"Aw, man, it's Sam! She's gonna see my costume and insult me in nineteen different ways!" |
iScream on Halloween is the 7th episode of the first season of iCarly. It is also the first seasonal episode of the series, the next being iChristmas.
Plot
It's Halloween and a letter addressed to Apartment 13B has been accidentally delivered to Carly and Spencer, so Carly heads downstairs to give the letter to Lewbert. On her way down there, she finds Freddie dressed in the Halloween costume that his mom made him wear—a witch's cloak with a broom and a wart.
Downstairs, they give the letter to Lewbert who (after yelling at Freddie for making fun of his own wart) tells them no one's lived in Apartment 13B for fifteen years because it's haunted. Mrs. Halberstadt, a longtime resident of the building, enters the foyer and Carly and Freddie try to ask her about Apartment 13B, but she seems to ignore them. Carly and Sam decide to do a special Halloween episode of iCarly from Apartment 13B.
The gang prepare for their web show, with Carly donning a queen bee costume and Freddie in the witch-costume that his mom made, although Sam ends up not wearing a costume. Sam picks the lock of 13B and they go in, and start broadcasting, promising to stay on the air all night, no matter what. The promise lasts only a few minutes before the lights go out, glass starts to shatter, and an angry voice begins yelling "Get out!" The girls scream and Freddie tries opening the door to the apartment, but the knob comes off. Sam tries using Freddie as a battering ram.
Carly, Sam and Freddie take refuge in a closet, but are terrified by a disembodied clown's head they find. They head to the kitchen and Sam finds her hands covered in what appears to be blood.
Soon, the door opens and a middle-aged man named Gary comes into the room -- as it turns out, the apartment's not deserted and Gary lives in the apartment with Mrs. Halberstadt (who just so happens to be his mother). Some other stuff is also explained:
- The lights turning on and off is the result of the switch shorting out sometimes.
- Gary's mom is practically deaf without the use of a hearing aid, which (at least according to Gary) she sometimes forgets to turn on. This would also explain why Mrs. Halberstadt was seemingly ignoring Carly and Freddie when they had tried talking to her in the lobby earlier that day.
- The "Get out!" was Mrs. Halberstadt yelling at a spider she found in her room, with the thumping noises being her trying to kill it with a tennis racquet.
- The falling glassware, leg-scratching and running around was the result of Abigail, the duo's pet kitten.
- The disembodied clown's head in the closet is actually just a telephone.
- The "blood" on Sam's hands was just red-colored hair dye, which was what Mrs. Halberstadt was referring to when the gang heard her saying "Die! Die! Die!" (she was looking for her hair dye).
Freddie and the girls apologize to Gary and his mother for trespassing in their apartment and then start wondering why Lewbert told them that no one lived there and that it was haunted. Lewbert comes by and says that it was his idea of playing a prank on the kids before saying "Happy Hanukkah," to which Carly corrects him in that it's Halloween.
Subplot
Spencer plans to spend the evening carving a pumpkin using a design so scary even the blueprints scare him and Carly. Spencer's pumpkin arrives—and it ends up being so big he needs to use a chainsaw to carve it. Spencer continues to work on the giant pumpkin, but is interrupted by trick-or-treaters. He realizes, too late, that he's forgotten to buy candy, so he starts passing out other items, including diet root beer, ice cubes, macaroni and cheese, and even a set of jumper cables. He finds himself besieged by an angry mob of fifteen children who storm the apartment demanding candy. He takes cover inside the giant pumpkin, but he's discovered and the kids take the pumpkin down the elevator and roll him out of the building into traffic (it's later revealed in iMeet the First Lady that a fish truck then pushed him into Bell Harbour and the pumpkin sank like a rock instead of floating). He manages to escape and returns to the apartment in time to help Carly and Sam end their Halloween broadcast with an important piece of advice: "Never forget to buy candy on Halloween!"
Guest Stars
- Jeremy Rowley as Lewbert Sline
- Estelle Harris as Mrs. Halberstadt
- Matt Braunger as Gary Halberstadt
Trivia
- Lewbert playing a prank on the iCarly trio might be him trying to get revenge for Messin' with Lewbert.
- The episode actually aired 11 days before Halloween.
- In the US, this episode is almost always only shown on TV in late October because it is a Halloween episode. It only airs outside of that time in marathons.
- The hallway set for the scene where they enter 13-B is simply a redressed and relighted set for the hallway outside of Shay and the Benson's apartments.
- Apartment 13-B might have been chosen because the number 13 is considered unlucky. And B looks like 1 and 3 fused together
- The scene where Sam can't seem to get the equipment into 13-B was actually a blooper that was dubbed so as not to hear Jennette McCurdy's laughter. The blooper from its original angle was seen in iBloop.
- This episode takes place only in Bushwell Plaza.
- Room 13-B is a parody of the room 237 in the Stephen King horror film and book, "The Shining".
- This may also be a parody of the slasher movie SCREAM, directed by Wes Craven.
- On a Disney Channel show, Wizards of Waverly Place, Alex and Harper stay in an apartment also called 13B.
- Bushwell Plaza is very unusual in that it actually has a 13th floor - most buildings go from 12 to 14 as few people would want to live or work on the 13th floor.
- The old woman who Carly, Freddie and Sam thought was a ghost of apartment 13b, was portrayed by the actress who portrayed Muriel, the maid, in the Disney Channel show, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody which ironically has an episode about a haunted hotel room.
- The last name of Gary and his mom may be a reference to Scott Halberstadt, who portrayed Eric Blonowitz on Drake & Josh.
- This is the third time in a Dan Schneider TV show that the word "die" is confused with the word "dye", the first two times being in the Drake and Josh episode "The Bet".
Allusions
- The Wrestling belt the girl has is the old WWE Championship belt.
- The terrifying clown head is a parody of the horror film Killer Klowns From Outer Space.
- The horror and recording onto video camera scenes are parodies of the film The Blair Witch Project and, more recently, shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures.
Character Revelations
To be added
Goofs
- Exterior shots of Bushwell plaza show a full moon and a sky completely clear of clouds, yet simultaneous thunder claps and lightning flashes happen periodically which would only be possible if there was a thunderstorm very close by.
- The captions don't show when Freddie shouts, "Clown head!"
- Spencer shouldn't have heard the kids' screams on the 8th floor while they were on the 13th floor. It sounds like their screams came from the iCarly studio.
- When in the apartment Sam goes to the right of Carly but when the camera Freddie is holding is on them again she's on the left of Carly with no time in between.
- Spencer holds the egg carton by one end and the boy holds the carton by the other. It is an empty egg carton or else it would drop down due to the weight of the eggs.
Running Gags
- Lewbert confusing Halloween with Hanukkah
- Spencer giving the kids strange things instead of candy
- Spencer (and sometimes, Carly) screaming whenever seeing the jack o' lantern's face sketch
- Carly and Sam acting scary music
Series Continuity
- This is the first of two iCarly episodes based on a holiday, the other being iChristmas.
Quotes
[Sam enters the building listening to music] |
Freddie: All right, let me establish a cross-duplex transmission between my laptop and my camera. |
Freddie: [Tries to open the door and the knob comes off] Ahhh! The doorknob came off! |
Carly: Okay. We thought this would be a cool place to webcast from on Halloween. |
Carly: Well, explain the severed clown head in the closet. |
Freddie: Something still doesn't make sense. Why did Lewbert say that no one lived here? |
Spencer: [hidden in the massive pumpkin] No, I'm not! I am the spirit of Halloween! Aaaaaaah-huummee evthe pumpkin noises [sounding creepy] |
[Spencer walks in covered in pumpkin guts] |
Related iCarly.com Blog Posts
- Spencer's blog: A VERY BAD Halloween Mistake
- Carly's blog: 11 Things Sam Did To Mean Trick-Or-Treaters
Gallery
See photos of iScream On Halloween here.
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