Iconic Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis Loves Shock-tober!
Day three of our countdown of 31 shocking horror films to celebrate “Shocktober 2016” – the greatest horror films of all time!
Jamie Lee Curtis will forever be our favorite “Scream Queen” – because she had to take on THIS GUY!
Jamie Lee Curtis has made a lot of good movies over the years, but she got her start in the horror slasher genre, and those films are great as well! Let’s take a look at three of her best horror films – beginning with Jamie Lee’s first feature film – when she was paid a reported $8,000 for her efforts!
Halloween!
“The Night HE Came Home!”
A classic tagline for what many consider the best “Halloween” movie of all time!
Director John Carpenter’s horror masterpiece just keeps getting better over time.
The plot is a masterclass in simplicity: After killing his older sister, a young boy is institutionalized – but when psychopath Michael Myers escapes, he returns home to terrorize a babysitter and her friends!
Here is the trailer:
“Halloween” is, without a doubt, one of the most terrifying slasher films ever, and the film’s success in 1978 opened the door to a wave of slasher films that changed horror forever…
“Halloween” was Jamie Lee’s movie debut, and Director John Carpenter considered hiring her as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock – since Hitchcock cast Jamie Lee’s Mother, Janet Leigh, in his horror classic “Psycho”.
Now you can see where Jamie Lee got her “scream queen” title from! The young Actress became so well known as America’s newest scream queen that she even had a book written about it!
William Shatner, Psycho Killer!
Here is some great trivia, provided by IMDB: Due to “Halloween”‘s shoestring budget, the prop department had to use the cheapest $2 mask that they could find in the costume store: a Star Trek (1966) William Shatner mask. They later spray-painted the face white, teased out the hair, and reshaped the eye holes!
Shatner admitted that for years he had no idea his likeness was used for this film. It was only during an interview that someone mentioned his mask was being used. He has since stated that he is honored by this gesture!
Michael Myers is one of cinema’s great psychos, and what makes “Halloween” work so well is that you truly root for Jamie Lee to survive – a tribute to how well she acted in her movie debut – which IMDB says paid her $8,000 for starring in the film!
Among the great bits of trivia about this film, Director Carpenter also wrote the haunting score! The “Halloween” theme is written in the rare 5/4 time signature. John Carpenter learned this rhythm from his father!
So “Shocktober 2016” is off to a bloody start…and if you missed the beginning, it all begins here:
Yes, hold your chainsaws high as “Shocktober 2016” kicked off with the classic horror of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – see that vintage trailer here:
Day two took us on a tour of a VERY haunted house:
Check out legendary Actor George C. Scott in this great haunted house film – see more here:
https://johnrieber.com/2016/10/02/shocktober-2016-haunted-house-the-changeling-spooks-day-2/
Bravo to John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis for delivering one of Shocktober’s great horror films ever!
