Man Who Created Halloween, The (Book)
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Written by Irwin Yablans
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
If you’re reading this review, chances are you’re a fan of horror. And if you’re a fan of horror, you might be familiar with a little 1970s slasher flick called Halloween. That said, everyone who knows about that film automatically associates John Carpenter with its success. They’d be partially right, but what most people (myself included) don’t know is that while Carpenter directed and wrote Halloween, it was really producer Irwin Yablans who can take credit for the movie making it to theaters.
The Man Who Created Halloween is the story of Yablans’ life. It takes the reader from Yablans as a young boy growing up in Brooklyn, his rise through the film industry, and the events that led him to where he is now. I was intrigued by the story Yablans was telling, mainly because I was one of those that associate the success of Halloween with Carpenter himself. I never put much thought into the producer aspect.
I dove into The Man Who Created Halloween with flourish and found myself a little disappointed, if I’m being completely honest. I’m not one to hate on autobiographies, but oh my goodness was this book hard to get through. I can appreciate the struggle that Yablans went through as a young child; my own grandparents are immigrants from Europe and struggled just like many others. To hear the way Yablans talked about his life, it would seem like his family was the only family that had problems when arriving in America.
The more I read The Man Who Created Halloween, the less I found Yablans’ story even remotely interesting, and I just hoped I would get to the part where he actually started working on Halloween soon. I didn’t care about his failed engagements or his constant relocations during his start in the film industry.
However, by the time I reached the portions of the book I was interested in, I found that I had so little patience for Yablans, and was so put off by the overall tone of his storytelling, that I didn’t even care anymore. Even the film purist in me that craves trivia from my favorite genre was ready to continue to be wrong in thinking Carpenter was the responsible party for Halloween.
Overall, The Man Who Created Halloween left something to be desired due to the pompous, know-it-all tone of the story. I’d be interested in reading a biography written on Yablans by someone other than himself; it felt like case of the author being far too close to the story.
3 out of 5
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