Interviews
John Carpenter and Charles Band Talk ‘Halloween’ Atari Game, Career Intersections, and More in New Chat
Full Moon Features head honcho Charles Band has launched Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow, a podcast in which he interviews colleagues and collaborators from 50 years (and over 350 movies) in the industry. The B-movie maven’s inaugural guest is none other than John Carpenter.
You may not realize that the two share history. Carpenter edited Band’s first movie, the 1973 spoof Last Foxtrot in Burbank. Carpenter was working on 1974’s Dark Star — his USC student film that grew into his feature debut — at the time when a friend told him about the editing position.
“You gave me my first job in the movie business, as an editor. I learned how to edit 35 mm film working on your movie,” Carpenter explains, having previously only worked with 16 mm. “It was quite an experience.”
Carpenter edited the film under the nom de plume John T. Chance, taken from John Wayne’s character in the 1959 western Rio Bravo. Carpenter used the same pseudonym once more: when he edited his next film, Assault on Precinct 13, in 1976.
Carpenter shares a humorous anecdote about cinematographer Tom Cecato. “He decided he was going to direct the cutting. So he showed up in the editing room. I just ignored him. I kept working and he finally went away,” he says with a laugh.
Band ashamedly buried Last Foxtrot in Burbank for decades, but he recently made it available to stream for the first time via Full Moon and Amazon Prime. He’s noticeably excited to reminisce about it with Carpenter and has no problem poking fun at its shortcomings.
The trailblazing filmmakers’ careers intersected several more times over the years. Irwin Yablans’ Compass International Pictures distributed both Halloween and the Band-produced Tourist Trap. The films were shot in the Los Angeles area at the same time, and Carpenter and Band visited each other on set. (Carpenter has no recollection of this, but Band recalls seeing Steadicam for the first time on the set of Halloween.)
And that’s not all. Band started the first independent home video company, Media Home Entertainment, through which he licensed and distributed Halloween on VHS for the first time in 1979. Carpenter also met with Band during his Empire Pictures days in the mid-1980s to discuss working together, although it never came to fruition.
Although not a gamer like Carpenter, Band is ever the entrepreneur. When he saw his son playing Atari, he had the clever idea to license horror movies for video games. Band launched Wizard Video Games in 1983 with two titles for the Atari 2600: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.
Buyers at the Consumer Electronics Show did not share Band’s vision. “I could not sell one. Back then it was big department stores. They said, ‘These are for kids. You can’t think we’re going to carry a game about a guy who’s knifing other characters. The video game business is about children, it’s not about horror.'”
The few retailers that did sell the games often kept them behind the counter, making them available only upon request. As a result, they would be Wizard’s only two video games.
Needless to say, Band was ahead of his time. Horror now occupies a sizable chunk of the video game market, and copies of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween are highly sought after by collectors. During the podcast, Band presents Carpenter with a vintage advertisement for the games.
Candid and lighthearted, the conversation lasts close to 40 minutes. They discuss Big Trouble in Little China (Band’s favorite Carpenter movie), the most difficult actors they’ve worked with, Carpenter’s musical renaissance, David Gordon Green’s Halloween sequels, and Band’s Evil Bong franchise.
You can listen to Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow on all major podcast platforms, or watch the video edition exclusively on the Full Moon Features app.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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