October 25, 1978
The Night HE Came Home...
My anticipation for HALLOWEEN was quite high. I had already become a John Carpenter fanatic by having witnessed ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 at the local drive-in. I had no doubt that his new film would be of the same caliber. And, of course, I wasn’t wrong.
But this isn’t a tale about my love for John Carpenter. Instead, it’s a romantic story about the first date with my wife.
When I first met my wife, she was working as a desk clerk at one of the local hotels. To be exact, it was the Best Western. She had returned to our quaint little hometown after a successful gig as a publicist for a popular 1970s rock band. Why she ever quit such a sweet job is beyond me, but there she was. The first time I saw her, it was love at first sight. I didn’t know if she’d ever feel the same way about me, but I had to take the chance. You always know that feeling when it hits your gut.
To say I was a bit scared is an understatement. I was terrified of asking her out. Not only did I think she was beautiful, but she was nine years older than me. What would a mature woman want with a kid? Well, I mustered up the courage and managed to ask her out. When she said “yes,” my heart did a flip-flop. This couldn’t be true! But there it was. She had agreed to a date with me, and my excitement boiled over.
And what was that first date?
Why, of course, it was to go see HALLOWEEN.
My wife has never been a fan of horror films. Sure, she’ll watch them at home with me, and occasionally venture out to the theater to see them, but she’s never had the passion for them like I have. Of course, she’s allowed me to decorate most of our home with my Universal Monsters memorabilia (at her own suggestion), but a love for the genre has always seemed to evade her.
This never stopped my love for her, though.
But I digress...
I remember this night fondly. We’d had a torrential downpour during the afternoon, and it turned the town and city streets wet. The leaves had all fallen from the trees, and there was a crispness to the air. You know that scent. My parents had a jack-o-lantern sitting on their front porch, and there was an assortment of holiday fear masking the surroundings. However, my wife, who lived in an apartment, didn’t decorate for Halloween. There wasn’t a pumpkin or plastic skeleton to be found in her joint! I was a bit disheartened by this, but it didn’t stop my love for her.
We bundled up to fight the chill and made our way out to my car. Now here’s where things get a bit weird. At the time, I was driving a hearse. Yeah, you read that right. I’d traded in my Charger and got myself a nifty hearse to drive around town. At the time, I had never given much consideration to it being a turn-off for my wife. And thankfully, that wasn’t the case. In fact, she laughed at the idea of me driving it around. It didn’t stop her from getting in when I opened the door for her, and that was a big relief. I could imagine some people being creeped out by the thought of cruising around in a vehicle that was the last ride for a lot of folks, but my wife took it in stride.
The movie theater was in the next town (at the time, my own little burg only had a drive-in), and it took about twenty minutes to get there. It was simply called the Cinema, and closed down in the late nineties. It’s now a storage facility. How sad.
There wasn’t a long line to get into the theater, but the auditorium was packed. And when the film started, you could feel the atmosphere in the place radically change. A little while ago I posted a YouTube video on The Bodycount Continues forum showing the reaction of a 1978 audience to HALLOWEEN. The same could be said of the virgin audience I saw it with.
At this particular time, the slasher film had yet to bloom. The knowledge of its tired cycle was fresh on this crowd, and there were screams and manic laughter throughout the film. I’d wager to bet that most (if not all) of the people in attendance had never seen BLACK CHRISTMAS and, of course, we were still two years away from FRIDAY THE 13th. It was the perfect time to be a horror fan, and I was born a slasher enthusiast from the first night I saw HALLOWEEN.
My date ended with my wife, but we promised to see each other again. I went back to see HALLOWEEN a few more times on its initial run. And my desire for John Carpenter and slasher films rose ever higher. Like the love I share for my wife, it’s never abated in the years since 1978.
To end this romantic tale on a positive note, my wife and I were married on Christmas Eve, 1978. We had a very short courtship. And the love between us had never abated. To this day, on Halloween, we always pull out John Carpenter’s classic and give it a watch (usually along with HALLOWEEN II) and reminisce about that first date so many years ago.
Since then, my wife has never looked back... And neither have I.
Written by Trever Palmer
The Night HE Came Home...
My anticipation for HALLOWEEN was quite high. I had already become a John Carpenter fanatic by having witnessed ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 at the local drive-in. I had no doubt that his new film would be of the same caliber. And, of course, I wasn’t wrong.
But this isn’t a tale about my love for John Carpenter. Instead, it’s a romantic story about the first date with my wife.
When I first met my wife, she was working as a desk clerk at one of the local hotels. To be exact, it was the Best Western. She had returned to our quaint little hometown after a successful gig as a publicist for a popular 1970s rock band. Why she ever quit such a sweet job is beyond me, but there she was. The first time I saw her, it was love at first sight. I didn’t know if she’d ever feel the same way about me, but I had to take the chance. You always know that feeling when it hits your gut.
To say I was a bit scared is an understatement. I was terrified of asking her out. Not only did I think she was beautiful, but she was nine years older than me. What would a mature woman want with a kid? Well, I mustered up the courage and managed to ask her out. When she said “yes,” my heart did a flip-flop. This couldn’t be true! But there it was. She had agreed to a date with me, and my excitement boiled over.
And what was that first date?
Why, of course, it was to go see HALLOWEEN.
My wife has never been a fan of horror films. Sure, she’ll watch them at home with me, and occasionally venture out to the theater to see them, but she’s never had the passion for them like I have. Of course, she’s allowed me to decorate most of our home with my Universal Monsters memorabilia (at her own suggestion), but a love for the genre has always seemed to evade her.
This never stopped my love for her, though.
But I digress...
I remember this night fondly. We’d had a torrential downpour during the afternoon, and it turned the town and city streets wet. The leaves had all fallen from the trees, and there was a crispness to the air. You know that scent. My parents had a jack-o-lantern sitting on their front porch, and there was an assortment of holiday fear masking the surroundings. However, my wife, who lived in an apartment, didn’t decorate for Halloween. There wasn’t a pumpkin or plastic skeleton to be found in her joint! I was a bit disheartened by this, but it didn’t stop my love for her.
We bundled up to fight the chill and made our way out to my car. Now here’s where things get a bit weird. At the time, I was driving a hearse. Yeah, you read that right. I’d traded in my Charger and got myself a nifty hearse to drive around town. At the time, I had never given much consideration to it being a turn-off for my wife. And thankfully, that wasn’t the case. In fact, she laughed at the idea of me driving it around. It didn’t stop her from getting in when I opened the door for her, and that was a big relief. I could imagine some people being creeped out by the thought of cruising around in a vehicle that was the last ride for a lot of folks, but my wife took it in stride.
The movie theater was in the next town (at the time, my own little burg only had a drive-in), and it took about twenty minutes to get there. It was simply called the Cinema, and closed down in the late nineties. It’s now a storage facility. How sad.
There wasn’t a long line to get into the theater, but the auditorium was packed. And when the film started, you could feel the atmosphere in the place radically change. A little while ago I posted a YouTube video on The Bodycount Continues forum showing the reaction of a 1978 audience to HALLOWEEN. The same could be said of the virgin audience I saw it with.
At this particular time, the slasher film had yet to bloom. The knowledge of its tired cycle was fresh on this crowd, and there were screams and manic laughter throughout the film. I’d wager to bet that most (if not all) of the people in attendance had never seen BLACK CHRISTMAS and, of course, we were still two years away from FRIDAY THE 13th. It was the perfect time to be a horror fan, and I was born a slasher enthusiast from the first night I saw HALLOWEEN.
My date ended with my wife, but we promised to see each other again. I went back to see HALLOWEEN a few more times on its initial run. And my desire for John Carpenter and slasher films rose ever higher. Like the love I share for my wife, it’s never abated in the years since 1978.
To end this romantic tale on a positive note, my wife and I were married on Christmas Eve, 1978. We had a very short courtship. And the love between us had never abated. To this day, on Halloween, we always pull out John Carpenter’s classic and give it a watch (usually along with HALLOWEEN II) and reminisce about that first date so many years ago.
Since then, my wife has never looked back... And neither have I.
Written by Trever Palmer
The author does not allow comments to this entry
No comments