You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga—13 Movies and Counting

Historian Byrne (Welcome to Elm Street) offers a fun look at the Halloween film franchise in this “celebration of the artists involved in its creation.” Byrne draws on interviews with cast and crew to highlight the cultural impact of the movies, the first of which came out in 1978 and had a modest $300,000- budget. Tommy Lee Wallace, who made his directorial debut with Halloween III in 1982, recalls the support he received from series creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill, who made a “brave choice in letting me do the film the way I wanted to.” Dominique Othenin-Girard, who directed Halloween 5, recounts an early meeting with the film’s producer, during which he placed the original script in the trash. Further anecdotes touch on the franchise’s durability: following the mixed reception to the 1980s outings, the series brought back original cast member Jamie Lee Curtis for 1998’s Halloween H20, “resurrecting the visual soul” of the franchise to create a film that served as a perfect example, according to Byrne, of “horror filmmaking for the masses.” The book’s greatest strength is its level of detail, which Byrne presents with the passion of a fan. This behind-the-scenes romp will enthrall horror lovers. (Aug.)