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25th October 2015, 11:11 AM
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Me too, much better than the original 
__________________ If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the ****ing car!  |
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25th October 2015, 11:13 AM
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| Halloween 3: Season of the witch Perhaps my personal favourite of the Halloween sequels, mainly because the central idea is such a f***** good one that its a shame commercial forces and the audience desire for familiarity won over the desire to provide something new. Essentially the film ditches Michael Myers entirely and takes a script first drafted by Nigel Kneale then filtered through Carpenter and Deborah hill before a polish by director Tommy Lee Wallace to deliver a Bodysnatchers-esque tale of an evil toymaker producing killer masks in order to make a sacrifice to the forces of Samhain utilising stolen stones from Stonehenge and Druidic rituals. If that concept sounds mental, well it is, the film itself is an oddity bu a welcome one with 19th century automatons as henchman, a small factory town with more CCTV than a British high street and an infuriatingly catchy add for the silver shamrock masks that will have you humming for days. Fortunately Tommy Lee Wallace sells the shit out of the concept as a director and it all works very well indeed. John Carpenter & Alan Howarth provide an excellent and moody score, Dean Cudy works his magic with some terrific photography all to provide a great atmosphere to the picture. Dan O'Herlihy is absolutely fantastic as evil toymaker Conal Cochran and really delivers the goods as far as villains goes, charming and likeable at one moment, malicious and psycopathically evil another. Tom Atkins gives a great performance as the drunken doctor trying to bring him down. Stacey Nelkin is also great and the fact that she's not afraid to 'get them out' certainly helps sell the film and cements my belief that Tom Atkins has some kind of magic luck powers. The film was supposed to take the franchise in another direction, essentially a different Halloween themed horror to be released each year around Halloween. Sadly it seems audiences wanted more of the same, the film flopped and the franchise got put on hold until.... |
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25th October 2015, 11:31 AM
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| Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Proving to be pretty much UN-killable, Moustapha Akkad decided to rejuvenate the franchise with this 1988 picture that returns the iconic killer Michael Myers after a long gap in films (7 years since Michael, 6 since part 3) Director Dwight H. Little takes a script that identifies the core things from parts 1 & 2 that seemed to appeal to the audience and brings it large and loud here as Michael returns to Haddonfield after another 10 years in a coma in order to kill the now apparently deceased Laurie Strodes daughter Jamie Lloyd played by the hugely talented Danielle Harris who would become something of an Icon to the Franchise and return for part 5 as well as Both Rob Zombie Halloween pictures. I can gush all day about Harris all day but for a child actor she really delivers the goods here and gives a great performance. Ellie Cornell also deserves credit in the Big sister role of Rachel Carruthers who must protect Jamie from her demented uncle. Naturally of course Donald Pleasence is fantastic and his return really cemented the franchise as his own. He seems pleased to return and for an actor to get a retirement plan like this cannot be a bad thing! My main gripe with the Halloween pictures from here on in is we lose some of Michaels 'playfulness', a sense that at least some of his killings are twisted Halloween pranks, also he seems to have mutated into a Terminator capable of wandering into a police station off screen and killing everybody inside. While subtlety may have gone, its fair to point out that at this point Horror cinema had moved on and was almost dead on its feet. The slasher flick had been repeated to a level that a return to a more classical style might have been a difficult sell, equally the film is still fun and delivers what it sets out to achieve for the most part. It was a hit stateside but I seem to remember it coming out on VHS over here and it was a fun afternoons rental and better than a lot of stuff out at the same time. |
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25th October 2015, 11:46 AM
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| Halloween 5 Given the solid performance and positive reaction to part 4, which promptly delivered the film fans seemed to want it was inevitable that part 5 was far away. Following 1 year after part 4 it seems Michael 'terminator' Myers has become something of a Voorhies and has shrugged off more Bullets than the wild bunch after a years lie down to once again Pursue his niece Jaimie, played once again by Danielle Harris. Now she's a mute in a care home after the end of the last film where she seemed to become the new Michael after killing her step mom... except she didn't and she's apparently not evil at all setting an enjoyable but deeply, deeply flawed film that begins to go completely off the rails as it progresses. 'Controversial' director Dominique Othenin-Girard , director of the legendarily terrible piece of shit that was Omen IV: The Awakening decides to add some mythology to the franchise. Ellie cornell gets butchered quite quickly into the film, the remaining characters (bar Loomis and Jamie) are annoying. Michael has a Tatoo that appears to be a runic tattoo and there's a mysterious character dressed as a cowboy in black who seems to have some connection to Myers. So what does it all mean? who the f**k knew, the director didn't admits as much. He was using the same playbook as the writers of LOST and throwing in weird shit that he could leave for other people to explain. The pacing is terrible and in places gets genuinely dull, the killings are mediocre, neither subtle and well crafted or splattery and fun... just bland. I can still watch it, and really think Danielle Harris excells however the film just feels like a let down after part 4. Still pity the poor bastard who had to work out part 6.... |
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25th October 2015, 12:40 PM
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Loving these Halloween reviews Keirarts.  keirarts likes this. |
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25th October 2015, 01:56 PM
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Personaly i think we need more writers like Stephen King where their imagination is of the wtf scale. Because if we didnt have people like him so many films wouldnt be made I mean what normal mind would think of Human centipede.? David cronenberg a prime example especialy with films like videodrome. Or some of the j horrors Personally imo todays film writers etc are lacking these people imagination and we need someone to come along and make something new and fresh, yes occasionaly get odd films that comes along, but if we had more like them then we wouldnt have to rely on reboots, remakes, and.? V? Because lets be fair the film industry is running out of ideas for something new and fresh. And is churning out the same old rubbish. |
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25th October 2015, 02:06 PM
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| Halloween 6 curse of Michael Myers (and producers cut) Having been left with Dominique Othenin-Girard's clusterf**k of an attempt at adding a mythology that left numerous plot threads dangling that no-one knew how to explain, director Joe Chappelle was left to mop that shit up. An actually pretty decent director who admittedly delivered the Dean R Koontz, fun in a crap sort of way Phantoms with Ben Affleck (actually a lot of fun when stoned) but redeemed himself by delivering some terrific episodes of the wire, Chappelle actually delivers a film that is competently shot but rife with issues from the beginning. The film starts with a character we discover is Jaimie from 4 + 5, something of a shock considering she is played by another actress and is barefoot and pregnant. Quite a creepy development considering she was 9 years old when dodgy cowboy dude abducted her in his creeper van along with Michael (a scene that makes the producers cut). Jamie promptly gives birth and then cheeses it with the help of a nurse before being promptly pursued by her uncle Michael. It seems the character all the fans rooted for has been held captive for about 6 years (still making her somewhat under-age) and the Thorn cult that has been keeping her hostage has had uncle mike rape her to get the baby because.....reasons. To add insult to the fans, someone else is playing her because the tight-ass producers didn't want to pay Danielle Harris anything because ... again reasons. So, the central character from 4+5 is promptly killed off by Michael, not before hiding her baby at the train station. Michael it seems is more than capable of tracking down blood relatives like a laser guided missile until its his own incest-spawn, then he seems to be as clueless as the rest of us. Fortunately Tommy Doyle, the kid from the first movie, has spent most of his adult life waiting for this day in spite of sleeping through Michaels two previous rampages and retrieves the baby from the bus station. Tommy is played by PAUL "ANT-MAN" RUDD, in a case of early casting i'm sure the now mega star is pleased to include on his resume. Meanwhile the remaining strode family has moved in across the road into the old Myers house. Only abusive papa strode seems aware of this fact and has kept it secret from the rest of his down trodden family because in a small town like Haddonfield its unlikely that anyone else is ever going to ask "why the f*** are you living in the Myers house, its like Amityville without the flies". Not even Tommy doyle bothers to say anything, in spite of his habit of spying on Kara Strode through a telescope. Before you can say "who wrote this!" Michael is back and begins killing off folk again, Tommy Doyle decides to team up with Sam Loomis, who is now looking his age and has lost his burns thanks to plastic surgery. Ultimately they manage to explain the whole thorn debacle, Dr. Wynn here played by Mitchell Ryan but played by Robert Phalen in the 1978 original is the head of the cult. It seems most of the staff, bar Loomis, had been worshipping Michael because of ...paganism.... Halloween....need for interconnection and everything to wrap Ultimately it all ends up back at smiths grove and seems resolved except it isnt because Myers is worth cash. Sadly Donald Pleasance died so they add a scream at the end to suggest he has been killed by Michael and ...the end..... Blimey this film is a bit of a mess. Stick with the producers cut which actually makes a bit more sense and has a weirder ending that makes it somewhat appealing. It leaves more questions that will never be answered and the Franchise in a bit of a mess but unlike part 5 its an entertaining mess. Apparently they were setting it up so Tommy Doyle would be the new protagonist, it didn't work out and the series went on further hiatus while the producers sat down to think about how to un-fu** things. Good thing for Tommy Doyle really as he would have only ended up being written out at some point or teamed up with Jamie Lloyd's ghost in order to defeat the Michael Myers robot hybrid in space. Sometimes failure can help a franchise..... |
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25th October 2015, 02:19 PM
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I found the whole Jamie being SPOILER: I can handle it in films like Martyrs, where the child torture was part of the point. But the Halloween series is essentially, a simple slasher series and it just feels rotten to me.
__________________ "We're outgunned, and undermanned. But, you know somethin'? We're gonna win. You know why? Superior attitude. Superior state of mind."  |
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25th October 2015, 02:35 PM
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| Halloween H20: 20 years later 3 years after the enjoyable mess that was Halloween 6, on the 20th anniversary of the original film, Moustapha Akkad along with Dimension pictures and Kevin (scream) Williamson decided to give the almost totally broken franchise a new lease of life. Not 2 years after part 6 crawled away screaming, hampered by a mess left by the previous director, Wes Craven had taken a script by Kevin Williamson called Scary movie (renamed SCREAM) and delivered a slasher picture that played the nostalgia card perfectly. Slasher movies, which at this point had gone past the point zombie cinema is slouching past now, were suddenly revived and all the studios were scrambling to put one out. Fortunately for Dimension they had one of the major ones under their belt, the only difficulty being 3-6 which left a whole bunch of troubles. Fortunately the idea that Williamson put forward, to forget that 3-6 had ever happened stuck. even better news Jamie lee curtis, whose character Laurie strode was supposed to be dead, agreed to come back and Steve Miner who already had some slasher experience under his belt agreed to direct and the project was good to go. The film opens with Marion Chambers, the nurse from parts 1 + 2 coming home to discover a break in. she gets the boys next door (including an early role for Joseph Gordon Levitt) to check things out, all seems ok though Marion is disturbed to find the papers in her office have been rifled through and the details of the new identity of Laurie Strode are gone. Before she can raise the alarm Michael has returned and promptly kills both her and her bratty neighbours off before heading on a road trip to find his little sister. Laurie meanwhile is teaching at a remote girls school, she lives there with her son, played by Josh Hartnett. It seems that Laurie has changed identities and is something off a mess. Her previous relationship (which I assume was with the creepy nurse love interest from part two Jimmy, who was all into romancing those attempted murder victims) was beset by drug and alcohol issues and she's pretty much a walking mess who is smothering her son from over-protectiveness. As most of the school is off on a trip, Laurie's son John along with her new BF played by Adam Arkin and her sons friends stay over at school. Before the partying can begin however Michael gate crashes the party and all hell breaks loose. Considering the numerous production problems that H20 encountered, from Moustapha Akkad's tantrum at the suggestion of actually killing off Michael to the first score by John Ottman being abandoned as being too elaborate and unsuited to the material there were numerous issues with the film. The Myers mask was changed several times, from re-using one from part 6, to KNB designing one that then had to be re-shot to one being produced by Stan Winston studios. It's a happy miracle then that the final product actually works. Certainly ignoring 4-6 was a good idea from a narrative perspective. Its especially f**** up if you think of them actually happening, which means Laurie strode essentially faked her death and changed her identity leaving her first daughter a neurotic mess who almost kills a person before being abducted and forced to carry her uncles incest-baby through rape and then getting murdered. Even worse she doesn't see fit to let her new son John in on the fact he has a sister out there somewhere. But I digress, the film is well structured and suspenseful and actually gives more of a shit about the material than 5 or 6 ever did. There's no extravagant gore on display and a level of restraint is shown that the franchise has missed for years. Jamie lee curtis really delivers and the final act where she locks the gate and goes one on one with Michael in a bid to finally confront her neurosis is excellent. The film even manages to put in one final sting that draws a close to the franchise all together except.... |
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25th October 2015, 02:48 PM
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| Halloween: Resurrection Deciding that there is no sense in leaving things on a high note when cash is involved, Dimension decided to draw out one last film from the original universe before dropping it and starting again. essentially this one starts with an act of cinematic fraud so blatant its actually depressing. H20 ends with Laurie strode decapitating Michael and ending the franchise. Apparently the god of slasher villains is over-creative writers who bullshit that it was actually a conveniently muted ambulance driver that Laurie killed leaving her spending the next few years in a nut-house tormented by guilt. so what happened to her son? The suggestion is that Michael killed him but who the f*** knows. Michael shows up, Laurie gets unceremoniously killed and then Michael heads home to stare at a blank wall. That is until Busta Rhymes decides to live stream a bunch of kids wandering the old Myers house in Blissful ignorance of the fact that the shape has come home and isn't wanting visitors. Pretty soon the kids are getting bumped off one by one until the final girl and Busta rhymes decide to fight back. This ones directed by part 2's Rick Rosenthal and in all fairness once you get past the frankly idiotic premise its fairly entertaining. It was made in 2002 just as the interwebs was becoming a thing for film-makers and compared to some of the travesties out there is handles this shit pretty well. It's weird to see people communicating by Yahoo messenger almost as weird as it was in scream to see people questioned about why they have a cellular phone, my how things have changed. Non of the characters are especially likeable aside from the hot Katee Sackhoff who played the female Starbuck in the Battlestar Galactica re-jig. For an evenings entertainment its better than 5 or 6 and it was fortunately the end of things at that point until... |
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