'' (also known as '''''John Carpenter's Halloween''''') is a 1978
Independent Horror Film set in the fictional
Midwest town of Haddonfield,
Illinois , on
Halloween . The original draft of the screenplay was titled '''''The Babysitter Murders'''''. The film was directed by
John Carpenter and stars
Donald Pleasence as
Dr. Sam Loomis ,
Jamie Lee Curtis as
Laurie Strode , and
Nick Castle as
Michael Myers (listed in the credits as "The Shape"). The film centers on Michael Myers's escape from a
Psychiatric Hospital , his murder of several teenagers, and Sam Loomis's attempts to track and kill Myers.
''Halloween'' was produced on a budget of only $325,000 and grossed $47 million at the s inspired by
Alfred Hitchcock 's ''
Psycho '' (1960). The movie originated many of the clichés seen in low-budget horror films of the
1980s and
1990s , although first-time viewers of ''Halloween'' may be surprised by the fact that the film contains little actual graphic violence or gore.James Berardinelli, review of ''Halloween'', at
ReelViews.com .Adam Rockoff, ''Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986'' (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2002), chap. 3, ISBN 0786412275.
Critics have also suggested that ''Halloween'' and its slasher film successors encourage
Sadism and
Misogyny . Others have suggested the film is a social critique of the
Morality of young people in
1970s America, pointing out that many of Myers's victims are sexually
Promiscuous or
Substance Abuse rs, while the lone heroine is depicted as chaste and innocent. While Carpenter dismisses these analyses, the perceived parallel between the characters' moral strengths and their likelihood of surviving to the film's conclusion has nevertheless become a standard slasher movie
Trope .
On Halloween night
1963 , six-year-old Michael Myers stabs his seventeen-year-old sister Judith with a kitchen knife at their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He is sent to Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium in Illinois and placed under the care of
Psychiatrist Sam Loomis. After years of treatment, Loomis begins to suspect that there is more to Myers than meets the eye and plans to have him committed indefinitely. Loomis, sensing that a tremendous amount of rage and emotion stir behind Myers's blank stare, describes Myers as ''
Evil ''. Myers escapes from Smith's Grove while being transferred and returns to Haddonfield. Loomis pursues Myers.
, "The Shape," played by
Nick Castle .]]
In Haddonfield, Myers stalks Laurie Strode (his younger sister, though this is not revealed until ''
Halloween II ''). Laurie glimpses a man in a white mask (Michael Myers) from her classroom window, behind a bush while she walks home, and in the clothesline from her bedroom window.
Later in the evening, Laurie meets her friend Annie Brackett (
Nancy Kyes ) who is babysitting Lindsey Wallace (
Kyle Richards ) across the street from where she is babysitting Tommy Doyle (
Brian Andrews ). After arranging to pick up her boyfriend, Annie sends Lindsey to stay with Laurie at the Doyle house but is murdered by Myers (who had followed them). Tommy sees him carrying Annie's body into the Wallace house and thinks Myers is the
Boogeyman . Laurie dismisses the boy's terror and sends Tommy and Lindsey to bed. Myers later murders Laurie's other friend Lynda Van Der Klok (
P.J. Soles ) and Lynda's boyfriend Robert "Bob" Simms (
John Michael Graham ) in the empty Wallace house.
Laurie worries after receiving a strange phone call from Lynda at the Wallace house. She walks across the street and discovers the three bodies and Judith Myers's missing tombstone. She is attacked by Myers but escapes back to the Doyle house. Laurie stabs Myers with a
Knitting Needle , a clothes hanger and a knife, but he continues to pursue her. Eventually, Loomis spots Tommy and Lindsey running from the house and finds Myers in the upstairs hallway. Loomis rescues Laurie, shooting Myers six times and causing him to fall from the house's second-story balcony. Upon looking out the window for Myers' body, however, Loomis discovers that he is nowhere to be found.
After viewing John Carpenter's film '' began drafting a story originally titled ''The Babysitter Murders'', but Carpenter told ''
Entertainment Weekly '' that Yablans suggested setting the movie on Halloween night and naming it ''Halloween'' instead.John Carpenter, ''Entertainment Weekly'' interview, quoted at
HalloweenMovies.com .
on the set of ''Halloween'' in 1978.]]Akkad fronted the $325,000 for the film's budget, considered low at the time (even though Carpenter's previous film, ''Assault on Precinct 13'', had an estimated budget of only $100,000).http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htmhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074156/business Akkad worried over the tight schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told ''Fangoria'', "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project." Carpenter himself only received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to only 10 percent of the film's profits.Moustapha Akkad, ''Fangoria'' interview, quoted at
HalloweenMovies.com .
Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired for around a hundred dollars.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htm
The budget also dictated filming location and time. ''Halloween'' was filmed in 21 days in the spring of 1978 in
South Pasadena, California . An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. The crew had to work to find
Pumpkins in the spring and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes and
Trick-or-treated them for Carpenter.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htm
Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter also wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a ''Fangoria'' interview with Debra Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes."Hill interview. Hill explained that the script took only three weeks to write and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from
Gaelic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of
Samhain . Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that
''the idea was that you couldn't kill evil, and that was how we came about the story. We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that's what made ''Halloween'' work.''Hill interview.
Hill wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis's speeches on Michael Myers's evil. Many of the details of the story were drawn from Carpenter and Hill's adolescence and early career. The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois, came from ) of ''
Rear Window '' (1954) and Dr. Loomis's name was taken from Sam Loomis (
John Gavin ) of ''Psycho'', the boyfriend of Marion Crane (
Janet Leigh ).
The cast of ''Halloween'' included a motley crew of veteran actors such as Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actresses like Jamie Lee Curtis and
Nancy Kyes . The low budget limited the number of big names that John Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their role. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000; Curtis received $8,000; and Nick Castle only earned $25 a day.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htm
English actor Pleasence has been called "John Carpenter's big landing." Pleasence's daughter supposedly saw Carpenter's ''Assault on Precinct 13'' and liked it, thus encouraging her father to star in ''Halloween''. Americans were already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain in the James Bond film ''
You Only Live Twice '' (1967).http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/cast/dp.htm
plays
Laurie Strode in her first feature film.]]In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast
Anne Lockhart , the daughter of
June Lockhart from ''
Lassie '', as Laurie Strode. Lockhart, however, had commitments to several other film and television projects.Carpenter interview. After learning of Jamie Lee's relation to ''Psycho'' actress Janet Leigh, Debra Hill says, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in ''Psycho''."Hill interview. ''Halloween'' was Jamie Lee Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "
Scream Queen " horror star.
Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited as Nancy Loomis), was cast as Laurie's promiscuous friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett ( to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another promiscuous friend of Laurie's best remembered for dialogue peppered with the word "Totally." Soles was an actress familiar for her supporting role in ''
Carrie '' (1976) and her minor part in ''
The Boy In The Plastic Bubble '' (1976). According to one source, "Carpenter realized she had captured the aura of a happy go lucky teenage girl in the 70's."http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/cast/pjs.htm
The role of "The Shape"—as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits—was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the
University Of Southern California . After ''Halloween'', Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as ''
The Last Starfighter '' (1984), ''
The Boy Who Could Fly '' (1986), and ''
Major Payne '' (1995).http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/cast/nc.htm
Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that John Carpenter's directing and camera work made ''Halloween'' a "resounding success."Nicholas Rogers, ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 111, ISBN 0195168968.
Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial ...."Roger Ebert, review of ''Halloween'', Chicago ''Sun-Times'', 31 October 1979, at
RogerEbert.com .
set against a black field.]]The opening title featuring a
Jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop sets the mood for the entire movie. The camera slowly focuses on one of the jack-o'-lantern's eyes while the main music for ''Halloween'' plays in the background. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that
film's primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception."J.P. Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye: The Reflexive Nature of Horror," in Gregory Waller, ed., ''American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 116, ISBN 0252014480.
During the conception of the plot, Yablans instructed "that the audience shouldn't see anything. It should be what they thought they saw that frightens them."Hill interview. Carpenter seemingly took Yablans's advice literally, filming many of the scenes from a Michael Myers point-of-view that allowed audience participation. Carpenter is not the first director to employ this method or use of a
Steadicam , for instance the first scene of ''Psycho'' offers a
Voyeur istic look at lovers in a seedy hotel. Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action."Telotte, "Through a Pumpkin's Eye," pp. 116-117.
The first scene of the boy Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith Myers seen through the eye holes of Michael's
Clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited
{Link without Title} to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey."Rogers, ''Halloween'', p. 111.
Another technique that Carpenter adapted from Hitchcock's ''Psycho'' and
Tobe Hooper 's ''
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre '' (1974) was suspense and murder without blood and gore. Debra Hill states, "We didn't want it to be gory. We wanted it to be like a jack-in-the box."Hill interview. Film analysts refer to this as the "false
Startle " or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person."David Scott Diffrient, "A Film is Being Beaten: Notes on the Shock Cut and the Material Violence of Horror," in Steffen Hantke, ''Horror Film: Creating and Marketing Fear'' (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), p. 61, ISBN 1578066921.
Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and fear. According to Jamie Lee Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9 1/2," remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.Jamie Lee Curtis interview, quoted at
HalloweenMovies.com .
Another major reason for the success of ''Halloween'' is the musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a .http://halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htmhttp://www.music.sjsu.edu/admin/faculty/wyman/index.html
Some songs can be heard in the film, one being an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends who formed a band called The Coupe DeVilles. It is heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to baby sit Tommy Doyle.http://halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htm Another song, "
(Don't Fear) The Reaper " by
Heavy Metal band
Blue Öyster Cult , also appears in the film. http://halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1soundtrack.htm
Film Information
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USA:R / UK:X / UK:18 (video rating) / Australia:R / Canada:R (original rating) / Canada:AA (Ontario video rating 1982) / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / France:-16 / Ireland:15 / UK:AA (original rating) / Iceland:16 / Singapore:NC-16 / Argentina:13 / Chile:13 / Italy:VM14 / West Germany:16
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''Halloween'' premiered on ''. Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant, but applauded Carpenter's camera work as "duplicitous hype" and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film." Allen also pointed out the stylistic similarities to ''Psycho'' and
George A. Romero 's ''
Night Of The Living Dead '' (1968).Tom Allen, review of ''Halloween'', ''The Village Voice'' (New York), 6 November 1978, pp. 67, 70. Following Allen's laudatory essay, other critics took notice. Roger Ebert gave the film equal praise in a 1979 review for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times ''.Ebert, review. Once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music and surprised by the lack of blood, gore, and graphic violence.Berardinelli, review.
The film grossed $47 million in the United Stateshttp://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=halloween.htm and an additional $8 million internationally, making the theatrical total around $55 million.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1bts.htm While most of the film's success came from American movie-goers, ''Halloween'' premiered in several international locations after 1979 with moderate results. The film was shown mostly in the European countries of
France , the
United Kingdom ,
West Germany ,
Italy ,
Sweden ,
Ireland , the
Netherlands ,
Norway ,
Portugal , and
Iceland . Admissions in West Germany totaled around 750,000 and 118,606 in Sweden, earning
SEK 2,298,579 there. The film was also shown at theaters in
Canada ,
Australia ,
Japan ,
Singapore ,
Peru ,
Argentina , and
Chile . ''Halloween'' grossed
AUD 900,000 in Australia and
HKD 450,139 in
Hong Kong .http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/business
''Halloween'' was nominated for a
Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, for Best Horror Film in 1979, but lost to ''
The Wicker Man '' (1973).http://imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_of_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_And_Horror_Films_USA/1979
Since ''Halloween'''s premier, it has been released on and
Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment has released several
Restore d editions of ''Halloween'' on VHS and DVD, with the most recent being the 2003 two-disc Divimax 25th Anniversary edition with commentary by John Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Jamie Lee Curtis plus the documentary ''Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest''.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h1distribution.htm
. The
German subtitle is ''Die Nacht Des Grauens'' ("The Night of Horror").]]
The film received a mostly positive critical response at the time of its intial release, and in 2006 ''Halloween'' maintained a rating of 100 percent "fresh" at and
Misogyny .Rogers, ''Halloween'', pp. 117-118. Almost a decade after its premier, Mick Martin and Marsha Porter critiqued the first-person camera shots that earlier film reviewers had praised and later slasher-film directors utilized for their own films (e.g., ''
Friday The 13th '' (1980)). Claiming it encouraged audience identification with the killer, Martin and Porter also pointed to the way "the camera moves in on the screaming, pleading, victim, 'looks down' at the knife, and then plunges it into chest, ear, or eyeball. Now that's sick."Mick Martin and Marsha Porter, ''Video Movie Guide 1987'' (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986), p. 60, ISBN 0345338723.
Many criticisms of ''Halloween'' and other slasher films come from
Postmodern academia. Some
Feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since ''Halloween'' as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core
Pornography {Link without Title} Rogers, ''Halloween'', pp. 117-118. Critics such as John Kenneth Muir point out that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Strode, in fact, is rescued in ''Halloween'' and ''Halloween II'' only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.John Kenneth Muir, ''Wes Craven: The Art of Horror'' (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1998), p. 104, ISBN 0786419237.
On the other hand, some feminist scholars such as
Carol J. Clover argue that despite the violence against women, slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-''Halloween'' horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that ''Halloween'' initiates the role of the "
Final Girl " who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode herself fought back against Myers, wounding him on several occasions. Had he been a normal man, Strode would have defeated him.Carol J. Clover, ''Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film'' (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 189, ISBN 0691006202.
Other critics have seen a deeper social critique present in ''Halloween'' and subsequent slasher films. According to Vera Dika, the films of the 1980s spoke to the , regarding it as merely a horror movie.''Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest'', documentary on Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition DVD of ''Halloween'' (1978; Troy, Mich.: Anchor Bay, 2003),
ASIN B00009UW0N .
Although a
Canadian horror film directed by
Bob Clark titled ''
Black Christmas '' (1974) preempted the stylistic techniques made famous in ''Halloween'', the latter is generally given credit by film historians and critics for initiating the
Slasher Film craze of the 1980s and 1990s. First-person camera perspectives, unexceptional settings, and female heroines define the slasher film genre.Rockoff, ''Going to Pieces'', p. 42. Riding the wave of success ushered in by ''Halloween'', several films that were already in production when the film premiered, but with similar stylistic elements and themes, also became popular with audiences. The ''
Friday The 13th '' and ''
A Nightmare On Elm Street '' films, and countless other slasher films owe much of their success (if not inspiration) to ''Halloween''.
The unintended theme of "survival of the virgins" seen in ''Halloween'' also became a major trope that surfaced in other slasher films. Characters in subsequent horror movies who practice illicit sex and substance abuse generally meet a gruesome end at the hands of the killer. On the other hand, characters portrayed as chaste and 's horror movie
Spoof ''
Scary Movie '' (
2000 ) likewise parodies this prominent slasher film trope.
Despite ''Halloween'''s influence on the genre, critics have recently questioned the film's staying power. Audiences have become desensitized by the blood, gore, and violence of later slasher films and to many modern viewers the slow pace and suspense of ''Halloween'' is no longer frightening, and may seem tame, if not boring. Film critic Herb Kane, while praising the historical significance of the film, notes:
''I agree critics who suggest the film is dated ... I literally laughed throughout the movie. Face it. We've seen this all before - in countless copycat slasher films! Some of the scenes now are just plain cheesy and funny to me like when Loomis finds a dead animal in the old Meyer's '' house and refers to Michael, "He got hungry"; or dialogue repeating the word "TOTALLY" over and over again. Simply watching Michael appear and disappear in certain scenes is hilarious! The scene where he walks into a bedroom dressed as a ghost wearing a white sheet and glasses put me in tears - TOTALLY!''Herb Kane, "Is 'Halloween' Still Scary?", 28 October 2003, at [http://www.criticdoctor.com/reviews/halloween1978.html CriticDoctor.com
Television rights to ''Halloween'' were sold to
NBC in 1980 for $4 million. After some debate between John Carpenter, Debra Hill and NBC's
Standards & Practices over
Censor ing of certain scenes, ''Halloween'' appeared on television for the first time.Hill interview. To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material that include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to six-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before she leaves to babysit. The new scenes were shot during production of ''Halloween II''. The television version of the film was released on
DVD by
Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2001 as ''Halloween: Extended Version''.''Halloween: Extended Version'' (1978; DVD, Troy, Mich.: Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2001),
ASIN B00005KHJT .
Shortly following ''Halloween'''s release in theaters, a
Mass Market Paperback Novelization by Curtis Richards was published by
Bantam Books in 1979 and reissued in 1982, although it is currently out of print. The novel elaborates on aspects left out of the film such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers's life in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. For example, the opening reads:
''The horror started on the eve of Samhain, in a foggy vale in northern Ireland, at the dawn of the Celtic race. And once started, it trod the earth forevermore, wreaking its savagery suddenly, swiftly, and with incredible ferocity.''Curtis Richards, ''Halloween'' (Bantam Books, 1979), ISBN 0553132261; 1982 reissue ISBN 0553262963.
One reviewer of the book notes that "the joy of this novel is the additional material," "
of which is good stuff."Review of ''Halloween'' novelization at [http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/halloween.html TrashFiction.com .
In 1983, ''Halloween'' was converted into a video game for the
Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. Either the result of poor research by developers or an effort to save on licensing fees, none of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter who tries to save as many children from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer as possible. The game was not popular with parents or players and the graphics were simple, as was typical of the 1980s. The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck. The main similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears on screen.Review of ''Halloween'' video game at
X-Entertainment.com .Gregory D. George, "History of Horror: A Primer of Horror Games for Your Atari" at
The Atari Times .
See Also: Halloween (film series)
''Halloween'' spawned seven sequels (with an eighth film, tentatively titled '''' (1982) is unrelated to any of the other films in the series. http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h3bts.htm
The sequels feature more explicit violence and gore, and are generally dismissed by serious film critics. They were filmed on larger budgets than the original: in contrast to ''Halloween''
's modest budget of $325,000, ''Halloween II'''s budget was around $2.5 million,http://imdb.com/title/tt0082495/business while the most recently released sequel, '' of every sequel in the series until his death in the 2005 terrorist bombings in
Amman, Jordan ."Moustapha Akkad," London ''Telegraph'', 12 November 2005, at
news.telegraph .
''Halloween'''s sequels continue to develop the character of Michael Myers and the theme of
Samhain . Even without considering the third film, the ''Halloween'' series is also plagued with a number of storyline
Continuity issues, most likely stemming from the different writers and directors involved in each film.
All URLs last accessed
19 April 2006 unless otherwise stated.
- Badley, Linda. ''Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic''. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. ISBN 0313275238.
- Baird, Robert. "The Startle Effect: Implications for Spectator Cognition and Media Theory." ''Film Quarterly'' 53.3 (Spring 2000): pp. 12-24.
- Carroll, Noël. "The Nature of Horror." ''Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' 46.1 (Autumn 1987): pp. 51-59.
- Cumbow, Robert C. ''Order in the Universe: The Films of John Carpenter''. 2nd ed., Lanham, Md.: Scarcrow Press, 2000. ISBN 0810837196.
- Johnson, Kenneth. "The Point of View of the Wandering Camera." ''Cinema Journal'' 32.2 (Winter 1993): pp. 49-56.
- Prince, Stephen, ed. ''The Horror Film''. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004. ISBN 0813533635.
- Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. ''Horror Film and Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst Nightmare''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0521825210.
- Williams, Tony. ''Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film''. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996. ISBN 0838635644.
