Where to watch Halloween (1978)

Trivia & production notes

• Nick Castle, who played the masked Michael Myers, was a friend of director John Carpenter from their time together at the University of Southern California and later became a successful director himself.
• Jamie Lee Curtis was not Carpenter's first choice for Laurie Strode; he originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart but she had prior commitments to other projects.
• Christopher Lee turned down the role of Dr. Loomis and later told Carpenter and producer Debra Hill that rejecting it was the biggest mistake of his career.
• The iconic Michael Myers mask was created from a $1.98 Captain Kirk mask purchased at a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard, which was then spray-painted white and modified with widened eye holes.
• John Carpenter directed, wrote, and composed the film's score for only $10,000, but retained rights to 10 percent of the profits.
• Jamie Lee Curtis's costume for the film was purchased at J.C. Penney for approximately $100.
• Halloween was shot in just 20 days across a four-week period in May 1978, using an early Steadicam clone called the Panaglide for smooth camera movements.
• During filming, Carpenter created a "fear meter" for Jamie Lee Curtis to help her determine the appropriate level of terror for each scene, since the film was shot out of sequence.
• Tony Moran, who played the unmasked Michael Myers at the film's end, was working dressed as Frankenstein on Hollywood and Vine when he was cast and received $250 for the role.
• The 1978 Ford LTD station wagon stolen by Michael Myers in the film was a rented Illinois government vehicle that was later auctioned off and eventually fully restored by a private owner.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Halloween (1978 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.