'Monsterfest' returns on AMC with nonstop horror leading up to Halloween

~ Annual festival of fright films enters 10th year.

NEW YORK -- The toughest part about making a truly frightening film, according to director John Carpenter, is keeping a straight face.

"The movies that are the most fun are horror movies -- you laugh a lot, they're fun," says Carpenter, who should know -- his resume of terror includes classics "Halloween" with Jamie Lee Curtis, "The Fog" with ex-wife Adrienne Barbeau and "Vampires" with James Woods.

The director might be smiling, but the audience at a good horror flick is cringing, or gasping, or covering their eyes. Horror fans get a chance to do all three, over and over and over, when the 10th annual "Monsterfest" arrives Sunday on AMC.

The 24-hour-a-day, nonstop festival of fright runs through Halloween and covers more than 70 years of horror, from 1931's "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" through 2003's "Gothika" -- more than 230 hours of films over 10 days. Three horror films will make their "Monsterfest" debuts: "The Exorcist," "The Lost Boys" and "Wolfen."

Carpenter, whose work outside the horror genre included "Starman" with Jeff Bridges, the original "Assault on Precinct 13" and the Kurt Russell vehicle "Escape From New York," is a fright film aficionado.

His favorites include old Roger Corman classics like "It Conquered the World," along with movies such as "Bride of Frankenstein." Although a fan of early monster movies, he believes the modern horror movie began in 1960 with Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."

"Before then, there was a lot of Gothic horror -- monsters, like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy," Carpenter said. "'Psycho' was modern, deliciously directed, with well thought-out scenes."

'Halloween' classic

It was that sensibility that Carpenter wanted to bring to his low-budget "Halloween." Made in 1978 on a budget of $320,000, the film grossed an estimated $55 million and spawned an assortment of sequels.

On Oct. 31, AMC will air all five "Halloween" movies along with "Backstory: Halloween," a behind-the-scenes look at Carpenter's classic original with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. Among the fun facts revealed: the mask sported by murderous Michael Myers was a Captain Kirk mask, covered in white spray paint.

This is not Carpenter's first association with "Monsterfest". Four years ago, he worked as host for a series of horror shorts that aired during the marathon. Back in 1999, his role was as a fan: Carpenter fondly remembers Corman hosting that edition, with his fellow moviemaker presenting works like "A Bucket of Blood" and "The Masque of the Red Death."

Sequels will abound during the festival: in addition to "The Exorcist," the lineup includes "Exorcist II: The Heretic" and "Exorcist III," along with "Psycho II" and various entries from the "Friday the 13th" franchise.

Carpenter was once against sequels, but his attitude has changed over time.

"The sequels are made, with or without you," he said. "You just think, 'Go on without me,' and accept whatever check they offer."

Rocker/filmmaker Rob Zombie is doing his own version of "Halloween," and Carpenter is fine with that. The pair met a decade ago, and Zombie called Carpenter before going ahead with the project.

"He wants to focus on the killer as a young kid, what he went through before he was put away," Carpenter said. "I said, 'Make it your own movie.' Don't worry about anybody else, just make it yours."'

And have a good time doing it. The topic reminds Carpenter of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," which the movie maker sees as a combination of merriment and mayhem.

"The first one was funny and fabulous," said Carpenter, who was no fan of subsequent remakes and sequels. "Nothing quite recaptured the spirit, the glee of the first one. (Director) Tobe (Hooper) had this glee that I really responded to."

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