You mean to tell me that a book exists solely of interviews connected to my favorite horror franchise—Halloween—of all time?! Sign me up! Though by no means comprehensive (what possibly could be regarding this sprawling behemoth of a film “series”), Horror in Haddonfield is a really fun oral history trip down Halloween films past.
Author Andrew Grevas smartly structures the interviews based on the five series timelines: The originals (1-2-3), the Thorn trilogy (4-5-6), the Return of Laurie (H20-Resurrection), the Rob Zombie remakes (1-2), & the Blumhouse revival trilogy (Halloween/Kills/Ends). This approach really helps in making the book feel more structured and less an attempt to chronicle the entire franchise at one go. Grevas willingly notes that the chapters could be read out-of-order with no repercussions.
Within each Halloween mythos timeline, Grevas presents a series of interviews with key participants. One can’t interview everyone without turning a fun read into a historical tome, of course, but Grevas is able to secure the services of some in front of and some behind the camera on all projects. I don’t recall a boring interview in the bunch, which speaks to Grevas’ interviewing competence.
The biggest compliment I can give to Horror in Haddonfield: when I cracked the first page, I was wary that—as a huge fan who has read many other similar publications—I might “know it all” already. Not the case. Here, Grevas unearths some fresh and new Halloween remembrances from a modern perspective. Highly recommended for all franchise fans!
I wish I liked this more than I did. The author is clearly a fan, but aside from the sections on the Blumhouse trilogy and a few interviews, there isn’t a lot of information in here that wasn’t in the Taking Shape books. Not a bad read, but there’s definitely better Halloween books out there.