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Neatorama has the stories behind three classic horror movies

Posted Monday, October 13, 2008 at 3:21 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

We're continuing to celebrate October as horror month. Web blog Neatorama shares our enthusiasm for Halloween and the horror genre. They've posted an interesting read entitled The Stories Behind Three Classic Halloween Movies.

Author Stacy Conradt collects some interesting bits of trivia on three of the best horror flicks: Night of the Living Dead, Halloween, and The Exorcist. I've excerpted a few below. You can find the rest on her original post.

Night of the Living Dead - 1968
  • “Zombie” is never uttered. They’re usually referred to as “things”.
  • Pay close attention to the graveyard struggle between Johnny and the zombie. Some of the moans made by the zombie are real – the actor playing Johnny accidentally kneed him in the groin at some point during the fight.
  • Before [writer-director] George Romero wrote and directed horror movies, he edited shorts for Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.

Halloween - 1978
  • Originally called "The Babysitter Murders"
  • The little girl who plays Lindsey Wallace is Kyle Richards – she is Paris Hilton’s aunt.
  • The famous theme song is written in 5/4 time, which is not very common. [director John] Carpenter wrote it himself. The movie credits "The Bowling Green Philharmonic" with the song, but in reality, it’s Carpenter and a bunch of his friends. He grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The Exorcist - 1973
  • When the movie first came out, some theaters provided "Exorcist barf bags".
  • Billy Graham apparently told people there was actually a demon living in the reels of the movie. I’m sure the producers didn’t mind this - more publicity for the film!
  • When the demon leaves Regan’s body, the awful sound you hear is pigs being herded to slaughter.

I bet you didn't know half of those! Conradt promises to do a follow-up story with trivia on other horror classics. I, for one, can't wait!

Last Call for Top 5 Horror Movies

We previously put out the call for your favorite horror movies. Be sure to have yours submitted to us before Sunday, Oct. 19. We're going to compile them into a list of the best movies for Halloween. You can send in just your single favorite or a list of your fave five.

Source: Neatorama