the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Joey Keogh, this week with special guest Doctor Bernice Murphy, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

This year, we are running a season looking at the films in the Halloween franchise. So this week, John Carpenter’s Halloween.

In October 1963, the small town of Haddenfield is shocked by the brutal murder of young Judith Myers. The culprit? Her younger brother Michael. Committed to a psychiatric institution under the care of Doctor Samuel Loomis, Michael escapes fifteen years later to continue his reign of terror. This time, he has got young babysitter Laurie Strode in his sights.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 17th August 2023.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• Halloween at the Internet Movie Database.
• Follow Joey on Twitter.
• Read Joey’s articles at Wicked Horror.
• Read Joey’s articles at Vague Visages.
• Follow Bernice on Twitter.
• Browse (and order) Bernice’s books at Amazon.com.
• Browse (and order) Bernice’s books at Amazon.co.uk.
• Browse (and order) Bernice’s books at Edinburgh University Press.
• The Rural Gothic in American Popular Culture by Bernice Murphy, October 2013.
• Buy Taking Shape by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins at Amazon.com.
• Listen to Halloween Unmasked at The Ringer.
• Jourdain Searles at Thrillist looks at the legacy and the impact of Black Christmas, October 2018.
• Jason Concepsion at The Ringer considers Black Christmas and its relationship to Halloween, October 2018.
• The Guardian considers the double feature Saw Patrol, August 2023.
• Brian Truitt at USA Today discusses the Saw Patrol meme, September 2023.
• Pat Saperstein at Variety reports on the passing of Frank Yablans, November 2014.
• Irwin Yablans talks to The New York Times about coming up with the idea for Halloween, October 1981.
• John Carpenter talks to Reverend Entertainment about making Halloween, June 2016.
• Callum Russell at Far Out Magazine considers how Michael Myers got his name, July 2021.
• Tom Fordy at The Telegraph considers Moustapha Akkad’s film, The Message, June 2022.
• Malcolm Burnley at The Atlantic considers the Washington, D.C. hostage crisis that stemmed from the production of The Message, November 2012.
• Anna Groman and Elaine Dutka at The Los Angeles Times consider the life and career of Moustapha Akkad, November 2005.
• Alex von Tunzelmann at The Guardian reflects on Moustapha Akkad’s Lion of the Desert, June 2011.
• Evan Jacobs at MovieWeb considers Someone’s Watching Me! as the “lost John Carpenter movie”, August 2018.
• Chris Sasaguay at Collider reflects on Someone’s Watching Me! as a dry run for Halloween, May 2023.
• The New York Times reflects on the life and career of Debra Hill, May 2019.
• MD Bastek at Horror Obsessive considers Debra Hill’s contributions to Halloween, September 2022.
• Jason Bailey at Vulture reflects on the production and development of Halloween, October 2018.
• Jamie Lee Curtis talks to Entertainment Weekly about almost auditioning for The Exorcist, September 2018.
• Jamie Lee Curtis talks to Vanity Fair about her life and career, November 2019.
• Jamie Lee Curtis talks to Today about being a spokesperson for Activia, October 2021.
• Jonathan Kirsch at The Los Angeles Times reports on famour rumours around Hollywood, April 2002.
• Barbara Mikkelson at Snopes.com considers the urban legends around Jamie Lee Curtis, April 2001.
• Grae Drake at Rotten Tomatoes puts together an oral history of Halloween, October 2018.
• Christopher Borrelli at The Chicago Tribune considers Haddenfield’s place in Illinois mythology, October 2022.
• Francesca Rivera at IGN considers the production history and development of Halloween, October 2021.
• Jared Cowan at Los Angeles Magazine offers a tour of the locations used in Halloween, October 2018.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers how mainstream studios have come to increasingly rely on horror, September 2023.
• Calum Marsh at The New York Times celebrates Patrick Wilson as a “scream king”, June 2021.
• Andrew O’Hehir at Salon considers the Warrens and the Conjuring franchise, July 2013.
• Bruce Fretts at The Irish Times writes about John Carpenter’s decision to make Halloween, October 2018.
• Lance St. Laurent at Cinematheque considers Assault on Precinct 13 as an urban western, February 2023.
• John Carpenter talks to Outpost 51 about making movies, 2012.
• Dean Cundey talks to Daily Dead about shooting Halloween, October 2013.
• Dean Cundey talks to SyFy about shooting Jurassic Park, June 2023.
• Sean Hutchinson at Stabilizer News considers the use of the panaglide camera rig on Halloween, December 2018.
• Matthew Jackson at SyFy considers Firestarter as almost directed by John Carpenter, May 2022.
• Nat Brehmer at Dread Central reflects on Carpenter’s influence on and absence from the earlier version of Firestarter, April 2017.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist reflects on how the most recent adaptation of Firestarter is heavily indebted to Carpenter, May 2022.
• John Carpenter reflects on his life and career to The Irish Times, January 2015.
• Joey Nolfi at Entertainment Weekly reports on Jordan Peele praising John Carpenter, July 2022.
• Adam Nayman at The New Yorker reflects on the shifting reputation and legacy of John Carpenter, August 2022.
• Brad Miska at Bloody Disgusting reports on the legal battle over the Nightmare on Elm Street rights, September 2019.
• Donald Clarke at The Irish Times writes about the introduction of popcorn into the Irish Film Institute, July 2023.
• The New York Times reports on the increased acceptability of porn in mainstream pop culture, March 1977.
• Harry Reems talks to BullzEye about the culture of seventies pornography, September 2005.
• David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and Ian Broudie talk to The Guardians about the legacy of Three Lions, November 2022.
• Leah Boustan at The New York Times considers the legacy and impact of white flight, May 2017.
• Stephanie Hayes at The Tampa Bay Times considers the influence of John Carpenter’s time in Kentucky on his politics and worldview, October 2022.
• Jamelle Bouie at The New York Times considers the Halloween franchise as a horror series about white flight, November 2021.
• William Voegeli at City Journal considers the particularly stark white flight from Chicago, Autumn 2020.
• The New York Times reports on the death of Kitty Genovese, March 1964.
• The Economist considers the gulf between the facts of the Kitty Genovese case and the urban legends that have grown up around it, June 2016.
• Peter Bogdanovich writes at The Hollywood Reporter about making Targets, July 2012.
• Brenna Ehrlich at Rolling Stone considers “the Golden Age of the Serial Killer”, February 2021.
• Cody Cottier at Discover Magazine considers the rapid decline of the serial killer since the eighties, September 2022.
• Jim Emerson at Roger Ebert considers the opening shot of Halloween, June 2006.
• Carol J. Clover writes about gender in slasher movies in Misognyn, Misandry and Misanthropy, Autumn 1987.
• Hannah Bonner at Den of Geek reflects on the sexual conservatism of the classic slasher movie, February 2017.
• Kimberly Ballard at Little White Lies considers the sexual undertones of Halloween, October 2018.
• Michael Newton at The Guardian considers the ambiguity of The Innocents, December 2013.
• Rose Ninutaglio at Esquire reports on the real-life psychiatric patient who inspired Michael Myers, October 2018.
• Mike Snoonian at Dread Central argues that Samuel Loomis is the worst psychiatrist in movie history, June 2020.
• Courtney Helm at Wiched Horror argues that Samuel Loomis really should have been fired, July 2020.
• Megan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting considers the legacy of Donald Pleasance at Samuel Loomis, October 2018.
• Donald Pleasance talks about making Halloween, 1978.
• Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly considers the iconic Michael Myers head tilt, October 2018.
• Deadly Movies remembers John Carpenter blowing smoke into shot in Halloween, October 2010.
• Follow The 250 on Twitter.
• Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
• Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
• Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
• Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
• Browse listening options at pod.link.