What scares me is what scares you. We’re all afraid of the same things. That’s why horror is such a powerful genre. All you have to do is ask yourself what frightens you and you’ll know what frightens me.
Horror has been a genre since the beginning of cinema, all the way back to the days of silent films. I don’t think it will ever go away because it’s so universal. Humor doesn’t always travel to other countries, but horror does.
Directing is all about storytelling. It’s not about equipment, or anything else.
The strongest human emotion is fear. It’s the essence of any good thriller that, for a little while, you believe in the boogeyman.
Horror stories have always worked on film. It’s where they work. That’s where vampires and ghosts and UFOs are real. They’re not particularly real in life, but they’re real on the screen. It’s the communal aspect of movie-watching.
I can play just about any keyboard but I can’t read or write a note.
Remakes, in general, are a result of necessity being the mother of invention. They can’t open movies consistently and break through the advertising clutter that’s out there.
Halloween put me on the map, and I’m very sad to hear of his death.
Way back in the ’70s, I was approached to talk about the story I’d write for a Spider-Man movie. They also talked to me about Batman. I had to think about it, but that was way, way back when.
Movies are pieces of film stuck together in a certain rhythm, an absolute beat, like a musical composition. The rhythm you create affects the audience.
You play with everything you’ve got. I’m not a lover of cheap tricks. I’ve always loved playing with people, but there’s no rule about it. You try everything you can.
Evil hiding among us is an ancient theme.
From early on, when synthesizers were first introduced into music, I liked the idea that you could get a big sound with them, electronic, but like an orchestra. And I could play it all myself. That was exciting.
I made a decision back in 1978 that, in a trade off for money when I directed Halloween, I would have my name above the title in order to basically brand these movies my own.
I just aim for basketball season to start. I don’t really care about anything else in life.
In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers. Laurie, Jamie Lee’s character, was shy and somewhat repressed. And Michael Myers, the killer, is definitely repressed. They have certain similarities.
There are a lot of movies that I don’t care about, especially not remakes.
You have to fight really hard for a private life, and sometimes you don’t have one. It just gets to you after a while. It’s tough.
From a will: And to my communist nephew Oswald, I leave the sum of 10,000 pounds – to be shared equally with his fellow Britishers.
I’m always involved with casting my movies. I have final word on it.