EXCLUSIVE HORRORBID INTERVIEW:Think your a fan of HalloweeN? Do you have the greatest masks out there or the best costume in the world? Well your missing one thing that no other collector has......an exact scale replica of the real world Myers house from John Carpenter's HalloweeN. Who would be so dedicated to take on a project this big? Enter Kenny Caperton of North Carolina. Kenny started this project with a dream, to own the actual Myers house and that is what he is working to finish really soon. Lets go Behind the Mask with Kenny to see what this dream project is all about....
First off Kenny can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how your obsession for horror got started?My name is Kenny Caperton, I’m 27 years old, I like “Sassy Sour” jelly belly jellybeans and butchering people on Halloween night! ...I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a BA in Multimedia Arts & Sciences and a minor in Art / Photography. I currently work full-time at a local printing company in Raleigh NC and part-time as a graphic / web-designer for Sheri Moon & Rob Zombie. My favorite band is The Smashing Pumpkins and my favorite movie is John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN.
I’ve been a fan of Horror since I was a little kid …most children had a favorite blanket or stuffed animal—I had a Dracula doll. My favorite holiday has always been Halloween, and I’ve been watching horror films for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching the 80s slasher flicks and I’ve been obsessed with horror ever since.
Obviously John Carpenter's HalloweeN the movie means a great deal to you. What led to your love of the film? I can remember watching John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN every October around Halloween time and getting so scared at the scene where little Tommy Doyle looks out the window and sees Michael Myers standing across the street starring right at him …that scene was and still is so scary to me. My mom now recalls that I would stay up late and watch HALLOWEEN every time it came on television. So it’s just something that has stuck with me my entire life and brings back great memories of my childhood. I think of all the good times I shared with my friends and family. So building this house means a great deal to me. I will be living in something that has always been very close to my heart.
How has Halloween the holiday influenced your love for horror?The holiday and just the fall season in general play a huge part in why I love the Horror genre so much, and specifically in why I love HALLOWEEN in particular. I have always been fascinated by all things Halloween. I love the feel, the look, the colors, the smell …everything. The neighborhood where I grew up was a goldmine for Trick-or-Treaters. On Halloween night my friends and I would get so much candy we had to empty our bags half way around the block. And now I’ll be living in the town’s spook house, so kids can come trick-or-treating to my house and I can scare the hell out of them!
How did the Myers House project get started? Did you wake up one day and say I must build the house?I’ve said for years that if I could pick any house in the world to live in, it would be the original Myers House from John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN. But the crazy idea to actually build the house came to me in 2007 after I went to Hollywood to attend the world premiere screening of Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN and visited the original house in South Pasadena again. After returning home and looking through my photos of the trip I started thinking about the house a lot. My girlfriend Emily and I were saving up money at the time to by a house locally in North Carolina, and then it hit me – maybe I could just build the Myers House to live in …and in the next 5 minutes I was on the phone with the Pasadena City Plan office trying to find blueprints.
How much time and effort has gone into the project?I’ve been killing myself everyday for over a year to make this dream come true. HE WILL COME HOME TO NORTH CAROLINA!
What did your family say when you started the project?Well I didn’t tell my parents I was building a house until after we purchased the land, because I didn’t want to worry them with all of the contractual bullshit that we were going through at the time. But I eventually told them, and they totally weren’t surprised that I would do something like this and are just happy that I’m building a home for myself at such an early age – they drive 3 hours almost every weekend to help us out with the house. My close friends know I’m crazy and aren’t surprised that I’m doing this either – they are all just really happy for me and think it’s the ultimate perfect house for me to live in.
When should the house be complete?We were hoping to be all moved in by the end of January 2009, but it looks like our kitchen cabinets and a couple other things might hold us back a little bit, so now it’s looking more like early February.
Will you use this house as a museum or will this be an actual live in residence?I do own quite a bit of horror memorabilia and Rob Zombie has given me a couple really cool props from his remake, so there will be a museum-like feel to parts of the house, but myself, my girlfriend Emily, and our 2 cats (Siva & Loki) will actually be living in the house. And that was one of our biggest struggles in building this house – trying to re-create a turn of the century house that was built in 1888 with absolutely no modern amenities into a functional livable home. So we had to change a bunch of the interior space from the original layout, while trying to keep as much of the house’s original integrity as we possibly could to make everything work.
How has the community responded with this project? How has the community embraced this idea of a full size replica Myers house?The Myers House NC is located in the middle of nowhere Hillsborough on over 5 acres of land that’s surrounded by woods and country farmland, so it’s kinda hard to find and out of the way from the general public. But the word is definitely spreading fast throughout the community and everyone has been totally supportive so far and thinks it’s really cool - they even put us on the front page of our local newspaper this past HALLOWEEN! Check out the article at the following link:
http://www.myershousenc.com/blog/index.htmReflecting back what have you learned about yourself and the film throughout this process?Well I have learned every fucking teeny tiny detail that has to do with the Myers House, I can tell you that! …but honestly, as lame as it might sound, if you put your mind and heart completely into something and work really hard, you can make dreams come true. Even if it takes 15 years - you can climb gates, wander around in the rain, steal a car and make things happen!
What other projects if any do you have planned in the future?Well at this point I just want to finish building the house, moved in, relax, and have a Halloweenathon. But I am really looking forward to Halloween 2009 at the house. I’m definitely going to have a Halloween bash next year, with a big screen showing of HALLOWEEN in the front yard! And throughout this year I’m going to host a bunch of smaller events at the house like movie watching get-togethers, camp outs, open houses, etc. So if anyone is interested in visiting the house, just check out MYERSHOUSENC.COM for all of the details.
I really want fans to come check out the house. I didn’t just build this house for myself - there are a bunch of people from all over the world that love this movie as much as I do and I want to share this with them. LONG LIVE THE BOOGEYMAN!
Thanks, KC
Here are a few pics of Kenny and his house....
Kenny and his Wife
a giant thanks goes out to Kenny and his wife for doing this interview!
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