November 1, 2024

Reflections on 11/1/2024: With yet another Halloween behind us, I thought now was as good a time as any to reflect back on one of my first, if not the very first, audio commentary I had the privilege of moderating. And it’s fresh in my mind, because I ended up watching HALLOWEEN II last night to close out my Halloween 2024!

According to my records, these photos were taken on May 26th, 2012. At this point in time, Scream Factory didn’t quite exist yet. Shout Factory were delving into cult and genre releases with their Roger Corman special editions, and I’d worked on several of those including GALAXY OF TERROR, FORBIDDEN WORLD, and DAMNATION ALLEY. But in 2012, all of their future horror titles would be under this new umbrella called “Scream Factory.” And the first five releases were to be: HALLOWEEN II, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, THEY LIVE, TERROR TRAIN, and THE FUNHOUSE. Not a bad batch to kick it off with!

I was working with Michael Felsher (of Red Shirt Pictures) in my usual role as “production coordinator,” which meant I was often the one asking the questions for the documentaries you see on all of the above mentioned discs. But this was the first time I’d been asked to moderate an audio commentary, and it would be with none other than Michael Myers himself, Dick Warlock! HALLOWEEN II, in retrospect, is probably my favorite of the entire HALLOWEEN franchise. It’s the one I’ve seen the most. It’s the main one I grew up on, and when I think of that last 15 minutes, to me, that’s definitely what the HALLOWEEN franchise is.

So, to sit with Dick Warlock?! The legendary Dick Warlock, Kurt Russell’s stunt double? Arguably the definitive Michael Myers and I’m here to talk about this movie I’ve practically committed to memory? It was a dream come true. And as expected, Dick couldn’t have been more sweet, kind, or humble.

Honestly, the whole thing is a blur. I know it’s on the disc and I can listen back, but I find it hard to listen back to my commentaries. I do recall we did an on-camera interview right before, so I knew some of the stories and talking points to bring up again. I was also fascinated by the different takes used in the TV cut. The one thing Dick definitely pointed out to me that I never would’ve picked up on my own was the appearance of a young Dana Carvey in one of his earliest feature film roles as “assistant.” I also love that Dick played the policeman that accidently hits and kills Bennett Tramer, the faux Michael Myers, with his car. So, the real Michael Myers killed the imposter Michael Myers! I was very, very lucky that my first time sitting behind the mic for one of these audio commentary sessions was with someone incredibly warm and welcoming. It set the tone for my future gigs in this world, and taught me to always be prepared, but also be ready to pivot and improvise. Because you never know where the conversation might steer! This also set the precedent for all my future podcast interviews.

Below are some of my own personal behind-the-scenes photos from the audio commentary to HALLOWEEN II with Dick Warlock.

As an added bonus, here’s a clip from the HALLOWEEN II documentary that appears on all subsequent Blu-Ray and 4K releases. I did the on-camera interviews with Dick Warlock, director Rick Rosenthal, actors Leo Rossi and Tawny Moyer. Edited by Michael Felsher, whom to this day, I owe a great debt of gratitude to.