10 Things You Didn't Know About Michael Myers

He's a Libra, was named after a Brit and shares a birthday with a wrestler.

Michael Myers Halloween
Universal Studios

On October 31 1963, one horrifying event shocked and stunned the world for years to come – Rob Schneider, future star of The Hot Chick and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, was born in San Francisco, California.

Meanwhile, in the fictional Midwestern town of Haddonfield, six-year-old Michael Myers was admitted to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium following the murder of his sister Judith. His psychiatrist, Dr Sam Loomis, shared a name with John Gavin’s character in Psycho and astute colleagues found it difficult to imagine a less reassuring doctor than this twitchy, volatile character.

On October 30 1978, Michael absconded from Smith’s Grove and, despite being unable to drive, stole a car and completed the 100+ mile journey back to Haddonfield, arriving in the early hours of Halloween. He spent that morning stalking a teenage girl named Laurie Strode, who Loomis later realized was Michael’s sister, before attempting to murder her and her friends.

John Carpenter’s Halloween is the perfect vehicle for Michael Myers – neither one is troubled by motivation or plot, and they both seem to enjoy scaring people rather than actually killing them. Michael might actually be the most pensive of all screen boogeymen, taking the time to surveil each victim before closing in for the kill. After one kill, he stands and admires his work, looking at the corpse as if it was a painting.

What else is there to say about a (mostly) mute antagonist who hides behind a mask he stole from a hardware store? Read on.

10. He Wears A $1.98 Captain Kirk Mask

Michael Myers Halloween
wikipedia

Inspired by the movie Eyes Without A Face, John Carpenter instructed production designer to design a plain mask for the killer that didn’t draw attention to itself. The script specified the “neutral features of a man” while the dialogue famously referred to a “pale, blank, emotionless face”, so Wallace did what anyone else in his shoes would – he turned to William Shatner.

Purchasing a 1975 Captain Kirk mask for $1.98, Wallace changed the hair, opened the eye sockets, yanked off the sideburns and spray painted the face white. “It was horrifying,” Wallace said. “It was so scary that we immediately knew that our movie was going to work.”

Rejected masks included a 1975 Mr Spock mask, a Don Post Emmett Kelly clown mask with frizzy red hair and a mask of disgraced former President Richard Nixon.

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'