Halloween mixes abound during the Halloween season. Most of them are a pleasing mix of the familiar, the obscure and the downright left-of-field. One of my favourites for 2007 is Canuxploitation expert and occassional Horror Roundtable contributor Paul Corupe and his House of Shock. Paul is the go-to guy for vintage cult cinema over at Rue Morgue magazine, so it should come as no surprise that his Halloween mix is packed to the gills with oddball novelty tunes and forgotten classics. I’ll admit that I’m not much of an expert on music to begin with, but I swear I’ve never seen the vast majority of these songs. You know you’re in dangerous territory when the radio spots interspersed throughout are more familiar than the songs themselves. While you’re at it, make sure you download the CD cover for the mix.

Rue Morgue’s The Abbatoir managed to sneak in a small conversation with Rob Zombie during the shooting of his Halloween remake. I’m not entirely sure, but this may be the only interview Zombie has given since he began production. During their talk Zombie discusses the virture of remakes, dream casting, and internet rumours.

“For a few minutes, when I first started, someone would always email me and go, “Is it true so-and-so is Laurie Strode?” “No, it’s not true, I don’t even know who that person is you’re mentioning.” But then it would get posted anyway and y’know, I’m done, I can’t address nonsense all day long, I’ve got actual work to do. Clearly, they would sit at home, think of something and just put it out there because there was no basis in anything ever. Life’s too short to address bullshit all day long.”

I do have to take issue with one comment Dave makes about The Devil’s Rejects. The main reason I enjoyed that film was because I felt it went nowhere near romanticizing The Fireflys. In fact, I thought the entire thing was the exact opposite, with the clan coming off as a group of worthless schlubs who couldn’t keep their shit together for more than a handful of days when left to their own devices.

Like a lot of people in the creative arts, Quentin Tarantino has a hard time nailing down a project without being distracted by something else. The amount of films he’s enthused about that never came to be far outweighs all the ones that did make it to the screen. Fangoria digs up some of the highlights from Tarantino’s previous horror associations.

“I didn’t write it down, but what I would’ve done is [have HALLOWEEN 6 begin with] 15 or 20 minutes of just the man and Michael having left the jail. What it takes to get him out of sight. He literally takes him to a diner, they sit down, shit happens at the diner, they have to escape, they go to someplace else, shit goes down at the motel, they have to go someplace else.”

I had heard about Tarantino’s involvement with the Halloween franchise, but the anecdote concerning the Evil Dead remake is new to me. What do you think? Could he have made either of them work. Better the Devil you know…?

As you’re probably already aware, it was reported over the weekend that Rob Zombie has started shooting on his “reimagining” of Halloween. This news was greeted with the most overtly ridiculous form of protest yet; an actual protest, with picketing and everything. I wonder if the protesters are upset by the fact that a remake is being produced for Halloween, or are mostly disturbed that it’s Zombie at the helm. I can’t imagine they would be happier if it were some first-time music video director throwing together a bland, by-the-numbers rehash rather than someone who has shown at least a few interesting stylistic flourishes. Which brings us to my reason for bringing the topic up. I’m also strongly against this remake of Halloween, but for the opposite reason. I think Rob Zombie is too good for Halloween.

I could do without House of 1,000 Corpses, but I imagine The Devil’s Rejects would be half the movie it turned out to be if it didn’t have Corpses as a lead-up and point of comparison. Whereas with House of 1,000 Corpses Zombie gave us a fairly straight, if incoherent, retelling of the psychotic family sub-genre, The Devil’s Rejects dragged the clan out from their comfort zone and into the bright light of day. There they were revealed as pathetic, doomed little deviants that couldn’t adapt enough to achieve freedom for even a couple of days. And where Zombie blew his load in homages for the first film, in the second he integrated them more successfully, with genuine cinematic skill mixed generously with the deep-fried cinema he loves. Other than Eli Roth’s Hostel, I can’t think of a sophomore effort that showed so much growth.

And now we have Halloween, a franchise which has potentially the worst rate of success in horror movie history. Is it possible that this is a case where there was only one good story to be told, with any subsequent efforts doomed to failure? As for Zombie in particular, with The Devil’s Rejects he was able to take the unbridled freedom of House of 1,000 Corpses and temper it with a great deal of subtlety. With Halloween it appears that he’s accepting outside limitations for the very first time, as he obviously has to follow the basic structure of the original Halloween, and this just when he seems to be mastering a decent level of control himself.

No one was more surprised than I was that Rob Zombie had the potential to become one of the new guard of horror, but The Devil’s Rejects certainly made me consider it. As he moved further away from his inspirations and toward new worlds, I was looking forward to seeing what he came up with next. Now I’m not so sure.

The suburbs can be stifling, Mr. Zombie. Tread with care.

There must be something in the water. Something To Be Desired is a web-based sitcom now in its fourth season which centres around a group of 20-somethings who work at a radio station in Pittsburgh. For Halloween, the ensemble took a break from their usual romantic slapstick and threw in some grue, paying tribute to a fellow Pittsburgh native by adding a zombie apocalypse to the mix. There’s plenty of oozing bite wounds, impromptu weapons and desperate trysts to satisfy anyone’s appetite for a little Steel City gore.

After you’re done, make sure you check their behind-the-scenes blogging for great pointers on how to shoot your zombie opus, particularly when one of your zombie extras has a bun in the oven.

You nearly had me, Rob Zombie. The director of the upcoming “reimagining” (I always picture saying that word as if I were Doug Henning) of Halloween shed some light on the project over at MTV Movies. While I despised House of 1000 Corpses, I really enjoyed The Devil’s Rejects, and I was hoping to see this upward swing of quality continue into Zombie’s next films. In fact, it’s evident that Zombie isn’t just doing this as a cash grab, so that’s refreshing. Then we hit the snag.

“I want the lead character to be Michael Myers,” Zombie said. “He’s not just a faceless thing floating around in the background and then you focus on these girls. I feel that that’s where you can make it different and that’s where you can make it more intense.”

Does anyone else find it funny that the remake of a film, Halloween, which was heavily influenced by another, Black Christmas, seems to be making that remake’s mistakes? Did that sentence even make any sense? Doubleplusgood! Take it from someone who scared the hell out of countless little kids last night, faceless things floating around in the background is about as intense as you can get.

Thank you for visiting and taking part in The Horror Blog’s first Halloween!

A few days ago My New Plaid Pants posted a link to an MP3 of Fiona Apple covering Sally’s Song from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Supposedly this is a 2-disc set was produced to coincide with the 3-D rerelease of the film, with the first disc being comprised of the original soundtrack and the second including five covers from various bands and assorted demos by Danny Elfman. Another track that’s popped up early is Marilyn Manson’s version of This Is Halloween, available at Deaf Indie Elephants.

Every october I flip through Martha Stewart’s Halloween issue and every year I nearly buy it. Hard to believe, but Martha goes all out every year with all sorts of ghoulish tricks and treats. And she’s never afraid to make herself look monstrous for the occasion.

If you’re still not convinced, head on over to her website and check out some of her crafty video tutorials. My personal favourite is the Eyeball Wreath, where she discusses what it must feel like to push a human eyeball through a twig.

Wicked! Some kids from the Rose City and the Garden City have managed to put aside their differences and created The 80’s Blog, a look at all the day-glo decadence that decade has to offer. Of especial interest to readers of this blog is the Halloween costume contest they’re holding.

With a stay-at-home mom, I always had beautifully sewn costumes, but families that had working parents often opted for the quick and easy Ben Cooper costumes. You know, the plastic mask and bag costumes? I never had the privilage of dressing up in a Ben Cooper costume, so I’ve recently been placing bids on eBay for numerous 80’s costumes, such as Pac-Man, Stripe (from Gremlins), Jem and ALF. Yes, I actually plan to wear a costume made to fit a 5 year old this year.

Anyways, we at the 80’s Blog would love to see your favourite childhood costume. Scan and send us that picture you have tucked away from the year you dressed up as Yoda. The picture we enjoy most will be featured on our website on Halloween and I will also personally send you a special halloweenie prize!!

Katie is the queen of finding cool gimcracks and geegaws, so head on over and enter.

I’m not the only one around here hoping to kick it into gear for October. Let’s take a look around at a few of the other bloggers getting into the spirit of the season.

Final Girl has been impatiently waiting a whopping 325 days to reprise her SHOCKtober tricks and treats. Make sure you dig around for her hilarious chart of the horror movie fatality odds. Being Canadian, the odds are slightly higher for me to be beaten to death by snowsuit-clad dwarves.

Curt at The Groovy Age of Horror claims that he just doesn’t have time to contribute to the festivities this month. Then he goes on to post twice more within 36 hours. I knew he couldn’t resist. While you’re there, make sure you read his exhaustive argument against the censorship of the Essential Tomb of Dracula.

Not unlike the groundhog, every October you can expect the gang over at Dark, But Shining to pop out and throw one of the most lavish bashes around.

Senses Working Overtime kicks off the month with a grab bag of comics, comedies, songs, radio plays and more. It sure beats getting a rock.

And if I missed anyone, please leave a comment and let us know about it.

Nearly four months and 236 posts later, and I think it’s about time to take a break. Thanks to all the people who took the time to visit, and I hope you return in a month or so after I finish resting up for a bit.

Oh, snap! It’s ok, I was just fucking with you. As a matter of fact, like every other horror blog out there I’m about to give ‘er diesel. I’m going to attempt to post every day this month, including weekends, with contests, guests, and more reviews then you can handle. October will also see the premiere of our weekly podcast, as well as the first annual Horror Blog Halloween Monster Rally. And this is all in addition to our usual features, like the clip of the day, news and opinions and the ever-popular Horror Roundtable.

Trick or treat!

The big news of the day appears to be Horror Roundtable miscreant Don May, Jr. and Billy Kirkus’ discovery of a large amount of unused footage from John Carpenter’s Halloween. These are the multiple takes that ended up on the cutting room floor. Though the boxes haven’t been completely catalogued yet, May seems convinced that it will contain at least a few interesting surprises.

“The most exciting possibility is that Wallace told me about the original ending—and if this is indeed all the original camera negative, then we certainly have it. Wallace explained that he always thought it was funny that, even in the ‘original shooting scripts’ that are for sale for HALLOWEEEN, the ending always has Michael Myers disappearing at the end. That isn’t the way they originally shot it. The original shooting script, and the way the movie was initially filmed, had Michael dying at the end.”

May has also been offering up a few tidbits on the DVD Maniacs message board.

“One of the things I am hoping to find is the original opening sequence, without the mask overlay. I’ll have to ask Wallace (or Carpenter, if he calls me) about it, but I think, when little Michael goes to the house and puts on the mask before he kills his sister, that the “mask” portion of the screen may be an optical effect. If so, chances are we may have the un-masked version, or an alternate take version, of the opening scene death scene without the mask covering the picture! THAT is something I want to see…”

I’m not that big a fan of Halloween (more of a Black Christmas man, myself) but I love the discovery of hidden treasures from the days before every piece of footage from even the most unassuming movies was tucked away for the inevitable DVD extras. It would be especially instructive watching Carpenter at work and actually seeing the process that went into making a low-budget horror film of that era.

An alleged rough cut of the theme for Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake can be found at the website for composer and previous Zombie collaborator Tyler Bates. According to the Rue Mortuary, where I first heard the news, this track has been used as background music during Zombie’s tour, further cementing the reliability of the claim.  Before hearing it, I was worried that he was going to jettison the classic theme entirely, which is arguably the best part of the entire movie.  Upon listening to the track, it seems as if Bates is going for a mash-up of Carpenter’s nerve-wracking score with the underlying industrial sound of Zombie’s ouvre, with a few creaky doors and muffled screams from Wal-mart Haunted House theme CDs thrown in for good measure.  I wouldn’t say this is entirely a bad thing.  I like the idea of combining the wholesome sound of suburban Halloween with more sophisticated scares, but it comes off as a bit of overkill when compared to the simplicity of the original.

In 2003, Dylan Finkle read portions of a horror story he had written entitled “Costume Party” in front of fellow students in his English class. Later that day, a teacher took a closer look at the story just before Dylan began reading some more aloud during lunch. She contacted the principal of the school, and Dylan was suspended for six weeks. Dylan’s attorney has attempted to appeal the case numerous times, and plans to again after their most recent defeat. So, what was in the story?

According to court documents, Finkle was 11 when he wrote the multi-chapter story titled “Costume Party,” modeled after the horror flick “Halloween,” in which he named characters after some of his friends and classmates. The story, which was part of a journal that one of Finkle�s teachers had assigned as a class project, chronicled the killing spree of a character named “Dylan” who was out for revenge after being bullied by kids at school.

In the story, Finkle graphically described the murders (many involving a knife or ax) of “mean kids,” some of which occurred while a character was making out topless on a table or engaged in sex.

I can understand the teachers being concerned, but was it necessary to suspend the kid for six weeks? After all, not only was this a class project, but it was deemed appropriate enough to read in the classroom before the incident, which may have given Dylan the false assumption that this was material condoned by the administration as a whole.

For a more detailed and accurate account of the case, please refer to this article which first appeared in the New York Times.