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Interview: Nick Castle on His Return to Haddonfield in ‘Halloween’ 2018

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Forty years ago Nick Castle stumbled into portraying one of the most iconic killers in horror history when he donned the pale white mask and coveralls of Michael Myers aka The Shape in 1978’s Halloween.

Castle, who would later go on to direct classic films like The Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly, had attended film school with writer/director John Carpenter, and when he found out his friend was directing a movie near his home, he called Carpenter up and asked if he could visit the set.

“He said, ‘Yeah,’ and then asked if I wanted to put on the mask and hang around the set,” Castle recalled in an interview with iHorror earlier this week. “And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea.’ That’s how it all started. There wasn’t a lot of direction. I just put on the mask and did it.”

Nick Castle stumbled into the iconic role of Michael Myers aka The Shape in the original Halloween.

It’s one of those Hollywood stories that’s hard to believe, but without much direction, or acting experience for that matter, Castle found a way of moving and embodying the character that made The Shape all too real and terrifying and influenced every actor who donned the mask in the decades that followed.

“I don’t know where that came from,” he admits, “but that idea that he would be very deliberate in his movements, it was very obvious to me, and I didn’t need much more than that. The character was very much a Frankenstein’s monster to me. He moved slowly, deliberately…you couldn’t really see his eyes. All you can see is that horrible, blank mask.”

Flash forward 40 years. Castle had retired from filmmaking when he received a call from David Gordon Green asking if he’d be interested in making some small reprisal of the role in a new Halloween film that retconned back to that original film and Castle’s portrayal.

Castle had started making appearances on the convention circuit, and had been meeting fans, realizing just how much that original film had meant to them over the years, and he suddenly knew this was a project he had to do.

“They brought me out to South Carolina for a week and I got to hang with the cast and crew,” he said. “I got to see Jamie [Lee Curtis] again, and John [Carpenter] came down to hang out. It was like a reunion, and we had a blast.”

He is quick to point out, however, that the lion’s share of The Shape’s portrayal in Halloween 2018 is on actor and stuntman James Jude Courtney.

“If they had asked me to come down and do the whole role,” he said, “it would have been a very different thing to consider. Having to be on set at 2 am, get ‘stabbed’ by this guy, do this, do that. The guy who does all that hard work is James Courtney, and he’s amazing. He was the one getting chairs thrown at him at 2 in the morning.”

Nick Castle with James Jude Courtney both appeared as The Shape in Halloween.

With the film in the can, he was excited to see audience reactions, and it also brought him back to the world of red carpet premieres for the first time in many years.

It was exciting, and even more so that he got to share it with his family.

“It was crazy!” he said. “I got to bring my two sons and their wives. The wives had never experienced going to a big opening and taking them there and to the premiere party was just a lot of fun.”

Halloween is already available on digital streaming services and hits Blu-Ray and DVD this week on Tuesday, January 15, 2019.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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