Here's a beautiful poem called 'Halloween' to get you in the mood for this upcoming holiday season... Bonfires burning bright. Pumpkin faces in the night. I remember Halloween. Dead cats hanging from poles. Little dead are out in droves. I remember Halloween. If this beautiful limerick from the great Glenn Danzig doesn't do it for you, maybe a full detailed analysis of the Halloween anthology will.
(1978) [Trailer]
Director: John Carpenter [IMDB]
Synopsis: A psycho killer escapes from the mental ward and goes on a killing spree.
I consider this one of the greatest horror films of all time and it's absolutely the best slasher film ever made. From that very first long extended shot of Micheal going through the house and killing his sister... I instantly fell in love with this movie. I really dig how Carpenter keeps injecting Michael into the background and letting the viewer know that he's always stalking his prey. The score is a masterpiece and untouched by any other horror film. For it's genre and time, it is perfection for me. Get on it.
(1981) [Trailer]
Director: Rick Rosenthal [IMDB]
Synopsis: Picking up moments after the ending of part 1... Michael returns to kill again.
Rick Rosenthal takes the directing reins, but Carpenter is still involved as a writer, so for me part two feels similar to it's predecessor. However, it's not nearly as good in my opinion. It's tends to drag it's feet a little towards the end and I started to lose interest. I'm not saying this is a bad film, it's not, it's just hard to recreate the glory of the first installment.
It was nice to see the kid from The Last Starfighter in this and also the return of Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
(1982) [Trailer]
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace [IMDB]
Synopsis: Michael is back and ready for... wait... no he's not.
You read that right, there's no Michael Myers in this chapter and honestly I couldn't give a shit. I have 5 other movies starring that fucker that I have to watch, so it's a nice change of pace for me. Basically this film feels like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone but with a little more gore. It also reminded me a lot of They Live and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. The concept is a bit involved and the execution of it isn't 100%, but it's still solid film. Highlights for me were: 1. The overly catchy shamrock song I will probably be singing tomorrow. 2. The Doctor and girl's hook up that starts with the line "Where would you like to sleep, Dr. Challis?" 3. The score. 4. The creepy old lady knitting. 5. The kid being murdered... that's always fun.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
(1988) [Trailer]
Director: Dwight H. Little [IMDB]
Synopsis: Michaels back alright...
This film pays heavy homage to the first chapter. It hits on everything that makes these movies click and does a decent job at it. It's not miraculous but it's pretty entertaining. Acting wise it's alright, there are some spotty moments here and there. Donald Pleasence is back and this time there's a little girl that eats up most of the screen time, she's okay I guess... you may recognize her from Adventures in Babysitting. The Return of Michaels Myers best moments come towards the last 20 minutes and the ending of the film is really solid.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
(1989) [Trailer]
Director: Dominique Othenin-Girard (IMDB)
It was nice to see the kid from The Last Starfighter in this and also the return of Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis.
(1982) [Trailer]
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace [IMDB]
Synopsis: Michael is back and ready for... wait... no he's not.
You read that right, there's no Michael Myers in this chapter and honestly I couldn't give a shit. I have 5 other movies starring that fucker that I have to watch, so it's a nice change of pace for me. Basically this film feels like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone but with a little more gore. It also reminded me a lot of They Live and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. The concept is a bit involved and the execution of it isn't 100%, but it's still solid film. Highlights for me were: 1. The overly catchy shamrock song I will probably be singing tomorrow. 2. The Doctor and girl's hook up that starts with the line "Where would you like to sleep, Dr. Challis?" 3. The score. 4. The creepy old lady knitting. 5. The kid being murdered... that's always fun.
(1988) [Trailer]
Director: Dwight H. Little [IMDB]
Synopsis: Michaels back alright...
This film pays heavy homage to the first chapter. It hits on everything that makes these movies click and does a decent job at it. It's not miraculous but it's pretty entertaining. Acting wise it's alright, there are some spotty moments here and there. Donald Pleasence is back and this time there's a little girl that eats up most of the screen time, she's okay I guess... you may recognize her from Adventures in Babysitting. The Return of Michaels Myers best moments come towards the last 20 minutes and the ending of the film is really solid.
(1989) [Trailer]
Director: Dominique Othenin-Girard (IMDB)
Synopsis: Do I really need to add a synopsis at this point... I don't think so.
If part 4's intent was to emulate part 1, part 5's intent is to emulate part 4... basically it's the same soup warmed over... and definitely not as good. Judging from the close proximity of the release dates, it seems like this installment was cranked out to ride on the success of part 4. Revenge stars the same little girl, Donald Pleasence, and the main older teen from part 4. The weird thing is the older teenage girl is killed in the first 15 minutes and after she's killed it seems like no one even cares where she is or if she's ok... especially considering the circumstances. It seems pretty useless to me to bring that character back. Also there are these two cops who are partners and the director tries to give them this hokey slap stick vibe which didn't work for me... even going as far as to put these weird sound effects in, which were ridiculous. The last thing is the ending, it was bad... I won't spoil it but there's this unseen man with steel toed boots that's completely unexplained and pointless.
(1995) [Trailer]
Director: Joe Chappelle [IMDB]
Synopsis: Refer to part 4.
This movie is a mess. Tonally 'The Curse of Michael Myers' is completely unlike the others so far and you immediately know that it was made in the 90's. I knew instantly that I was going to hate this film when the narration started in the beginning... you have this guy lazily giving you back story that really doesn't help support the film itself. I felt like most of this movie didn't really add up to anything cohesive. There's zero character development, so everyone that you're introduced to you could give a shit about when Michael is hacking them up. The addition of the druids and their back story didn't add much to this film as well.
One other glaring problem is... this is 6 years after the last movie, which would mean that Michael's niece (the little girl from the last two movies) is 15 years old and pregnant... there's no way the girl cast in this film is anywhere near 15.
(1998) [Trailer]
Director: Steve Miner [IMDB]
Synopsis: Jamie Lee Curtis is back along with director Steve Miner from the Friday the 13th franchise.
This film moves back towards the original tone of the first two. There's a pretty long stretch with no activity in the middle of H20, and by no activity I mean... Michael chopping up people. You actually have a surprising cast of people who went on to bigger and better things... Josh Hartnett, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michelle Williams... oh yeah and L...L... Cool J? This installment focuses on Jamie Lee Curtis getting over her fear of Michael and confronting him head on. H20 is ok I guess and not as bad as I had heard.
One thing real quick... Michael steals a car in Illinois and drives it all the way to California.... how's he getting gas?
(2002) [Trailer]
Director: Rick Rosenthal [IMDB]
Synopsis: Michael terrorizes a group of reality TV stars who invade his former home.
This movie is a turd. It's chopped full of product placement to the point where it bothered me, which it normally doesn't. It's a pretty weak story and delivered by a bunch of shit actors including Busta Rhymes. I'll be honest... I fell asleep halfway through this and I seriously have no desire to go back and see how it ended.
Halloween is the greatest horror movie of all time IMO, a classic!
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