You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga-13 Movies and Counting

by Wayne Byrne

Overview

You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga - 13 Movies and Counting is a cultural and critical examination of the legendary Halloween film franchise, considering the style, themes, and development of the series within temporal and industrial contexts. Through candid conversations with author Wayne Byrne, a variety of directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, composers, and actors from across the Halloween films offer exclusive insights into their careers, their unique aesthetic approaches, and their experiences of working on one of the most celebrated horror franchises within the history of American Cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493079780
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/04/2025
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Wayne Byrne is an Irish author and film historian. His books include Welcome to Elm Street:: Inside the Film and Television Nightmares, Walter Hill: The Cinema of a Hollywood Maverick, and Hired Guns: Portraits of Women in Alternative Music, amongst others.He has written on film, music, and literature for a variety of publications such as Hot Press Magazine, The Irish Times, Film Ireland, Books Ireland, and The Dark Side.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
“Halloween”: No Slash in the Pan by Tony Timpone xiii
1 The Night Horror Came Home 1
2 Santa Mira, Silver Shamrocks, Samhain, and
Stonehenge: We're Not in Haddonfield Anymore! 43
3 Severing Family Ties 59
4 A New Dimension 126
5 All in the Family 194
6 Evil Dies Tonight: Halloween Lives Forever 216
Index

Editorial Reviews

Historian Byrne offers a fun look at the Halloween film franchise in this “celebration of the artists involved in its creation.” The book's greatest strength is its level of detail, which Byrne presents with the passion of a fan. This behind-the-scenes romp will enthrall horror lovers.” —Publishers Weekly

“You Can't Kill the Boogeyman is a book of rare insightful information for the dedicated fan and the casual reader. Author Wayne Byrne offers an understanding of what an amazing series of films John Carpenter set into motion, and a great appreciation for their widespread popularity. I loved the accounts from the directors, cinematographers, editors, and so many other creative participants who were there. Without writing like Wayne's, these voices would be lost and with them their knowledge and experience - one of the most vitally important aspects of filmmaking: the information that is passed on so that others can benefit and build on those earlier efforts.” —David McGiffert, Assistant Director (Back to the Future trilogy, Rain Man, Witness, Tootsie, Batman Returns)

“Wayne Byrne's You Can't Kill the Boogeyman isn't just a well-written chronicle of a movie franchise, it's a journey through the backwaters of Hollywood and independent filmmaking that traces the twists and turns of the Michael Myers saga, in-front-of and behind the camera, all told with the ease of a great story-teller sitting by a midnight campfire. You Can't Kill the Boogeyman is more than movie history, it's a chronicle of how a successful low-budget film elevated the genre from simple money machine to critical respectability that continues to this day.” —C. Courtney Joyner, Author, Screenwriter, Director (Prison, Class of 1999, Trancers III)

“You Can't Kill the Boogeyman is a sheer delight! Wayne Byrne has expertly balanced analysis with the purely entertaining. There are reasons the Halloween franchise has been going strong for near 50 years and Wayne Byrne has captured them in a most insightful way.” —Christopher Heard, Author and Film Historian, William Friedkin: The Life and Films of a Cinematic Risk-Taker

From the Publisher