Irwin Yablans (born July 25, 1934) is an American independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

industry. His brother, Frank Yablans, was also a producer.

Life and career

Yablans was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. In 1976, he formed Compass International Pictures with Joseph Wolf, and served as its President.

Movie career

He produced films that included ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

'' (1978), ''

Tourist Trap A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souvenir ...

'' (1979), ''

Roller Boogie ''Roller Boogie'' is a 1979 American romantic musical drama film starring Linda Blair and Jim Bray, a former competitive artistic skater from California. The film also stars Beverly Garland, Mark Goddard and Kimberly Beck, and is directed by M ...

'' (1979), '' Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula'' (1979), '' Halloween II'' (1981), ''

Hell Night ''Hell Night'' is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Tom DeSimone, written by Randy Feldman, and starring Linda Blair. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing set in an old manor, during which a deformed killer terrorizes and mur ...

'' (1981), ''

Blood Beach ''Blood Beach'' is a 1981 American horror film written and directed by Jeffrey Bloom and starring David Huffman, John Saxon, and Burt Young. The premise, conceived by Steven Nalevansky, involves a creature lurking beneath the sand of Santa Moni ...

'' (1981), '' Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' (1982), and ''

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

'' (1984). Since his resignation from Compass International, Yablans produced films with

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

such as ''

Prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

'' (1988). ''Halloween'' began as an idea suggested by Yablans who envisioned a film about babysitters being menaced by a stalker. Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans that it take place during Halloween and developed them into a story. Along with noted

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

Moustapha Akkad Moustapha Al Akkad ( ar, مصطفى العقاد; July 1, 1930 – November 11, 2005) was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the original series of ''Halloween'' films and directing '' The Message'' and ' ...

, Yablans put forward $300,000 for the film's production, filming in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

over the course of 20 days. Released in late October 1978, ''

'' was an unprecedented success, making $70 million in its initial theatrical run, and becoming the highest grossing independent film of all time; it was surpassed by ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' 12 years later. Yablans and Akkad remained as executive producers on further films after the original's sequel rights were sold to

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...

, then to other studios, with Akkad producing every entry in the series until his death in 2005. Yablans and Akkad, along with producer Joseph Wolf, founded the independent production and distribution studio Compass International Pictures (later Trancas International Films Ltd).

References

External links

* Living people Jewish American screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters People from Brooklyn 1934 births Screenwriters from New York (state) American independent film production company founders 21st-century American Jews {{US-film-bio-stub