Hello fellow moviegoers! It’s that time of year when we all relish the simple pleasures that come with the Halloween season. Whether it’s eating candy till you’re sick, drinking until you’re sick, scaring the neighbors’ children, or taking a date to a scary movie, the Halloween season is unlike any other. The holiday, like movies themselves, allows us to briefly live in a world of fantasy, giving us an excuse to dress up as whatever we want to be and, if we choose, frighten the crap out of each other.

One of the most popular Halloween costumes of all time (and one which I’ve worn on several occasions myself) is that of the killer “shape” from John Carpenter’s Halloween, Michael Myers. Walk around long enough on any given year, anywhere, and you’re bound to see at least one or two Michaels roaming the streets of your figurative Haddonfield. The classic horror movie has become inexorably bound with its associated holiday, which is of course only too appropriate. But its popularity goes far beyond just being titled “Halloween”. It is widely regarded as a milestone in American horror, and is still to this day reflected upon and studied by film scholars and critics, along with the general public (naturally). But aside from its impressive critical commendation, it’s simply flat out one of the scariest movies of all time. The jaded might be unimpressed, but those who are able to let down their guard and take off their armor of masculinity will attest to the film’s standing power. One of, if not the best test of a film is the test of time, and after 30 years Halloween is still as popular as it ever was.

As a form of celebration and to help commemorate the Halloween season, we offer all of you to read the authentic shooting script for Carpenter’s Halloween in its entirety. There are small and subtle differences that fans of the film will likely pick up on, and hardcore fans will no doubt have fun noting the comparisons (that is, if they haven’t read the script on their own already).

Michael gave new meaning to the words "trick or treat"

The script is a really fun read even if you’re not that big into horror. It goes by fast (as there’s lots of dialogue) and can be deceptively engaging. Horror scripts are typically tedious reads because they’re very predictable and borrow considerably from older films. Halloween, though, is the film that began the “slasher” craze, and is the one that all those formulaic knock-offs sponge from (more or less). In many ways, the script is an artifact of cinematic history. I fail to think of a higher honor for a screenwriter, and so I highly recommend that all of you reserve some time to be interactive witnesses to this history. And what better time to do so than now?

You can download the entire script here halloween script.pdf