The easiest movie John Carpenter ever made: “The best experience as a director”
Few people encapsulate the term ‘cult director’ quite like John Carpenter. His movies rarely set the box office on fire, and many were critically slaughtered upon their release. Still, almost all of them are rabidly defended by a passionate subsection of the film-loving community. They Live, Big Trouble in Little China, Dark Star, The Thing, all of these movies, and more are key parts of the movie ecosystem. The auteur hasn’t made a movie since 2010, but there are huge pockets of fans desperate for him to come back.
Arguably the biggest contribution Carpenter has made to cinema is the Halloween franchise. Across 13 movies, various protagonists, most famously Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, have gone toe-to-toe with one of the great horror movie villains, Michael Myers. This is with the notable exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, where the antagonists wear a bunch of haunted pumpkin masks for some inexplicable reason.
Though he’s been involved in pretty much every entry, which has provided him a nice little nest egg in retirement, Carpenter only directed the first entry in the franchise. The 1978 original is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most important horror films ever made. It basically invented the slasher subgenre and holds up so well, even half a century on from its release. Its $70million gross might not seem like much, but given that it was made for less than half a million, that is a seriously impressive number.
Looking back on his career with Vanity Fair, Carpenter reflected on his breakthrough third movie, fondly remembering his first trip to Haddonfield. “Halloween was probably the best experience as a director I’ve ever had,” he revealed. “It was so much fun. We were a bunch of kids who were out to make a movie and make it fast. We shot primarily in Hollywood, which is right near where I was. It was a lot of nights, but it wasn’t hard. No, that one was very easy.”
This was in stark contrast to the previous film Carpenter had worked on, the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13. “Everything about that was hard,” he revealed. “That was the first time I had to work every single day and get up early. That was immediately tough. I was dazed. It was the first time I worked in Panavision. I had worked in regular vision for so long that Panavision came as a bit of a shock and I had to get used to it, but I loved it. And the hardest thing for me really was getting up in the morning.”
The filming process for Halloween was intense, taking place over just 20 days in May 1978. The lack of budget affected every aspect of the production, including Myers’ iconic mask, which was famously bought from a department store for under $2. Carpenter, who was only 30 years old at the time, was able to work closely with his cast members, including Curtis and Nick Castle, the man who portrayed Myers under the mask.
Carpenter’s joy towards Halloween radiates through to the audience. His love for the horror genre and his drive to bring his vision to life with limited funds are clear to see, resulting in a movie that literally changed the game for decades to come.
