THE SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: WHEN THE "HALLOWEEN" THING STARTED

SEASON 6

There’s a handful of movies out there I’ve seen so many times that I can tell you what the next cut is going to bring or what the next line of dialogue will be throughout the entire picture. Those movies fall into a very short list and they include: 

Halloween 

The Warriors 

Jaws 

Star Wars 

Back to the Future

Silent Rage (hee hee)

….among a few others. 

The first time I saw Halloween and The Warriors was a Friday night.  It was October 31, 1980.  Two of my sisters, Randee and Dee, shared a Racine, WI apartment where they used the television that I have in this picture below as their source of entertainment.  I spent the evening with my sister, Randee, some popcorn, and a pair of movies.  Randee took me out for burgers before we headed back to her apartment.  I was excited as I could be in that moment, as a lot of people had been talking about this Halloween movie for a long time. 

They couldn’t pick up a whole lot with that television, but they did subscribe to HBO with it. 

Yes, folks, as I recall, they subscribed to Home Box Office with this tiny 9 inch television.  Or at the very least, one just like it.  It doesn’t matter; it worked, and especially on Halloween night, 1980.   Randee and I watched The Warriors, followed by Halloween, both first time viewings for me.  That slightly grainy black and white picture may have lent both films something they needed for me in that moment. 

Also, Randee and I watched this pair of movies before I went to sleep, and I had some pretty intense John Carpenter-induced nightmares to say the least. But I’ll never forget that night.  A cinema breakthrough moment for my beginning years as a movie buff. 

It’s interesting how the descriptions that my mom‘s friends had given to me that month in relation to Halloween didn’t measure up to what was on the screen in John Carpenter‘s film. The main focus of that night was of course, Halloween, but I got an extra glimpse at the work of what would become my second favorite filmmaker,  Walter Hill,  and his cult curiosity, The Warriors.  The latter being an unexpected gem that Randee talked up before we watched. 

The former marked my autumns for the rest of my life.

The image quality of 9 inches of black and white television matters not.  Both movies struck a permanent chord.

Talk about scores.  My mind welcomed both John Carpenter's and Barry DeVorzon's orchestrations for the films.  Such great stuff, and they were an inspirational cinematic sparking for my 9 year old mind.  They rattled around the rafters of my head for weeks. 

                                            

                                            

The HBO guide's image selection and description for Halloween, as well as The Warriors up above remain a core memory.