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The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 27

Publication:
The Pantagraphi
Location:
Bloomington, Illinois
Issue Date:
Page:
27
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

A. The Rise of Cobra' THURSDAY, August 13, 2009 Your weekly guide to things to do, whether staying in or going out. The Pantagraph OK, it's seriously deficient in plot or acting. But in this genre, those two ingredients areas si inerfliirn Kas rannp; in a ripsprt Page 03 Dan Craft 1 nt OaffftKntfbQfflJWffi' amnftpttHiiitftfitm, d)MBR)'(jftiIHPtt!) odDtainm I 1 Dimension FilmsMARSHA LAMARCA Tyler Mane stars as masked serial killer Michael Myers in "Halloween II," the latest in the lineup of "Halloween" movies that hold a fictional link to Central Illinois. It's set for release Aug.

28. "Halloween" 101 A quick look at the films and geography of the "Halloween" series, which has grossed more than $300 million, according to The Numbers box office Web site: "Halloween" (1978) I At age 10, Michael Myers kills his sister in Haddonfield, III. He escapes 15 years later and goes after a baby-sitter and her friends. I Filmed in California. License plates and mountain ranges sort of give it away.

"Halloween 2" (1981) I Myers attacks the baby-sitter, Laurie Strode, at the hospital. She's revealed to be his other sister. I Haddonfield is big enough to have multiple media ri By Ryan Denham rdenhamtapantagraph.com HADDONFIELD Tucked between Pontiac and Dwight along Interstate 55 is one of the best-kept secrets in Livingston County. schools, a college and a country club. The police and hospital are always hiring.

And, for 364 days a year, you've got a really good chance of not being slaughtered by a masked, seemingly immortal serial killer who has eluded capture for three decades. This is Haddonfield, 111. the fictional Livingston County home of "Halloween," a 10-film horror franchise anchored by every baby-sitter's worst nightmare: Michael Myers. Rob Zombie's sequel to his 2007 "Halloween" reboot opens Aug. 28.

The "Halloween" franchise's lore is complicated, debated endlessly by fans online and full of head-scratching inconsistencies. At its high point, director John Carpenter's original 1978 film changed horror movies forever. A 2002 sequel with a kung-fu fight between rapper Busta Rhymes and Myers is almost certainly the.low point. Yet the Livingston County connection is generally considered part of the "Halloween" canon, even though the films were shot elsewhere. A map featured prominently in the sixth film shows Lincoln, Funks Grove, Bloomington, Pontiac and Haddonfield on the Interstate 55 corridor.

"Livingstrom County" is seen on the side of a coroner's vehicle in a trailer for Zombie's sequel. Between N.J. and Kentucky This connection didn't exist in the original vision of Carpenter and his co-writer and producing partner, SEE HALLOWEEN PAGE D6 The one movie that got away We guess it's apt that the man who produced "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" and the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" called it a wrap on one of the locations used for those hits of a decade past: Manhattan's Central Park. Never mind that his best movies were all locatedfilmed in his home state of Illinois. John Hughes was older than we imagined him (59) but, at the same time, too young (59).

At least too young to check out during a stroll through a park he'd used as a key set in a couple movies. As far as the older part goes, Hughes is forever stalled in our imagination as the easygoing guy in his 30s who shrewdly tapped into the experience of being a teen during the '80s, never mind that his own adolescence had occurred in the late '60s. The universality of being a 16 -year-old in love, or in high school, or in both, was his uncontested province. We were in the vicinity of the direc -tor's fateful passing a week or so ago during a New England vacation. Hughes, of Illinois, too, was also on a getaway, visiting relatives.

The thought of dying far away from your moorings always strikes us as unbearably moving. And being on vacation, away from home, reinforces that sensation. We still recall the day we heard the news flash informing us that Cary Grant the epitome of Old Hollywood urbanity had died in the Quad Cities on a dreary November day. A silver screen deity of Grant's stature deserved a better location for his sendof even if he did spend a chunk of one of his key credits, "North by Northwest," racing through IndianaIllinois with Hitchcock at his tail. Our kinship with Hughes derives mainly from the long-held conviction that he's the only genuine filmmaking "auteur" that the state of Illinois has ever produced and, more importantly, held onto.

Though born in Lansing, Mich. Hughes' formative years were played out in suburban comfort along Chicago's North Shore, the setting for most of his Brat Pack forays Candles," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," "The Breakfast Club," He never forsook those roots, and carved out his niche gauging the various levels of adolescent angst in the middle-class Midwestern mode, with occasional side trips into the post-adolescent orbit of John Candy Buck," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," "The Great Outdoors," We always wondered if the made-in-Pontiac "Grandview, U.S.A." unlamented subject of last week's column would have turned out any truer had Hughes been at the controls instead of wrong-way SoCal visitor Randal Kleiser, is the word 'nuf said). We submit that, yes, he'd have wrangled something marginally timeless out of it, even while turning up in Pontiac packing those North Shore silver spoons. His non-Brat Pack masterpiece, "Planes, Trains," ventured as far south of Chicago as he ever stepped and included some second-unit footage snared along 1-55 hereabouts. Hughes eventually retreated from directing into writing -producing.

And his later credits grew increasingly shrill and pre -adolescent Alone," "Curly Sue," "Baby's Day Out," "Dennis the Menace," He eventually turned into the equivalent of that other filmmaking Hughes, first name Howard, by retiring into enigmatic reclusion and, we're told, a mysterious second life as a gentleman Illinois farmer. From "Pretty In Pink" to knee-deep in hay? Now that we think of it, yes, indeed: "Grandview, U.S.A." is the Hughes movie that got away. Dan Craft is Pantagraph entertainment editor. He can be reached at (309) 829-9000, Ext. 259 or via e-mail at dcraftpantagraph.com outlets, a hospital and a country club.

"Halloween 3: Season of the Witch" (1983) I The only film in the series to not involve the -Myers storyline. "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) I Laurie's goes after her young daughter, Jamie, who happens to live in Haddonfield. I Interstate sign says Haddonfield is 200 miles from Chicago. "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael I Myers goes after Jamie again. "Halloween 2" (2009) "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" (1995) I Myers goes after Jamie's child and the people who live in his house, which inexplicably is still standing.

A map places Haddonfield right on top of Odell in Livingston County. "Halloween H20" (1998) I Laurie's not dead. She's living under an assumed name in California. Myers goes on his first cross-country drive. "Halloween: Resurrection" (2002) I Laurie's dead.

Bunch of stupid twentysomethings visit Myers' house for a Webcast. -I Haddonfield University appears. "Halloween" (2007) I Rob Zombie's reboot of the series explores Myers' troubled childhood. I Most accurate depiction of late October weather in Central Illinois. Filmed in California.

"Halloween 2" (2009) I Myers goes after young Laurie Strode I The "Livingstrom County coroner" transports body. Filmed in Georgia and Connecticut." In a screen shot taken from the "Halloween II" trailer, a "Livingstrom County" coroner's vehicle is involved in a crash. if ing Places GO! fopsy-turvy GO! urggh! The final weekend of Prairie Fire Or do you prefer Whichever, the grunts 'n' groans will be in ample reserve attheWWERaw Live Theatre's Gilbert Sullivan rarity, "The Gondoliers," hits the canals Friday through Sunday in IWU's Westbrook Auditorium. You dude Am Whichever, you'll be right at home at the Normal Theater's 2-part Looney Tunes Hall of Fame cartoon fests, tonight and Friday (part -1), and Saturday and Sunday (part 2). GO! fall but not down, please.

We're talking going autumn, baby, at the premature LeRoy Fall Festival tonight through Saturday, complete with a big Brady Seals concert at 7 p.m. Saturday. GOScruisin' Take your downtown pick there's two this weekend: a Railsplitter Antique Auto Club spin from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday in Lincoln, and a Pontiac Cruise Night, from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday in Pontiac.

Summerslam Tour hitting Peoria's Civic Center Arena with a sucker-punch at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. GO! crackers Polly not only wants a cracker, she desperately craves your attention and attendance at the Miller Park Zoo's parrot show, at 2 Guy bonding, the hetero kind, is at the big slobby heart of "I Love You, Man," the hit Paul Rudd-Jason Segal comedy about a groom's search for best man, arriving on DVD this 4 hiS li week 1 GO! Looney (as in tunes) Or, if you prefer, Daffy (as in Duck). p.m. Saturday.

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Pages Available:
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Years Available:
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