Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake is controversial for its take on John Carpenter’s classic 1978 slasher film, most notably for it’s brutal, over-the-top gore, language, and sexuality. The infamous remake has more than one dark secret, but one that audiences would most likely never expect is that it shared a filming location with the cult 90’s TV series, My So-Called Life.
My So-Called Life is a teen drama television series that ran for just one season on ABC from 1994 to 1995. The series is famous for ending in a cliff-hanger, as it was expecting to be picked up for a second season. However, it ended up being canceled. The show follows the lives and emotional challenges of several teenagers, centering around the main character, Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes (Homeland).
Both Halloween and My So-Called Life were filmed largely in southern California, specifically Pasadena, which is most likely how they ended up sharing a filming location. However, it is interesting to note how the home appears, given the amount of time that passed between, and exactly how it was used in two very different projects.
The Myers House vs The Chase House
The house, which is located at 1110 Glendon Way in Pasadena, California served as Michael Myers’ childhood home in the beginning of Rob Zombie’s Halloween, as well as Angela Chase’s home in My So-Called Life filmed in 1994. In My So-Called Life, Angela Chase’s home is seen from both the inside and outside, but only the outdoor shots are of the home on Glendon Way. The interior shots are, instead, a set that was modeled after the home used as a stand-in for the pilot episode of the show, which is actually located at 1025 South Madison Avenue in Pasadena.
However, it’s not only the exterior shots of the house that are used in My So-Called Life. The house where Brian Krakow, played by Devon Gummersall (Nashville), lived is located just across the street and two properties south of the Chase home, and the home across the street from the Chase home, seen in the background of many episodes is the actual house across the street on Glendon Way. In Halloween, the home on Glendon Way serves as the home of young Michael Myers, played by Daeg Faerch (Hancock, Pushing Daisies), in which he lives with his mother and her boyfriend, as well as his two sisters. The exterior of the home is shown both in good condition when Michael Myers is young and as a broken-down abandoned home down the street from the Strode house, when the main portion of the story takes place.
In addition to the exterior shots of the home used in Halloween, the Glendon Way house is also used for shots in the living room and foyer, while shots in the basement, bathroom, and bedrooms are of a different house entirely, located at 2218 South Harvard Boulevard in Los Angeles. The house on Glendon Way is actually owned by the city of Pasadena, and appears to be mostly unchanged from both productions, though was obviously fixed up after being used as the decrepit Myers house. It’s since been painted a dark green, but is otherwise the same as in both works. Most of the locations from both Halloween and My So-Called Life remain in areas of Southern California and can be visited today, at least from the outside.