Halloween Panel
- Julian Ramirez
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Halloween season is nearly upon us and what better way to usher it in than with a Halloween panel featuring John Carpenter, Nick Castle, P.J. Soles, Tommy Lee Wallace, and Dean Cundey! The cast and crew of the original, ground breaking horror film got together for a fun panel at Fan Expo's main hall, delighting the crowd with the best tidbits like Robert Englund helping collect and spread leaves on the set or the pumpkins being South American gourds painted orange.
Of course the topic of the The Shape's (not Michael Myers, something the panel consistently corrected the crowd on) mask came up. Legendarily a painted and cut up mask of William Shatner, the lore of the mask feels unending ,like an Emmet Kelly mask being tested well before shooting taking place - something Carpenter seemed a little iffy on. And with Shatner on the Fan Expo lineup Wallace made sure to joke "the box said Captain Kirk not William Shatner".
When asked what the horror genre means to them , the panel fell a bit silent. " We're just filmmakers, not philosophers" remarked Castle, but Dean Cundey provided an in-depth answer, really delving into cinema's ability to let viewers experience emotions they never dreamed up safely.
Soles spoke about the how she was in two of the most famous horror films of all time: Carrie and Halloween, She spoke of the differences between the sets. "De Palma was very technical and had the entire film completely storyboarded" while "John made actors feel more a part of the whole filmmaking process." She preferred the more relaxed atmosphere that Carpenter and crew provided.
It just doesn't get much better than John Carpenter on a panel. While the man is infamous for his amazing films and just as fantastic film scores and albums, he is just as well known for his candor when answering questions. There isn't a remark he won't brush off if he feels it deserves it, and he'll be as unfiltered as possible it if warrants it .
An avid NBA fan, Carpenter was asked about his feelings about the Knicks winning the Championship this year. "It sucked. Not my team" followed quickly by waving off the followup about the amazing Game 3.
Question about remakes filled the panel Q&A portion, which Carpenter was ready to go toe to toe on. He didn't really want to direct the The Thing since he was such a fan of the original. And if given the chance to improve on his version of Halloween, he steadfastly declined. New tools and and techniques come around but Carpenter feels it's how the visuals and sounds move you that matters. He hopes that regardless of all the new equipment if they were to remake the original Halloween the would make the same thing because it's just that good.
Speaking of being just that good, the entire panel had nothing but delightful things to say about Donald Pleasence. "He was always ready to go" recalled Carpenter. So ready to go that Cundey, very early in his career thought Pleasence was speaking to himself throughout the shoot, only to realize he was running his lines. And that iconic response to seeing The Shape no longer being in the yard after that big fall? Carpenter asked Pleasence to play it two ways: one as surprise to The Shape's disappearance, and one knowing it was going to happen. And of course, Carpenter and the crowd knew the only correct take was knowing The Shape was always going to get away.
You could tell Carpenter got really excited to talk about videogames. Castle worked on the Halloween game, providing motion capture for the Shape, and Carpenter played a bit of it and is excited for the release. He even teased the release of a game for The Thing, something the crowd immediately became enamored with.
When asked if Dario Argento was an inspiration for him he noted that while Argento may be one of his favorite directors, he did not take a lot from him visually. Instead Carpenter pointed more to Claudio Simonetti inspiring the score to Halloween, although noting it was "the cheese end of the stick" compared to Simonetti's genius.
While the end of the panel thanked everyone for keeping the spirit of Halloween alive and bringing joy to all the members of panel, I think Tommy Lee Wallace recalling a joke was the best way to cap off the whole affair: "[The Shape] is the best performance William Shatner has ever given!"
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