Halloween Films

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

I saw on a documentary that when people got scared in the cinema watching Halloween they covered their ears instead of their eyes.

Shows how powerful the score is I think!

[bedorca]

The first Halloween is the only film in my entire life that spooked me so much that I couldn't sleep that night

I think I was about 13 or 14

It is a horror masterpiece and one of my all time favourites

[Halloween_22]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

I still rate the original very highly even now. I also enjoyed the clever (if unrelated) part 3.

With the slight exception of H20 the sequels did nothing for me whatsoever.

I quite like Part 3 aswell. It's a decent film with a very original premise. It may have worked better as a stand alone film as opposed to a Halloween sequel but I read somewhere that the original idea after Halloween & H2 was to continue the series as a sort of anthology series, the stories all being set around Halloween. I'm not sure if it's true but if it is, I guess the demand for Michael to return must have thrown that idea out of the window so to speak.

[vincenzo]

Yes it's an entertaining and well made film. If it had been called Halloween: Season Of The Witch (without the III) it may be regarded a bit higher today.

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Halloween_22

I read somewhere that the original idea after Halloween & H2 was to continue the series as a sort of anthology series, the stories all being set around Halloween. I'm not sure if it's true but if it is, I guess the demand for Michael to return must have thrown that idea out of the window so to speak.

I think you're right, Hal. I've heard that too. Apparently Season of the Witch wasn't very commercially successful and Carpenter - who produced it - decided to drop the series rather than continuing it as an anthology. The Return of Michael Myers was then released six years later after executive producer Moustapha Akkad realised the demand for more Michael. But this, of course, was done without Carpenter's involvement.

I quite like the anthology idea but I think that today it would only work on TV rather than with theatrical releases.

[Matt]

I love the first Halloween, tolerate some of the sequels and quite liked the remake.

Part 3 I actually quite liked. It does sit awkwardly amongst the others, but I guess they didn't know how many Myers-based sequels there would end up being. That 'X more days til Halloween' jingle was infectious, like rabies or something.

The whole part 6 producers cut thing, I can't say I liked either. I prefer the producers cut, but it's the like the difference between being kicked in the balls and being kicked in the shin; neither is ideal. To me, at least.

A fun bit of shameless self promotion here, I reviewed all of the Halloween films for a website I write for, here http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/5994..._reckoner.html.

[Angel]

Yes I also love the 1st Halloween. I also enjoyed the 2nd, 4th and 5th.
Can't say I was impressed with the remake although the violence (and the language) was much stronger. Wonder if BBC1 will be repeating it again this month. I think it is one of the most repeated films on TV and I always find myself re-watching it.

Though I still think Assault on Precinct 13 is Carpenter's best film. The remake to this was also quite abysmal I thought.

[Devil-hunter]

Halloween original was the best.

[vipco]

Its obvious your a hardcore Halloween fan Hal, but what do you make of its biggest rival, Fri 13th and its sequels.

Also whats your , and anyone elses , views on films like The Burning, Bay of Blood Rosemary's Killer, etc.?

Fav Carpender films are Assault on Precinct 13 and Ghosts for Mars as it was kinda similar.
Also liked the one set in a Church, that Alice Cooper had a cameo in, cant remember its name.

[Halloween_22]

Originally Posted by vipco

Its obvious your a hardcore Halloween fan Hal, but what do you make of its biggest rival, Fri 13th and its sequels.

Also whats your , and anyone elses , views on films like The Burning, Bay of Blood Rosemary's Killer, etc.?

Fav Carpender films are Assault on Precinct 13 and Ghosts for Mars as it was kinda similar.
Also liked the one set in a Church, that Alice Cooper had a cameo in, cant remember its name.

Was it 'Prince of Darkness'?

I'm a big fan of the Friday the 13th films vip's. The early ones in particular, the first four are my favourites out of the bunch. I much prefered them when Jason was alive (? ), he was much scarier, especially with that sack on his head. In the later films when he was a zombie he lost a lot of his edge and just became kind of a walking cliche. The fact that he seemed to be able to magically teleport anywhere killed a lot of potentialy suspenseful scenes. It was much more effective in parts 2 & 3 (in particular) when you could actually see him chasing after the characters, gradually getting closer IMO.

I'm also a huge fan of 'the Burning'. It's definatley up there with the best of them. It has a lot of sentimental value for me aswell as it was one of the first horror films I ever bought when I was younger.
I own 'Bay of Blood' but it's the cut version so I've never bothered to watch it, I've been meaning to get hold of an uncut copy so I can appreciate it in its entirety for quite some time. Is it any good? I've heard very mixed opinions on it.