Halloween Illustrated
written by Curtis Richards and illustrated by Orlando Arocena
I love old horror novelizations. In the past I reviewed the Friday the 13th Part 3 novel and I’ve always wanted a copy of Halloween, being my favorite movie and all. The original paperbacks are way over priced, fetching between $100 and $500 on ebay, its fucking nuts. Printed in Blood recently released an illustrated large, hardcover version and I jumped all over it.
I would say, for the most part the story is the same as the movie. There are a few different additions. Probably the most noteworthy change is that Michael has much more backstory and introspection. It talks about Michael hearing voices, telling him to kill his sister. It speaks about his trial and time with Loomis at the psych ward. Michael basically ran the whole prison/ward because of how crazy he is. Once Michael breaks out, the story is much the same as the movie. We do get some instances of Michael having misunderstood sexual feelings towards the girls, and the voices telling him to kill them. I’m not sure I like this addition. I liked Michael better knowing little about why he does what he does. The voices thing is fine, but the sexual stuff, could have been left out. Basically it talks about Michael getting a boner watching the girls and the only way he can solve it, is by killing them? So he’s a process killer I guess, much like Gacy.
Where this book truly shines is the presentation. The quality of the print, the awesome illustrations and the overall look of the book. The vivid colors really pop out and capture some of the most iconic scenes in the movie, as well as some fan favorites. My two favorite pages are of Linda with “TOTALLY” written on the page, that just cracked me up and the other of Dr. Loomis’s classic line of “Hey Lonnie, get your ass away from there!” I was surprised to see that part illustrated but, man I love it. The book goes into more detail on the death scenes, it talks about Judity Myers being stabbed in the vagina, which definitely wasn’t part of the movie haha. Also Annie gets disemboweled before being set on the bed.
Hey, Lonnie! Get your ass away from there!
A few other minor differences are the characters, appearances, and ending. For the characters, Annie seems to be really obsessed with sex, and the writer talks about how big her boobs are, which she had boobs in the movie but she wasn’t completely stacked like the book would make you believe haha. Linda is kind of a floozy which, yeah she kind of is in the movie too, it is funny, she actually says “totally” less in the book than the movie. Michael is told to be wearing a dark khaki mechanic suit, not a navy blue one, even though the illustrations show navy, odd. For the ending now. The ending seems to have more stuff from Halloween II in it. Loomis shows up, shoots Michael, he falls off the balcony and into the yard. Loomis takes Laurie with him to check on Michael, he’s gone. He yells at Tommy’s neighbor to call the cops and we get the infamous “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT DEATH IS!” line from Halloween 2. That really caught me off guard but I love it, that line is so ridiculous that it is amazing.
If you haven’t read a horror novelization, then you totally should. I have enjoyed all of them. My favorite thus far has been Halloween III Season of the Witch, it is just written and paced so well and the tension builds so quickly. This book is still for sale by Printed in Blood, for $50 so if you’re interested check it out. You can also find a pdf of the novelization relatively easily, so search for it. I give this book an A-, the presentation is great, the story is good, but the additions of the sexual stuff and backstory on Michael is a little too much for me.
