so cool. It was it was a very, very cool thing. I remember even just, yeah, just like seeing it and just and seeing where it was placed in Pasadena because they moved that whole entire freaking house that you were telling me, like, they actually, like, uprooted it and Michael Myers house. Yep. Yep. They did. And then where they put it, like with the train tracks right there, I was like, where the hell could this possibly be? And then you're like, here it is. And I was like, oh my God, I can see it, I can it's not in the neighborhood per se. That looks like how it does in the movie. And then when we went to the other one, which was the one where you get the cross shots from where Laurie's looking at, at the house. Yeah. We were doing, like, the sightlines because the, you know, so much had changed. Like, there was like, they did an add on to the house and, so you had to kind of like, picture an idea of, like, that part not being there. But I even remember from, like, where the camera was set up, I was like, I can see this angle. I can absolutely see this exact direct shot. The way it's kind of tilted off to the side a little bit, like I tried to angle my phone to capture it and I was like, oh, this is pretty sweet. Yeah, I got a shot of you, like when he's looking, but when he's standing behind the tree tree staring at Annie walking in, then you got one of me in Pasadena going behind the bush. Yeah, it's just awesome. But yeah, the Pasadena locations, like in the movie were there during the day. It's very wide shots. You see the grass, you see the trees, you see the fields, though the babysitting jobs. When you know Laurie's babysitting and Andy's babysitting, that's all at night. And that is deep in the heart of Hollywood, which is really, really interesting. I even say on the commentary, we're only four blocks from the Chateau Marmont, and if you look down the street, you see like bustling sunset Boulevard. So they and they never show that side of the street in the movie. They're really careful to not show it. And yeah, I think those houses have probably intentionally gone through some renovations because they don't want fans around. I mean, especially in the movie pictures and shit. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's one thing when you go to like the, John Cassavetes house that was for a woman are the influence, and it's sort of like, I don't know, I don't really think they're going to get too much. Yeah, too many people, but they have that huge fence up now, which was kind of a bummer, really, was it? And it doesn't even you can sort of see like when you peek through it, but it also looks dilapidated. It doesn't look like there's anyone it does actually has that is a house that hasn't been taken care of. Yeah. John Cassavetes, Woman Under the Influence house. What else did I learn? Continuity errors. A lot of people, you know, we like to poke fun at. There's a coffee cup there, there's a boom mic and stuff. There are some very glaring ones in the movie, shadows of camera boxes, stuff like that. But I've learned that even though that's in a movie, it just doesn't matter. And, most interestingly, on my 53rd watch of the year, I spotted a brand new continuity error when they drop Linda off at her house and she, you know, see you later. And she's going. And then Annie and Laurie start to walk right before they spot him in the bush. You can see crew members standing on Linda's porch, like doing this. They duck really quick. I had never spotted that before, so it's just hilarious. You can watch a movie that many times and not catch that stuff and you're like, what the hell, there's people. Oh that's hilarious. I just never, never noticed. I don't know, it's amazing. Yeah. 53rd. Watch the final one. Exactly what else I learned. Passion for making a film can take you only so far. But if you know how to spend money correctly, you can make an iconic film. For example, they had $300,000 to make this movie. That's very little in 1978. That's like pennies today. But half of that was used for the camera package. So they made it anamorphic and spent 50% of their budget making the footage look really good. So it adds this timeless nature of it, basically. Translation the movie looks a lot more expensive than it is, and that is one of the reasons why lunatics like me can watch it once a week for a year because, well, I mean, it's great. It's perfectly made. Basically perfectly. I mean, you honestly like it. It does have that timeless feel to it. Like, even though, like, you know, you got some of, like, I actually don't even know anymore. Like the fashions are, it's fashion. I feel like in so many ways has become this thing where when we were younger, fashion made a movie feel dated. Yeah. And now I feel like there's so many different, like, runs of fashion that we've had. And I think people have an appreciation for fashion to wear when they see a movie from the 70s. They don't make fun of it like how our generation did look like. That's a really good point. Yeah, yeah, like it's like things people will take that like, oh wow, look at those bellbottoms. Those are awesome. And because you could walk down the street and see someone wearing those exact same ones now. Absolutely. And and I always thought that that's kind of a cool thing because I thought that about Serpico. I had my whole entire issue, and I was. Serpico was like, I feel like these fashions are really going to throw me. And I was like, I feel like I'm walking outside. Even if you take out thinking of John Cassavetes and thinking of something like The Killing of the Chinese Bookie, which is a movie that does not look all that great because they were just running and gunning. And, you know, like the lighting is not especially like in that that scene where he's in the house trying to kill the guy. Like, there's a lot of sloppy looking things about that. And then you look at Halloween and there's none of it. And. Right. And I have to kind of even wonder how much what the budget was on both of those movies, because at that point, John Cassavetes at least had a name to himself. He had already had a few movies under his belt, and I think that John Carpenter was a nobody at the time, relatively speaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he yet has made a movie that has stood the test of time. And I think a big part of the reason why it does is because of what you're exactly saying is the look, you could watch the movie and even from fashions, but even just from a cinematography point of view, that movie does not feel like a movie. Or it doesn't feel like an old movie. Not at all. Not at all. These are all great points, because Chinese Bookie, I mean, he released set in 76 and then released the director's cut the same year as Halloween 78. Yeah. And yeah, Cassavetes is someone who's like, we just need to get some of my friends together. We have a loose idea of a story and just fucking point the camera there and go, yeah, get a boom mic there and just go. And Carpenter's like, no, we're going to be really patient. Plan out these shots. It's the all the cinematography is very controlled. You know you don't get even the handheld shots. They're very deliberately handheld. Whereas Cassavetes is like we don't need a track all handheld who cares? And and you know, the focus. What is very focused lighting, who cares? Like, okay, so the lighting in Halloween is so precise, but then more than anything, and this is probably the maybe the most obvious thing I can say about my year of Halloween, but it's certainly my most direct. John Carpenter's music is the most iconic thing about the movie. Yeah, it's more famous than the movie itself. The fact that he had the foresight to do it himself and not pay himself a lot, but retain the rights to that, that I believe a variation is used in every single Halloween sequel, if not outright just used like David Gordon brought him back to score those movies. So he will be able to he'll be able to bank on that for the rest of his life. And then after he's gone, his estate will be able to bank on that for the rest of their lives. And that is that's just a fact that music will live forever. It'll it'll just always be known and always be like, that's a horror movie. That that's what that where that music belongs. Dude, I'll never forget the, I don't know what if it had to be Oscar weekend? I think it had to be Oscar weekend when you came out. And so you were like, three months into this and you got your phone and you're like, dude, check out this. And you're telling me about, like, the, like the time, time signature of this. You're like, this is a time signature. It's just not used a lot. And he's fucking using this five, four. Yeah, yeah. We're showing 312123. Yeah, yeah yeah. And you're showing me like it was like a jazz song or is some sort of like the, Oh, God. What? It's like, take that or take five. What? They dance to it in Silver Linings Playbook when they're doing like. Yeah. And then they get the applause. I forget exactly what it's called, but yeah, famous did it, didn't it? Didn't that. Yeah. Very famous, but it's a very unique time signature for a song if you're like this. Exact same times. If you listen, man, you can hear it. No, never, ever. Ever. Never. Never never never never ever. Na na na na na na na na na na na na. You can, you can hear it. And I think that I'm serious. I think that adds to why the score is so weird. Because not all the music in the movie, a lot of the music is done in the normal four four register. You know those four beats, but not that theme. And in the end see him in the making of just describe it. He's like, yeah, my dad taught me to play music on the bongo drums. So 12312123. And he just does it so easily. And you're like, man, this guy, this guy is also a musical genius. And you know, in addition to being a director, did you ever listen to his, him and his son? They they have like, these two albums and they're, they're, they're they're honestly really great to listen to. In the mid like 20 tens. He was on Bret Easton Ellis podcast just talking about that, just talking about his music with his son. And I listen to him then, but I haven't since. But yeah, I mean this is like the deep synth score, like a lot of my favorite bands are. They idolized John Carpenter. M83 is talked a lot about John Carpenter's music. Yeah. So there's there's absolutely a parallel between yeah, I often listen to that, that those that become honestly like good LA night driving soundtracks. Good idea. Yeah. Especially the first album. The second album is not, I don't think, as strong as the first one, but, you know what? You keep talking. Let me find these with their. Because in case people are listening, we should give them a shout out. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So in addition to watching Halloween once a week, I also did dedicate every week to a sequel. And I went in order that they were released. So Halloween, I just sorry. In January I just watch Halloween in February it was Halloween and Halloween two every week. March Halloween than Halloween three on and on and on all the way through Halloween Ends, released in 2022, which I watch in December. That didn't. I wasn't always looking forward to those necessarily. Some of these sequels are not very good, but I wouldn't bully myself into watching them and being like, what were they going for? What? You know, what was the intention here? They all the original franchises, it's all on great 4K set. So I bought all of them, watched all the special features, and it's just kind of amusing to listen to. You know, the makers be like, yeah, we didn't really have it with this one. It kind of went out the window. We kind of lost sight of what the thing is. But I'll go through the four timelines really quickly. Did you find the albums? I'm looking. Yeah. Lost themes. Lost themes. Okay. Lost themes. Well, I wish you would still direct. I mean, he released a statement. I think it's, a few years ago or maybe a few months ago saying he would still direct if he had control over in the movies, but he doesn't. So. But I'm like, what's going on out here? Like, if John Carpenter wants to direct, can no one give him, I don't know, 4 to $5 million to go make something like small and cooler, you know, and score it with his son in his music? I don't know, I would love that. And the cinematographer. Yeah. Dean Cundey. Cundey. Yeah. He, I was telling you, I saw them both had that Q and A at the, big Shubman, little China. Yeah. And, they they both seem like they're I mean, they definitely look, he looks he is hilarious. John Carpenter looks like the, old guy, the villain in Big Trouble in Little China before he takes human form. Yeah. That's so true. Shared everything. He he was like, yeah, it's like, but he, But he's still like, with it, he's sharp. He's he's cracking jokes. Dean Cundey he's the one that was basically like telling all the stories. So I feel like from an age standpoint, they could still go, yeah, why not? And, yeah, I, I agree, and I would love to see that both of them. We're at the point now where people from I've been thinking about this a lot. So like think of like your favorite bands and, you know, movies and filmmakers from when we were kids. I've gotten really recently back into Kings of Leon, who I knew from 2008 for having two songs that were wildly popular, and then everyone just got completely burnt out by them. I rediscovered them a few years ago. Their later catalog is just so appealing to me. I've been to a few shows from them. These shows are sold out with these like ravenous fans and I'm going. I never knew they were this popular. And then I realized, oh, like, we're older now and a lot of us have money. Like, I didn't have any money when they were popular. When I was 20, like, I didn't, I couldn't go to like their shows, really. And what I'm saying is the cultural interest in, you know, music when we were younger or directors when we were younger, they're back. I'm going to spoil my what are you watching recommendation because it perfectly fits here. Sam Raimi just directed a brand new horror movie, Send Help! That is an exact return to form that we want from Sam Raimi. The movie fucking rules. I want some of you. Yeah. The send help treatment nice with Carpenter. I just like. Yeah, do it like send help. It's not the biggest movie Sam Raimi directed. He directed three Spider-Man movies. It's not as big as that Oz movie that I never watched, but it's like, good. No more, stuff like, get back to doing a horror movie. And I would love for Carpenter to do that. And there has to be some producer out there with a decent amount of money who's our age, who understands the value of this, that a lot of people would go see this, send help was a hit. People love and it's making money. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I've actually that I was going to see that last night and then I had work to do, but that was that was I'm excited to see that. So I'm glad that that's that you enjoyed it. I'm happy for everyone involved in that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm. Oh, God, I'm too. And we'll talk about that towards the end. But yeah, that's you know, Carpenter hasn't made a movie since the Ward, I think, in 2010, but. Oh well, he he's still active, makes music, does stuff. Halloween is 13 films. The first franchise is Halloween one, two, 4 or 5 and six. This is, you know, Halloween two takes place directly after one Lord's in the hospital. Laurie and Michael are only about in half of that movie. The rest is supporting characters. Halloween three is its own thing. Season of the witch and I had only seen that once in my whole life. Really did not have a relationship with it. That movie roles like that movie's really, really fun and gnarly. The kills in it are way. I mean, there's some crazy kills in Halloween two, but there's some there's some wild stuff in Halloween three. It just has nothing to do with Michael Myers. But it's so fun. Nothing at all. Still fun. I remember being a kid, because I was obsessed with this, with this, franchise. As a kid, I would give myself nightmares, but I would just love to be watching Halloween one, two, 4 or 5 and six. Yeah, yeah. And, I had it's adamant relationship against three because I knew it wasn't him to do so. Did I. So pit same as a kid. I was like, I was like, fuck that movie. If I do with anything, why would they even do it? Why are they even do it now? I remember I watched it and like really begrudgingly, like stood on my ground and decided to, like, still like, you know, dig my, my feet in the sand and be like, no, this movie sucks. And then I saw it like when I was like a teenager and I was like, actually, this movie's kind of fun. It is. I mean, you're going to hear the same song, like over and over and over because that's that's a recurring theme. But like, the main character watches Halloween at one point, like on a TV. So it's it's that type of thing. But as it's own movie, like it's still really good. But the producers didn't like that, so they wanted, you know, can we continue the Michael Myers story? Four and five are a lot of fun because they're kind of like Halloween 1 or 2. Yeah. This is when you meet young Jamie Lloyd, Danielle Harris, who is like fantastic. As Laurie Strode started, she is such a believable child actress in a scary movie. And I like fallout four is Return of Michael Myers, five is Revenge of Michael Myers five. Definitely gets sillier. That's the one where there's like, when the cops walk, there's these clown noises aren't, it just it really didn't seem like the director. He was doing his own thing, and they're like, all right, okay, I think he's French. I might explain some things. And then I know you like Halloween six, but I would implore you to rewatch it because there are two versions of it. The theatrical cut is just a disaster. That makes no sense. The ending is baffling. That's the one you like. But yeah, I mean, in the end of that one, they like, they stab him with like, this green juice, like we're in Teenage Ninja Turtles two. I'm going, what is this? It's it's just it's really bad. I'm not saying that it was good. I'm just saying that I think I think, I think I enjoyed I think it was probably at the time where I had known Paul Rudd from clueless and, because I definitely didn't see it in 1996. I think I like seen it like a few years later and I thought I just unearthed this, like, gem of like, oh my God, nobody even knows this about Paul Rudd. Nobody knows that. Paul Rudd stood toe to toe with Michael Myers and survived like nobody knows this. So I thought, like, I didn't even know that they made the movie. So I was like, here's like this secret and the movie world that nobody knows about. There's another Halloween movie. And I had no, I didn't like any of this stuff. This is all just my imagination running around running wild. But I remember liking it for that reason. So I'm sure if I watched it now, I'd be like, man, this is a real piece of shit. Yeah, yeah. The coolest thing about it is that there was this leaked producer's cut. It was very raw. It like, went around the internet for a while and they, you know, the powers that be put that on this disc. And this is not an official cut and it's way better. Like, it's just it's I like it a lot more. Still not that good of a movie though, but that those I commented on all those and our new Hollywood Film Project episode. And then I said, I gotta get to the back half now. So that was, you know, July for the rest of the year, made my way to franchise. Timeline two this is Halloween one to Halloween, H2O Halloween Resurrection. So H2O is my jam. I was raised on this. It was released in 1998. It felt exactly like scream, partly because they threw out the original score and just literally use the score from the first scream in Halloween H2O. So like this reminds me of Sarah scream. And you know, in this one, it's 20 years later. Laurie's changed. Yeah, Laurie's changed her identity. They, for some reason, completely get rid of the Jamie Lloyd thing, and they're like, no, we're not doing that now. She had a son. It's Josh Hartnett, his first movie. I love him in it. Kept messing up his hair intentionally just to like, fuck with producers and stuff that I have said this in an earlier episode, but the craziest, probably the craziest fact I learned about any Halloween in 2025 was that H2O and Halloween Resurrection were planned at the same time, so when they filmed H2O, they knew how they were going to begin Halloween Resurrection, which is so weird. Very, very weird to me. It sounds like Jamie Lee was like, all right, I'll do this because I know H2O Just Standing as its own film will be awesome with that ending. And it is. But, you know, a few years later, they completely destroy that. And this actually was is a hard thing to say. What's the worst Halloween movie? It's Halloween Resurrection, this movie's dog shit. This movie sucks. This movie immediately ruins the brilliant goodwill of Halloween H2O, which I get it, the producer said, you can never officially kill Michael Myers, but it's still it's just a great, like, trick at the end of H2O. And the way he comes back and resurrection and it's just it's really weird because resurrection is directed by Rick Rosenthal, who directed Halloween two. Like he's connected to this franchise, but it is, man. You want to talk about movies that aged Halloween Resurrection is more data than Halloween because it, cements itself with all this technology. Live webcams in 2002. Like what Edward stream yet to the internet like I was using dial up internet 2002. What do you talk like this. Streaming is as good as it is now. And like, there's there's this one scene where they are crosscutting in my opinion, a pretty nice oh, Marge to one of the first slashers ever made, peeping Tom, where the killer is a cinematographer and he, like, kills a woman with the leg of his tripod because he has a knife to it, and he films it. So they recreate that kill in Halloween Resurrection, but they crosscut it with Tyra Banks making some like, ridiculous mochaccino latte coffee thing and like, dancing around in the kitchen. And she doesn't hear the murder. That's like in the other room. And then on the commentary, Rick Rosenthal doesn't even mention peeping Tom. He just talks about the coffee. He's like, I thought it'd be funny to intercut like her making coffee with the killing. And I'm going, what, like that? With what? Like so it. Oh my God, it's a really, really bad movie. Of course, the Busta Rhymes, you know, trick or treat motherfucker is immortal, but wow, it's terrible. It's a terrible, terrible film. Did they did I? I've only remember seeing it once. And really, I think I actually turned it off because I watched it on TV. I think I think because I knew what had happened and I was thinking to myself, I was like, they ruined the ending of the other one, so I don't really want to see it. So I saw the beginning where essentially Jamie Lee gets killed. Yeah, in the first 20 minutes. And I was thinking to myself, but he was decapitated like that, so correct me. I'm sure they didn't. But did they give any sort of justification? Oh yeah. Got his head back. Oh, they do it right in the beginning. It's that he pulled a little, loop de loop there, a little trick, apparently, at the end of H2O. We don't see it in the movie, but Michael, kills a paramedic, puts on the paramedics attire, or, you know, puts his outfit on the paramedic, and that is who is loaded into the van. And because his throat is smashed, I believe he can't talk. So when Jamie Lee Laurie is like Michael, Michael and chops his head off, she accidentally chopped the head off of a paramedic. And Michael's still out there running around. It's very dumb and doesn't actually make sense if you watch H2O, because he could be doing stuff with his hands like, no, no, no. Yeah. And you, even if your throat is cut, you can still like make noise. And I mean, he could I believe his hands are free and he could have taken off his mask. So it's just okay. Yes, they fuck that. But again, for them to have conceived this before they even filmed H2O, it's it's really dumb. It's not unlike alien three. Like killing Newt in the first scene and you're like, wait, what? And, you know, it's it's that type of thing, but, yeah, not a good movie. I cannot recommend it at all. But I do love H2O. H2O is a banger. Michelle Williams I love her. Yeah. Hartnett does. Dawson's Creek days am right. She was great. Still great. I love her. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Yeah. Gets ice in the first scene. It's great. Yeah, yeah. Gets a little trouble with the stick a little. Yes, he does. You got the. The nurse from the first one is. That's who Joseph Gordon-Levitt is going. She's going into his house to kind of explore it. You got Janet Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, his mother, showing up for a cameo, and then driving off in the same car. She drives in psycho. Like there's shit like that and it's great. This is what I mean. Like, they intense. That director adds in a Marion Crane Janet Lee psycho reference and it's like they even start playing the theme to psycho as he drives away. Resurrection does this kind of cool peeping Tom thing never even really hinted at. Like what? I don't even know what they were doing or like. Was it someone died? Oh yeah. That's cool. Is that ever been done in the movie for So Stupid? I think I saw it somewhere. Yeah. The third franchise people are divided on this one. This is Rob zombie with Halloween eating in 2007 and Halloween 2 in 2009. I did not know this before I, researched these videos. I was never the biggest fan of these. He hated making these because the Weinstein brothers ruined his life, making them like he detested. He had no control. No. And I thought these were like Rob zombie movies that he put his stamp on and like, you know, these are my movies. No, he hated it. He had a three picture deal with the Weinsteins, had such a bad time making Halloween that he goes, I want out of my deal. And they're like, we'll sue you. And he goes, all right, I'll make you a deal. I'll do a sequel, I'll do Halloween two. But then you have to let me out of my third movie. And they said, deal. So he's like the only director in history that has negotiated lower movies, had their deal, like, negotiated themselves out. My first inkling of this was actually listening to the commentary for Halloween two. Very rarely are directors this down on their own movie and like ten minutes in zombies just pointing out every floor at one point. I'm serious. Like ten minutes. And he goes, yeah, the sound team didn't know what they were doing here, so we had a loop all this later. We didn't have any sound for the scene and it's like a huge sequence set up. So he's just talking shit about the crew talking shit about the producers. And I mean, he is like over it. I honestly think you feel that when you watch these movies. I don't think these movies are that good. I don't think they're I think the second one, it's like bat shit. Not really coherent. The first one, of course, like the first hour is the back story. That's the most original thing he brought to this. He gave Michael Myers a backstory, but in the last hour of his Halloween from 2007, it's just a remake of Carpenter's movie. It fits Carpenter's movie into an hour block, some of the same shots, some of the same lines of dialog. And I don't know, so it it's fine. But some people are really, really high on these. Some people love them. Friend of the party. Ignore that. These are probably his favorite of the whole Halloween franchise other than the first one. Oh wow. Yeah, he loves just the crassness of Rob Zombie's characters. And I mean, there are, you know, there are sexual assaults in the first one that are just really hard to watch. And you're like, oh my God, I don't, I don't know, it's it's really hardcore, the Rob zombie movies. But knowing that he had a horrible time making them at the hands of the Weinstein brothers again, I just think that you see that on the screen. But again, if you're a fan of director's commentaries like I am his Halloween two, he's holding nothing back. He is mad. Wow. I did not know that. That's that's, I didn't either. And, you know, and that goes to show you, like, when you don't have good collaboration. Because Rob zombie is a guy, like, for whether you like his stuff or you don't, there's a guy with his own vision. Yeah, he's got his own style. He's got his own taste. It is crass, but it's also, you know, like you look at any of those movies that he's directed and, and like, I don't know, I think it's, I think it's a cool thing for a director to be able to have that kind of a, stamp on their own work, especially from a guy that's not really a director. He's, you know, he's a musician. Yeah. Coming in here, but definitely in his own artist. And, and then. Yeah, and then you get you get, you know, these people with money where it's sort of like, it just makes sense to me where if you have an idea, you're like, all right, we're going to reboot Halloween. Who's going to do it? We got Rob zombie. Oh, we got a guy that's got his own entire vision, his own entire style. Let's just let him run. Let us fucking go with this. Because I guarantee you, no matter what he made, the money will be there exactly where we'll go. Like he could Rob zombie, could have on his own, made a piece of shit, and it would have made money because people would have been excited for the Halloween reboot, and they would have been excited to see Rob Zombie's take on it. So why get in the way? Why interfere? I mean, you answer that question. Yeah, a lot of people have that questions about those dipshit brothers. I saw him, I believe it was like a clip on on Howie Mandel podcast, of all places. But he said, here's just an example of what they did the whole time I was making Halloween. They're telling me every day, this is the worst footage we've ever seen. They're watching the dailies saying, that sucks. You don't know what you're doing. You're terrible. Recut this, reshoot this, and then on Halloween two, they're looking at the footage and saying, this is the worst footage we've ever seen. Go look at your first movie, the first Halloween. That footage is perfect. So he's so it's this constant, like, you can't win. It'd be like making a movie with a drill sergeant. You're like, but you just told me it was bad, and now it's good, like, so I can't. I just can't imagine that. And yeah, like, Rob's maybe not my favorite director. Whatever. I will always admit that that dude has stamp. He has a style that is his own and I like him as a person. He's like a cool guy and the cop works with his wife like I like him. And so yeah, just let him do his own thing. It sucks that he didn't get to, hey, there's another thing. Maybe he should come back, do it. Like, do it again, man. Why not? Once scenes are out, I was like, I don't think you saw it the first time. Yeah. Oh, more hardcore, I joke. But that brings us to franchise four, where, you know, there had been, a gap in movies. The last one was 2009 and franchise four is Halloween, one from 1978, and we jump all the way to Halloween 2018, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. These three movies were conceived by David Gordon Green and his writing team, Danny McBride as well. My ultimate thought on this franchise is that I. I'm glad that someone got to try to do it. And Halloween Ends from 2022 is not going to be the last Halloween movie of our lifetimes. I mean, it could be next year that like some director John Carpenter, Rob zombie, who knows, is going to have, you know, another one. Will they will they restart the whole thing like zombie did or will they tag, you know, tag it on to the first one like David Gordon Green did. 2018 Halloween. I'm going okay. They brought Jamie Lee back. Like, this is cool, I dig this. I like her living in the woods and stuff. The stuff with the teenagers isn't as compelling to me. Halloween Kills is completely batshit, and it it feels like a kind of a follow up to Halloween two, where Laurie's in the hospital. And then there's like, you know, this group going out and going to try to, like, kill Michael Myers. Evil dies tonight. They say it like a gazillion times, and Halloween Kills. A lot of people don't like that one because it just gets crazy. And there's this. Now we're into like, they shoot, stab punch like they kill him a million different ways and he's just still going. And you're like, all right. And then Halloween Ends is absolutely bonkers. I think I can safely say this is the most hated Halloween movie on Reddit. There's a thriving Reddit, Halloween community on Reddit. They hate this movie. And this one, I mean, it's pretty wild. It they complete, they introduce a brand new main character, awesome opening that has really nothing to do with like, Michael Myers, but it kind of feels like Halloween four and five where like the Michael Myers is passing his, I don't know, spirit or his powers on to someone new. And it's just it's kind of dumb. And a lot of people don't like that, but it's cool that he got to do it. But I I'm never going to call those my favorite, you know, Halloween movies. I'm more drawn to that original core franchise. All right. So let me ask you. All right. After seeing everything as much as you have and then understanding that this lore of Michael Myers has been going on since 1978, what do you think is the thing about Michael Myers that has lasted this long, even through all these iterations, through all these different things? Because exactly what you said, if there is another Halloween movie made, the interest will be there. Yeah. And we have had, all sorts of big slasher villains that I mean, I think if you really kind of get into it, you could probably say the same thing about a Friday the 13th reboot nightmare on Elm Street. They've tried these things. They have, good or bad. None of them took off. No. Halloween has had these failed re like rebooted franchises and it's still a thing. So what would you think now being the kind of, scholar that you are in this field, what do you think it is about Michael Myers that makes people, like, they'll still pay to be scared by this idea. Yeah. This is another great question. Look at you. You're on fire this this afternoon. Morning. So that's why I came with the big bucks. Yeah, exactly. I think because you know, you got to kind of compare it to the other ones that have started. So those ones, you know, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, they held on to the original concept, I think for too long, like Jason Friday. That goes till they never break from like all being connected. That goes to like ten movies. Nightmare on Elm Street goes to not ten, but it gets to a lot until you get to Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which is a really trippy movie. But then they kind of reinvent this one throughout the decades. When I was watching them, they always tried to mirror themselves to scary movies of the time. So like 1978, this is the first big slasher movie. And then they take off and they become kind of crazy, you know, Friday the 13th, which is like a remake of Halloween, is released in 1986, and Halloween two is much gorier and feels more like an 80 slasher. Then when we get to Halloween 4 or 5 and six, those start to feel like the types of slashers we grew up with. We're like, they're kind of gory, but like, even the film stock just looks like that late 80s, early 90s stuff. Yeah, that we grew up where sometimes we'll push it really hard, sometimes they won't. H2O, as mentioned, kind of feels like scream, and I love scream and it's so it feels like, okay, we get it. Like we're going to put more use into it. Not like little kids. We're going to put a Dawson's Creek star in it. We're going to put these heartthrobs in it and then resurrection is an absolute write off. But again, you get it to Rob zombie, who's making his esthetic way more grungy and raw, which was popular at the time. It looks more like a saw movie, which had come out a few years before, and then we moved to David Gordon Green, where it's it's like polished. Oh, what do they call this, like elevated horror, where we're, like thinking. And the teenagers are really smart and everyone, you know, the teenagers know just kind of the, the late 20 tens, early 2020s horror. So it to me it seemed like a franchise that's been able to evolve as the times have changed to varying degrees. Not, you know, not always, but these movies make money. I mean, the oh, yeah, we're five and six. Didn't really, but they made money in in two years in 2028, that would be the 50th anniversary of Halloween. I don't know if that's not enough time to put a movie in development, but can't you see like, I don't Jason Blum did you know the David Gordon Green ones? But someone going, hey, let's do a Halloween remake and do it on the 50th anniversary. I will release it Halloween 2028. I mean, they could put that in production now and it would come out and be a hit. Yeah, they could, they could. It's definitely a franchise, I think, with the most legs. Like a horror franchise with the most legs. Oh yeah. There's something for everyone in it. Like, you know, one I don't think is going to like every single movie in it. But again, some people love the zombie movies and even though they're not as much for me, I love H2O, even though that may not be as much for me. So there's always something to like latch on to. Some people like Halloween two more than Halloween. Some people fucking love Halloween too. It's just cool. I think I like Halloween too. I do, I do as well. You get a lot of fun discourse that goes around with the franchise, and it helps that Halloween is a much better movie than the first Friday the 13th. It's a much better movie than the first Nightmare on Elm Street to me and I, there's no way I could watch the original Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street once a week every year. They're just, you know, goofy and, sloppy on purpose, you know, some of the slasher stuff. But, yeah, I don't think I could do that. So that helps to there. You know, it starts with a grade A masterpiece movie. I, I've always thought that there's something very scary about the ideas. Why is that? The scene in the, first Terminator is like, to me, like, one of the most terrifying scenes ever. Laurie's in the hospital. A place where you should be safe. Yep. I mean, maybe not from germs, but the idea is it's like it's a very, very, like, well guarded. There's probably security. There's a lot of people. And and yet, you know, that that safety is completely violated by Michael Myers. So like Terminator when he's in the police station. Yeah. He's just that that. So anytime you can just take the safety out of what we consider that I always find it to be like one of the scariest things you could do. And so that's why I like Halloween too, is because I was like, wow, this is he's just fucking people up in this hospital. Just. Yeah, no remorse. No remorse. All right. I'll going to rank them. It gets a little crazy because they have weird titles and stuff. And, you know, this is just, you know, I'm going to go bottom to top. I feel like I know what your top three would be. Well, we'll see, won't we? All right. Number 13 Halloween eight Halloween Resurrection may in 2002. It's terrible. Number 12 Halloween ten, which is Halloween two. Listen 20, 2009. Directed by Rob zombie. The Rob zombie one. Halloween number 11. Halloween 13 David Gordon. Greens. Last one Halloween Ends the I don't like those three movies. Number ten okay, your beloved Halloween six buried at the top. Man. This made the top ten. Yeah, it number nine is Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green. That was the 12th entry in the Halloween franchise. Number eight Halloween five oh. Number nine Rob Zombie's number seven. Sorry, Rob Zombie's first Halloween. That was a ninth entry in the franchise. All right, number six, the 11th Halloween David Gordon Greens first one. So now we got top five. Five is Halloween four four is Halloween 20393 is Halloween three oh? Year two is Halloween H2O and one is Halloween. Putting the third one on the list is tough because it has nothing to do with Michael Myers. So I'm kind of having fun with it. But that is a if you just want a slasher movie about like people getting murdered, you don't really know why there's some weird cult shit going on. There's a song that plays over and over that like turns people into killers. It's just a really fun slasher movie. Noting that it doesn't have anything to do with Michael Myers. But in the Michael Myers Law franchise, Halloween two, Halloween, H2O, and Halloween are my top three. You know? You know, I mean, you're just, you know, for a guy that spent his whole entire year, you're just wrong. About what just you're just Halloween two is number is below is is is is it H2O is always going to be number two. Well of course H2O is always going to be number two. I knew you'd be a little Allison concerned. And I respect it and respect it and respect it. I mean, feelings aren't hurt. Not really. 2026 Movie Challenge. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is fun. This is one I wish, I wish I, I wish I had the, testicular fortitude to be able to say, to to, to join you on this one because this is one that I think is just I think this is worth anybody doing. Yeah. This is a great movie challenge. I'm already in it and it's already a lot of fun. So far. I'm calling it criterion 26. I tried this in 2022. We even recorded an episode in January of 2022 called it criterion 2022. The plan was for me to watch at least one new to me criterion film every week, and then part about it. The problem was, I realized, I'm just going to be putting about criterion films like there's so many. And so I abandoned the notion of doing individual episodes about them. But for 2026, I've made a private list of 100 Criterion Collection films that I have not seen. I put that on Letterboxd and I just pick a random movie. You know? That's what I've done so far, actually. I'm kind of letting society pick my choices for me because I was watching Lux, Eterna Gas Bar and Away's Brilliant Lux Eterna, and in the very beginning of that, there are shots of Benjamin Christensen's hacks in and Karl Dryer's Day of Wrath. So I went those are coincidentally on my list. So those are going to be my first two. They're great. I've watched them so far. I've watched The Unknown by Tod Browning. It's about a circus group, and this one guy pretends like he doesn't have arms so he can get close to a lady in the circus, but then he goes, if she figures out I have arms, she won't love me. So he considers having his arms actually surgically removed so that she'll love him. It's awesome. It's fantastic. Wow packs. And it's like a semi documentary about witchcraft. Day of wrath is about burning witches at the stake. There's a terrifying sequence in Lux Eterno of them, like throwing an old woman into a fire. And that's from Day of Wrath. It was nuts. My. I've watched two others much yet. Directed by Robert Bresson, an 81 minute French drama about a poor little girl who is picked on, abused and contemplates suicide. It's French. It's. And then, And then Overlord, a cool, like, half narrative, half archival footage movie from the UK about D-Day. And it was released in 1975. And you can't really tell, like the 1975 footage versus the archival footage. So it's a really cool kind of abstract thing, but that's what I'm doing. My list of 100, most of them are not in English. Most of them are older movies, so I have a lot of subtitle reading to do this year, but I am very excited and I'm, you know, I'm really looking forward to it. Like, I planned out which one I'm going to watch and if there's a commentary for it, I'm watching those two. So they're I've I've already logged ten of them. This is going to probably be like, you know, for for you know, someone like you that has such a wealth of film knowledge already up until this point, this, this, this year alone, you're looking at 365 worlds cinema that is going to be coming your way, that you, And I'm sure I know you, a lot of them, you'll probably just randomly pick. I did like. Yeah, a lot of them. A lot of them, honestly, I picked because I've always liked the cover art and I've gone I've always wanted to see that. And I look and I'm like, where is it from? And you know, I, I picked, I very intentionally picked try to do one from like each country I mean, I'm doing a lot of different countries. I'm, I'm not just watching like UK and American Criterion set I haven't seen I'm going I'm going all over and I'm having a lot of fun so far. Yeah. So it's is really just going to expand your whole entire like, not just knowledge, but just I think you'll probably unearth some things that you'll have no idea and be like, what the hell is this? Yeah. How is nobody even talking about this? That's awesome. Yeah, I really, really, I really dig this. Well, I was going to say I'm not going to do individual episodes, but I'll probably mention them in some. What are you watching? Recommendations. Yeah, I was going to say we should check in at the six month mark. And then you give like your, your top ten for half the year of recommendations. So like after like a half a year of seeing these movies that don't I just found them. They're all on here. And these are the best of the best. Yeah, that's a good idea. My favorite one so far were, The Unknown, which is really short, and Day of Wrath, which is really short, and I, I mean, you know, I cannot recommend the Criterion Channel app enough because, I, absolutely and unabashedly obsessed with the art form of film. And there are hundreds of movies on there I have never even heard of. And that is why I'm doing this challenge. If you just let's just shout out to Criterion Channel right here, because, I gotta say, they, they knocked it out of the park, and I feel like it doesn't ever get talked about enough, because not only is it the, revolving door of movies that they have on there, and they actually do a great job of letting you know when things are going to leave and when things are coming back. So you can actually log in. You're like, oh, shit, here. They send you emails about it. So it's like, if they know if you're like trying to get certain one that's there's a few of them that they're just going to keep on there forever. Like they've those are your criterion. Like the DVD copies with all the special features, those are pretty much like locked in. But then you just get all of these movies and these are like the TCM movies that would come on. Oh, yeah. And then they break down for you and like, these really cool, sections of themes. And this actually helps my mom and my stepdad watch movies because they talk to me about how they're overwhelmed in this oversaturated market, as we all are. You go on and you go on to Netflix, and most people will spend their entire evening searching for a movie as opposed to watching one. What criterion does is they make it like you don't realize. It's almost like a subconscious like ADHD thing where if you just could take five movies and you kind of give them a weird sort of theme, like, here's your dystopian noir. Yeah, like Noir City. Yeah, yeah. Wartime noir. Yeah, yeah. And all of a sudden your mind is like, I could Diggs watching something like that. So now your mind is got a set of things that it's already appealed to, like. Oh, I like that idea. What do they have there? And when you only have five movies to pick from as opposed to hundreds, you lock in and then you're like, there you go. And then not to mention the interviews. And so all I'm saying is this is a big, big we're not even getting a plug for this, but just, for any moviegoer out there that listens to us, for you mad movie buffs out there highly cannot recommend you getting the Criterion Channel. It's only 9.99 a month. They have not changed their price since they've been around, which is crazy and awesome. And the it's just it's it's endless and it's awesome. It is without question my favorite app movie app because, you know, you get the criterion movies, but then they also get a just a bunch of stuff that they've licensed that aren't necessarily criterion. So you get a good mix. But then as you stated, it is the only app that I'm aware of that has special features. It's the only app that's how I'm able to watch these commentaries, because I can watch, I can watch Overlord, and then the next day watch it with the director's commentary straight from the app they have. Like they put up all their special features and it is. Yeah. If you are into movies and you love movies, then you, you just have to have that app. It's it's the anti Netflix. It is just it has so much gold in it. But yeah. So I'm very excited to fully explore that I mean and then they have these things. It's like directed by Akira Kurosawa. You click on it 30 of his movies right there and you're like, Holy shit, that's how I that is how I knocked out every Kurosawa last year when I finished, but it was just going through in order. All right. Here's an excellent play. Next one play. Yeah, yeah. Bergman. So that is that's my challenge. Bergman. They got them all. Yeah. I mean, damn near a they have enough for you to be satisfied. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. All right. Criterion 26 I'm excited. Yeah I will I'll report back and be like this one I really loved. Check it out. That was Halloween 2025. Done. I'm going to I will report back when I watch that movie again. Yeah. Probably won't be for a while. Yeah. Take a break. You've earned it, kid, I have to. Yeah. You aren't the kid and I. Yes, we'll move to. What are you watching? It sounds like we're going to have some, kind of tandem recommendations here. Oh, yeah, I already spoiled mine. I'll go first, send help. So, Friday night, packed crowd at Alamo. Absolute blast, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien. I the movie's fucked up. I really dug it. It's rated R fun as hell. If you like Sam Raimi, you like the Evil Dead movies. Drag me to hell. You know, it's big, loud and fun. And, for my money, a perfect way to spend two hours on a Friday with a big crowd. And that's exactly what I was hoping that it would be. I was, I saw the trailer for it, and I was like, all right, this is either Sam Raimi going back to being Sam Raimi, or this is going to be something that I don't even know what people would be wanting, but studios make. And, so I'm so glad to hear that this is a bit of a true return to form. So happy for Rachel McAdams. It's good to see her getting, oh, being a big role like this again. She's just always great. And I think she's even playing into like, you know, the Hollywood is not treating me with kind of with the value I deserve. And that's kind of her character. I don't know, there feels it. You know, there's stuff there. It's very good casting. She's amazing. And this Dylan O'Brien guy, I like this guy. You recommended up. I had never or I hadn't remembered seeing him in a movie. You reckon? Recommended a movie twin list to me. Hulu. Put it up. I watched it. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I was very impressed. I thought, I mean, I thought he was fantastic. And one of his twins only basically has like a scene or two and. But, yeah, you recommended this one to me, but twin was released last year, but it's on Hulu. I really liked this is my. What are you watching recommendation? Yeah. This is, Yeah. Well, I mean, we had just concluded our, our top ten of 2025. Yep. And, this one didn't make my list, but I was I because I had seen the night before we recorded, couldn't really get it out of my mind. And, I was thinking about it so much that when we were done with the pot, I was telling you about it, and, I still can't really get it out in the. In a good way. Me either. Yes. You know, we we were talking a lot about how we were. We even put it both in our top tens of the movie. Lurker. I would absolutely put this movie into this category for 2025 of what indie film should be nowadays. That's a great double feature to this lurker would be really good this year. These are movies that are they they've got something to say. And they're going about it in artful ways that are against, I would assume, to say that they're against what everyone else would probably do. Yeah. And they're not like lurker and twin lists are not like these super rebellious. They're not like they're they're not anything like that. They're just they're just a little weird. And they're taking some chances and they're making some interesting choices. And but they're all intentional and they all work for what the, what they are. And but yeah, my only thing with twin lists, now that I was seeing that, I was like, I feel like this movie, there's just so much more in it. Like there's there's such a heavier weight to all of this that can it really be, can it be quantified in just a one hour and like 40 minute mark? And then I'm thinking about it and I go, I don't know how you do it any different. Like, like, like I like that's one of those things where sometimes you can kind of pick apart a movie and be like, well, it could be better if they did this, this or this. And then I'm like racking my brain and I'm like, I don't think you could. I think they fucking did it. And, so I've really enjoyed it. Recommend it. It is on Hulu. Dylan O'Brien he's apparently, I was looking up his filmography. He's been doing this for a bit. Yeah, he he was in just some movies that I don't really like. Was it like Maze Runner? Yeah. Yeah, I think he was in those. I didn't see those, Deepwater Horizon, like I saw that, but I don't remember him from it. But I think he was the star, one of the stars Maze Runner. And that's how he. And that's kind of took off. That's how it's I. I'm just becoming aware of him now, and he is fantastic. And send help and really good and winless and really liked him. I didn't know much about it. I had seen the poster, which is like, you know, pastel and you see two guys smiling and I'm like, okay, I guess it's going to be like a light kind of gay romance. I had no idea what it's about. It is not that. No. There are some the implications of what the characters are doing in it is very disturbing. At some point you would definitely get into stalking obsession like it. It kept fooling me and I couldn't. I never was able to predict where it goes. Yeah. Dylan O'Brien, his character meets this guy played by James Sweeney, and I'm watching this guy going, man, he is so effective playing this role. He's creeping me out so much. I don't ever want to, like, see this guy again. Like, I mean, that's said, you know, I'm joking, but I mean, it is a conflict from the character. Like, yeah, the character. I'm like, who the hell is this? And then the movie ends and it says, written and directed by James Sweeney. Yeah. And I went, what the fuck? He wrote and directed this like and played this really convincing role. So I, I absolutely would have mentioned it as an honorable mention or a hey, please go check this out. Yeah. Had I seen it in the 2025 episode. But hey, we're saying it now, like I'm very impressed with it. I was very impressed. I mean, when you look at like, I mean, yeah, just like that, that triple like list of these indie movies of sorry baby, lurker. Yeah. And and when lists, I mean, these are and these are all up for the Spirit awards. So everyone make sure you check that out to kind of, like, check out these movies, but also kind of like, I'm hoping this is a wishful thinking, but I'm really kind of hoping that maybe with this batch of movies that are being recognized by the indie Spirit Awards, that we do start to kind of really form what was formed in the 90s, which was like this here's your big budget movies. This is what's going on. The 80s brought all that in, and then here there is going to be a reserved area for these movies where if you want an alternative to what is being shoved down your throat in the movie theaters, but it's not a TV show, it's not this. These are independent movies and this is a there's there's there's now space for them. This is what I'm kind of hoping happens because we have not had that space. And I don't even know how long. I think probably since the early 2000 when Focus Features was the prominent, like, indie kind of thing. But then that took off to be kind of prestige, I'm hoping. And then there's not really a studio that's doing this, but I mean, these are definitely movies that are being championed that do not have very big budgets. And there's filmmakers out there like Eva Victor, James Sweeney that are kind of coming around and being like, all right, we got something. We got stuff to say. Yeah, I love that. To kind of it's not even mid-budget. They're like these lower budget personal stories. We're seeing writer directors because even Victor wrote and directed and starred in. Sorry, maybe, if I had legs, I kick you just popped up on HBO Max. I kind of adhere to my dad. Watch it. He called me and goes, Rose Byrne! It was amazing in that I don't know how I feel about the movie. And I went, I know, yeah, it's it's intense. But yeah, I'm, I, I've always wanted room to be made for these, you know, things. These are the movies that I'm much more drawn to in general. You know, you can always give me a one battle. Always. Well, yeah. Great stuff, great stuff. Yeah, that's about it for me. We're, you know, this is going to come out soon and then we're next up. So it will likely be Oscar narratives, all that stuff. If you're watching Oscar movies. A word of warning. Watch the nominated documentaries, shorts and documentary features with extreme caution. Some of these are on Netflix, HBO, and wow, I watch them and they are. These are they're not holding anything back. Like, these are hardcore Nate. There are some images that are burned into my head that are not pleasant, so just watch them with extreme caution if you've seen some of them, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, Oscars. I have no idea what's going to happen with a lot of categories. I know, I know, I know, there's stuff going on. It's kind of fun. It's it's nerve wracking. But I'm definitely feeling some split ballot. One battle versus centers. But hey, it's coming up soon. I think the whole night is going to be this. I think it's going to be down the line between the two of these. Thank God for K-pop demon hunters. That's going to take best song from sinners. I'm rooting for. I root for anything, to steal awards away. Don't get it. God, my wife is obsessed with K-pop demon hunters. Well, we watch it. It's it's, you know, popular. And it's probably the. Wait, I'm waiting for an animated movie to come around for you where you're like, Nick, stop what you're doing. Go and see this. Oh, yeah, that'll happen. Never. But yeah. Wait. I already made it. It's called Cinderella. Released a 1950 classic. Jesus Christ. All right, everyone, that was Halloween. Once a week. I'm really excited for criterion 26. Very excited for future Oscar discussion. Let us know what you're watching, what criterion you're exploring on the Criterion Channel. If you see Send Help or Twin Lists, I do want to know. Let us know at WB white Underscore podcast. But as always, thanks for listening and happy watching. November. November together. Hey everyone. Thanks again for listening. Send us mailbag questions at What Are You Watching podcast at gmail.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and letter box at wri w underscore podcast. And there goes Halloween every week. It was fun. I don't miss it. I'll I'll be honest. You know I made it. It's okay. It was a lot of fun, but it was good to just do it for the year. Next time we're going to talk about Oscar predictions. Oscar narratives. Centers versus one battle. Rose Byrne versus Jessie Buckley. I think that's Buckley's actor is kind of wide open supporting actor. I don't know. Skarsgard didn't get nominated for the SAG. Does that mean he's not going to win this supporting actress? Can Teyana Taylor do it? Will Hamnet take adapted screenplay from one battle? This is a more wide open year than it's been for the past few years, and we're going to have a lot of fun talking about it. It's going to be in a few weeks. Going to take a little break. We haven't gone anywhere. We're just taking a momentary break. But we will be back before the Oscars to do our predictions. We'll do the live stream on Oscar Sunday, and then, of course, we will do our coveted post Oscar breakdown, where we critique everything that the Academy did right and wrong on that given evening. Stay tuned. Who do you who? You don't know? You. Never never never never never never never never never never never never never. Na na na na na na.