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Flashback Weekend Chicago to Display Original Station Wagon Driven by Michael Myers in ‘Halloween’
After escaping from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium in John Carpenter‘s original Halloween, Michael Myers (Nick Castle) cruises around Haddonfield in a station wagon, creeping on the children and making a stop at a hardware store for supplies.
The original station wagon has recently been discovered and will be transported to Chicago for Flashback Weekend from the barn where it sat for the last several decades!
As the press release notes, fans will have the opportunity to take photos with the iconic station wagon, and even sit inside this piece of cinema history in the very seat in which Nick Castle (as Michael Myers) sat back in 1978! In fact, there will be photo ops with Castle as a limited number of “Halloween Wagon Private Access VIP” passes will be available.
This 1978 Ford LTD station wagon was rented from a car rental agency for two weeks of filming. After filming was completed, the wagon was returned to the rental agency and auctioned off for private use. It then sat in a barn for decades before being sold to its current caretaker. The Wagon has received a thorough and complete exterior and interior frame on restoration. The Illinois State Logo and Prisoner Cage have been once again added to the Wagon.
The Halloween Wagon will be part of Flashback Weekend’s Horror Auto Museum, a collection of the iconic cinematic vehicles from legendary horror films. Also showcased will be the Christine Movie Car (John Carpenter’s Christine 1983), the Green Goblin Head from Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive (1986), and also making its convention premiere will be the 1971 Phantasm II Hemi Cuda Tribute Car.
The 19th annual Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con will feature celebrity guests Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith (the Saw series), Nick Castle and Sandy Johnson (John Carpenter’s Halloween), Alex Winter (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), William Sadler (The Grim Reaper from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, VFW, Demon Knight), Kane Hodder (Jason 7-10), Mark Rolston & Jenette Goldstein (Aliens), Quinn Lord (Trick ‘r Treat) and more.
Flashback Weekend Chicago takes place from July 31 – August 2, 2020, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago in Rosemont, IL.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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