Posts tagged Halloween

I don’t know why, but this morning I woke up filled with the spirit of Halloween. I know it’s still September but dammit…I don’t care, I effing LOVE Halloween. And if I want to start making my costumes (yes, plural) and listen to my Fright Fest EPs I am going to do it no matter what anyone thinks!

Oi…this movie. Where to begin?

Well, first, an explaination as to why I own it. There was a time when I was young and foolish, a time when I had just discovered horror films and loved pretty much everything I saw.

When this movie came out, I raced to see it in the theaters, and loved every minute of it. It legitimately scared me, and it was a Halloween movie on the big screen!! What wasn’t to love?

ugh…so young…so foolish.

To be fair, it’s really not all that bad, just as long as you ignore the first ten minutes and then throughout the rest of the movie forget that it’s supposed to be a Halloween movie. Then, it’s ok…

What’s most offensive about this movie is how, after decades of established characters and plot, it straight up severs all ties within the first ten minutes and becomes just another dude in a mask killing teenagers for no real reason. Sure, this describes most horror movies, but this is Halloween, it’s supposed ABOVE other horror films.

Killing Laurie Strode is not “Jamie Lee Curtis passing the torch to the next generation,” but quite clearly Jamie giving a fargone franchise the finger and jumping ship before it drags her down with it.

The high school characters are there as a cheap plot device, nothing more. They could have just as easily been replaced by some random viewers online. That’s all…they add nothing to the plot and hold no entertainment value whatsoever.

The whole “the Meyers were f*cked up and treated Michael like an animal” thing was stupid…and the fact that it was all fake anyways is even more offensive to the viewer. The whole movie just wasted your time, congratulations.

I really don’t consider this a part of the series, and often times I forget about it when I think of the franchise as a whole.

Well, that’s it for Halloween…thank god. I don’t have the remake, nor it’s sequel…and I never plan to. I’ve already wasted two Netflix rentals watching them, no way would I willingly pay more than that for them.

I think we can all agree that this is without a doubt the best of the Halloween sequels. That being said, it’s far from perfect…but that’s really no ones fault, it has much to live up to.

After the commercial success of SCREAM and SCREAM 2, Dimension decided it was time to bring Michael Myers back from the dreks of poorly conceived and poorly received sequels.

When it came to rebooting the franchise, they had the right idea. Bring back Jamie Lee Curtis, and pretend that none of the sequels ever happened. That’s right…not even 2.

That’s one of the confusing points. Laurie describes her last experience with Michael mentioning nothing of the hospitol, and says “they never found his body.” This suggests that this is a direct sequel of the first movie. However, the whole concept of her being his sister comes from 2…so how does she know he’s her brother? It’s a little thing, it’s easy enough to explain away that she was told after the events of the first movie.

Dr. Loomis is dead…which is how it should be. Without Donald Pleasence, you don’t have the character, so it’s nice to see they preserve the memory of such a fine actor by not recasting his character. The DO kind of recast his voice however for a beginning recap with lines from the first movie…but I’m sure that was more a rights or sound quality issue than anything else.

Michael’s costume is pretty good…although for some reason he still has the popped collar. I don’t know why everyone demands he has his collar popped up in the sequels. It’s a stupid little nit-pick I know, but it just really bugs me. The mask, thankfully, is the best since the second one. It still looks a bit off, but it’s nowhere near as bad as in the previous movies.

With all the positive things about this movie, it still feels a bit off. It doesn’t feel like Halloween so much as it feels like a Dimension slasher. Like I said…that’s no one’s fault. The main thing missing is the music…the music is so iconic, so creepy, so unique. Sure they have the main theme, but the rest of the score is what you would expect from any other movie. It just seems out of place to me, and doesn’t really get me into the mood.

Now, at first, I loved the idea of continuing the Halloween franchise…but now that I’m older and wiser. I really wished this was the last Halloween movie. It caps off the series perfectly…and the following movie in my marathon…just cheapens everything.

This movie reminds me a lot of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, minus the completely badass opening sequence.

For the bulk of the movie I’m bored to tears, I cringe every few seconds at the painful, and awkward attempts at humor, central characters are so out-of-character it’s laughable, the ending defies all logic whatsoever, and I find myself asking “why is any of this necessary, and why do I care?”

Well, like DARK OF THE MOON…none of it is at all necessary. It’s really just an excuse to have another Halloween movie out in theaters. Don’t bee fooled by their attempts at weaving any kind of story…the whole thorn thing was just a tool to open up for a sequel and to drag people into theaters out of some perverted sense that the need some kind of closure on the series.

Once Jamie’s sister is killed, you’re left with a random assortment of characters that you know absolutely nothing about. Some girl named Tina is her replacement as Jamie’s protector for the remainder of the movie…and we’re told nothing about her other than the fact that she somehow knows Jamie and her sister. All the other teenagers are basically fodder in the same vein as a FRIDAY movie. They hold a very loose connection to the main characters, have little to no development themselves, and therefore have no impact when slaughtered like pigs.

The most disturbing thing is how wildly out of character Loomis is. At first, you can chalk it up to the fact that Loomis is tired, and just wants this all to be done with. He’s willing to do anything to stop Michael…however, there are limits. I think everyone can agree Loomis would NEVER put a 12 year old child in danger, especially not by using her as a human shield/bait against an emotionless Psychopath. Just as I would think everyone can agree that no matter which Megatron you are referring to…he would NEVER be anyone’s bitch…PERIOD.

Also…if he’s so desperate to kill Michael…WHY IN GOD’S NAME DOES HE USE TRANQUILIZER DARTS ON HIM INSTEAD OF BULLETS?????? SHOTGUN HIS ASS IN THE FACE!!! IN THE FACE!!! IN THE FACE, OLD MAN!!!!!

Ugh…then we’re subjected to Michael Myers in jail…yeah, you heard me. That’s right up there on the ludicrous meter alongside Superman in the hospital. It’s stupid…it makes no sense…so why the hell do it?

It’s hard to believe that it can get any worse from here on out…but trust me it does. The sixth movie is so bad…even I don’t own it. Yeah…me, the guy that owns HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, it’s that bad.

Now, there’s another HALLOWEEN movie on the docket but I don’t own it on DVD but rather VHS, so I’m going back and forth as to whether or not I should add it into this marathon. I don’t see why not…screw it. Up, next HALLOWEEN H20!!

Now, I think I’ve finally found the definitive problem of the Halloween sequels…they lack subtlety.

The first movie was all about it. Michael would be in the background, but not in a super obvious way, and if you saw him, it was for a split second. In fact, there was only one instance I can remember when they cut to a over the shoulder shot of Michael staring at someone.

He was strong, sure, but not “ram someone through the chest with a shotgun barrel” strong. He was resourceful, but he mainly used a kitchen knife. His movements were deliberate and slowed…but he did hurry when need be.

The main point being, in the later movies, the filmmakers seem to have confused him with Jason Voorhees.

Out of all the “Jamie/Thorn” trillogy, this one is actually the better of the three believe it or not. There’s not much good to be had in this one sadly. It’s entertaining, but that’s about it. The only shining light in this film is Donald Pleasence, who seems to be the only person in these movies anymore that understands the characters. My favorite scene is when he finds Michael in the gas station…absolutely perfect.

If you’re a bit of a slasher nerd like myself, you’ll end up buying this movie anyways, thankfully…you won’t have to pay too much for it. For everyone else, just skip 4 through 6 and go right on to H20…you ain’t missing much.

**UPDATE** How could I forget!! There’s an amazingly bad continuity…no, not even continuity error, just an overall “someone f*cked up” error in this movie. In the scene where Michael throws Loomis out of the window in the schoolhouse, the mask has BLONDE HAIR…BLONDE! Now, that’s just plain lazy.

This movie gets a real bad rap…don’t let anyone talk you out of seeing this movie, no matter how adiment they are.

Ask anyone about this movie and why they say it’s terrible and they only have one defense for their ludicrous claim…”There’s no Michael Myers.”

It has nothing to do with the movie itself, and everything to do with the fact that they can’t get beyond the fact that this movie was out to try something different. And so…people hate it blindly.

If you step away from the fact that it’s not a Michael Myers story, it’s an extremely enjoyable Horror movie.

But of course, I may be a bit biased for a number of reasons. The primary being that this is a Horror movie that really pays off if you are any kind of fan of Celtic culture, specifically the druids.

Aww yeah, the druids. The original Wikkens. Only there was no dressing in black, no pretentious nerds whining about mother Gia or whatever…no, the Druids were badasses. They were artisans, musicians, holy men, and and naturalists all rolled into one.

Sure, they sacrificed some animals and the occasional person…or two, but hey, they needed to make sure the harvest was good lest everyone starve.

The fact that the villain in this movie is out to bring back old Druidic practices to Samhain (he even pronounces it properly!!!) fills me with glee. Add that to the fact that the movie pulls no punches by straight up murdering children, and you got one bad ass horror movie.

As far as I know, there’s only one print of the movie still in circulation. You can find it for $5 or $10 at Walmart, and believe me, it’s worth it. It’s a bare bones DVD, sure, but then again, I’m not one for special features…but the upconvert on your BluRay player is absolutely outstanding. I mean, my god…it’s right up there with 30 DAYS OF NIGHT in my opinion, rivaling some of my legit Blu Ray movies (oh DARK KNIGHT, I’m so dissapointed in you.) The only real gripe I have is that it only comes in 2 channel Stereo audio…I know it’s a bit much to be asking 5.0 Dolby Surround on a $5 bare bones DVD, oh well.

So please, I’m begging you. Put Michael Myers out of your mind, pop this movie in, and treat it like any other horror movie. I promise, you’ll love it.

The sequel to the original masterpiece is almost always ragged on widely. The only credit it’s given is that it introduced the idea that Laurie is Michael’s sister.

However, I feel that there is still more enjoyment to be had out of this film. Sure, it in no way lives up to it’s predicessor, but it’s still a decent horror film.

And yet…there are a few nitpicks to be had.

The movie makes good use of Loomis and his attempts to track down Michael after shooting him off the balcony. The first issue I have comes here…where the movie picks up right were we left off.

Literally the last thing we see is Loomis looking down on the lawn where Michael was to see he was gone. The look we are left with is one of “I knew this was going to happen.” However, in the beginning of Halloween II, he’s freaking out over the fact that Michael is A) Gone, and B) Took six shots and lived. It’s a tiny nit-pick I know, and you wouldn’t really notice it unless you’re hardcore like me, or watch them back-to-back.

The rest of the movie continues on pretty smoothly. We get some nice kills out of the mix, and the guy playing Michael (while certainly no Nick Castle) is actually quite good. The mask is the same mask, and is the better looking of all the sequel masks we will get in the franchise. BUT…

Nit-Pick #2…Michael is sporting the popped collar and you can see his eyes for most of the movie. In the previous movie…the same exact night that this movie takes place…he had a turned down collar and his eyes were dark holes in the mask. Again, I noticed it because I’m a nerd…you might not be bothered so much by this.

Nit-Pick #3…SOWWEN!!! IT’S PRONOUNCED SOWWEN!!! YOU SAY IT IN THE NEXT DAMN MOVIE FOR GODSSAKE!!!

I quite enjoy the setting inside the hospital. It gives us a nice, dark, closed-in maze for Michael to stalk in. You never know where he’s going to show up next, and the lighting is done amazingly well.

Nit-Pick #4…I seriously doubt ANY hospital is that empty at night. What was there like 3 nurses and one security guard on duty?? And worse yet, what idiot didn’t make sure a doctor was on duty that the only guy they could get was a drunk fresh off the country club?

Nit-Pick #5…the editing sucks. Unless you’re an editor, you wouldn’t get it even if I tried to explain the reasons why to you.

Really, I guess I like this movie so much because it’s the more tolerable of the Halloween sequels that involve our friend Mickey. I have no gripes with the third film, but that’s getting ahead of myself.

Now…once again, in regards to the Rob Zombie Halloween 2 movie…it sucks. This time, it’s due to the fact that you have no effing clue what the hell is going on. White horses, angel visions, Michael dressed like a hobo…nothing makes sense. Oh, and they make Loomis a dick in this one too…yeah…don’t mess with Loomis. Loomis is the MAN!

First thing’s first…regarding the Rob Zombie remake…it sucks. It’s an inconsistent mess that isn’t sure what it is.

But to be fair to Rob…he had a lot he had to live up to.

The original Halloween is a work of art. No questions asked.

Sure it has everything that an independent film has plaguing it, poor acting, bad dialogue, etc. But, this film succeeds in spite of all that, and transcends beyond the horror genre and becomes nothing short of art.

Of course, I am thoroughly convinced that this film wouldn’t be nearly as powerful without the soundtrack.

The simplistic piano tones and limited synth brings a chill down your spine. The slow downward spiral as the notes become lower and slower until all you’re left with is something vaguely resembling cicadas. The sounds of a fall night…

What else can I say really? You can’t mess with the original.

Again, Rob had a lot to live up to, and given that he did an ok job. Hell, it could have been a lot worse (see NOES 2010 remake.) He just wasn’t sure how he wanted to portray Michael, and that was the biggest downfall.

In the original, you knew what Michael was…evil. That’s it. There was no need for a background on him, no character development, nothing. Everything you needed to know was related through Dr. Loomis…and that was that Michael was nothing short of a vessel of evil. He didn’t even MOVE while in the hospital, he just sat and stared at the wall. 

Rob on the other hand went back and forth. On the one hand he established Michael as a troubled boy in a troubled household that after he slays his sister and father, holds no concept of what he had done at all. As the movie goes along, he withdraws more and more until he becomes the Michael we know him as. To me, this makes it feel like Michael is more of a product of being incarcerated and away from his mother…which is lame.

No one can convince me that this is better than the original. But then again…I never was a big fan of Rob’s “every character lives in filth and is a horrible human being” way of storytelling. Maybe that’s just me.

At any rate, go watch Halloween, and if you can grab the Blu-Ray. It looks so pretty!