1. Cut 1 (0:27)
2. Cut 2 (0:25)
3. Cut 3 Review Spot (0:28)
Three decades later, John Carpenter's Halloween still tops lists as the scariest American movie ever made. Back in 1979, however, it was just another low-budget horror movie trying to make a few bucks at the box office.
This 45 was sent out by Compass International Pictures and no doubt turned into carts for easy airplay. Carts, for those who don't know, were similar in appearance to 8-track cassettes with around a minute of recording time. A DJ could load several into a cart machine, press a single button and have an entire break's worth of commercials play out. Since the tape was on a small loop, the spot would be ready to play again as soon as it ended.
Cut 3 is the interesting track here, as the high-profile reviews put this late in the box-office marketing cycle. American cinema was being forever changed by Francis Ford Coppola's concept of the blockbuster--a film that opened simultaneously throughout the country. Prior to that, films were released on a regional basis. Movie prints were expensive to make, particularly for low-budget productions, so a few would be struck, tested in major markets, and then hand-carried to the next town. If a film got big enough, they'd make more prints.
During the early days of Halloween's release, little more than newspaper ads were affordable. As the film's reputation grew, so did the marketing budget. Halloween premiered in 1978, but the Roger Ebert review quoted in Cut 3 wasn't written until October 1979.
For those who love a scare, Halloween is a must for your viewing list. Anchor Bay has been dipping into the vaults with this one for years, producing at least seven different versions, including the latest release on Blu-ray. My personal favorite is the Extended Edition, which restores footage shot a year later so that NBC could air the movie in prime time. It's worth seeking out either on the original two-DVD release (long out of print) or in the 2008 box set.
EDIT: Third time is the charm. Cut 3 is working now.
Following our masthead slogan, "All the nits there are to pick"...
Radio cart machines are (were) 2-track stereo, using (then) standard 1/4-inch tape.
I know because I've got boxes full of them, yonked from the last radio station I worked at during its Gotterdammerung period. I've had an eBay search for "cart machine" going for a couple of years, but I've never seen one come up. So they sit there, mute in their two-trackiness.
Posted by: woid | October 29, 2008 at 03:00 PM
For the sake of Wikipedianesque accuracy, it's probably better to say "similar to 8-tracks." Same tape-loop technology, different application.
I've seen several different recording lengths on carts as well, ranging from just over 30 seconds to as much as five minutes.
Posted by: Hear It Wow | October 29, 2008 at 03:15 PM
I've seen carts that were even longer. In the early '90s, I used to fill in occasionally at KTRU in Houston, and we had a cart that I swear must've been ten or fifteen minutes at least. If we are to be even more technically specific, however, it is probably better to say "similar to Stereo 8 cartridges," so as to distinguish from 8-track multitrack.
Halloween is a classic, but I've always preferred The Thing. Let's hope Rob Zombie doesn't ruin that one, too.
Posted by: Clayton | October 29, 2008 at 03:40 PM
Cut #3 link is broken.
Posted by: bcolflesh | October 29, 2008 at 04:01 PM
This is awesome, thanks for posting it!
Posted by: Jon P | October 29, 2008 at 04:53 PM
Cut 3 has been fixed. Sorry about that. I was very scared when I put this post together.
Posted by: hearitwow | October 29, 2008 at 05:31 PM
We used to reload the tape in ours at our college radio station. More tape made it more likely to jam or the tape to break. Five minutes was the longest reliable length. You could make a "multi-punch" cart that would stop after a time, so you could put several different versions of a commercial on one tape.
Posted by: Bill V | October 29, 2008 at 05:48 PM
Cut 3 is still not working for me.
Posted by: Clayton | October 29, 2008 at 08:13 PM
To make things more confusing, Anchor Bay currently offers a two-disc edition of Halloween that doesn't include the newer NBC sequences.
Posted by: James | October 29, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Hi - love the first two cuts. But Cut #3 link is broken.
Posted by: Mike | November 01, 2008 at 01:48 PM
Cut 3 is downloadable now. For some reason, it won't load on the auto player, at least for me, but it's there.
Posted by: hearitwow | November 02, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Certainly enjoyed hearing the radio spots for HALLOWEEN, but unfortunately track 3, after several attempts, neither plays nor downloads. What am I doing incorrectly?
Posted by: Greg | November 26, 2008 at 12:51 PM
What's this doing back up here?
The Track 3 link has, at long last, been fixed. That was one scary job.
Posted by: Hear It Wow | November 27, 2008 at 07:00 PM
The greatest non-commercial radio station of all time WREK in ATL used to "feature" the cart machine as DJ, any human was just the board operator.
Posted by: SIV | November 28, 2008 at 01:01 AM
woid - maybe you are looking for something more specific, but at ebay, under "Electronics > Pro Audio & Stage Effects" there are a few cart players and/or recorders, and half a doz have been sold in the last two weeks.
Posted by: anon | November 28, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Much thanks for these movie radio spots. Would be thrilled to have more. The horror/"monster" movie releases had some of the most entertaining of all genres, especially during the 70s. Glad to find any at all, as well as spots for rock music films. Carts were not all that appealing: lesser audio quality (even for that time), noisy in the studio (when a stack of them fell down), and space-consuming in storage.
Posted by: Jim | December 07, 2008 at 08:11 PM