Tommy Lee Wallace's Book - Initial Thoughts

[doctormixter]

Hey guys. “Halloween 3: Where the Hell is Michael Myers?” by Tommy Lee Wallace just came in today, and I wanted to put some information out there for anyone who ordered or may be considering ordering this book (at its fairly hefty price point).

I have not yet read the book. I’ve only had occasion to glance through it. Thus, I cannot pass judgment on the quality of the text. Immediately I noticed that despite the 260-some page count boasted by the publisher, only 117 pages are text, and this number includes several blank pages and full page images that begin each chapter (and there are many), but does not include the foreward and two introductions so I suppose this much is a wash.

The remaining 140 pages contain production materials and images, a few of which are of great interest, such as excerpts from Nigel Kneale’s original screenplay, and the complete shooting schedule which even identifies the addresses of some previously unknown filming locations, like Challis and Linda’s house, and additional facilities that stood in for Silver Shamrock Novelties.

Unfortunately, however, MANY of the photos included in this book are completely unnecessary and uninteresting. I’m talking about photos of fan-tattoos, and fan art that is, shall we see, hardly worth hanging on the fridge. This is worsened by the fact that this book was clearly printed with no better than a standard inkjet printer, complete with the lines indicative of a low cartridge. Dare I say, in the some of the photos, it’s nearly impossible to discern what I’m looking at. A great many of the images are also of terribly low resolution, yet blown up to fill the entire page, treating us to all the resultant pixelation.

I had high hopes for this book, but my immediate reaction was disappointment. I am trying to retain some excitement pending the read, which should be brisk.

[theHEDGE]

Fingers crossed it’s a good read.

[Mr_H]

Hey guys. “Halloween 3: Where the Hell is Michael Myers?” by Tommy Lee Wallace just came in today, and I wanted to put some information out there for anyone who ordered or may be considering ordering this book (at its fairly hefty price point).

I have not yet read the book. I’ve only had occasion to glance through it. Thus, I cannot pass judgment on the quality of the text. Immediately I noticed that despite the 260-some page count boasted by the publisher, only 117 pages are text, and this number includes several blank pages and full page images that begin each chapter (and there are many), but does not include the foreward and two introductions so I suppose this much is a wash.

The remaining 140 pages contain production materials and images, a few of which are of great interest, such as excerpts from Nigel Kneale’s original screenplay, and the complete shooting schedule which even identifies the addresses of some previously unknown filming locations, like Challis and Linda’s house, and additional facilities that stood in for Silver Shamrock Novelties.

Unfortunately, however, MANY of the photos included in this book are completely unnecessary and uninteresting. I’m talking about photos of fan-tattoos, and fan art that is, shall we see, hardly worth hanging on the fridge. This is worsened by the fact that this book was clearly printed with no better than a standard inkjet printer, complete with the lines indicative of a low cartridge. Dare I say, in the some of the photos, it’s nearly impossible to discern what I’m looking at. A great many of the images are also of terribly low resolution, yet blown up to fill the entire page, treating us to all the resultant pixelation.

I had high hopes for this book, but my immediate reaction was disappointment. I am trying to retain some excitement pending the read, which should be brisk.

I enjoyed it, but it’s too expensive for what it is (which is the major complaint about this book). If it were priced correctly then I think people would be able to accept the issues like the blank pages and print quality. Some of the chapters are a bit thin on detail but I couldn’t hold this against TLW as this was 40 years ago and he probably can’t remember much more.

Regarding the production schedule, I also found this very interesting (being a filming location fan). I did already know the location of Linda Challis’ house and I’ve had that on my website for a while, along with the factory reception area (neither of which are barely referenced online). Fortunately it did reveal the one location I was never sure of, which is the toy museum part of the tour, so I’m very grateful for that.

[doctormixter]

I finished reading the book a while ago but never got around to posting about it for anyone who might be interested.

While many of my presumptions were correct, there were at least a small handful of fun surprises contained within, but not enough to live up to the expectations set forth by such a subtitle as “The Definitive History of Horror’s Most Misunderstood Film”. To be clear, it is so much more a short memoir (or a long blog), than the comprehensive retrospective it was purported to be, and reads like an early draft, replete with typos and grammatical errors (sometimes strange ones at that, like an unnecessary umlaut).

The book begins promisingly, with intriguing but disproportionately long reminiscences of Tommy Wallace’s schoolboy days, early friendship with John Carpenter, and late rendezvous with cinema. A sizable portion of the first third of the book is dedicated to Tommy’s time at USC and his experience working on Dark Star. Later sections about the titular production, by comparison, are astoundingly brief; for example, a grand total of 4 pages dedicated to the entire film shoot of Halloween III. Other chapters, bizarrely, are only a page and a half and would be better served as footnotes.

The few pages reserved for the story of H3’s production - the supposed meat of the book - revolve more around instructing the reader in Filmmaking 101, TLW’s philosophies of filmmaking, the life lessons he learned therefrom, and latent expressions of gratitude to various crew members, rather than the particular challenges, nuances, and overall day-to-day experience of the shoot. Occasionally, there is an interesting but less than fantastic anecdote.

I get it - it’s not Citizen Kane, The Graduate, The Shining. There’s only so much that can be said about it, but for a “definitive history”, it reveals little to nothing not already known by even the casual fan.

The most interesting element was the greater glimpse given to Nigel Kneale’s original script which, by both TLW’s account and the excerpts in the appendix, was a vastly different approach in almost every aspect of tone and story.

A major area of opportunity for the book would have been to include contributions and insights from fans, critics, and other participants of the production.

I was able to read the entire book, including all supplemental materials, in about 2.5 to 3 underwhelming hours, over the course of 3 days. Nevertheless, I appreciate the effort. I’ve probably received hundreds of hours of enjoyment over the course of many years, all from my $14.99 purchase of the originally-issued DVD, so I don’t fully regret supporting the endeavor with my purchase.

[theHEDGE]

I finished reading the book a while ago but never got around to posting about it for anyone who might be interested.

While many of my presumptions were correct, there were at least a small handful of fun surprises contained within, but not enough to live up to the expectations set forth by such a subtitle as “The Definitive History of Horror’s Most Misunderstood Film”. To be clear, it is so much more a short memoir (or a long blog), than the comprehensive retrospective it was purported to be, and reads like an early draft, replete with typos and grammatical errors (sometimes strange ones at that, like an unnecessary umlaut).

The book begins promisingly, with intriguing but disproportionately long reminiscences of Tommy Wallace’s schoolboy days, early friendship with John Carpenter, and late rendezvous with cinema. A sizable portion of the first third of the book is dedicated to Tommy’s time at USC and his experience working on Dark Star. Later sections about the titular production, by comparison, are astoundingly brief; for example, a grand total of 4 pages dedicated to the entire film shoot of Halloween III. Other chapters, bizarrely, are only a page and a half and would be better served as footnotes.

The few pages reserved for the story of H3’s production - the supposed meat of the book - revolve more around instructing the reader in Filmmaking 101, TLW’s philosophies of filmmaking, the life lessons he learned therefrom, and latent expressions of gratitude to various crew members, rather than the particular challenges, nuances, and overall day-to-day experience of the shoot. Occasionally, there is an interesting but less than fantastic anecdote.

I get it - it’s not Citizen Kane, The Graduate, The Shining. There’s only so much that can be said about it, but for a “definitive history”, it reveals little to nothing not already known by even the casual fan.

The most interesting element was the greater glimpse given to Nigel Kneale’s original script which, by both TLW’s account and the excerpts in the appendix, was a vastly different approach in almost every aspect of tone and story.

A major area of opportunity for the book would have been to include contributions and insights from fans, critics, and other participants of the production.

I was able to read the entire book, including all supplemental materials, in about 2.5 to 3 underwhelming hours, over the course of 3 days. Nevertheless, I appreciate the effort. I’ve probably received hundreds of hours of enjoyment over the course of many years, all from my $14.99 purchase of the originally-issued DVD, so I don’t fully regret supporting the endeavor with my purchase.

Thanks for the honest review, Doc. Maybe there’s a second edition in the future? The talents of an experienced editor can’t be overstated when hammering out the structure, focus, and intent.

I still need to grab a copy, but my reading list is already set through July. It’s looking like I’ll have time to read it next fall.

[Kirk_Magnum]

The 100 plus slides, plus photos I scanned to be included in this book got nixed by Universal. I spent hours scanning, cleaning, color correcting and getting them to Tommy. I was told everything was fine with using this material…think again. Universal, from what I was told briefly, wanted a chuck of change if any images were to be in the book. That took out the majority of the book besides what Tommy wrote. I think they scrambled getting something together quickly because they didn’t expect the images to be taken out by Universal. Tommy, and my numerous conversations with him, had permission from the still photographer so the images could be used. I scanned my entire Nigel script, I thought maybe they’d put more in there. It’s a fun read for what it is.

[theHEDGE]

The 100 plus slides, plus photos I scanned to be included in this book got nixed by Universal. I spent hours scanning, cleaning, color correcting and getting them to Tommy. I was told everything was fine with using this material…think again. Universal, from what I was told briefly, wanted a chuck of change if any images were to be in the book. That took out the majority of the book besides what Tommy wrote. I think they scrambled getting something together quickly because they didn’t expect the images to be taken out by Universal. Tommy, and my numerous conversations with him, had permission from the still photographer so the images could be used. I scanned my entire Nigel script, I thought maybe they’d put more in there. It’s a fun read for what it is.

Oh for fuck’s sake. It’s the same song and dance over and over with this stuff. That explains the blank pages. These greedy bastards would rather see this material buried than perhaps lose out on a few bucks. It makes me wish there was some kind of time limit these could pass in order to become public domain.

Have you spoken with Tommy since he found out Universal blocked the use of these images? I bet he was pissed. I am and I don’t have any skin in the game.

[Redwine1]

Any notable highlights from the original script vs final film?

[Redwine1]

Any notable highlights from the original script vs final film?

[Adamantium]

Wow, I had no idea this was already out. I remember it was supposed to come out last November but then everything seemed to go quiet. I was planning on buying it Day 1, but now with all the bad reviews and $50+ price tag, I think I’m going to pass. It’s unfortunate because HIII is one of my favorites. Maybe if I find a copy for under $10 I’ll grab it, but not until then.

[Space_Mage]

Well that is unfortunate the book isn’t much to look at, seems more like something to sit on the shelf, I have a few books like that which I will occasionally look at

[doctormixter]

So what we’re hearing from Billy is that Universal screwed over H3 and Tommy…again. What a foolish error, and a shame.

Any notable highlights from the original script vs final film?

From what I recall of reading the 20 pages that are included in the book, it seems like a vastly different film. Tommy has always said Nigel’s script was much darker, and I always took that to mean darker in terms of the horror. Instead, it’s darker in a dramatic sense (i.e. relationships between characters). It’s slightly bigoted toward Americans and the Irish, and not in the subtle, tongue-in-cheek way that the final film is. There’s very little likeability to any of the characters and none of the goings-on seem fun or entertaining but rather an intentional cringe-fest. It’s also more supernatural and bizarre.