I'm always involved with casting my movies. I have final word on it.

Horror stories have always worked on film. It's where they work. That's where vampires and ghosts and UFOs are real. They're not particularly real in life, but they're real on the screen. It's the communal aspect of movie-watching.

Halloween put me on the map, and I'm very sad to hear of his death.

You have to fight really hard for a private life, and sometimes you don't have one. It just gets to you after a while. It's tough.

I stopped directing in 2001 for - oh, damn - four or five years, until I did the TV series 'Masters Of Horror.' I had been working steadily as a director since 1970. That's a long time. I was burned out.

I'm always involved with casting my movies. I have final word on it.

I can play just about any keyboard but I can't read or write a note.