In an attempt to reignite the diminishing flames of the Halloween spirit, this November we decided to monitor The Spirit of Haddonfield. Written and directed by lifelong Halloween fan Rene Rivas, The Spirit of Haddonfield is a fan made short which pays tribute to the 1978 classic slasher. Find out how terrifyingly accurate this film portrayed Michael Myers. How will the scares compare to those in John Carpenters original?
Synopsis:
The Spirit of Haddonfield follows a young high school senior, Hannah, as she struggles to survive the relentlessly driven attacks of none other than Michael Myers on the night of Halloween. As Myers owns his familiar domain of the cat and mouse game Hannah is forced to face her fear and draw upon the depth of her inner strength to survive the night.
Test Subject: Leah
Age : 35
Gender: Female
Fears: Strangers
Resting HR: 62-65 bpm
Walking HR: 80-85 bpm
ANALYSIS:
Beautiful autumn imagery painted the landscape in the opening of the film. A sense of dread began to build as the main character strolled through the familiar streets of Haddonfield. This anticipation of impending horror gradually lifted our subject’s heart rate above her resting average. The initial confrontation between the lead actress and her stalker was poised to bring a major rise in our subjects vitals. Unfortunately, we monitored the film on YouTube and an ad placement killed the jolt. This skewed what could have been a much higher spike. But there was more fear to come as new heart racing chase scenes raised her pulse to her walking average. Fans of the original film will recognize the popular bedroom scene responsible for our subjects peak 81bpm at 12:45. This terrifying piece of filmmaking worked on our subject’s nerves in both this movie and the original.
CONCLUSION:
While our subject’s heart rate didn’t reach the same heightened numbers as the 1978 Halloween film, the slow building tension and anxiety climbed in a similar manner. The scene mentioned in the analysis saw a 91bpm spike in the original whereas, the same moment produced a peak of 81bpm in this short. That’s a terrific accomplishment to achieve in a quarter of the runtime.
This passion project from the dedicated team at Rene Rivas Productions produced the October vibes our subject needed to rekindle the Halloween spirit. She was able to burn off 35 calories which will be helpful as we head towards Thanksgiving.
Be sure to check out the heart racing fan made film here!
The Spirit of Haddonfield: Burns an average of 35 Calories
One Slice of Pumpkin Bread: 179 Calories
