Using original interviews with director John Carpenter, stars Jamie Lee Curtis and P.J. Soles, and crew members, 'Halloween': A Cut Above the Rest unveils the production of the horror classic and how the ingenuity of Carpenter and his team, coupled with the shoestring budget of $325,000, drove the filmmakers to create one of the most influential horror films of all time.
08-05-2003
1h 27m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Writer:
Steven C. Smith
Production:
Compass International Pictures, Fox Television Network, Prometheus Entertainment, Van Ness Films
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Rino Romano
Rino Romano (born 1 July 1969) is an Italian-Canadian actor and voice actor. Having first appeared in on-screen roles in the 1990s, he became best known for his voice acting in the following decade; he has served as the voice of Batman and Spider-Man in various media. He has also served as the narrator for the Curious George animated franchise.
Moustapha Akkad was born in Aleppo. Syria in 1930. His passion for movies grew at an early age and this is why at the age of 19 he wanted to go to the States and follow his dream. When he left Syria his father gave him the money for the ticket and a copy of the Qura'an, telling him it was all he could manage. In the USA he studied theatre arts at UCLA and got his masters from USC. He started his professional work in TV where he did a biography on the different ethnic groups in the States and how their backgrounds affect their lives in America.
NBC offered him a better salary if he chose not to put his name on the project, and this is where he learned a great lesson. That for a film maker recognition is more important than money. In 1976 he made his first feature film, The Message (1976), where he directed and produced; the film was about the birth of Islam starring Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas. The film did not score at the American box office because the face of the prophet Mohammed (the main character in the movie) did not show on the screen due to religious reasons, but it did well world-wide.
In 1978 John Carpenter came to him with the screenplay for Halloween (1978) and Akkad produced it while Carpenter directed it. The movie was a big success. In 1981 he went back to directing when he directed Anthony Quinn again in Lion of the Desert (1980), a movie funded by Muammar Gaddafi and due to his political persona the movie did not score at the box office. It was about Libyan freedom fighter Omar Al-Mokhtar and Libyans' fight for freedom against the colonizing Italians, and was his last directorial project.
After that he went back to producing the Halloween sequels. In 1995, he decided to make a film about the life of Saladin the great Muslim leader who fought the crusaders but he was never able to get the appropriate funding. On 9 November 2005 he was killed in a terrorist attack in Amman, Jordan. As a director he was greatly affected by David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia (1962)) but had his own amazing touches.
An American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor.
Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.
Most films in Carpenter's career were initially commercial and critical failures, with the notable exceptions of Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Starman (1984).
However, many of Carpenter's films from the 1970s and the 1980s have come to be viewed as cult classics, and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker. Cult classics that Carpenter directed include: Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995).
His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores. Carpenter is also notable for having composed or co-composed most of the music of his films; some of them are now considered cult as well, with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics. He released his first studio album Lost Themes in 2015, and also won a Saturn Award for Best Music for Vampires (1998).
Carpenter is an outspoken proponent of widescreen filming, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star and The Ward) were filmed anamorphic with a 2.35:1 or greater aspect ratio. The Ward was shot in Super 35, the first time Carpenter has ever used that system. Carpenter has stated he feels that the 35mm Panavision anamorphic format is "the best movie system there is", preferring it over both digital and 3D film. Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features.
Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and American Cinematheque's 2002 retrospective of his films. Moreover, in 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In 2010, writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Carpenter about his career and films for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. Carpenter appears in all three episodes of the series. He was also interviewed by Robert Rodriguez for his The Director's Chair series on El Rey Network.
Many filmmakers have been influenced by Carpenter, including James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight was heavily influenced by The Thing), Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, Danny Boyle, Nicolas Winding Refn, Bong Joon-ho, among others.
The video game Dead Space 3 is said to be influenced by Carpenter's The Thing, The Fog and Halloween, and Carpenter has stated that he would be enthusiastic to adapt that series into a feature film.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nick Castle (born September 21, 1947) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his role as Michael Myers in Halloween. He also co-wrote Escape from New York with his friend, John Carpenter.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nick Castle, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Dean Raymond Cundey (born March 12, 1946) is an American cinematographer and film director. He is known for his collaborations with John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, as well as his extensive work in the horror genre, in addition to numerous family and comedy films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and has been nominated for numerous BAFTAs and BSC Awards.
Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, and children's author. Known for her performances in the horror and slasher genres, she is regarded as a scream queen, in addition to roles in comedies. She has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA, two Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as nominations for an Emmy and a Grammy.
She came to prominence with the ABC sitcom Operation Petticoat (1977–1978). She made her feature film debut playing Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's slasher film Halloween (1978), which established her as a scream queen and led to a string of parts in horror films such as The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train (all 1980), and Roadgames (1981). She reprised the role of Laurie in the Halloween franchise, until 2022.
Her film work spans many genres outside of horror, including the comedies Trading Places (1983), for which she won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress, and A Fish Called Wanda (1988), for which she received a nomination for the BAFTA for Best Actress. Her role as a workout instructor in the film Perfect (1985) earned her a reputation as a sex symbol. She won a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Helen Tasker in James Cameron's True Lies (1994). Her other notable film credits include Freaky Friday (2003) and Knives Out (2019). Her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998. As of 2021, her films have grossed over $2.3 billion at the box office.
She received a Golden Globe and a People's Choice Award for her portrayal of Hannah Miller on ABC's Anything But Love (1989–1992), and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for the television film Nicholas' Gift (1998). She also starred as Cathy Munsch on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–16), for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination.
She has written numerous children's books, including Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day (1998), which made The New York Times's best-seller list.
She is a daughter of actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She is married to British-American filmmaker Christopher Guest, with whom she has two adopted children. Her marriage to Guest, who holds the British title of 5th Baron Haden-Guest, makes her a baroness who is entitled to use the name "The Right Honourable The Lady Haden-Guest", though she opts not to use it.
Charles Cyphers (July 28, 1939 - August 4, 2024) was an American actor who had starred in many films and on television. He was known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 hit horror movie Halloween. He reprised this role in the 1981 sequel Halloween II. He was not related to actor Jon Cypher, alongside whom he played in Hill Street Blues.
Debra Hill (November 10, 1950 – March 7, 2005) was an American film producer and screenwriter, best known for producing various works of John Carpenter.
She also co-wrote four of his films: Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. They also wrote and produced Halloween II together, which Carpenter did not direct.
Description above from the Wikipedia Debra Hill, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, (5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades. Often typecast as villainous and/or psychopathic characters, Pleasence is arguably best-known for his work in two of cinema's most successful franchises - James Bond and Halloween.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Donald Pleasence, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Pamela Jayne Soles is a German-born American actress. She made her film debut in 1976 as Norma Watson in Brian De Palma's Carrie before portraying Lynda van der Klok in John Carpenter's Halloween and Riff Randell in Allan Arkush's Rock 'n' Roll High School. Wikipedia
Thomas Lee Wallace (born September 6, 1949) is an American film producer, director, editor, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Fright Night Part 2 and the 1990 miniseries, It. He is a long-time collaborator of director John Carpenter, receiving his first credit as art director on Carpenter's directorial debut, Dark Star. Along with Charles Bornstein, he edited both the original Halloween and The Fog.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Tommy Lee Wallace, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Richard Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus (1969), based on the novella (1959) by Philip Roth, and Westworld (1973).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Benjamin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor, musician, singer, author, film director, spokesman and comedian. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, commander of the Federation starship USS Enterprise, in the science fiction television series Star Trek, from 1966 to 1969; Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1973 to 1974, and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films from 1979 to 1994. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of Star Trek, and has co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.
Shatner also played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker from 1982 to 1986. Afterwards, he hosted the reality-based television series Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996, which won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Dramatic Series. He has since worked as a musician, author, director and celebrity pitchman. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the television dramas The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal, for which he won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
