Shock Value: The Movie—How Dan O’Bannon and Some USC Outsiders Helped Invent Modern Horror

Presented by USC archivist Dino Everett & author Jason Zinoman

For this unique feature-length compilation, archivist Dino Everett has assembled the student-film work of Dan O’Bannon, John Carpenter, and others who helped redefine the horror genre in the ’70s, to demonstrate that USC was a hotbed of genre filmmaking. Featuring recently uncovered and previously unseen student films by O’Bannon, Carpenter, and classmates Terence Winkless (co-writer of The Howling), Alec Lorimore (an Oscar-nominated documentary producer), and Charles Adair (co-writer of Bleeders). The highlight is Winkless and Lorimore’s 1971 15-minute short Judson’s Release (aka Foster’s Release), starring O’Bannon as a killer, which became the blueprint for Halloween.

The compilation also includes:
The Demon (Charles Adair, 1970, 19m) A woman left alone in a desert home begins to feel she is being watched.
Good Morning Dan (Dan O’Bannon, 1968, 19m) Set in what was then the distant future of 2006, an old man reminisces on his days back at USC.
Captain Voyeur (John Carpenter, 1969, 7m) A dull office worker transforms into a costumed peeping tom at night.
Blood Bath (Dan O’Bannon, 1969/1976, 8m) A slovenly young man commits suicide out of curiosity and boredom. O’Bannon expanded his 1969 short while working on Star Wars, making it slightly longer and giving it a blood-red tint.