Why do we fork over so much cash… to totally creep ourselves out?! Irwin Yablans, creator of the “Halloween” films that forever changed the genre, says the answer’s easy.
“When done right, a horror movie evokes an involuntary response involving fear, excitement, repulsion and fascination,” says Yablans, author of the new memoir The Man Who Created Halloween, which details his rise as a successful independent producer, sales chief for Paramount Pictures and head of Orion Pictures.
He’s the man behind the mayhem of those scary slasher stories. His masked killer Michael Myers, who debuted in 1978, spawned both a wave of iconic horror characters, and a new way to do business in Hollywood. And he has a unique view on why we want to be scared witless.
“Horror will always tantalize the masses because it touches a visceral emotional response within everyone – unlike other genres,” he says of Halloween’s universal appeal. “Not everyone finds the same things funny, for example, but just about everyone finds the same things scary. Horror connects on that most fundamental level.” And that’s why he suggests that it has been the best bet genre of the film industry!
Appropriating a children’s holiday, Halloween, and making it frighteningly fun for adults was, as he outlines in his memoir, both a fun job description and a smart move for the movie industry. “Everyone wants to be young again…” he says. And totally terrified.
*Images from Halloween films.
