Share the Chair: Ellie Cornell - In Her 'Halloween' Era

Life Notes from Chair 17

It's not often one pulls off a sequel. And in OUR sequel with Ellie Cornell, she makes good on her promise to return to the podcast to help us celebrate Scary Movie Month, joining host CH to talk about her legacy role as Rachel Carruthers in 'Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers' and 'Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.' From the casting (Ellie was actually NOT director Dwight Little's first choice) to her chemistry with co-star Danielle Harris (they are still friends to this day) to the unique experience of filming iconic scenes like the rooftop chase (yes, the infamous protruding-nail-injury-stop-filming-for-a-second scene) and the climactic truck showdown (spoiler: the truck was not moving), Ellie shares her insights and reflections on the life-changing role. Whether you're a die-hard 'Halloween' fan, a horror genre fan, or just a film fan in general, this episode is a treat for anyone who appreciates the art of storytelling, and the enduring nostalgic look at the magic behind the scares.

Show Notes

• Ellie's full list of film, television and producing credits can be found on her IMDb profile.
  • 'Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers' is here
  • 'Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers' is here
• HalloweenMovies.com is the the official Web site of the 'Halloween' film series.
• Director Dwight Little's book, 'Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory', discusses Ellie's casting as Rachel Carruthers for 'Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.'
  • In chatting with CH, Ellie recalls that both Genie Francis and the late Rebecca Shaffer may have also been in consideration for the role of Rachel.
• Ellie was interviewed for two forthcoming books
  • 'Horror in Haddonfield: 'Halloween's' Untold Stories' by Andrew Grevas, available for pre-order via Tucker Press
  • 'Seasonal Screams: A History of Holiday Horrors' by Adrian Roe, available on Amazon.
• Ellie's co-star, Danielle Harris, has a podcast called Talk Scary to Me on which Ellie will be a future guest; it is available on all major podcast platforms.
• The two horror films Ellie had seen before she was cast as Rachel Carruthers were 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'Halloween 3: Season of the Witch'.
• The scene from the original 'Halloween' that CH used as her final monologue in her Acting I class during her senior year at university was this scene; CH repeated ONLY the lines spoken by Dr. Loomis in this scene.
• Previously mentioned episodes:
  • Our When 'Thriller' Met 'Halloween' episode was our fourth episode of our podcast, recorded in October 2023, and gives a comical account of how host CH went from being unable to watch anything scary to mastering scary movies.
  • Our Share the Chair episode with Ellie from April of 2024 was a discussion of her life journey as an artist on the whole.