Exploring the Halloween Franchise- You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga

 You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga -13 Movies and Counting by Wayne Byrne

You Can't Kill the Boogeyman book cover

Author Wayne Byrne

Huge thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Wayne Byrne’s excellent and entertaining new book You Can’t Kill The Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga – 13 Movies and Counting. I was so excited to find this book on one of my favorite horror franchises- Halloween, and Bynre’s detailed examination and analysis into the making of these films, especially those from the late 80s and 90s provides new insight and understanding about the changing storylines and directions that this franchise has experienced over nearly 50 years of terror. I can understand how some people might not appreciate this book since Byrne states from the beginning that “This is not a definitive history of the Halloween franchise. This is a critical and cultural celebration of the artists involved…” As he notes, many of the major figures in the franchise like Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis have contributed to other studies of the films, so if anything Byrne presents a fresh view of the films. However, his focus on some of the films that are more divisive in the franchise (Halloween III, 4, 5, and 6) help to provide new insight and understanding about the change in direction that these films ushered in, and how studios and the shift in horror that Scream ushered in during the late 90’s resulted in a return to Lori Strode storyline with H20 and Halloween: Resurrection. I found this book to be fascinating and helped me appreciate the distinctions between each of the films in the series, even if I’m not a huge fan of some of the later versions. Nevertheless, as a horror movie fan and someone whose first R rated film in the theater was Halloween 4, this book appealed to not only my fandom about the series, but also my interest in how films are made. This is a wonderful book, and I loved how Byrne’s approach to examining the films in chunks allows readers and fans to, hopefully, develop a further appreciation for these films and understand the various factors that influenced the storylines and changes to the series that have happened. Chapter 1 focuses on Halloween I and II, and the focus is on much of the production of the film, especially around the cinematography, the design of the town and homes, and the challenges with transforming Southern California into midwestern Haddonfield. It was really cool to learn more about this aspect of the film, especially how they designed the iconic opening scene, viewing the murder through Michael Myers’s eyes. In fact, many of the chapters feature interviews with the cinematographers and directors of photography on the film to better understand how the camera angles, lighting, staging, and editing all contributed to different tones and moods for these films. I also liked learning more about Halloween II since this film primarily takes place in the hospital and creates a sense of dread of foreboding while containing the action in this central (and scary) location. This part of the book also brings in Alan Howarth, a musician who ended up composing the music for many of the Halloween sequels but still working with Carpenter’s iconic score. I loved reading about Howarth’s background and interest in synthesizers as well as his ability to maintain the core components of the score, yet also to elaborate on the score and add his own flourishes and tones to make the scores fit with the tone of each film. While some may question the focus on the cinematography and the music in this book, I found it helped me better understand the unique directions and emotions that each film portrays, and how those involved in the different films tried to not only maintain the key elements of the franchise yet also contribute their own unique take on the films. It’s something that I hadn’t quite considered as an early adolescent horror fan, but now looking back, I can appreciate even more as this horror franchise sought to challenge the studio system and maintain its 1970s independent film roots.

Chapter 2 focuses on Halloween III, which is one of the more divisive films in the series, mostly because it does not feature Michael Myers. The video boxes for the Halloween films always stood out—not only because there were 3 really cool covers featuring evil looking pumpkins, but I also thought that III’s stretched out silhouettes of trick-or-treaters with the demon face in the sky was so cool looking. It not only had a cool design and color scheme, but it also was relevant to me- coming out when I was probably 6 years old. It always made the Halloween holiday look much more terrifying and scary. I also remember watching it on TV when I was younger and really enjoying so much about this film—especially the Silver Shamrock song. I encountered this film before I really knew what sequels and series were, so to me, this was always an interesting and scary movie since the villains target children and their interest in Halloween masks. I later learned that the focus of the film was aligned with Carpenter and Debra Hill’s intention to make Halloween an anthology series, which I also thought was really cool. I loved Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt, and so I could imagine that an anthology film series focused on frightening stories related to Halloween would have been awesome. It’s a shame that audiences didn’t appreciate the film in this regard, but I can understand how jarring this film would have been with a title in the series. Regardless, Byrne’s chapter interviews Tommy Lee Wallace, who worked on the first film and directed this one. He provides a lot of insight into the production of the film, including the excellent choice of Tom Atkins as Dr. Dan Challis, the leading character who plays against types. While I’m not sure I completely agree with Byrne that the film is one of the best horror films of the 80s, but I do agree that it is dramatically underrated. Furthermore, Byrne’s analysis of the film presenting  it as a “façade of middle-class conformity mask[ing] a malevolent conspiracy” helps to frame the film within the context of the Halloween franchise and other 1970s and 80s horror films that chronicle social changes and anxiety. Chapter 3 was probably my favorite chapters, and it was one of the longer chapters in the book. It details the productions of Halloween 4 and 5, and how these films were meant to resuscitate the series. Halloween 4 was the first R-rated film I saw in a theater, and it was also probably the first horror movie I saw in the theater. I remember begging my dad to take me, and the experience still stands out. I always thought 4 was a good entry, and recognized that it was more of a thriller-action film than a horror film. I also remember the film being really dark since it takes place primarily at night. Reading the interviews with the director and cinematographer brought a new level of appreciation for the film, and also some understanding of the direction that the film was taking. I also loved that Tony Timpone from Fangoria was featured in a lot of these chapters, since I was also an avid reader of that magazine at the time, and his input provided more ideas about the direction of the films and the focus on the story. Although I loved reading about 4, the focus on Halloween 5 was even more entertaining, specifically the interviews with director Dominique Othenin-Girard and cinematographer Rob Draper that were fascinating insights into how this film franchise swerved in direction. Othenin-Girard is a fascinating and at times humorous interview subject, and he provides some great entertainment, but also some interesting perspective about how his ideas for the film went in a much different direction than many of the other films. Reading these chapters has made me want to revisit these two films in the series as well.

Chapter 4 was also fascinating in examining The Curse of Michael Myers, which has a pretty low rating, but has an interesting story about the direction the series was heading. It was also interesting to learn that the screenplay was written by a 19-year old fan of the franchise, Daniel Farrands, and was also the first of the series that Miramax produced, although this studio’s emerging power seemed to interfere with many aspects of the film’s production, including the score, the editing, and the story. This chapters is also interesting to learn more about what the goals were for the film series that were eventually abandoned with the subsequent films. Chapter 5 examines H20 and Halloween: Resurrection, which shifted the focus back to Laurie Strode and also seemingly sought to appeal to more recent trends in horror films that were likely the result of Scream. I also saw H20 in the theaters, and remember being excited for the return of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Although I haven’t seen Resurrection, I appreciated Byrne’s idea that this film was one of the early entries into the found footage films that started with The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast. It’s interesting to think about how these films were both influenced by other horror tropes of the time, and potentially also influenced other films later. The last two chapters focused on the Rob Zombie Halloween films and the David Gordon Green Halloween films. I’ve seen both sets of these films in the theater, so again, it was interesting to learn more about how these films came about, what influenced them outside of Halloween, and what the directors and cinematographers were looking to capture mood and tone-wise for these films. I didn’t really enjoy the Rob Zombie versions, and in general, I’m not big into his films. However, I enjoyed reading more about the challenges he faced and how he intended to re-envision the Michael Myers story and character as someone who was influenced by his environment than his nature. I also enjoyed reading the cinematographer’s experience and career, which didn’t necessarily seem to come from the horror genre. The David Gordon Green chapter was also interesting to learn more about how the legacy influenced these versions, and also how Blumhouse Productions has been reinterpreting other horror film intellectual property for some time. Both of these chapters were shorter than some of the others and didn’t have the same level of detail and interviews that were in some of the other chapters focusing on the earlier films in the franchise. Nevertheless, these chapters offered some interesting perspectives about the films, especially how these films fit into more recent horror trends and reflect changes in society. Again, it’s interesting to learn about how the writers and producers have been able to reimagine the storyline and create different narratives reflecting elements of Laurie and Michael’s relationship.

I highly recommend this book for many different reasons, but especially if you are a fan of horror films and the Halloween films. Even if you feel strongly that some of the films are problematic, reading this book might provide you with new insights and information about the intention of the directors, cinematographers, composers, and others involved in the creation of these films. Byrne’s research, interviews, and analysis helped to recontextualize many of these films and made me want to revisit many of the films in the franchise. In addition, the book is just fun to read. There are many great pictures and images from posters and production stills; plus, the interviews with those involved in the production are really enlightening and entertaining. This is a wonderful book serving more as a treat than a trick. Highly recommended!

Irish Legends for Kids

 Irish Legends for Kids: Heroes, Druids, Myths, Magic, & More from Ancient Ireland

Irish Legends for Kids book cover

Many thanks to History Brought Alive and Book Sirens for providing me with an advanced copy of Irish Legends for Kids: Heroes, Druids, Myths, Magic, & More from Ancient Ireland. I was very excited to see this book available for review since I’ve traveled to Ireland and have family there. I’m also interested in Irish mythology and culture, so I was curious to see what this book has to offer. The book has 21 short chapters that provide the background and meanings for various heroes and heroines from Irish mythology and legends, as well as examining some places like the Giant’s Causeway and Tir Na Nóg, the otherworld, and animals like the Glas Gaibhnenn, a sacred cow that provides abundance for the people of Ireland. The chapters are not incredibly detailed, which is probably good for younger readers. However, I felt like some of the chapters offered limited details to the stories, and others that focused on legends like the Banshee presented a story about a farmer named Eamon and his grandmother that I never heard of. When I tried to look up this story, I couldn’t find any information about it. The story presents a kind of sanitized, less terrifying version of the Banshee character, where the cry of the Banshee serves as a reminder to Eamon to value the time he spends with his grandmother before she dies. The events of the story are reinforced by the lessons presented at the end of the chapter. While I can see how this is a good way to introduce the concept of inevitability and acceptance of death, I’ve never heard of the Banshee legend framed in this way. Furthermore, Banshees tend to appear as a woman with long, streaming hair and is frequently a harbinger of death. In the stories that I’ve read, Banshees often force individuals to change their ways or try to escape death but inevitably succumb to the cry of the Banshee as a result of their moves to evade the inevitable. Again, maybe this kinder version was a way to make the legend less scary to younger readers, but I always thought that the ghostly image of the screaming Banshee was really intriguing. Other chapters like the one about the Druids really offered nothing meaningful, and I wondered why it was even included. The Druids were real people who lived in Ireland, England, and other areas prior to the Roman invasion. They were priests and intellectuals whose mounds and stone structures throughout Ireland and England have left nearly as many questions as answers as to who these people were and how they lived. The chapter tells about a chief druid named Cathbad yet it doesn’t really discuss much about the lives of druids, where they lived, or even what legacy they have left in Ireland. In addition, there is a chapter that discusses the possible Celtic influences on the Holy Grail story, but this also feels out of place since the connections are not well developed and seem superficial. There are many other possible influences on the Holy Grail story, and it seemed strange to focus on a Welsh legend with influences that also include Christianity.

This book has some good moments, but it is also somewhat formulaic. The chapters present the story, and then each story has a “lesson” to be learned from the events. I found that many of the lessons were similar and focused on generic ideas about bravery and courage, helping and sharing, and acceptance and love. Furthermore, these lessons didn’t include many specific details and seemed like they could refer to almost any story, myth or legend. At first, I thought that this would be a good resource for younger readers, but as I read through the 21 chapters, I found the lessons to be repetitive and banal. I wonder if using questions or prompts to encourage readers to think about what the stories mean to them might be a more engaging way to encourage critical thinking and analysis of these stories. For example, instead of presenting the meaning, the writers could ask something like “The legend of St. Patrick presents a story about hardships and challenges. What do you think St. Patrick learned from his experiences?” or “Deirdre of the Sorrows tells a story about love and loss. What lessons might Deirdre and Naoise have learned from their experiences? What kind of leader do you think King Conchobar was based on his behaviors?” I felt like I was reading the same message, and even disagreeing with some of the conclusions that the authors of this book reached about these stories that dealt with death, treachery, and betrayal.

Although there were some important stories and characters from Irish mythology, the overviews were often generic. Furthermore, the book did not always include pronunciations of characters’ names. Celtic Gaelic has a different pronunciation from English, and some of the names did not include pronunciations (Naoise, Lebeorcham, Glas Gaibhnenn, Tobar Segais, Sionann). I wasn’t sure why some of the names earlier in the book included pronunciations, which I found helpful, but names in the later chapters did not. There were some names that are still around today (Patrick, Brigid, Deirdre), but many of these names are not as common in English, so including a pronunciation key would have been helpful. In addition, I think this book could have been enhanced with images, especially for the legendary creatures like the Selkie, the Harp of Dagda, and Giant’s Causeway. Seeing the Giant’s Causeway would help to understand the unique shape of the rocks to better understand how much they are like stepping stones. Furthermore, presenting images of the Harp of Dagda, which as the authors note is the only musical instrument that serves as a country’s national symbol, would also help readers better understand the image’s significance and beauty. I also would have liked to see some comparative pictures of Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival that has evolved into Halloween. I also think that providing some images for readers to compare and contrast the similarities and differences would help readers better understand how Halloween has evolved from this Celtic tradition.

Overall, this was a book that has some interesting moments, but I kept wondering whether I would have been better off just reading Wikipedia. The writing is generic and bland, and while it may be suited to a younger audience, it still felt like it lacked any real connection with readers. The book was also incredibly repetitive, with each chapter forcing a kind of lesson learned, but often failing to include specific details or missing the mark on some important lessons. Many of the lessons were the same. Without any human author attributed to the book, I wondered whether this book was a produce of artificial intelligence. The repetitive structure and lack of specific details, as well as the kind of rote, banal tone of the book made me think that the references included at the end of the book were fed into an AI prompt and produced this output. While there are some overviews of Irish myths and legends, there are many other good resources available at libraries and online. 

Shuffling the Deck of Lotería, Stories by Cynthia Pelayo

Lotería: Stories by Cynthia Pelayo

Lotería book cover

Author Cynthia Pelayo

Many thanks to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Cynthia Pelayo’s exciting and creepy collection of stories Lotería, featuring 54 stories all based on the Mexican game of chance. After reading a review about this book some time ago, I’ve been wanting to read it, and was very excited to find a digital copy available for preview. I also loved reading these stories, many of which are based on folklore, myths, and superstitions from different cultures and people of Latin American countries. I initially just assumed that it would be based on Mexican American culture, but I was really excited to find stories that took place in Puerto Rico, Peru, Columbia, Argentina, and Spain, among other countries. Furthermore, it was cool to encounter retellings or reimagined stories that featured familiar myths and folklore from Latin American culture like the Chupacabra and La Llorona. Pelayo’s inventive short stories present characters who find themselves in strange and sometimes unfortunate situations where they encounter these mythological figures in more modern settings. I enjoyed Pelayo’s ability to also incorporate modern situations and issues in some of the stories (“La Sirena” for example, a brief and terrifying story about human trafficking).

Each story is based on one of the Lotería cards and features an image from the card. Although the connections are often clear, some are not as clear initially, yet reading through the story and especially the final chapter helps to better understand the connection between the story and the image. My personal favorites in this collection were the stories that dealt with folklore and mythological figures. I was looking up some of the instances of Aztec language (Nahuatl) and culture, as the book has many references. There’s also a story about the pirates of Puerto Rico where the narrator has a spiritual encounter in El Moro, which I visited a little more than a year ago. I’ve been to that fort three times and was able to take my kids to visit this last time. It’s a fascinating place, and Pelayo’s story added another interesting way to interpret not only the history, but also the people who populated El Moro and Viejo San Juan. There were also some uncanny and eerie type stories featuring dolls, possessed children, and demons that randomly show up with strange messages. Additionally, a story about a bookseller who loses a cursed tome to a thief has a kind of karmic tone found in famous stories like “The Monkey’s Paw” and episodes of The Twilight Zone. Although not all the pieces are of the same quality, there are enough weird, creepy, and terrifying stories that kept me reading throughout the night. The collection reminded me a lot of King’s Night Shift, where characters often meet horror in unexpected and surprising places, and others are sometimes confronted with loss, pain, and sadness, sometimes as a result of their own actions. This is a great collection of stories, and I was so impressed with Pelayo’s ability to use the Lotería cards to craft these unique, creepy, and often terrifying stories. Even individual stories would work in an anthology or teaching literary and narrative devices in a thematic unit. I could see some of these stories as the kind that would capture the attention of reluctant readers and hidden horror fans. I highly recommend this collection, whether reading individual stories or checking out the entire collection. I’m also looking forward to reading more of Pelayo’s books.