News

‘The Legend of Halloween’ Co-Author Onur Tukel on Re-Imagining a Classic

Published

4 years ago

November 2, 2020

It’s been just over a year since Onur Tukel and David Gordon Green first conceived of The Legend of Halloween, a “children’s book” adaptation of John Carpenter’s classic 1978 Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Tukel had seen that original film when he was nine years old, and it has remained a constant favorite for him since that time, and when he discovered his friend David was working on a trilogy of sequels, he reached out to see if he could spend some time on set.

“David’s a generous guy and he knew how much it meant to me to be part of it,” Tukel told iHorror in a recent interview. “When I was 22 or so, the first thing I ever shot on super 8 was a grainy black and white fan-film called Michael Myers Meets His Match. It was 25 years ago in Wilmington, NC. When I went to visit the set of Halloween Kills in 2019, they were shooting a scene in the same park I’d shot in 25 years earlier. It was surreal and beautiful.”

While working on Halloween Kills Tukel discovered that Green, like himself, loved to write little rhymes and verses and with accompanying drawings and together they produced a small volume titled It’s Halloween in Haddonfield, which they gifted to the cast and crew. Still, they wanted to do more, and specifically, they wanted to do something for the fans. They came up with a concept called The Legend of Halloween which would retell the classic first film in an illustrated children’s book format.

Green pitched the idea to producers Malek Akkad and Ryan Friemann who loved the idea and the co-authors went to work on the project in Spring of this year.

Onur Tukel and David Gordon Green created the new book, working together to honor the original narrative while creating something that still felt original.

They had no idea, at the time, but they truly had their work cut out for them. Not only did they have to find a meter and rhythm for the story, but they also had to determine what they could and could not bring in from the film.

“There are so many singular scenes in Halloween, but we just couldn’t include everything,” he explained. “So that was tough. There’s that great shot of Laurie looking out the classroom window and seeing the Shape watching her across the street. That’s not in the book. We knew there was certain things we could never capture from the original film, like the dread and portent of Loomis and Brackett exploring the Myers house. But we had fun figuring out how to adapt the movie in a way that diehard fans would enjoy. We wanted the book to have playful homages without blatantly copying the visuals of the movie. And of course, like the movie, we wanted the violence to be tasteful.”

What emerged was something that looked and felt to Tukel like an amalgamation of John Carpenter, Shel Silverstein, Charles Shulz, and Jules Feiffer and yet was somehow totally their own.

“We wanted it to be tasteful, with very little blood (like the original), but again, we wanted it to be just naughty enough that a youngster would get some subversive pleasure in reading it,” Tukel said.

While an official release date hasn’t been announced, The Legend of Halloween will no doubt be available sometime soon, and of course the author hopes the book is a success, but even if it isn’t, he says the experience was incredible.

“I hope the book has the success that the first movie had, of course,” he said. “I hope it sells 10 million copies and goes on to the be the most successful independent children’s book ever written! I hope the fans eat it up and demand another one and another one and we just keep making more. But if that doesn’t happen, I gotta say that I’m just happy this weird little book exists. Halloween is my favorite horror film, David’s one of my favorite directors, and to be part of something this unexpected is a dream come true.”

For more information on The Legend of Halloween, visit their OFFICIAL WEBSITE and look for this one-of-a-kind book coming to a bookstore near you!

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News

‘Wednesday’ Season Two Drops New Teaser Video That Reveals Full Cast

Published

23 mins ago

May 7, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Netflix announced this morning that Wednesday season 2 is finally entering production. Fans have been waiting a long time for more of the creepy icon. Season one of Wednesday premiered in November of 2022.

In our new world of streaming entertainment, it isn’t uncommon for shows to take years to release a new season. If they release another one at all. Even though we will likely have to wait quite a while to see the show, any news is good news.

The new season of Wednesday looks to have an amazing cast. Jenna Ortega (Scream) will be reprising her iconic role as Wednesday. She will be joined by Billie Piper (Scoop), Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Evie Templeton (Return to Silent Hill), Owen Painter (The Handmaid’s Tale), and Noah Taylor (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

We will also get to see some of the amazing cast from season one making a return. Wednesday season 2 will feature Catherine-Zeta Jones (Side Effects), Luis Guzman (Genie), Issac Ordonez (A Wrinkle in Time), and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo (Devs).

If all of that star power wasn’t enough, the legendary Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas) will be directing the series. As a cheeky nod from Netflix, this season of Wednesday will be titled Here We Woe Again.

Jenna Ortega Wednesday — Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams

We don’t know much about much about what Wednesday season two will entail. However, Ortega has stated that this season will be more horror focused. “We’re definitely leaning into a little bit more horror. It’s really, really exciting because, all throughout the show, while Wednesday does need a little bit of an arc, she never really changes and that’s the wonderful thing about her.”

That’s all the information that we have. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

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Movies

A24 Reportedly “Pulls Plug” On Peacock’s ‘Crystal Lake’ Series

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Film studio A24 might not be going forward with its planned Peacock Friday the 13th spinoff called Crystal Lake according to Fridaythe13thfranchise.com. The website quotes entertainment blogger Jeff Sneider who made a statement on his webpage through a subscription paywall.

“I’m hearing that A24 has pulled the plug on Crystal Lake, its planned Peacock series based on the Friday the 13th franchise featuring masked killer Jason Voorhees. Bryan Fuller was due to executive produce the horror series.

It’s unclear whether this is a permanent decision or a temporary one, as A24 had no comment. Perhaps Peacock will help the trades shed more light on this project, which was announced back in 2022.”

Back in January 2023, we reported that some big names were behind this streaming project including Bryan Fuller, Kevin Williamson, and Friday the 13th Part 2 final girl Adrienne King.

“‘Crystal Lake info from Bryan Fuller! They officially start writing in 2 weeks (writers are here in the audience).” tweeted social media writer Eric Goldman who tweeted the info while attending a Friday the 13th 3D screening event in January 2023. “It will have two scores to choose from – a modern one and a classic Harry Manfredini one. Kevin Williamson is writing an episode. Adrienne King will have a recurring role. Yay! Fuller has pitched four seasons for Crystal Lake. Only one officially ordered so far though he notes Peacock would have to pay a pretty hefty penalty if they didn’t order a Season 2. Asked if he can confirm Pamela’s role in the Crystal Lake series, Fuller replied ‘We’re honestly going to be covering it all. The series is covering the life and times of these two characters’ (presumably he’s referring to Pamela and Jason there!)'”

Whether or not Peacock is moving forward with the project is unclear and since this news is secondhand information, it still has to be verified which will require Peacock and/or A24 to make an official statement which they have yet to do.

But keep checking back to iHorror for the latest updates to this developing story.

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News

New Images for MaXXXine Show A Bloody Kevin Bacon and Mia Goth in all Her Glory

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Ti West (X) has been knocking it out of the park with his sexy horror trilogy as of late. While we still have some time to kill before MaXXXine releases, Entertainment Weekly has dropped some images to wet our appetite while we wait.

It feels like just yesterday X was shocking audiences with its granny horror porno shoot. Now, we are just months ways from Maxxxine shocking the world once again. Fans can check out Maxine’s new 80s inspired adventure in theatres on July 5th, 2024.

West is known for taking horror in new directions. And it looks as though he plans to do the same with MaXXXine. In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, he had the following to say.

“If you’re expecting it to be part of this X movie and people will be killed, yeah, I’m going to deliver on all those things. But it’s going to zig instead of zag in a lot of places that people aren’t expecting. It’s a very decadent world that she lives in, and it’s a very aggressive world that she lives in, but the threat shows up in an unexpected way.”

We can also expect MaXXXine to be the biggest movie in the franchise. West isn’t holding anything back for the third installment. “The thing that the other two movies don’t have is that sort of scope. To try to do a big, sprawling Los Angeles ensemble movie is what the movie was, and that’s just a big undertaking. There’s a kind of noir-ish mystery vibe to the movie that’s very fun.”

However, it looks as though MaXXXine will be the end of this saga. Although West has some other ideas for our beloved killer, he believes this will be the end of her story.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.