When creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill were drafting Halloween, the first title they gave the project was not anywhere near as marketable or worthy of franchising. The Halloween movies hinge on the morbid holiday as their main selling point, as well as the central demonic figure of Michael Myers. Had Irwin Yablans not stepped in to request a title change, Halloween may never have transformed into a successful franchise.
Indie film producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad approached John Carpenter while watching a screening of his film Assault on Precinct 13 to see if he'd be willing to direct a film about a serial killer who targets babysitters. When Debra Hill and John Carpenter's Halloween first came to conception, the project had the working title The Babysitter Murders. Despite the title linking directly to the prompt Carpenter was given, Yablans implored him to change the title to Halloween and instead have the story center around Halloween night. It was a complete tonal shift from the original concept.
If The Babysitter Murders remained the title for John Carpenter's Halloween, it could have single-handedly ruined the possibility for the movie to kickstart a franchise. The appeal of horror icon Michael Myers' terrifying M.O. is that he does not discriminate when it comes to murder. Carpenter and Hill's hyperspecific original title would have painted the series into a corner by inadvertently requiring that every victim of Michael Myers looks after children for money. Furthermore, having the series not be centered around the holiday Halloween would have made the concept less marketable, and Myers' film may have been categorized by audiences as another by-the-numbers '80s slasher like The Slumber Party Massacre.
Why The Babysitter Murders Wouldn’t Have Become A Franchise Like Halloween
John Carpenter's Halloween was lightning in a bottle when it came out in 1978 and now represents the Golden Age of slasher films. Many creative components made Halloween the legendary franchise it is today, which means the wrong choice made in the first film's pre-production could have easily doomed the series' future. The Babysitter Murders is not an overtly marketable title, but the main issue with it comes in killing Mike Myers' idiosyncratic blankness. Popular slasher franchises focus on a unique killer with a personalized, identifiable trait, such as Freddy Krueger's dream haunting and Chucky's doll possession. While Michael Myers is individualistic as an emotionless and speechless killing machine, the recurring festive Halloween setting is what makes him iconic (and marketable). The final title makes it easier to sell a new Halloween movie every October and continue the Myers saga.
Irwin Yablans' suggestion to change The Babysitter Murders to Halloween may have secured immeasurable longevity for the Halloween franchise due to its perfect marketability. Michael Myers is returning to the big screen again when Halloween Ends ends the franchise (maybe) this October, and he might face true death once and for all – with the franchise's success, though, that seems unlikely. Fortunately, Halloween avoided dooming its franchise by doing away with the film's original title.
