Moustapha Akkad is known for the Halloween movies, but he had a controversial career beyond that, including directing The Message in 1975, a movie about the prophet Mohammed that was banned in nearly every Middle Eastern country. When the movie premiered in the US, a group of terrorists armed with machine guns and machetes overtook three buildings and took 100 people hostage, demanding that the film be pulled from theaters.

Moustapha Akkad’s controversial career and his focus on depicting Arabs positively in films have caused some to question whether there was more to the story of his sudden death in an alleged terrorist bombing in 2005.

Akkad was famous for Michael Myers and the Halloween movie franchise, but there was a lot more to his career.