My first run-in with Michael Myers was not Halloween, but rather a night many years ago when I spent the night at my cousin's house. My older cousin was out for the night, so I was allowed to sleep in his bed. Coincidentally, he's a huge horror fan, and his favorite movie ever is Halloween. And thus, I spent the night surrounded by these huge posters of a blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes. The devil's eyes. Staring down at me.

No sleep was had that night.

- Was born out of a desire to make a movie about babysitter murders. After doing some research, the producers found that, oddly enough, nobody had ever named a movie "Halloween" before.

- Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were both approached to play Dr. Loomis, but both turned it down. Lee would go on to say it was the biggest mistake he ever made, while Cushing would end up regretting turning down that other doctor role that was brought to him (more on that later). Donald Pleasence eventually took the job because his daughter was fan of John Carpenter's last movie, Assault on Precinct 13.

- The mask is famously a William Shatner mask modified beyond recognition.

- The name "Michael" is only said in the opening scene. From then on, the Shape is only referred to as "he" or "it".

- Nick Castle, the man behind the mask for most of the movie, originally was just hanging out near the set to watch it get filmed. It was John Carpenter who offered him the chance to be a psycho killer.

- The movie was filmed in the spring, so all the leaves on the streets were all fake and individually painted to look dead. They were reused after the movie wrapped, because we gotta protect the environment.

- The Shape appearing out of the darkness was achieved via a hidden dimmer light.

- The movie was shot out of order, so in order to help Jamie Lee Curtis stay consistent, John Carpenter created a "fear meter" that indicated how scared she should be in a scene.

- The first cut of the movie did not go over well at its first screening; people just weren't finding it scary. John Carpenter decided he needed to "save it" with an awesome musical score, which he wrote in four days.

Everybody was terrified after that.

- The opening POV shot is actually three different shots cut together; the cuts are done when the mask is put on and before and after the murder. It took two days to shoot.

- John Carpenter is a huge Psycho fan, as evident by his naming Loomis after one of the supporting characters in the film and the casting of Janet Leigh's daughter in the female lead.

- It was Donald Pleasence's idea that his character's reaction to the final scare should be less shock and more "I knew this would happen."

- Jamie Lee Curtis was unsatisfied with her performance and thought she was dragging the whole production down, which certainly contrasted with John Carpenter's enthusiasm. He actually rang her up after the first day of shooting just to tell her how great she was.

- The Myers house has been relocated and now serves as a chiropractor's office. That's certainly a place I want people touching my spine.

- "Don't Fear the Reaper" is playing on the radio while the Shape is driving behind Laurie.

- Made on a budget of $325,00, grossed $47 million ($150 million if adjusted for inflation), making it one of the most successful independent movies ever.

- If I had to make a list of the greatest horror movie shots of all time, this would most definitely. be near the top of the list:

Classic.

Well, I guess that just about wraps up FACTOIDS OF THE LIVING DEAD. Kind of bummed that I didn't do every single movie I wanted to do; Misery, Return of the Living dead, Gremlins, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Omen, just to name a few. This wasn't really planned at all, just a stupid thing I decided to do out of the blue, but I'm glad some of you enjoyed this series. Thanks for sticking with me, I hope you learned a thing or two.

As an added bonus, have this, Citrus's TOP 10 HORROR MOVIES. This is by no means a definitive list, but these are the movies I most often pick for my favorites of the genre

10. Poltergeist

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

8. Se7en

7. The Shining

6. Night of the Living Dead

5. The Thing

4. Evil Dead 2

3. Psycho

2. Jaws

And of course,

1. Alien/Aliens

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!

Play me out, Michael!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btb7y41vXng&feature=player_detailpage