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‘Halloween: The Changing Shape of an Iconic Series’: The Horror News Network Review

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Fans and critics were certainly split over last October’s Halloween reboot.  While critics gave the film praise for updating the franchise for a modern audience, fans who have followed the series since John Carpenter’s original were less impressed, finding the film to be derivative and (the cardinal sin of any horror film) not scary enough.

Despite the mixed feelings about 2018’s version of Michael Myers tale, fans still hold the series in high regard, including some of the questionable later entries in the series.  Author Ernie Magnotta is one who certainly hold the films near and dear to his heart, but he also approaches the many Halloween films with a critical perspective in his new book Halloween: The Changing Shape of an Iconic Series. read more

Universal Shares ‘Halloween’ Deleted Scene

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Mere weeks before the home video release of the latest entry in the Halloween franchise, an early glimpse of one of the special features is now streaming on YouTube.

From Universal Home Entertainment’s YT channel, the deleted scene features Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees), the documentary filmmakers who are researching the masked killer Michael Myers, during a pretty solid faux scare.

Reprising her iconic role from the original 1978 film, Jamie Lee Curtis comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked killer who has haunted her since narrowly escaping the night he went on a killing spree forty years prior on Halloween night. read more

‘Halloween’s’ Voice of Dr. Loomis Colin Mahan: The Horror News Network Interview

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Casual fans of  horror movies, and Halloween in particular, always assume that the hardcore fans love Michael Myers or Laurie Strode the best.  But real fans love one man and one man only when it comes to the original Halloween films: the maniacal and hysterical Dr. Loomis (played by the inimitable Donald Pleasence).

When news of the remake started to circulate through the horror community, many fans wondered if the legacy of the great actor and his portrayal of Loomis would be honored.  Thankfully, Loomis’ voice made it into the film, but was the audio captured from a previous film or outtakes?  As it turns out, the recording of “the good doctor” was performed by voice actor and comedian Colin Mahan.  In this exclusive interview, Mahan discusses how he landed the job, the pressure involved in recreating the classic voice, and how comedy and horror are not too far apart on the entertainment spectrum. read more

‘Overlord’ Finishes Third at Box Office; ‘Venom’ and ‘Halloween’ Continue to Add to Totals

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Bad Robot’s long-delayed and rumored about World War Two zombie tale Overlord finished third at the weekend box office while the break-out hits of October, Venom and Halloween (2018), continued to pad their already impressive totals.

Overlord, once rumored to be the fourth installment in the Cloverfield franchise, finished third with a modest $10.1 million dollar debut.  The hard-R tale of mad zombie science run amok may have been too much for the average movie-goer (who gave the film a mediocre B Cinemascore rating), but Overlord did score high with critics (the film currently has an aggregate rating of 81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes).  The film will certainly earn back all of its production costs ($38 million) once international sales are included, but don’t expect Overlord to perform much better over the coming weeks with continued competition from tent-pole pictures from all of the major studios. read more

‘Halloween’ Crosses the $150 Million Mark at Weekend Box Office

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Although Halloween (2018) fell from the number one spot at the box office, the film did manage to cross the $150 million dollar mark with another strong weekend.

Halloween finished fifth overall with just over $11 million at this weekend’s box office due to some strong competition from three new films, including the ghost of Freddie Mercury in the Queen bio-pic Bohemian Rhapsody (an estimated $50 million dollar), Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ($20 million),the R-rated comedy Nobody’s Fool ($14 million), and A Star is Born (which as of now, narrowly defeated Halloween with $11.1 million). Halloween also pulled in some very strong mid-week numbers, performing especially well (naturally) on Halloween with $5.5 million in receipts. read more

Opening Title Revealed for ‘Halloween in a Box’

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Today HNN Productions revealed the opening title sequence for their documentary Halloween in a Box. The film which chronicles the history of costume manufacturers Ben Cooper Inc, Halco, and Collegeville is written and directed by Rob Caprilozzi and narrated by Nick Banks.

“Halloween is a perfect time to give fans a small glimpse of what they can expect in the film,” said. Caprilozzi a long-time fan of Ben Cooper, Inc. costumes “I had the chance to meet with the former presidents, and employees of the big three Halloween costume manufacturers and now is the perfect time to tell their story.” read more

Counting Down the ‘Halloween’ Films from Worst to First

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Hi everyone and Happy Halloween! On this, the most joyous of days, I figured that it would be appropriate to discuss the films that take their name from this most sacred of holidays: the Halloween franchise! Lists like this always stir up tons of emotions and cause arguments that may or may not result in fisticuffs but I’m going to throw caution to the wind and rate the franchise from worst-to-first.

Let’s begin, shall we?

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Where to begin with Resurrection? How about we start with Busta Rhymes beating up Michael Myers with kung-fu? Nah…let’s get even sillier than that: Michael Myers gets his penis electrocuted…there it is. In this follow-up to the successful resurgence of the franchise with H20, the studio brought on original Halloween II director Rick Rosenthal to work on a god-awful script by Sean Hood and Larry Brand; they basically lifted the piece from The Curse of Michael Myers where the Howard Stern-like DJ wanted to broadcast from the actual Myers house and jammed it into this film – but instead of a live radio broadcast, Busta Rhymes hosts kids in a reality TV show in the Myers house. Whatever. The only saving grace here is that Jamie Lee Curtis is amazing with her ten minutes (even though her story is confusing as hell too); I suggest watching H20 and then the first ten minutes of this and then shutting it off forever. read more

‘Halloween’ Slashes Through the Competition Again at the Box Office

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For the second week in a row, Halloween (2018) dominated the box office, earning a estimated $32 million dollars in its second week of release.  The latest in a long line of Michael Myers’ films currently sits at over $126 million in sales, and with a few more weeks of slim competition on the horizon, Halloween has a chance to cross the $200 million mark domestically.

Halloween only dropped 58% from last week’s debut, which was less than anticipated, as most horror films see a steeper decline in the 60-65% range.  The success of Halloween has sent many rival studios scrambling to fast track their own slasher properties, with rumors (unsubstantiated at best) running rampant about the return of Jason Voorhees.  Don’t be surprised if “news” of the return of Freddy or Leatherface is far behind, as Hollywood chases the latest trend at the box office. read more

‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Season Two has Begun Filming

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Ahead of its first season premier, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season two has already begun filming according to Kiernan Shipka, star of the Netflix series.

She said she is currently on set for the show’s sophomore season even though the first won’t begin streaming until Friday, October 26.

Shipka said in a recent interview, “We went straight into the second season from the first and it’s been really so exceptionally fun to film, especially given the fact that I feel like we’re already in such a rhythm from coming out of the first season that to jump right into the second one was really, really fun and just a great opportunity to keep the momentum going.” read more

‘Halloween’ Chops the Box Office to Pieces With a $77.5 Million Dollar Debut

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Expectations were high for the long-awaited reboot of John Carpenter’s Halloween, and it is safe to say that the film didn’t disappoint at the box office with a $77.5 million three-day debut.  The total was the second largest October opening weekend of all-time, coming less than $3 million shy of the record set by Sony’s Venom (early reports had the film beating Venom, but that slippery symbiote held on to his title, at least for now).

With a $10 million dollar production budget, Halloween (2018) was a major success for Universal and Blumhouse, and the film is sure to add to its total over the next few weeks with little horror competition on the horizon. Halloween (2018) fared well with critics (currently 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a good, but not great B+ Cinemascore with fans.  The horror community has been less than impressed with the film, which could add up to a larger drop-off than expected next week (look no further than HNN’s John Evans, whose 2000 word plus review gives you every reason to wait to see Halloween at home at best, and perhaps skip it at worst). read more