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Interviews, News

“Halloween 4” Director Returns To Roots With Halloween Film “Natty Knocks” and New Book

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It’s no secret to anyone here how much I adore HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS, so when I was asked to interview Dwight Little, the master director of Halloween aesthetics, I never said yes to something so fast in my life. A visual showman and a pure fan of the holiday we all love, Little returns to his roots with a brand-new horror movie set on Halloween Eve called NATTY KNOCKS which, ironically, roots itself into some old-fashioned Halloween tropes and lore makes this holy matrimony of Halloween delight, what Dwight Little calls, “A Seasonal Halloween Movie“

Dwight Little’s new Halloween visceral venture, NATTY KNOCKS, brings back former alumni he’s worked with Robert Englund, Danielle Harris, and newcomer to the director’s world, Bill Moseley as the film’s crazed antagonist Abner Honeywell in a horror genre-mash-up mixed with supernatural and urban legend elements. Honeywell (Moseley) is traumatized as a child via his witness of his Grind House actress turned prostitute mother, Natty’s untimely and brutal death by the hands of vengeful women who proclaim she’s a witch; giving the small town where they reside, a horrible crime turned into an infamous legend over the years and setting us up for a sweet Halloween treat filled with vengeance. Dwight Little describes the set-up as “a Roger Corman inspired B-Movie within a B-movie”.

Protagonists Danielle Harris and our film’s John Houseman(as Dwight Little describes his character), Robert Englund, who unravels the ghost story of Natty so beautifully, round out the family reunion of Halloween film nostalgia which is a true love letter to the fans of HALLOWEEN 4 in retrospect. Little states that filming with the horror alumni again, more than 30 years after both HALLOWEEN 4 and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, brought back both great memories and fuzzy feelings-which is a whole ‘nother piece in its own right of which we will explore in Part 2 of my interview with Mr. Little where we celebrate the 35th anniversary of HALLOWEEN 4.

Speaking of HALLOWEEN 4, D.L. says he purposely inserted some Easter Eggs, including maybe some ominous images from a particular movie intro, honoring the 1988 fan-favorite film of the franchise inside NATTY KNOCKS, so make sure to look for that while watching! There’s just something about watching a Halloween horror film with Bill Moseley and Robert Englund that has The Return of Michael Myers sprinkled throughout the movie, that just makes me feel so damn good inside.

NATTY KNOCKS is currently streaming FOR FREE on TUBI, which Dwight highly praises as a “wonderful opportunity for horror fans to enjoy good horror movies on a budget,” and I couldn’t agree more. The Blu-ray is now available on AMAZON, which you can buy here!

Dwight Little also has a new memoir, Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory, where the director talks make or break creative battles, Hollywood intrigues, unpredictable studio executives, and temperamental actors are all documented in colorful detail. That being said, I asked D.L just how scandalous this book really is?!

D.L.- “There is actually some gossip, and it’s not a takedown of anybody, but I’ve worked with enough well-known profiled people like Wesley Snipes, Keifer Sutherland, etc… and there’s some good, interesting stuff about movies and TV stars. But there’s mostly a lot of behind the curtain stuff, and I think film fans are going to like it… Especially those who love HALLOWEEN 4. It’s really a must-read for any big fans of that movie as there’s some deep dives into both that and PHANTOM and horror fans, I think, will really love it.“

Horror fans and Hollywood aficionados can pick up the book here at Amazon!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview, where we talk all things HALLOWEEN 4!

Editorials

Stephen King’s “Silver Bullet”- The Criminally Underrated Halloween Movie

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In 2020, the full moon came on Halloween, and a happy coincidence left me fully convinced in the All Hallows Blue Moonlight on a notion that I had always known deep down. That Stephen King’s Silver Bullet was truly a criminally underrated Halloween film.

Heh. I hope you read that in your best Jane voice.

Now, it’s obvious that the film itself models a timeline of sorts from the 1983 novella; which acts like a calendar of chapters rummaging through each month of a chaotic year where a werewolf is violently tormenting the residents of Tarkers’ Mills. The movie starts off in late Spring and the majority of the film is actually set in the Summer, with a few big scenes leading up to and taking place on Independence Day. In which case, makes my argument here a tad trying, but I’m here to fight and will die on the hill that’s forever a Halloween movie.

Midway through the movie, Fall sets in with the climatic final confrontation and ending landing on Halloween itself and although as stated, most of the film is staged at different points of time throughout the year, the last half of the movie really sells that Autumn ambiance flowing into the Halloween Full Moon final chapter. The changing of the leaves, that you can hear crunching in between scenes. The sinister aura surrounding the town is much heavier now, giving off that Halloween lurking around the corner feeling-you all know exactly what I’m talking about. You can practically SMELL the Autumn atmosphere. Especially when we get to the last ten minutes or so of the movie, where Jack-O-Lanterns and die-cut paper skeletons are seen outside the Coslaw residence.

So to me, it feels more like a Halloween flick than anything else. And I’m kind of pissed that AMC Fearfest opts to show Stephen King’s Carrie 20 times a month in October and Silver Bullet a mere ONE TIME. Sure, I get films like Carrie are more universally popular. However, the fact that Silver Bullet consistently gets the shaft, both in the cinematic horrorthons and in the horror community, kind of bums me out. It’s underappreciated, underrated, and the best werewolf movie out of the slew of Lycanthrope films that came out in the early 80s’,

YEAH, I SAID IT. Corey Haim in a gas-powered motorcycle of a wheelchair and Gary Busey wrasslin’ reverend werewolves? Sorry, but there’s no competition happening here.

Stephen King’s first handwritten screenplay from his own novella adaption deserves a little more respect this Halloween. Give it a viewing closer to the holiday, and you’ll get the same Halloween ambient fuzzies as I do every time I watch it.

Pick it up here from Amazon if you don’t own this cinematic masterpiece yet!

News

Halloween Novelization Is Getting Re-Released With A Fully Illustrated Reprint!

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On October 1st, 1979, the official HALLOWEEN novelization based on John Carpenter’s immortal classic, hit bookstores, much to the delight of a brand-new fandom. In the 44 years since then, finding an actual copy, especially in recent years, has been next to impossible with copies popping up every so often from resellers ranging from the cheapest I’ve seen, around $250, all the way to $2,000. While I understand reselling is a job for some, taking advantage as something as precious as this, is just downright cruel. However, Printed in Blood is here to remedy this blasphemy and in conjunction with a license under Compass International Pictures and with full cooperation of the original author, Richard Curtis (who penned the original novel under the name Curtis Richards), is re-releasing the coveted book with illustrations at a price the average Halloween-Head can afford!

Per Printed In Blood:

“Printed In Blood is VERY proud to present the ORIGINAL movie tie-in novelization, reprinted in full here for the first time in over 40 years! In addition, it has been fully illustrated throughout with nearly a hundred BRAND-NEW Illustrations created just for this release by the vector genius, Orlando “Mexifunk” Arocena. This 224-page volume is bursting with both classic and gorgeous new artistic visions of the John Carpenter horror classic.”

“This Limited Edition cover features the classic paperback cover art re-created by Orlando.“

The reprint will be available in two different versions, one with a limited-edition cover that reimagines the cover to the original novelization, and a standard cover that has not yet been revealed for a steal at $50. Another option is the VERY limited edition that WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE THROUGH OCTOBER 1st, and features the classic paperback cover art re-created by Orlando and is signed by both the author, Richard Curtis and the artist, Orlando Arocena. It also includes 2-8.5x11in. mini-prints of Orlando’s previous Halloween works from the “Halloween: Artbook” and an Original Hand-drawn 5 x7 sketch by the book’s artist, Orlando Arocena. This version is limited to 250 prints and runs at $300.

I don’t know about you, but I hopped on this pre-order faster than Lonnie getting his “ass away” from the Myers house. You can pre-order your copy right now through PRINTED IN BLOOD HERE with an expected ship date of January 2024!

Finally, I’ll be able to complete my collection!