Halloween: Interviewing the mind behind For the Love of the Boogeyman

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For the Love of the Boogeyman: 40 Years of Halloween — Courtesy of Bloody Flicks

1428 Elm: What are your two favorite Halloween flicks?

PD: I think beyond the original, which is the easy number one, I would go with Halloween H20 and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

H20 holds a special place in my heart as it was the first Halloween film released in my teenage years and getting Jamie Lee Curtis back and just all the nods and winks to original post-Scream were just perfect. Plus it has the best ending of any Halloween film in my opinion.

Return is a favourite because of the mood mainly. Like many other fans, I just love the opening credits shot, which, when you watch it for the first time, is really unnerving (especially as a 11-year old). I wasn’t a fan of the mask for this entry but Rachel and Jaime were a pair of characters you could really root for as well as Sheriff Meeker and of course Loomis.

Return certainly has some great action scenes too including the rooftop chase, the gas station and of course the finale. My favourite was the opening few minutes in the asylum as the warden explains about Michael’s past to the transfer staff; a monologue that’s so chilling as they descend into the bowels of hell where Michael is strapped up.

1428 Elm: Which is better, Return of Michael Myers or Revenge?

PD: Easily Return as Revenge just undid so much of the good work of Return with some really random choices and a series worst mask. Looking back you could see it was a rushed and somewhat unhappy production; but Halloween 4 had made money so the studio pushed on. Also the killing of Rachel was so unnecessary and left us frankly with a bunch of really unlikable characters, Jaime aside.

1428 Elm: What do you think of the Halloween 6 Producer’s Cut?

PD: I finally got the chance to see it a couple of years ago and it’s certainly a better film than the original Curse. It’s more plot driven, less gory and makes a bit more sense. It will never be the greatest entry in the series but Daniel Farrands’ version is far superior to what was released. It was just a shame that it was Donald Pleasance’s final film.

1428 Elm: When exactly can fans expect to see the documentary?

More from 1428 Elm

Well we are trying to bring as much originality to it as possible so we are having some original artwork commissioned, all original music and the views of some really passionate and articulate fans. It will be split into six parts which are — The Director focusing on John Carpenter’s involvement, The Characters — where we delve a bit deeper into what makes our antagonists so likable, The Shape — all about Michael Myers and everything that made that performance so bone chilling, The Music — arguably one of the most important parts of the film and we speak to some artists who were influenced so much by the soundtrack that they went on to become musicians. The Slasher Film — we will talk about the rules that Halloween created for its slew of imitators, including the ‘final girl’ and the masked assassin and finally we close on The Legacy where we summarise why we think Halloween has and will stand the test of time for another 40 years and beyond.

1428 Elm: Are you guys shooting for internet only release or do you plan to release on home video eventually?

PD: Initially we are looking to debut the documentary online for October, just in time for the new sequel but we will be submitting to a few horror film festivals in the UK and US. We haven’t discussed distribution deals but it is something we are open to.

Update: The documentary arrives Oct. 12 on YouTube and Facebook.

Next: For the Love of the Boogeyman perfect love letter to series

Fan of the Halloween franchise? Looking forward to For the Love of the Boogeyman: 40 Years of Halloween? Let the other trick ‘r treaters know what you think in the comment section below.

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