We have some bad news.. we are mourning the passing of George Wilbur, actor, stuntman, and the first Michael Myers to grace the cover of the Fangoria magazine (for 1988’s HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS)..
George P. Wilbur is most known to horror fans for playing Michael Myers in both Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers.
Wilbur is one of only a small handful of actors to play Michael Myers more than once.
He was also a stunt player on Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
George P. Wilbur’s career began with stand-in work for John Wayne in the 1960s, and he went on to amass over 100 television and film credits spanning six decades.
James Winburn, the stunt double for the Michael Myers character in the original 1978 Halloween, died Nov. 19 following an undisclosed illness, his manager confirmed to EW. He was 85.
While Nick Castle famously donned the slasher’s mask in the first film, Winburn assisted in some of the most perilous scenes, including when Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) shoots Myers several times, causing him to fall off a balcony before disappearing.
Winburn did stunt work for over 70 films over the course of his career, including Escape From New York, TRON, The Night Stalker, Glory, Crossing the Line, and The Waterfront. He also acted in a number of shows and films, including Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen, Cagney & Lacey, Hunter, and Island of Witches.
As much as some fans seem to hate HALLOWEEN ENDS, it has made money..
As per The Numbers, with the money it earned on Thursday, November 3, the final entry in director David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy has earned $100.1 million at the global box office.
That includes $62 million domestically and $38 million from overseas ticket sales. Historically, this series has always done better on the domestic side of things.
Regardless, against a reported $20 million budget, that makes this a winner for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse.
Halloween ENDS has become even more controversial that Busta Rhyme’s cameo.. But could it have been even MORE controversial with an alternate ending that some speculate was possible?
Now that we have all witnessed this weekend’s atrocity (sure many of you may still like it) of a HALLOWEEN ENDS, we need to refocus..
The original ending MAY have been different–and quite frankly would have even been MORE divisive than what HALLOWEEN ENDS already did..
From the YouTuber CRITICAL OVERLORD, this video talks about how the potential ending could have been–Laurie would have looked at ‘the Shape’ SHE would have become the new evil.. Much more controversial, no?
At least it would have been interesting!
What we got was.. certainly not what many expected. Wanted.. or deserved?
But really.. what movie since Halloween 1 and 2 were what we expected or deserved, right?
Very interesting and deep perspective from Jamie Lee Curtis on what the popularity of Laurie Strode has meant..
He writes:
For those Halloween @halloweenmovie fans out there. You might have heard the story and if so I apologize but since it’s all coming to an end I thought I would share it. When I work on anything I like people to wear name tag so that we all get to know each other and I can know people’s names since most people know mine and my job I don’t know theirs and their job. We did it on Halloween 2018 and all of the Halloween films. My last day of shooting of the 2018 Halloween was a scene of Laurie Strode, alone in a truck watching Michael Myers leave for the Supermax prison that he would be ensconced in for the rest of his days. It was a scene with no dialogue and it just said that Laurie is in the truck with a gun and some alcohol and she is remembering and reliving the past 40 years of trauma and sadness and loss and rage and grief. When they came to get me to shoot that scene as I arrived on site the entire crew was standing silent with their hands behind their back’s in silent solidarity with Jamie for what she was about to act as Laurie and the entire crew were all wearing this name tag. What they were saying, which audiences have said now for 44 years, is that they were with me, with Laurie and her struggles and that she and I were not alone. If there’s a ending message to all of these movies it is that Laurie Strode represented never giving up. Cue Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Don’t give up. No matter what. Thank you and I love you and thank you @bryantology for sending me this this morning to remind me.
Halloween Ends—we think—this coming weekend in theaters and Peacock..
A few evenings ago, I stopped at a Spirit Halloween .. But the Spirit was abundant regardless of closed down stores that neighbored it.
It is hard to believe we are traveling quickly into the season of the witch!
Goblins and ghosts are beginning to showcase themselves in windows across our area–the spirit of the season is lit with an orange hue..
As the weather begins to chill and the darkness creeps in once again, the movie HALLOWEEN ENDS is just about ready to get released into theaters along with our hearts and minds.
We have heard some really awful stuff about the film–test screenings that are able to be Google-searched will tell you that audiences were not keen on the movie, so much so that some of it had to change ..
Some loved HALLOWEEN KILLS.. we just kind of got grossed out by it. With the exception of the first few minutes that included a 1970s homage and Dr. Loomis lookalike screaming like he did in the good old days of the 20th century, we didn’t like it much either.
Just imagine an ENTIRE film based on the same night of the first film, well that could have been magic!
But that mask.. the mask.
No matter the year or generation, just about every kid knows who Michael Myers is..
It is crazy to consider a few things. First off the white pale face of Michael Myers could have been a clown! The Babysitter Killer movie, eventually HALLOWEEN in 1978, actually considered the use of a clown face instead of what we have now.
Legend and lure tells us that some last minute shifts gave us the haunting face we have today. And the haunting face, for the few who still don’t know, is William Shatner.
A 1970s STAR TREK mask was sprayed white, hair torn a bit, and eyes cut larger. It created the most visceral image of HALLOWEEN the movie–and Halloween itself.
The newest Halloween film coming out in mid-October is going to use a mask that is supposed to be the same mask of 40+ years back, along with burn marks from Halloween in 2018. Fans will realize immediately you need to eliminate Halloweens 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 from all of this in order for Halloween, KILLS, and ENDS to make sense.
Take a breather.. you got this.
But it got us to thinking.. with the popularity of the mask itself, whatever happened to the actual real life mask from 1978. The Halloween Hollywood mask that John Carpenter and Debra Hill created?
It’s an interesting and somewhat tragic story when you consider the way history has eroded the fright of the SHAPE’s face..
So let’s go through some quick Halloween history..
We know, and just reminded everyone, that Michael Myers is really William Shatner. Not just Shatner, but William Shatner’s face that was used in another horror film – The Devil’s Rainfrom 1975..
Yea, that was scary in itself:
So the real mask looked like this after it was painted and dolled up pretty:
The emotionless pale face. As Loomis said, “the darkest eyes. The devil’s eyes.”
In the movie, Nick Castle did a fine job playing the Shape. The movie made certain that the original Halloween kept Castle’s eyes darkened in each scene to illustrate a monster, not a man, wielding the knife killing the teenage babysitters.
Incidentally, Nick Castle is back in the newest 2018-2020- and ENDS trilogy ..
Dick Warlock eventually replaced Nick Castle for John Carpenter’s Halloween 2 (remember, the newest movie ignore Warlock’s incarnation.)
Movie goers at the time noticed something a little off about the mask. It looked yellow. It looked more crunched..
It was for a few reasons.
It was actually the same exact mask–honest, this is what all movie experts tell us. But there were two big differences. Warlock’s face was rounder while Castle’s was longer. That gives you the rationale as to why the shape of the Shape was differing in each film .. but the color?
Halloween 2’s mask looked like it had a deeper hue of yellow. Like it.. was deteriorated somehow?
It was!
From Debra Hill’s cigarette filled bedroom!!
Here is the story on how the mask went from bright white to a mellow yellow: Debra Hill took the mask home after the first movie wrapped and kept it in a shoe box under her bed for three years where it was exposed to a lot of cigarette smoke which caused the mask to discolor and have more of the yellowish look that we see in part 2..
Stalwart Halloween fans will debate this claim, with some citing references made at movie and horror conventions over the previous ten years to establish a basis for their argument that this Debra Hill smoke did or did not happen. You can do your own research and find your own sources. But it pretty clear: The mask was yellow. Somehow.. and smoke sure made sense. Debra Hill died at a too-young-of-age 54 in 2005–of cancer.
From this point, the masks change. Halloween 3 took us to a different path.. and while Halloween 4 and 5 used the original mask for the posters and VHS sleeves, the mask in the individual movies could not have been more different and even .. ridiculous. The mask became more ridiculous in Halloween 6.. Halloween H20 had a few masks, including a weird CGI mask that just was … stupid?
The original movie, and even the Warlock worn mask in the second, are the best of all of the series. While the newest films are using a prototype of the same original mask, it just isn’t the same, right?
So … here is the big question .. the million dollar one: Where is the original mask, today? Like right now?
We can find information that dates back to 2017 on this (a few years back so who knows what it looks like at the moment?)
In a few year ago, it was not pretty.
Materials that were used to create the mask way back then have deteriorated over the years, the mask is showing its age.
Mark Roberts is the man who has been in possession of that original, screen-used hero mask since 2003.. in 2017, Benjamin Hall interviewed him for Michael-Myers.net .. a few quotes at the time:
“I have been building and running haunts for the last 26 years. About 20 years ago I got in contact with an agent who represented Dick Warlock and asked about booking Dick for an appearance at my haunt,” Roberts recalled. “So I set up to have Dick at the haunt and his agent said he had the mask and costume from the movie and would wear it at the appearance. When Dick came to the haunt, he was mad at his agent because he said he does not wear the costume for appearances. He did tell me that he still had the costume, boots, mask, butcher knife and scalpel and that he would sell it; he just didn’t bring them out for appearances.”
He added:
“Dick was great with the haunted house customers and hanging out with Dick and Cathy for the weekend was a lot of fun and it went so well we set it up for him to come back the next year. I’m not sure if it was after the 1st or second year but I called Dick up and we made a deal for me to purchase the mask, costume, boots, scalpel and knife. My wife and I went to Dick’s house and picked up the mask and costume. It really is amazing that Dick thought to keep that stuff and take care of it; when I went to pick it up, he had kept the mask stored in a Elvis Presley tin container.”
And this is what the damages look like:
The mask is showing its age.. We have been unable to find relevant sources giving us a real time view of how the Shape is aging..
But it is fair to say, with each passing day, we are aging with it, aren’t we?
Time beats on.. One Halloween at a time..
We would love to know what the mask looks like now, like today.. calling Mark Robert.. contact us bryan@horrorreport.com or through our Facebook page if you ever see this post!
And just to think.. this Halloweeniest of all scenes comes to us courtesy of the most discredited Halloween movie of all time, Halloween 3!
It’s time to re-kindle that appreciation of that movie.
Especially the scene like this.. it just has a melancholy nostalgic feel that brings back the rush of childhood emotions, doesn’t it?
That backdrop.. that city in the distance.. that silhouette of horror.
That chill is in the air, at least if you’re in areas prone to such chill. And with it comes those surreal and deep sunsets, quite like one we saw just the other day in Horror Report home base:
This month, with any sunset that penetrates the land, you can add in a silhouette of a witch and you’ll have this magical scene from Halloween 3!
A part of us feel that it may show low confidence in the film doing very in theaters.
Some have revealed that experiences at test screenings were met with mixed results. Perhaps the movie makers are hedging their bets and creating a back up plan JUST IN CASE word of mouth ruins the film’s prospects opening weekend..
Then again.. it’s Halloween. Even the worst of the films have a decent opening weekend…
Time will tell. Soon too. Believe it or not in just weeks now (where’s time going?!)
A RELIABLE SOURCE REPORTS ON WHAT HALLOWEEN ENDS WILL BRING US.. Buckle up for what could be a disastrous film..
Look away to avoid spoilers..
Keep reading if you want a preview of the plot to end all plots to come:
For those who do not want spoilers, look away immediately. The rest of this article will contain heavy spoilers for the Halloween Ends plot. The plot for the film seems to not follow Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis) and Allyson. Instead, a new character emerges named Corey. Corey is being bullied by the neighborhood kids when he stumbles across a very weak and injured Michael Myers. Myers is hiding from the citizens who attempted to kill him in Halloween Kills. Corey then takes the masks and becomes the pseudo Michael Myers. He goes after those who have bullied him, and presumably against others who have wronged him in some way. The test screenings for the film have naturally been bad because of this odd direction the final film is taking. We would agree that going off script for the final film in the trilogy is certainly not the way to go.
Please! Please! Please! Let’s hope that this surprising end does not hint at yet another sequel!Please! Please! Please! Let’s hope that this surprising end does not hint at yet another sequel!
Nick Castle told the crowd at Steel City Con (via ComicBook.com), “My good friend James Jude Courtney, he’s doing 99% of the work in the last three movies as Michael Myers and doing a wonderful job I think. I just saw he was over at the editing room where they’re completing the first cut of Halloween Ends with David Gordon Green, of course, as the steward of the ship.”
“It sounds like it should be pretty good,” Castle continues. “I do a little cameo in this new one. We’ll have the end of at least the David Gordon Green version of Halloween. I think there might be more because of all the success of this [trilogy], but [Green] will have a very surprising storyline… ending for everyone. It’s absolutely something I don’t think you would have ever guessed in terms of the way it’s going to unroll.”
Unless it is a musical number in which Freddy, Jason, and the Chucky doll all unite with Michael Myers to sing a Broadway style goodbye, it seems unlikely that anything could surprise us at this point about Halloween.. thoughts ?
