Spook du jour

We’re just a little over a month away from the release of the new Halloween film and I thought it would be fun to marathon through the entire franchise. The plan is to watch every movie and give my thoughts immediately afterwards, these aren’t intended to be full reviews although some may be closer to that than others. It should make for an interesting journey, no franchise has a more disjointed timeline than Halloween. For instance, the new one will throw out everything after the 1978 original (which means all I really have to do is watch that one….but where’s the fun in that). I don’t know if I can do this all in one night or if I can keep my sanity, regardless, come along for the ride.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Saturday – 3:36PM

What can I really say about John Carpenter’s original Halloween film that hasn’t already been said? This movie is a masterpiece. It’s shot in a style that is unlike anything before it. The opening shot (I know there are actually a few hidden cuts, but c’mon) alone is enough to make this the stuff of legend. Add in the other great moments and it’s a classic.

I have found that younger people tend to get a bit bored with this movie. It really plays out like a slow burn with lots of scenes of Michael stalking Laurie and her friends. The barrage of slashers to come has trained younger people to expect blood, guts and scares as soon as the film starts. This one takes a while to get there. Once it does though, it’s worth every second of the wait.

Halloween wasn’t the first slasher movie. That’s an honor that goes to either Psycho, Peeping Tom or Black Christmas, depending on who you are talking to, but it certainly is the one that set off the slasher craze that gave us most of what we have today.

Franchise Ranking So Far:

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)

HALLOWEEN II (1981)

SATURDAY – 5:18PM

The rare sequel that is almost as good as the original. Debra Hill and John Carpenter returned to write the script but Rick Rosenthal took over directing duties (Carpenter did handle some re-shoots). He did a good job of keeping the tone and feeling consistent with the original film, which is especially important because this one picks up right were the first left off.

The kills are a bit more violent and the gore factor has been turned up a bit. I’m guessing that this was in response to the success that bloodier films were having. By the time this was released Friday the 13th had made huge money at the box office.

There are some great moments in this one, like the death of Ben Tramer, the Elrods (I always thought Michael killed Mrs. Elrod, turns out he doesn’t) and lookout for the small role filled by Dana Carvey, it’s not easy to spot but it is there.

Overall, it’s a worthy successor the first film and that’s something we don’t get often enough. I can’t wait to see what Michael Myers has in store next….oh wait.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR:

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II

 

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

SATURDAY – 7:03PM

The first signal that this franchise isn’t going to be afraid to take some chances. Season of the Witch has it all, killer masks, a stolen piece of Stonehenge, robot assassins, an evil corporation and Tom Atkins. It doesn’t stand up well to close examination but it is a whole bunch of crazy fun if you just roll with it.

In 1982, when this was released, everyone hated it. People went to the theater expecting to see Michael Myers murder a group of kids. Instead, they get a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with him (although, he does make a brief appearance on the tv). In the years since, people have started to view this film differently. It’s now recognized as the brilliant piece of insanity that it is.

I’m never going to get that Silver Shamrock jingle out of my head…..

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR:

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH

HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988)

SATURDAY – 8:57PM

The Return Of Michael Myers is a much better film than I remember it being. For some reason I thought this was where the decline of the franchise started. That’s not the case at all.

Halloween 4 is notable for a few things. It gave us Danielle Harris, who was a talented actress even at a very young age. It also gave us the character of Rachael who is quite possibly my favorite character in the entire series.

The biggest faults I see in the film come from not following up on some of its better ideas. The mob of hicks who are hunting Michael throughout the town, that’s a brilliant idea and they play a decent size role in the story but I feel like there could have been more from them.

The ending is incredible. There’s a part of me that wishes the franchise had followed that storyline and branched off into something different. Maybe that’s because I know what is ahead.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR:

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS

 

HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1989)

SATURDAY – 10:29

Much like part 4, I remembered Halloween 5 as being a bad movie. Unlike part 4, I was not wrong this time. Everyone, say “Hello” to Tina and the Man in Black, two of the worst characters to make their way into this franchise.

The biggest problem this movie faces is that there is nothing to enjoy about it. Dr. Loomis spends the entire film psychologically abusing a nine year old girl and then, not once, but TWICE he uses her as bait. Tina’s boyfriend is just this side of abusive (I did delight in seeing him murdered). There’s just nothing to like about the characters or the story. The one attempt at comic relief falls completely flat and takes you out of the movie (the sound effects that accompany the police officers). It does make sense that there would be a couple of incompetent policemen, after all the entire police force was wiped out just a year earlier, but there was no need for the stupid sound effects.

This movie is terrible in nearly every way. Danielle Harris is really the only good thing about it. She does great work, just like in The Return Of Michael Myers. Of course, Donald Pleasence is great as well, even if he’s playing a character who has clearly lost his mind.

A couple of things that I have noticed about the franchise overall at this point: Dogs don’t stand a chance in Halloween films and someone should tell these guys that a car doesn’t just explode every time it hits something.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
5. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS

 

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995)

SUNDAY – 12:18AM

I watched the theatrical cut of The Curse Of Michael Myers, I own the Producer’s Cut also and I agree with most people, the Producer’s Cut is a better film but the theatrical version is a bit shorter and it’s all about getting through Curse as quickly as possible.

Little Tommy Doyle grew up to be Paul Rudd, well Paul Stephen Rudd actually. The acting isn’t very good in this film. The two exceptions to this would be Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis and Marianne Hagan as Kara Strode. As far as Rudd is concerned, I’m on the fence. I know that Tommy is supposed to be on the crazy side after everything that he went through in the first film but there is still something about the performance that doesn’t work for me.

There’s not much else to say about this entry in the franchise. It’s largely garbage. We learn who the Man in Black is and it leads to the story behind Michael’s evil. Ultimately it’s all just nonsense. The truly sad part is that it has a good premise in there somewhere. If they ditched the Mark Of Thorn idiocy and had gone with a story about Michael killing off the new family that lives in the Myers house, I think it would have made for a much more entertaining film.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
5. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
6. HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS

 

HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER (1998)

SUNDAY – 1:57AM

It’s the return of Jamie Lee Curtis and the addition of Steve Miner (who doesn’t get enough praise as a great director). It’s also the first split in the timeline. H20 tosses out everything after Halloween II.

This is a well made movie. The pacing is great. The cinematography is wonderful. It’s a 90’s slasher movie and a lot of that mood is brought to the film. The acting is leaps and bounds better than anything in the last 3 entries. Of course, the cast is made up of Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, Josh Harnett, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and LL Cool J. None of the casts in the series have come close to matching that.

The opening is incredible. It plays out almost like a short film by itself. Nancy Chambers returns as Nurse Chambers and finds that her house has been broken into. It’s so effective because she does everything right, all of the stuff that you say you would do if you were in that situation, and she still doesn’t make it. Also, if someone made an entire movie following the exploits of the two detectives who show up at her house, I’d buy at least 5 tickets.

There are some fun call backs in this one too. Janet Leigh plays Laurie Strode/Keri Tate’s mom. She is, of course, the real life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis. She also says to Laurie/Keri “It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” There’s also a scene in a classroom where the class is discussing fate as Michael is seen through the classroom window. Lots of fun stuff like that if you have seen the rest of the movies, it doesn’t rely on those things however.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
5. HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER
6. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
7. HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS

 

HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION (2002)

SUNDAY – 3:34AM

Oh wow! For a long time I defended this movie. I hadn’t seen it since it was in the theater but I could have sworn I enjoyed it. I told everyone that it was a fun movie and not as bad as everyone says it is. I owe an apology to every person that I made these statements to. This movie is a train wreck.

Most of the acting is bad. A few people deliver but not many. Jamie Lee Curtis is good in her small role, I enjoy Busta Rhymes (I’m not sure he was really good but he was fun to watch as he said and did stupid things), Tyra Banks was good in her part and Biana Kajlich is good as Sara. That’s it though.

I actually like the concept of the movie. A reality show being shot in the Myers house on Halloween, that’s a solid idea. The execution is just awful. None of the characters are interesting. They are just put in the house so Michael will have people to slaughter.

The thing that really stands out to me, this doesn’t feel like a Halloween movie at all. Sure 5 & 6 are bad films but they still feel like they are part of the Halloween story. This feels like any generic slasher that has been released in the last 40 years. I don’t know the backstory of this movie but it really seems like someone wrote a screenplay and they just slapped the Halloween name on it, sort of like the Cloverfield movies. This has without a doubt been the toughest of the franchise to sit through. It’s 5 in the morning, I can’t believe I didn’t fall asleep during that.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
5. HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER
6. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
7. HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS
8. HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION

HALLOWEEN (2007)

SUNDAY – 5:18AM

That’s a lot of brutality to take in at 5 in the morning. One thing is for sure, when you’re running out of energy and fading fast, a Rob Zombie film will snap you back.

Zombie takes a lot of flack for this movie and it’s sequel. I don’t think it’s that bad. Does it compare to Carpenter’s original? Absolutely not. I admire the fact that Rob Zombie tackled this film though. When a director decides to remake any film, it’s important to me that they bring their own style and vision to the story. There is no doubt that he did that. It may not be 100% successful but it’s not a complete failure either.

Rob Zombie is one of the more polarizing directors in the genre. I have liked some of his films and hated others. I keep saying that he has a great film in him, we just haven’t seen it yet. I long for the day when he decides to make a movie that is more than just white trash being hateful to one another while living in a trailer park where everything is covered in a thick layer of dust. He brings a lot of that to Halloween and it doesn’t work. One of the things that made the original so effective was that it happened in small town everyday America.

The differences between Zombie’s film and Carpenter’s movie aren’t hard to spot. I think that Rob Zombie really suffered from not having someone to play the part of his Debra Hill when it came to writing this screenplay. The dialogue is just plain awful in spots. The biggest chance he took, of course, was giving Michael a backstory. The character never had much of one before and, honestly, didn’t need it. Again though, I admire him for taking the chances. The other major thing that stood out while watching this was how most of the characters were not very likable. The original film is built on a strong foundation of characters that the viewer could not only embrace but, more then likely, relate to. Those characters are nowhere to be found here.

Hats of to Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell and Danielle Harris for stand out performances. Throughout this entire night I have done nothing but watch Danielle Harris do fantastic work. She is tied to this franchise in a major way and no matter how bad the movie around her was, she always delivered.

The sun is up and I have one more film to go….I think I can stay awake a bit longer….I think.

FRANCHISE RANKING SO FAR

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
5. HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER
6. HALLOWEEN (2007)
7. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
8. HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS
9. HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION

HALLOWEEN II (2009)

SUNDAY – 7:32AM

I made it. Barely. I hope this is coherent. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have started this at 3:30 in the afternoon. Yesterday morning would have been a better time to begin this journey.

This is where I will get beat up, especially by the Halloween purists. I think Rob Zombie’s Halloween II is a great film. I hadn’t seen it in a long time and after watching Resurrection (again, I’m sorry if you ever had to listen to me defend that), I was wondering if it would hold up. It does. Halloween (2007) introduced audiences to Rob Zombie’s vision of Michael Myers and the people of Haddonfield. It was hit and miss along the way because it (somewhat) followed the narrative of the original 1978 film. In Halloween II there is a small amount of time devoted to the hospital but that is quickly discarded and we are thrust back into Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Although, he does continue the franchise’s track record regarding dogs.

It isn’t a pleasant place to be but I think it explores some questions that we don’t often see examined in the horror genre. The story starts two years after the events of the first movie and what we see is that everyone’s life is a wreck, Laurie most of all. Horror sequels have touched on this in the past, most gloss over it very quickly. This movie lives in the disaster for quite a while. We see the strained relationships, the grief, the scars and the psychological damage.

Yes, there are plenty of the Rob Zombie touches that I don’t like. Characters who are awful people seemingly just for the sake of being awful, that grimy layer of dirt is still covering everything (why is there spray paint on the walls in the sheriff’s house? Brackett would never allow that). It’s a Rob Zombie film after all and these things are always present.

The cast is amazing. Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris, Malcolm McDowell, Sherri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane and a host of others return from the first film. We also get appearances this time around from Margo Kidder, Octavia Spencer, Brea Grant, Howard Hesseman, Chris Hardwick and “Weird” Al Yankovic. Yes, “Weird” Al is in this film briefly and, somehow, it works.

This is probably one of the least popular entries in the franchise and I’ve never quite understood why. I know it’s not the Michael from the first 8 films but it isn’t supposed to be. This may be Rob Zombie’s best movie.

FINAL FRANCHISE RANKING

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. HALLOWEEN II
3. HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
4. HALLOWEEN II (2009)
5. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
6. HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER
7. HALLOWEEN (2007)
8. HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
9. HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS
10. HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION

Scream in the comments if you must. I won’t hear you. I’m off to bed.