Cool Stuff: The Super Rare Halloween Novelization Is Being Re-Released With New Illustrations
When I was a younger man, I used to love movie novelizations. These paperbacks would often add context to films, create whole new scenes, and give you a unique glimpse into the world of a movie that you might not get from watching alone. It was special. The movie novelization seems to be a dying art form these days, which is a shame. While they still exist, they don't seem as prevalent as they once were. Thankfully, we still have the classics. One such classic novelization is Curtis Richards' take on John Carpenter's "Halloween."
Published by Bantam Books in 1979, the novelization wasn't just a standard adaptation of Carpenter and Debra Hill's now-iconic script — it also added entirely new material, like a flashback that provides some background about the curse of Samhain, some stuff about cults, and more time with serial killer Michael Myers during his asylum days. Michael's look is also different in the book — there's no mention of his now-famous "The Shape" mask, which everyone likely knows was a William Shatner Captain Kirk mask that the production altered.
This new material isn't canonical, but it is plenty interesting. The book was reissued in the 1980s before going out of print. Now, the folks at Printed in Blood are bringing it back in a new illustrated form — just in time for spooky season, aka now.
Trick or treat, baby
While used copies of the "Halloween" novelization have been available (usually for a steep price) on sites like eBay, fans will no doubt thrill at the idea of having a newly published version that's somewhat easier to scoop up, at least for a short period of time. And this isn't just a standard reissue, folks. No, this edition features nearly 100 new illustrations created by Orlando "Mexifunk" Arocena.
Here are the details:
Printed In Blood is VERY proud to present the ORIGINAL movie tie-in novelization, reprinted in full here for the first time in over 40 years! In addition, it has been fully illustrated throughout with nearly a hundred BRAND-NEW Illustrations created just for this release by the vector genius, Orlando "Mexifunk" Arocena. This 224-page volume is bursting with both classic and gorgeous new artistic visions of the John Carpenter horror classic.
This Limited Edition cover features the classic paperback cover art re-created by Orlando.
Produced under license with Compass International Pictures and with full co-operation of the original author, Richard Curtis (who penned the original novel under the name Curtis Richards).
There will be two versions of the book available — one with a recreation of the cover from the original paperback (see above right), and one with an all-new cover, picture on the left, though the art in that cover apparently isn't final. Printed in Blood stresses the book with the original cover will be a very limited edition, and will only be available through October 1. So you might want to order it now, which you can do right here. Otherwise, the one with the new cover will be much easier to get. It's sure to be a must-have for "Halloween" fans, and I know I definitely want to snag a copy.