HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

This is the first time I’ve watched any of the Halloween movies, and as a film and TV student, I should be able to appreciate an old movie. But when people are getting slashed and stabbed and there is no blood, and when a boy has been locked in a prison for 15 years and can suddenly drive perfectly, questions will be asked! 

The opening of this film is intriguing, as a young boy stabs his older sister to death, it’s dark and curious. However, the rest of the movie, is a total snooze fest. Jamie Lee Curtis [Laurie] is a great actress… now. Some slack has to be cut to her though as this was her first film role.

The dialogue was slow, the story wasn’t very in depth and the characters had no depth either. Besides Michael Myers – the boogie man, more needs to be known about this antagonist! Why is he a murderer? How did he escape the institution? The mask is cool, but tell me why?! It’s decent that he has his own theme tune that plays whenever he is around though.

It has been a typical teen horror flick, friends, drinking, drugs, sex, then a guy with a knife and a mask [maybe the mask symbolises Halloween, hmm. I just clicked on. As it’s set on actual Halloween. Nailed it.] on goes stab stab stab on his minor murder spree.

Meanwhile his doctor tries to hunt him down, he does a terrible job at this though, he does not add anything to this movie at all, besides telling us that Myers is a psycho, but I failed to see any psycho in this killer.

Oh, and apparently, he can’t die. Even though he gets stabbed and shot, a couple times.

Halloween 2 starts by showing the last couple minutes of how the first film ended, which is likeable. Unlike the rest of the film again. Genuinely worse than the first instalment.

Set in a hospital on the night after Halloween. It’s become apparent that the killer is the boy from the abandoned Myers house down the street and they have found out he has escaped. Michael Myers is after the girl that got away, in Halloween 1, Laurie.

There are more murders in this second film, which are more gruesome and fun to watch if you’re into it. Also, there is blood in this movie too, which is always a bonus in a horror flick, and an element of nudity as well.

I just cannot deal with the dullness of the characters and the clear lack of a narrative! However, the plot thickens a little when it’s revealed that Laurie is Michaels sister. *SPOILER ALERT. This does not make it more interesting though, which is disappointing. It’s just a lot of running and killing, and again not understanding why Myers is literally indestructible.  

After watching numbers 1 & 2 of Halloween, I decided to watch the Rob Zombie remake, just to compare. It’s very typical Rob Zombie, with his signature uses of grit, gore, foul language that all revolves around a redneck family.

This remake was great to watch, for various reasons; Michael Myers actually gets a decent backstory, of how he is raised in a clearly broken home, with bad influences surrounding him, he’s bullied and tormented, so we learn a lot about him and his incessant need for destruction. After him being locked away in an asylum for 15 years, he escapes and goes looking for his baby sister Laurie, and after multiple murders, he finds her. He hasn’t spoken in all this time and doesn’t tell her why he is after her. A few more things happen and she kills him in the end of this movie. Though, again, Myers being indestructible, Rob Zombie made a Halloween sequel in 2009. Where the whole cast is back.

Finally! The last instalment! Halloween 2018!

40 years after the original Halloween movie Michael Myers is back! But what’s creative, is he’s back actually 40 years later. [so, all other Halloween movies, besides the first one, may as well just not exist.] I don’t like when sequels do this, as it does affect the canon of the previous films, and it’s a little pretentious to retool the work of so many people from previous films to suit the new narrative.

So! 40 years later, we are back, to where it all started and this time, the job really is going to get finished. At least, I think so. I’m not 100% sure. The ending may have slightly been left open, or at least, that’s the impression I took away. Let me know what you thought!

This movie was much like Rob Zombies’ remake, and I’m curious if there were any influence taken. There is a lack of suspense, but the gore makes up for it. There are a few unexpected twists and it seems in the new movie that Laurie will never know that she is Myers baby sister. Which is rather frustrating. I’d want to know.  

The duration of this movie is 1hr 45 minutes and being brutally honest, it felt like it was a lot longer. Some scenes and dialogue didn’t fit well or dragged on for far too long. The focus of this film was so narrow. I found myself laughing occasionally and not being sure if it was intentional or not.

Overall this remake was a decent enough watch, However, the Halloween Franchise needs putting to bed now. Horror film in general needs to expand on audience expectations and this movie is a prime example of the need for change. However, the entertainment factor is still there.

I’m glad I’ve seen these movies and would totally say, one evening, turn out the lights, turn the volume up, grab some popcorn and have a binge to see what you think of these films yourself!

As bad as this will be to be stated: The Rob Zombie remake in 2007 was my personal fave!