Happy 87th Birthday to the late Moustapha Akkad, savior of Michael Myers!
Piper St. James Timothy Rawles
Happy 87th birthday to executive producer Moustapha Akkad, who is credited behind 8 of the 'Halloween' films. Learn how he helped save Michael Myers here!
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iHorror
Today we would be celebrating producer Moustapha Akkad’s 87th birthday if his life wasn’t tragically taken at a bombing in a hotel lobby in Amman, Jordan. Being born in Syria, Akkad came to the United States in 1950 at 20 years old to study film making at the University of California, and then furthered his education at the University of Southern California.

As a horror fan you may not know who he is, but he was a producer on the first eight Halloween films, and perhaps the saga’s biggest cheerleader. He helped produced the first movie, and then executive produced the following seven. In fact, he was the only person to be involved in all of the first eight films.

His most notable contribution to the horror series, despite funding the original, was keeping it alive. Not just financially afloat, but by understanding what made the first two movies so special and successful. When Halloween 3: Season of the Witch was released it received a major backlash from the audience for not having the masked villain, Michael Myers. Akkad told Fangoria magazine everyone came out of Halloween 3 asking “Where’s Michael?” That is when Akkad made the decision to bring the future films back to what made the first two successful, a real flesh and blood killer.

Unfortunately this is where John Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill parted ways with Akkad. He had rejected their script for the fourth installment, calling it “too cerebral.” He wanted to bring the movie back to its roots. That is when Carpenter and Hill signed the rights over to Akkad and he continued the series as an executive producer, always with the image of what he wanted at the forefront of each movie.

After his passing, Akkad’s son Malek continued his legacy by working on the Halloween series. He began with Halloween: H20 and continued with Halloween: Resurrection, Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 and 2, as well as a rumor of him joining the crew for 2018’s Halloween. Through his son the Akkad name will hopefully always be associated with the saga that he invested so much of his life in.

Watch the video bellow to see Akkad talking about the original Halloween and why he chose to finance it.

Random Fact: Two years after his untimely death Rob Zombie’s Halloween was released, in which Zombie tastefully dedicated to Moustapha Akkad.

’Twisters’ Movie Review

Young psychic medium Tyler Henry is returning to Netflix on September 17 for a new show that is a little bit different than his last ones. Called Live From the Other Side With Tyler Henry, it will contain eight episodes and air at 3 p.m. every Tuesday.

What makes this series unique is — just like the title says — it will be live and 45 minutes in length.

“Not even I could’ve predicted that I’d be doing a live show on Netflix,” Henry told The Hollywood Reporter. “I am super humbled and grateful for the opportunity. I know the skepticism that comes with mediums — and this project will let me lean into that in an honest and unedited way, demonstrating high-stakes readings in real-time. My goal is for this live format to open some minds and change some lives.”

Henry has made himself a name in Hollywood as a psychic to the stars. His show Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry ran for four seasons on E! before switching platforms to Netflix in 2022 for Life After Death with Tyler Henry.

Netflix has been dabbling in pushing more live content. With the success of the Tom Brady Roast and a few comedy specials the streamer is experimenting with that aspect of its business. Still to come this year is the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson fight which will air live on Christmas Day.

’Twisters’ Movie Review

The publicity machines have been in overdrive lately and Strange Darling looks like the next movie to take advantage of that trend. So when the narrator in the trailer says Strange Darling is based on a true serial killer, it may or may not be accurate. But we will say that this one looks like a helluva game of cat-and-mouse.

What we do know for sure is that this is the first film shot by American actor Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar, Gone in 60 Seconds, Saving Private Ryan). This is his feature film debut as a cinematographer.

Strange Darling is directed by JT Moliner and stars Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. It premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2023. “Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.”

It must have impressed audiences because it got a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score based on 15 festival reviews. So tell us what you think. Are you looking forward to this one?

’Twisters’ Movie Review

Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland holds a scary surprise for divers exploring its depths. No, it’s not Jason Voorhees, but it’s still a formidable monster. As you can see in the picture above intrepid swimmers are treated to a 20ft shark with huge, sharp teeth and a menacing grin. It’s as if Bruce from Finding Nemo found a home.

This isn’t a Disney movie though and there is some speculation on how the giant fish got there. It still falls within the realm of entertainment but not the child-friendly kind.

According to LADbible, the monstrosity is a relic from a 1975 movie that never got finished. Given the timeline, we would imagine that the film was about a man-eating shark, perhaps a Swiss version of Jaws.

Although it can’t be confirmed, internet sleuths speculate that the film was called Choc au Lac! That theory makes sense because the film was about a shark terrorizing a small town.

It’s believed since the movie wasn’t completed for whatever reason, the filmmakers decided to throw the shark into the lake as a kind of prank to spook unsuspecting divers.

Some believe that it was put there as a tourist attraction. Either way, underwater explorers have been visiting the statute, unironically nicknamed “Bruce,” ever since. LADbible says the prop has been at the bottom of the lake since 2002, but according to Tumblr, it’s 2007.

With so much conflicting information it’s hard to tell where or when Bruce swam to the bottom of the lake, but divers don’t seem to mind the reason as they continue to visit the fiberglass fish at the bottom of Lake Neuchâtel.

’Twisters’ Movie Review