Halloween

Dir: David Gordon Green

2018

**

After failing to develop a new Halloween film in time, Dimension Films lost the production rights and good riddance to them. They failed to make a decent Halloween film during the time they had it and it looked like a sad way to end a popular series. Miramax got the rights back and teamed up with Blumhouse Productions who are affiliated with Universal. Blumhouse are responsible for recent horror franchises such as Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Sinister, and Insidious. They also produced the masterpieces Whiplash, Get Out and BlacKkKlansman and they’ve also got M. Night Shyamalan making great films again. I personally thought that the last Halloween film, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, was utter rubbish and a tragic way to end the franchise but as much as Blumhouse could be the ones to bring the story back to life, I really had no enthusiasm for another installment, whether it be re-make, re-boot or prequel. That was until I learned that Jamie Lee Curtis was coming back – forty years after the original, to correct the series and give it its proper send-off. It was then officially announced that original co-creator John Carpenter would return as composer, executive producer, and creative consultant. They had me at composer. Nick Castle returning as Michael Myers (aka The Shape) was the icing on the cake. I usually hate it when film makers tell us all to forget certain sequels had ever happened but the news that Halloween would be a direct sequel to the original 1978 version was both intriguing and refreshing. It kind of made sense and essentially, we were only asked to forget three films ever happened (out of ten), two of them being fairly rubbish anyway. The franchise is a mess but this was the best scenario and no one was going to go and watch yet another re-boot. The appointment of director David Gordon Green intrigued me further, he isn’t known for his horror but I thought the mood in his films such as Joe and George Washington could lend themselves to an atmospheric horror and his script for Goat is pretty dark too. I bought my ticket and went to the cinema open-minded and without knowing too much about it on purpose. I was ready to be thrilled and scared all over again, like I was with the original. I was popcorn-ready, the film’s title sequence was excellent with Carpenter’s score, the original orange typography of the first film and a brilliant reverse film of a decomposing Jack-o-lantern pumpkin in the background. Then I saw the words that nearly made me throw my popcorn in the air in disgust: co-written by Danny McBride. I know he’s friends with David Gordon Green but seriously, I didn’t see that coming and if I had I wouldn’t have bought the ticket. Was McBride’s script any good? No, it wasn’t. Who would have guessed that the writer of The Foot Fist Way and Your Highness wouldn’t be able to write a capable Halloween sequel. It beggars belief. The premise is that Michael Myers was arrested at the end of the first film and has been in a maximum security hospital for the mentally ill for the last forty years. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode has been living in fear that Myers will one day escape and hunt her down. She has spent her life building a fortress for her and her daughter to live in, her obsession resulting in two divorces and social services taking her daughter away from her. Now that her daughter is grown up, she fears for the safety of her granddaughter also. The story takes off with true-crime podcasters Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees) as they travel to Smith's Grove Sanitarium to interview Michael Myers, who was captured after Dr. Samuel Loomis shot him off of the Doyle house balcony. Dr. Ranbir Sartain, who has been treating Michael since Loomis' death, informs them that Michael is able to speak but chooses not to. They meet Myers in the outside section of the hospital in a scene that looks like a cross between Richard Lester’s Chess scene in The Three Musketeers, the work of Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum and a sugar-free version of Tarsem Singh’s early work. Myers is standing in a square, chained to a large block of concrete. There is a dreamlike feel to the scene, a bit like when we meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time, but in a surrealist painting – David Gordon Green trying to be all Ingmar Bergman basically. Aaron fails to get Michael to speak, even after brandishing his mask and mentioning Laurie Strode’s name. How and why he has the mask is fairly absurd, it makes for an interesting scene but it is sadly the first and last. I think Green and McBride forget that in asking us to forget all but the first first ever happened, they also erase the infamy of Myers himself. Of course Laurie Strode would still be traumatised but in this version, as is pointed out, they are not brother and sister, so there is no real reason why he would target her, as we are also reminded that his murders are indiscriminate. So which is it? Laurie Strode in 2018 is basically Sarah Conner in Terminator 2. Anyway, Myers escapes from the Sanitarium – as is totally expected – during a transfer. It is so expected that they don’t even show how his transport crashes, releasing the prisoners. What they fail to address however, is why the security is so low. He is transported in one little school bus, after years of living in high security. The beginning sequence suggested the terrible danger of stepping within meters of him when he’s surrounded by armed guards and chained to a block of concrete, so to then stick him in a bus with only a couple of officers is a dumb step down. The development of the new characters is pretty rubbish too, with many characters featured disappearing from the story and others never followed up (they clearly want a sequel) and Haluk Bilginer is no Donald Pleasence/Sam Loomis (but by casting a ‘foreigner’ the producers clearly think it’s enough). We really get nothing from Laurie Strode other than that she’s developed a tough exterior, leaving very little for Jamie Lee Curtis to get her teeth into. Will Patton plays his character well, convincing us that he really was the arresting officer from the first film but none of the other original players look like they’re really up for the fight. Curtis gives more performance in the production stills for the movie than in the movie itself. Her fortress house, which she has been building for forty years, is an absolute joke. Why did she fill it with mannequins? Remote-control escape hatch? Are you kidding? This might be the dumbest entry of the franchise so far and that is saying something. Myers does wander into a house and kills a babysitter for good measure but it doesn’t fit within the story, the structure of the film is really messy and none of it flows. The ending is overly smug and very unoriginal. I’ve never been as bored watching a horror film, knowing exactly what was coming next and not having the least bit of concern for the characters. It is perhaps the first time in the franchise where Myers isn’t in the least bit scary. John Carpenter says he got involved to put the story to bed, stating that this is definitely the last one but the producers say they’ll definitely be another one if the film does well – which it has. Jamie Lee Curtis thinks the film is ace and has praised the story no end but then she also said that about H20 and lets not forget Halloween: Resurrection. If they really wanted fans on their side they should have cast Danielle Harris as Strode’s daughter, that would have been pretty cool but the studios still don’t get what made the original so great, they never did and they never will. Time to call it a day.

Halloween
Dir: Rob Zombie
2007
***
So how does one go about remaking a classic horror film? The answer is always – you don’t! However, they always do because people like me are suckers and completists and are glutton for punishment. That said, there were a few elements to Rob Zombie’s re-boot that did appeal. Firstly, it would help us forget Halloween: Resurrection. Secondly, it stared Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Sam Loomis – which was a particularity nice bit of casting. To be fair to Rob Zombie, he had made two impressive horror films by this point; House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. They’re an acquired taste but I thought they were pretty good fun and something alternative to the rather samey horror films of the early 00s. Zombie's "re-imagining" follows the premise of John Carpenter's original, with Michael Myers stalking Laurie Strode and her friends on Halloween night. Zombie's film goes deeper into the character's psyche, trying to answer the question of what drove him to kill people, whereas in Carpenter's original film Michael did not have an explicit reason for killing. Dimension announced that Zombie would be creating the next installment in the Halloween film series in 2006. The plan was for Zombie to hold many positions in the production; he would write, direct, produce, and serve as music supervisor. Bob Weinstein approached him about making the film. Zombie, who was a fan of the original Halloween and a friend of John Carpenter, jumped at the chance. Before Dimension went public with the news, Zombie felt obligated to inform Carpenter, out of respect, of the plans to remake his film. Carpenter's request was for Zombie to "make it his own". Zombie announced that his film would combine the elements of prequel and remake with the original concept, and insisted that there would be considerable original content in the new film as opposed to mere rehashed material. Zombie's intention was to reinvent Michael Myers because, in his opinion, the character, along with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Pinhead, had become more familiar to audiences, and as a result, less scary. The idea behind the new film was to delve deeper into Michael's backstory and add "new life" to the character. Michael's mask was given its own story, to provide an explanation as to why he wears it, instead of having the character simply steal a random mask from a hardware store, as in the original film. Zombie explained that he wanted Michael to be true to what a psychopath really is, and wanted the mask to be a way for Michael to hide. He also wanted the young Michael to have charisma, which would be projected onto the adult Michael. In addition, he decided that Michael's motives for returning to Haddonfield would be more ambiguous, explaining, "Was he trying to kill Laurie, or just find her because he loves her?" In all honesty I do think Zombie achieved what he set out to but after seeing it I think the character worked originally due to all of the unanswered questions. The greatest weapon any horror villain has is his mystery. Zombie also made a point that Michael would NOT be able to drive a car in his version. This kind of lost me, as to this point he was the only masked killer who did drive and I always thought it was hilarious when he did. The new Michael Myers was a different villain, he was hard to get used to but on retrospect I quite liked him. Tyler Mane is cool, I’ve met him a few times now and he is probably my favorite of all the shapes. I think re-boot fatigue really hurt 2007’s Halloween because in all honesty, it was the better of all the ‘re-imagend’ films the 00s were so full of. Unsurprisingly, the film begins in Haddonfield, on Halloween. Having already exhibited signs of psychopathic tendencies, ten-year-old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) murders a school bully his older sister Judith, her boyfriend Steve, and his mother's boyfriend Ronnie (William Forsythe). Only his baby sister, Angel Myers, is spared. After one of the longest trials in the state's history, Michael is found guilty of first-degree murder and sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of child psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Michael initially cooperates with Loomis, claiming no memory of the killings, and his mother Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie), visits him regularly. Over the following year, Michael becomes fixated on papier-mâché masks and withdraws from everyone around him, even his mother. When Michael kills a nurse as Deborah is leaving from one of her visits, she is unable to handle the situation and commits suicide. For the next fifteen years, Michael (Tyler Mane) continues making masks and not speaking to anyone. Loomis, having continued to treat Michael over the years, decides to move on and closes Michael's case. Later, Michael escapes from Smith's Grove, killing the sanitarium employees in the process. He kills a truck driver for his clothes, and makes his way back to Haddonfield. On Halloween, Michael arrives at his now-abandoned childhood home, where he recovers the kitchen knife and Halloween mask he stored under the floorboards the night he killed his sister. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) and her friends Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Lynda Van Der Klok (Kristina Klebe) prepare for Halloween. Throughout the day, Laurie witnesses Michael watching her from a distance. Later that night, Laurie goes over to babysit Tommy Doyle (Skyler Gisondo). Meanwhile, Lynda meets up with her boyfriend Bob Simms (Nick Mennell) at Michael's abandoned home. Michael appears, murders them, and then heads to the Strode home, where he murders Laurie's parents, Mason (Pat Skipper) and Cynthia (Dee Wallace). Dr. Loomis, having been alerted of Michael's escape, arrives in Haddonfield looking for Michael. After obtaining a handgun, Loomis attempts to warn Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Brad Dourif) that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Loomis and Brackett head to the Strode home, with Brackett explaining along the way that Laurie is really Michael's baby sister, having been adopted by the Strodes following their mother's suicide. Meanwhile, Annie convinces Laurie to babysit Lindsey Wallace (Jenny Gregg Stewart) so that she can meet with her boyfriend Paul (Max Van Ville). Annie and Paul return to the Wallace home and have sex; Michael kills Paul and attacks Annie. Bringing Lindsey home, Laurie finds Annie on the floor, badly hurt but still alive, and calls the police. Michael attacks Laurie and chases her back to the Doyle home. Loomis and Brackett hear the 911 call over the radio and head toward the Wallace residence. Michael kidnaps Laurie and takes her back to their old home. He tries to show Laurie that she is his sister, presenting a picture of them with their mother. Unable to understand, Laurie stabs Michael before escaping the house; Michael chases her, but Loomis arrives and shoots him. Recovering, Michael recaptures Laurie before she can leave and heads back to the house. Loomis again intervenes, but Michael subdues him. Laurie takes Loomis' gun and runs upstairs, but Michael corners her on a balcony and charges her head-on, knocking both of them over the railing. Laurie finds herself on top of an unconscious Michael. Aiming Loomis' gun at his face, she fires just as Michael awakens. It’s not exactly a million miles away from just about every other horror franchise plot, in fact, it’s about as simple as it gets. I quite liked the character development side of the story but what I hate about it is that this is what I refer to as Heavy metal horror. I like my horror films to be creepy but this film is far more in your face and a little too brutal. Before I was scared of Michael Myers, now, much like the band Slipknot, I just see him as a guy stomping around in a mask. They should have killed Laurie or something to make it different, it’s not all bad but I don’t think Zombie ‘made it his own’ as much as Carpenter suggested. The Brad Dourif and Malcolm McDowell team-up was pretty sweet though.

Halloween II
Dir: Rob Zombie
2009
*
I tried to be as positive about Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Halloween but it really didn’t deserve a sequel. I think he has a great eye for visuals but he got the tone wrong and his story left a lot to be desired. The 2009 follow up is nothing short of atrocious. It is possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. There are plenty of terrible horror films out there, the ones I generally hate the most are the ones that have had no money spent on them but they have amazing posters. The fraudulent horrors if you will. They are usually made by studios who spend half their time making horror films and the other making Christmas films – occasionally delving into the talking puppy genre. You can see them coming a mile away and you only have yourself to blame for getting hooked in. Halloween II on the other hand had some money behind it and a big studio. There were few aspects of the first film that warranted a sequel but I understand it was left with unanswered questions, so there were a few who wanted to know what happened next and the franchise itself would always attract the hardcore fans but I have no idea what it was about Zombie’s 2009 script that made the studio think this would make a good film. It is beyond awful. Much like the original Halloween, the second film follows where the last one left off. In a flashback, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) visits her son, a young Michael Myers (Chase Wright Vanek), at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. She gives him a white horse statuette as a gift. Michael says that the horse reminds him of a dream he had of Deborah's ghost, all dressed in white and telling him she was going to bring him home. Moving ahead fifteen years, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) is wandering around in shock after having shot an adult Michael (Tyler Mane) as seen at the end of the last film. Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Brad Dourif) finds Laurie and takes her to the emergency room. Meanwhile, the paramedics pick up Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), who are still alive after being attacked by Michael, and take them to the hospital. Michael’s body is taken in another ambulance by EMTs Gary Scott (Richard Brake) and Alan Hooks (Dayton Callie). While Hooks and Scott converse, the ambulance crashes into a cow. Hooks dies in the crash and Michael awakens and decapitates a disoriented Scott. Fast-forward two years after the events of the first film, Laurie is now living with the Bracketts. Michael has been missing since last Halloween and is presumed dead, while Laurie has been having recurring nightmares about the event. While Laurie deals with her trauma through therapy, Dr. Loomis has chosen to turn the event into an opportunity to write another book. Elsewhere, Michael, who is still alive, has been having visions of his mother's ghost and a younger version of himself, who instruct him that it is time to bring Laurie home, so he sets off for Haddonfield. As Michael travels to Haddonfield, Laurie begins having hallucinations that mirror Michael's, which involves Deborah's ghost and a young Michael in a clown costume. Her hallucinations also begin to include her acting out Michael's murders. Meanwhile, Loomis goes on tour to promote his new book, only to be criticized by the public, who blame him for Michael's actions and for exploiting the deaths of Michael's victims. When Loomis' book is released, Laurie discovers that she is really Angel Myers, Michael's long-lost sister. She goes to a Halloween party with Mya (Brea Grant) and Harley (Angela Trimbur) to escape how she is feeling. Michael appears at the party and kills Harley, then goes to the Brackett house and fatally wounds Annie. When Laurie and Mya return to the house, they find Annie, who dies in Laurie's arms. Michael kills Mya and then comes after Laurie, who manages to escape. Sheriff Brackett arrives home and finds his daughter dead. Laurie flags down a car, but Michael kills the driver and flips the car over with Laurie still inside. Michael then takes the unconscious Laurie to an abandoned shed. The police discover Michael's location and surround the shed. Loomis arrives and goes inside to try to reason with Michael. Inside, he finds Laurie, who is hallucinating a younger Michael holding her down, and tries telling her that no one is restraining her. Just then, Deborah instructs the older Michael that it is time to go home; Michael attacks Loomis and kills him. Stepping in front of a window while holding Loomis' body, Michael is shot twice by Sheriff Brackett, and falls into the spikes of some farming equipment. Apparently released from her visions, Laurie walks over and tells Michael she loves him, then stabs him repeatedly. The shed door opens and Laurie walks out, wearing Michael's mask. Later, Laurie sits in isolation in a psychiatric ward, grinning at a vision of Deborah. Producer Malek Akkad, who had produced every Halloween film since the fourth installment, told Zombie "'Don't feel hindered by any of the rules we've had in the past. I want this to be your vision and I want you to express that vision." – so Zombie ignored him and made a fairly flat remake that felt like every Halloween film made, only worse. Zombie decided to focus more on the connection between Laurie and Michael, and the idea that they share similar psychological problems. He wanted the sequel to be more realistic and more violent than its 2007 predecessor. He also wanted to show the connection between Laurie and Michael, and provide a glimpse into each character's psyche. This is handled badly, with no character ever convincing us of their actions. When it came time to provide a musical score, Zombie had trouble finding a place to include John Carpenter's original Halloween theme music. Although Carpenter's theme was used throughout Zombie's remake, the theme was only included in the final shot of the sequel. For me this tells you everything you need to know about the film. There is no mystery, no creeping and no terror. Myers is just a giant mass-murderer on a killing mission. It’s a boring and unoriginal horror that ends up being more splatter than slasher. Zombie is clueless to the rule that what you don’t see is always far more scary. He doesn’t allow the audience to use their own imagination because he hasn’t got one himself. I can’t help but think the nonsense regarding Michael’s mother was written just as an excuse to feature his wife once more. I hated Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis in this version and I wasn’t at all scared by Michael. Brad Dourif’s performance and the cameo by Margot Kidder were the only redeeming features of this god-awful film. The Weird Al Yankovic scene is painful to watch. The joke here is that Rob Zombie originally stated he would never do a sequel to Halloween, until the studio decided to make it. Then he signed on to write and direct, because he didn't want someone to ruin his vision. Ha! He pretty much killed the franchise and made the worst Halloween film of the series – which at this point is quite an achievement.

Halloween: Resurrection

Dir: Rick Rosenthal

2002

*

1998’s Halloween H20 was a bit rubbish but it was fun to see Jamie Lee Curtis return and stand up to her brother Michael Myers after twenty years of sub-standard sequels. However, her character Laurie Strode had decapitated her serial killer brother at the end of the film – he didn’t fall down a mine shaft or blow up off camera in a hospital explosion – his head was removed from his body with a sharpened axe. How on earth are they going to explain this one? Horror films are famous for their nonsensical story lines and continuity errors but surely even Michael Myers – who is human after all – couldn’t survive dismemberment of the cranium? It was safe to say that Halloween: Resurrection was already on shaky ground. The only appeal came from the return of Jamie Lee Curtis and of director Rick Rosenthal, who had also directed Halloween II in 1981. That initial appeal was lost within minutes of the film starting. At the end of the last film there was an ambulance chase and Laurie Strode drove the van into her brother, pinning him against a tree. What we are told in this film is that Michael Myers – who wasn’t the smartest cookie – hid in the ambulance and swapped his clothes and mask with that of a paramedic. I’m not sure why the paramedic acted all Michael Myer-like toward his sister but what else could they do I guess. So, the guilt-ridden Laurie is now an inmate at the Grace Andersen Sanitarium, where the nurses believe her to be catatonic due to the shock of realizing she has killed an innocent man. However, she is faking it and is preparing for Michael's return. On October 31, 2001, Laurie, pretending to be heavily medicated, prepares herself for the inevitable confrontation with her brother. Michael breaches the facility and kills two security guards, decapitating one and slitting the throat of the other as he makes his way to Laurie. After a chase, Laurie lures Michael on to the institution's rooftop. Although he falls into her trap, Laurie's fears of again killing the wrong person get the better of her; when she tries to remove his mask, Michael stabs her and throws her off the roof, to her death. His life mission finally complete after more than twenty years of tracking Laurie down, Michael returns home to his abandoned childhood house. The film couldn’t be more disappointing at this point but it doesn’t get better. The following year, college students Bill Woodlake, Donna Chang, Jen Danzig, Jim Morgan, Rudy Grimes, and Sara Moyer win a competition to appear on an Internet reality show Dangertainment, directed by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and his friend, Nora Winston (Tyra Banks), in which they have to spend a night in Michael's home in order to figure out what led him to kill. On Halloween, equipped with head-cameras as well as the cameras throughout the house, they search the house and separate into three groups. Sara's messaging friend Deckard watches the broadcast during a Halloween party. Meanwhile, Michael suddenly appears and stabs Bill in the head, and kills a cameraman. Donna and Jim begin getting intimate in the basement and a wall filled with corpses falls on them. Jim realizes the corpses are fake and the show is a setup. Jim leaves, but Donna notices a tunnel behind the fallen wall. Myers chases her through the tunnels before impaling her on a spike on the wall. At the party, Deckard and other partygoers witness the murder. Deckard realizes that the murder was real, but the others believe it is an act. Freddie goes through the house dressed as Michael, but is secretly followed by the real Myers. Freddie, mistaking Michael for Charlie (the cameraman who had been killed earlier), tells him to go to the garage and help Nora out; he goes to the garage and promptly kills Nora. When Rudy, Sara, and Jim find Freddie in the Myers costume, he reveals the scheme to them and begs them to cooperate, telling them that he's set up a nice payday for all of them. When he leaves, the trio decides to gather up the other three and leave. But before they can, Jen discovers the body of Bill (who was stabbed in the head and vanished earlier) and is decapitated by Myers right in front of Rudy, Sara, and Jim. Rudy and Sara flee, but Jim stays to fend off Myers only to have his head crushed. Michael kills Rudy by pinning him to the door with kitchen knives before chasing Sara upstairs. Locking herself in a bedroom, Sara begs for Deckard to help her. The other party goers realize that the deaths have not been staged. With Deckard messaging her Myers' location, Sara escapes and is found by Freddie. Myers finds and attacks them. Freddie is injured and Sara makes her way to the tunnels. She finds an exit near Donna's body and emerges in the garage, where Myers finds her and starts an electrical fire in the garage. Freddie returns and begins fighting Michael hand-to-hand. When he is overpowered, Freddie instead electrocutes Myers, tangling him up in electrical wiring before carrying Sara out of the burning garage. The Myers house burns to the ground, as Sara thanks Deckard for saving her life. Michael's body and the bodies of his victims are then taken to the morgue. As the medical examiner begins to examine Michael's body, he awakens. It is a poor horror film even among the poorest of sequels. It felt like a poor man’s Scream – inexcusable too given that this came after Scream 3. For the first time in the franchise I felt not just cheated but also tricked. I hope Jamie Lee Curtis got paid handsomely for her five minutes but personally I want my money back. Unsurprisingly this killed the series as it was, and at this point the continuity and what was canon was so confusing a re-boot was the only way forward. Sadly, they gave the re-boot to Rob Zombie.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Dir: Steve Miner

1998

**

Dimension Films (Miramax) spent a lot of money on the Halloween rights but they made an awful film in their first attempt (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers). They weren’t going to make the same mistake again, and while I’m generally dead against re-makes and re-boots, there really was only one direction to go with the series and that was to start again – or at least, start just after the beginning. Again, I hate it when studios do this but they had no choice, Kevin Williamson wrote a script that continued the story of the last film, Robert Zapia and Matt Greenberg were then brought in to develop his idea further, and the end result was that we fans were asked to completely forget that Halloween III, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers ever happened. Done. I’m totally fine with that, although I feel bad for Donald Pleasence and Danielle Harris, both of whom were great in those not so great films. Pleasence was sadly dead before H20, otherwise I’m sure he would have featured and Rob Zombie did cast Harris in his 2007 remake – one of the few things I liked about his adaptation. The big news here however was that Jamie Lee Curtis was back. To director Steve Miner’s credit, our of respect for all of the previous script-writers he connected some story elements to the new film. This installment retained Laurie's faked death from Williamson's treatment, revealing that she did so in order to avoid detection by her relentless brother. Under a new identity, Laurie has fled to Summer Glen, California, along with her only son, John. However, to focus more on the Laurie Strode character, the events of parts 4, 5, and 6 are written out of the continuity, thus erasing the Jamie Lloyd (Laurie’s daughter) character from the canon. The film added hip young actors who would all go on to become a-list stars including Michelle Williams, Josh Hartnett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as well as popular rap artist LL Cool J. However, one of the brightest ideas was to cast Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother Janet Leigh, as not only was it great to see a famous mother and daughter relationship on screen but Leigh was the original Scream Queen from Alfred Hitchcock’s Pshyco. On October 29, 1998, Dr. Sam Loomis' former colleague Marion Chambers returns home to Langdon, Illinois, to find that her house had been burglarized. Her teenage neighbor Jimmy and his friend Tony call the police. Marion discovers that the file on Laurie Strode, Michael Myers' sister, is missing. She immediately rushes back over to Jimmy's house, where she finds him and Tony dead. Michael Myers suddenly appears and attacks Marion before slitting her throat, killing her. The police arrive just as Michael leaves the house with Laurie's file. Two investigators discuss what they know about Loomis' life. Having survived the explosion at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital in 1978, Loomis was under Marion's care at this house before dying, presumably from natural causes. However, even after nearly 20 years, Loomis refused to believe that Michael was dead, and devoted the rest of his life to studying all information about his former patient. The two investigators then enter his private study, completely untouched by Michael's burglary, and find that the walls are covered with photographs, sketches, and newspaper articles about Michael; from the murder of his sister Judith, to the stealing of her tombstone, to the murders in 1978, as well as articles on Laurie Strode, including her supposed death in an automobile accident. Meanwhile, in California, Laurie is living a seemingly perfect life with her teen son John and his girlfriend Molly, and has a career as the headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, a private boarding school where John attends. However, Laurie is far from happy, as the tragic events from 1978 still haunt her and lives in fear that her brother may return. Laurie has tried to get her life together with the hope that Michael would never come after her again. She ultimately faked her death in a car accident, and then relocated to California under an assumed name, Keri Tate. While a woman and her daughter are at a rest stop, the two narrowly avoid Michael, who steals the woman's car. At the academy campus, the students leave for an overnight field trip at the Yosemite National Park. Later that evening, John and his girlfriend Molly are having a Halloween party in the basement with their friends, Charlie and his girlfriend Sarah. Charlie goes off into the kitchen and is killed by Michael. Sarah finds Charlie's body and tries to escape via the dumbwaiter, but Michael savagely disfigures her leg before stabbing her to death. John and Molly go searching for their friends and are pursued by Michael through the school grounds. Laurie saves them as Michael corners them. Eventually he and Laurie come face-to-face for the first time in two decades. Laurie manages to get John and Molly to safety, before heading back to face Michael herself. She decides to return to the school to face Michael once and for all. Laurie succeeds in stopping Michael, but is not satisfied until she knows that he is truly dead. After Michael is loaded into an ambulance, Laurie steals the ambulance with his body. Michael re-animates and attacks Laurie, who swerves and the ambulance drives off the road. Michael tumbles out and is pinned between the ambulance and a fencepost. He reaches out to Laurie, wordlessly pleading for help, and Laurie approaches him warily. She seems to consider helping him, but looks into his eyes and abruptly reconsiders, and decapitates Michael with a fire axe, killing him instantly. John Carpenter was originally in the running to be the director for this particular follow-up since Curtis wanted to reunite the cast and for the crew of the original to have active involvement in it. It was believed that Carpenter opted out because he wanted no active part in the sequel; however, this is not the case. Carpenter agreed to direct the film, but demanded a three-picture deal with Dimension Films. Carpenter’s bargain was denied by the Weinsteins, and therefore no deal took place. A truly stupid decision. It was great to see Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode and the scenes where she comes face to face with Michael are electric, unfortunately there isn’t much else to say for the rest of the film. I’ve never thought a school was ever a particularly scary place, it might be for boarders but it certainly doesn’t do it for me. I did like the supporting characters but the film was caught up in a spate of samey horror films out at the same time and they all seemed to follow a similar – and quite dull – formula. It was all hype and no substance. It’s not a terrible film, it’s certainly better than some of the other sequels, but it is largely uninteresting and a bit forgettable really. Great ending though.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Dir: Joe Chappelle

1995

**

Although I was glad that Donald Pleasence returned to thef ranchise once more, I was also pretty surprised after the awful Halloween: The Revenge of Michael Myers. He was the best thing about the last few films and without him the series would have been completely lost, so again, while I’m happy he appeared in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the sixth film of the series, I’m also saddened as this was to be his last ever film appearance. It’s not exactly the greatest film to end, especially not for such a great actor with an incredible body of work under his belt. Just when you thought the story of Michael Myers couldn’t get even more convoluted, producer Akkad did it again. However, you can’t blame a rushed script this time. After the less than enthusiastic response to Halloween 5 which came out only a year after Halloween 4, producer Moustapha Akkad put the series on hold to re-evaluate its potential. Akkad felt Halloween 5 had strayed too far from Halloween 4 and the box office response was much lower than expected. In 1990, screenwriter and long-time Halloween fan Daniel Farrands set out to write the sixth entry in the Halloween series. Farrands gave his horror movie scripts to the producer of Halloween 5, Ramsey Thomas, who was impressed by his writing. Akkad agreed to meet with Farrands who arrived at the studio  with a huge notebook filled with Halloween research – the entire series laid out in a timeline, a bio of every character and a "family tree" of the Myers and Strode clans. Although the producers at the time had already sought to make a sixth Halloween film, a series of complicated legal battles ensued which delayed plans for a sequel; eventually Miramax Films (via its Dimension Films division) bought the rights to the Halloween series. In June 1994, after several screenplays from different writers had been deemed insufficient by Akkad (including one by Scott Spiegel), Farrands was hired to write a new screenplay, as the film had an impending shooting date scheduled for October in Salt Lake City, Utah. Farrands has said his initial intent for the film was to "bridge the later films (4-5) in the series to the earlier films (1-2) while at the same time taking the story into new territory so that the series could expand for future installments.” This in part meant expanding on the presence of the "Man in Black" as well as the appearance of the Thorn symbol, both of which appear without explanation at the end of Halloween 5. In beginning the script, Farrands contacted the writers of Halloween 4 and 5 for additional information, but they were unable to provide clear answers, leaving him to "pick up the pieces.” Farrands expanded the "Curse of Thorn" plot line, in which Jamie Lloyd is kidnapped by a covert cult who has cursed Michael Myers via the Runic symbol of Thorn, which compels him to kill and also affords him immortality. Farrands had in part based the idea on dialogue present in Halloween II about the night of Samhain, during which the "veil between the living and the dead is thinnest," the one time of the year during which Myers became "active, and seeks out his bloodline.” References to Druidism as well as Myers's grandfather "hearing voices" had also appeared in the 1978 novelization of Halloween by Curtis Richards. While the character of Jamie Lloyd dies early in the film, the initial versions of Farrands' script had her character surviving until the final act, at which point she was ultimately killed by Michael. Other elements of Farrands' working script that ultimately had to be trimmed down included an extension of the Curse of Thorn subplot, which had the entire town of Haddonfield in collusion with the cult, an idea Akkad wanted to use for the series' seventh installment. However, this idea was scrapped in favor of the Halloween H20 script in 1997. Personally I found the script to be beyond nauseating, he basically complicated a simple and effective idea taking away one of the original reasons why the series was so intriguing/scary – it’s mystery. That said, I do admire him for trying to tie all of the films together – even Halloween III – which everyone had pretty much written off. He also links John Carpenter’s The Fog to the film suggesting they take place in the same movie universe – a nice tribute to Carpenter and an acknowledgment to his original film. Donald Pleasence’s last film was to be Paul Rudd’s first. Although set in the present, the film goes back to the end of the last film and explains that both Michael Myers and his niece Jamie Lloyd were actually abducted from the Haddonfield Police Station after we last saw them. Six years later, on October 30, 1995, Jamie has had a baby and we find her just as her baby is being taken away by the "Man in Black", the leader of a Druid-like cult. Later, a midwife helps Jamie escape with her rescued baby and is soon killed by Michael by impaling the back of her skull into a protruding sharp metal spike high on the wall. Jamie and her baby flee in a stolen pick-up truck, with Michael in pursuit. Stopping briefly at a deserted bus station, Jamie makes a call to a Haddonfield radio station to warn them that Michael is about to return home, only to be ignored by the radio D.J. Barry Simms. Meanwhile, the retired Dr. Sam Loomis is visited by his friend Dr. Terence Wynn, the chief administrator of Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where Michael had been incarcerated as a boy; Wynn asks Loomis to return to Smith's Grove. They overhear Jamie's plea for help on a local radio station. Michael finds Jamie, and she crashes the truck into an old barn. He kills Jamie by impaling her on a corn thresher and turning it on, disemboweling her, but finds that her baby is not in the truck. Back in Haddonfield, Tommy Doyle, who Laurie Strode babysat in 1978, now lives in a boarding house run by Mrs. Blankenship. The family living in the Myers house across the street are relatives of the dysfunctional Strode family: Kara Strode, her six-year-old son Danny, her teenage brother Tim, caring mother Debra, and abusive father John. Ever since seeing Michael as a child, Tommy has been obsessed with finding the truth behind his motives. He finds Jamie's baby at the bus station, takes him into his care, and names him Steven. Tommy runs into Loomis and tells him about the Strode family living in the Myers house. The two believe Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Michael enters his home and kills Debra. Later, Tommy, Kara, and Danny go to the boarding house, where Tommy reveals that he believes Michael has been inflicted with Thorn, an ancient Druid curse. Long ago, one child from each tribe, chosen to bear the curse of Thorn, must sacrifice its next of kin on the night of Samhain, or Halloween. Tommy believes that Steven will be Michael's final sacrifice. While Tommy goes out to look for Loomis, Mrs. Blankenship reveals to Kara that she was babysitting Michael the night he killed his sister, and that Danny is hearing a voice telling him to kill just like Michael did, indicating Danny also possesses the power of Thorn. Meanwhile, Michael kills John, Tim, Tim's girlfriend Beth, and Barry Simms. After Tommy returns home with Loomis, the Man in Black reveals himself to be Wynn. The cult take Kara, Danny, Steven, and Michael to Smith's Grove. There, Loomis confronts Wynn, who reveals he wants to control and study the power of Thorn. Wynn wants Loomis to join in on his conspiracy, and reveals that Jamie's baby represents a new cycle of Michael's evil that he kept secret from most of the cult who were focused on inflicting the curse onto a new child (Danny) to carry out a new trend of family sacrifices. Loomis calls Wynn out on his scheme and is knocked unconscious. Later, Michael butchers Wynn's team of staff surgeons and Wynn himself during a medical procedure with Danny and Steven sitting in a room next door. Tommy finds and frees Kara, Danny, and Steven; they flee from Michael and hide in a laboratory. Regaining consciousness, Loomis helps Kara and the children escape the hospital. When Michael breaks into the room, Tommy injects him with large quantities of tranquilizers containing a corrosive liquid and beats him unconscious with a lead pipe. As Tommy, Kara, Danny, and Steven leave, Loomis refuses to come with them as he has "a little business to attend to". Back inside the building, Michael's mask is seen lying on the floor of the lab room and Loomis is heard screaming in the background, leaving the fate of both characters unknown. While the plot is even more convoluted then the previous films’, I do admit that the follow up is a lot more fun. The problems with the film are glaringly obvious but Michael Myers feels more like his old self and Pleasence still gives it his all in his final performance. Pleasence died eight months before the film hit cinemas due to issues with the release date and poor test audience reactions. I can’t help but think this boosted sales somewhat. Paul Rudd was good but you wouldn’t have guessed his future success based on his performance. It was a shame Danielle Harris didn’t return. Harris, who was seventeen at the time, contacted producer Paul Freeman about reprising her role as Jamie Lloyd, and went so far as completing paperwork to become legally emancipated in order to shoot the film. She was officially cast in the role, but Dimension Films could not come to an agreement over her salary; Harris alleges that Dimension offered her a scaled $1,000 to shoot the part over the course of a week, which was less than the amount of money she had paid for her emancipation. Farrands and Freeman both had wanted Harris for the part, but at that point "had their hands tied." According to Harris, the head of the casting department refused to negotiate her salary, stating that she was a "scale character who dies in the first twenty minutes." This ultimately led to her dropping out of the project. "People automatically assume I wanted some crazy amount of money, or something," Harris commented in 2014, "but it's not like I was demanding or anything, really... When you've been asked to do something and then they insult you by saying, "You're a piece of shit, you die in the first act - I don't give a fuck that you were in two other Halloween movies, who cares?"... I was in shock." I do think Dimension dropped the ball with the film and maybe if Farrands was allowed complete creative control he could have saved the franchise. I both love and hate the cliff-hanging ending, while it is interesting that we don’t know what happened to either Loomis or Mayers, it would have been great to see Loomis win in his final scene.

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Dir: Dominique Othenin-Girard

1989

**

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was unnecessary but something of a guilty pleasure. It had Donald Pleasence, a neat twist ending and the shape himself, Michael Myers, was back in town. It was no masterpiece, a little too like a soap-opera in places but still a million times better then what would follow. The best part of the film was that Jamie Lloyd, daughter of Laurie Strode and niece of Michael Myers, had ‘turned’ evil following the trauma of being chased by her murderous family member. It looked as if the evil would continue through her, taking the series down an interesting and original path. People wanted to see Halloween 5 to see just how her character would develop, and therein lies the problem. The success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers had revived Michael Myers' fame as the 1980s slasher movie craze had begun to subside. Other slashers like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street were in decline, so Halloween had a unique position to turn the genre around. While the previous film was still in cinemas, producer Moustapha Akkad had already laid out plans for Halloween 5. He wanted to screen the film in October 1989, just one year after the previous sequel, following John Carpenters original idea of releasing a new Halloween film every year on Halloween. The first draft of the script was written by Shem Bitterman. Bitterman's idea was continue the story that Jamie Lloyd had become evil after stabbing her stepmother while The Shape was after her. This idea was rejected by the studio and Akkad, who brought in Michael Jacobs to write the script. After reviewing the script, director Dominique Othenin-Girard added some new aspects like Jamie's inability to speak and her visions. Veteran actor Donald Pleasence had disagreements with Akkad and Othenin-Girard, citing that Jamie should have been portrayed as "all-evil" after stabbing her stepmother. Akkad disagreed, thinking that fans wanted to see more of The Shape (aka Michael Myers). In an interview, Danielle Harris explained what she thought of the idea. “The way Halloween 4 ended, I thought I was going to be the killer. I thought it would have been fun to come back as the killer, or Michael's sidekick.” The starts with one of the last scenes from the previous film where Michael Myers was shot and falls down a mine shaft. We learn that he survived and was found by a hermit who bandaged him up. Michael had fallen into a coma, and the hermit had been caring for him ever since. One year later, on October 30, 1989, Michael awakens, kills the hermit, and returns to Haddonfield, where his niece Jamie Lloyd (played by the returning Danielle Harris) continues to live after nearly being killed by Michael the year before. Jamie has been committed to a children's hospital, having been rendered mute due to psychological trauma suffering from nightmares and seizures. She is also being psychologically treated for attacking her foster mother under Michael’s influence. We learn that she suddenly exhibits signs of a telepathic link with her uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence – who returned against his better judgement) becomes aware of Jamie's psychic link with Michael, and tries to convince Sheriff Ben Meeker (a returning Beau Starr) that Michael is still alive. Meanwhile, showing signs of a metaphysical connection to Jamie, Michael tracks Jamie to a local child mental health clinic. He kills Jamie's sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell – who said she was ecstatic to be returning to the film but was deeply disappointed to learn that her character would be killed off so early in the film) by stabbing her in the chest with a pair of scissors, and begins stalking their friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan), also killing Tina's boyfriend Mike with a sharp rake to his head. Later that night, Tina and her friends Sam and Spitz go to a Halloween party at a farm. Sensing that Tina is in danger, Jamie, having regained her ability to speak, goes to warn her; her friend Billy goes with her. While Sam and Spitz are having sex in the barn, Michael murders them. Spitz is impaled with a pitchfork and Sam is sliced across the chest with a garden scythe. Michael then leaves the barn and kills two deputies that Loomis had asked to keep an eye on Tina for her protection. After the party, Tina goes to the barn and discovers the bodies. Michael chases Tina, Jamie, and Billy with a car. Tina sacrifices herself to save Jamie, and Michael fatally stabs her in the chest. Loomis, Sheriff Meeker, and the police arrive on the scene and rescue Jamie and Billy. Jamie finally agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good. With Jamie's help, Loomis lures Michael back to his abandoned childhood home. In the old Myers house, Loomis and the police create a set-up. Jamie senses that Michael has arrived at the clinic and Billy is in danger, which causes Sheriff Meeker, along with most of his backup, to leave the Myers house. Eventually, Michael arrives at his old home and kills the two remaining officers. Loomis tries to reason with him, but Michael subdues him and then goes after Jamie. Jamie hides in an old laundry chute, but she is forced to abandon it after Michael finds her and repeatedly stabs the chute. She races upstairs to the attic where she finds a coffin that was stolen from the cemetery earlier, and the bodies of Rachel and Mike. Michael finds Jamie, but before he can kill her, she tries to appeal her uncle's humanity. At Jamie's request, Michael takes off his mask. However, Jamie touches Michael's face, sending him into a fit of rage. Loomis appears, using Jamie as bait, and lures Michael into a trap to weaken him with a tranquilizer gun. After beating Michael unconscious with a wooden plank, Loomis suffers a stroke and collapses. Michael is locked up in the sheriff’s station, to eventually be escorted to a maximum-security prison, where, Meeker says, he will remain "until the day he dies," to which Jamie responds, "He'll never die." After Jamie is escorted out to be taken home, a mysterious "Man in Black" arrives and attacks the police station, killing the officers, including Sheriff Meeker. In the aftermath, Jamie walks through the station, and discovers her uncle's cell empty, prompting her to begin sobbing in terror. The Hermit, who was shown in the beginning of the film as living in a quiet shack outside of the river with his parrot, was originally supposed to be a young man who tried to bring The Shape back to life after finding him. His shack was supposed to be filled with ancient runes, tablets, and other items for resurrection. This scene was filmed, but was re-shot with an old man, instead of a younger man. It was actually Debra Hill who introduced Dominique Othenin-Girard to Akkad after seeing his 1985 film After Darkness – the last thing she would ever do for the series – but it was clear that the inexperienced director wasn’t quite ready for the job. After darkness remains the director only good film. However in his defense, he had little time to work on the film which was rushed from the beginning. The plot was convoluted and stale, Michael Myers wasn’t scary and wasn’t quite the same as he had been previously. He was actually a lot more like Jason Voorhees. Othenin-Girard’s inexperience actually led to many injuries on set, with an actor nearly burning to death and Donald Pleasence accidentally breaking Michael Myers’ (this time played by Don Shanks) nose. It is okay for a horror film to be ridiculous, indeed, no one expects a fifth installment of any series to be anything but, but there are limits, the film just wasn’t any fun and the only thing we hadn’t seen before in the previous films was the level of absurdity and wasted opportunity.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Dir: Dwight H. Little

1988

***

I’m one of the few people who actually liked Halloween III and I still think that Carpenter and Hill’s vision of a Halloween anthology of different films could have been awesome. However, if you fall at the first hurdle it’s often not worth continuing the race and the fans of the original had spoken – they wanted Michael Myers back and, essentially, the same film they had seen twice already. Producer Moustapha Akkad wanted to move further with the series, and bring back Michael Myers. Meanwhile, John Carpenter was approached by Cannon Films, who had just finished 1986's release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, to write and direct Halloween 4. Debra Hill planned to produce the film, while Carpenter teamed up with Dennis Etchison who, under the pseudonym Jack Martin, had written novelizations of both Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch to write a script to Halloween 4. Joe Dante was Carpenter's original choice for director on the project itself. However, Akkad rejected the Etchison script, calling it "too cerebral" and insisting that any new Halloween sequel must feature Myers as a flesh and blood killer. Carpenter and Hill’s vision was rejected, they didn’t want to make the same film again so signed all of their rights away to Akkad, who gained full ownership. Akkad said, "I just went back to the basics of Halloween on Halloween 4 and it was the most successful.” As Carpenter refused to continue his involvement with the series, a new director was sought out. Dwight H. Little replaced Carpenter based on his directorial work for episodes for Freddy's Nightmares and the film Bloodstone. Little rushed the script so he could submit it before the March ’87 writers strike, completing it in just eleven days. Weirdly, the two people who died at the end of Halloween II (Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis) were the only two characters to return, while Halloween II’s only surviver (Laurie Strode) is declared dead within the first few minutes. On the eve of Halloween 1988, Michael Myers, who has been in a comatose state for ten years since the explosion at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, is transferred to Smith's Grove Sanitarium by ambulance. En route, Michael awakens upon hearing that Laurie Strode, who died in a car accident, has a daughter, Jamie Lloyd (played by Danielle Harris – her character named after actor Jamie Lee Curtis). He kills the ambulance personnel, and makes his way to Haddonfield in search of his niece Jamie. Fellow survivor Dr. Samuel Loomis goes to Haddonfield after learning that Michael has escaped transfer. He follows Michael to a gas station, where he has killed a mechanic for his clothes, along with a clerk and disabled the phones. Michael then escapes in a tow truck and causes an explosion, destroying Loomis's car in the process. Loomis is then forced to catch a ride to Haddonfield. Meanwhile, Jamie is living in Haddonfield with her foster family, Richard and Darlene Carruthers, and their teenage daughter, Rachel. Jamie knows about Michael, but she is unaware that he is the strange man she has been having nightmares about. Richard and Darlene head out for the night, and leave Rachel to babysit Jamie, causing her to miss her date with her boyfriend, Brady. After school, Rachel takes Jamie to buy some ice cream and a Halloween costume. At that point, Michael has already arrived in Haddonfield, and nearly attacks Jamie in the store. That night, as Rachel takes Jamie trick-or-treating, Michael goes to the electrical substation, and kills a worker by throwing him into high voltage, plunging the town into darkness. Meanwhile, Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and warns the new sheriff, Ben Meeker, that Michael has returned. Michael attacks the police station and kills all of the officers. A lynch mob is formed by the town's men to kill Michael. Rachel discovers Brady cheating on her with the sheriff's daughter, Kelly, and loses track of Jamie. After being chased by Michael, Rachel finds Jamie. Sheriff Meeker and Loomis arrive and take the girls to the sheriff's house with Brady, Kelly, and a deputy. They barricade the house, and Loomis departs to look for Michael. With Sheriff Meeker in the basement awaiting the arrival of the state police, Michael sneaks in and kills the deputy and Kelly. Discovering the bodies, Rachel, Jamie, and Brady realize that they are trapped in the house. Rachel and Jamie flee to the attic when Michael appears, but Brady stays to fend him off, and is killed. The girls climb through a window onto the roof, and Jamie is lowered down safely, but Michael attacks Rachel and knocks her off the roof. Pursued by Michael, Jamie runs down the street and finds Loomis. They take shelter in the school, but Michael appears and subdues Loomis before chasing Jamie through the building. Jamie trips, and falls down a flight of stairs. Before Michael can kill her, Rachel arrives and subdues him with a fire extinguisher. The lynch mob and the state police arrive at the school after hearing the alarm go off. The lynch mob agrees to take Jamie and Rachel to the next town in a pickup truck. However, Michael climbs aboard the truck, and kills the men. Rachel takes the wheel, throwing Michael off of the truck and ramming him, sending him flying into a ditch near an abandoned mine. Sheriff Meeker, surviving members of the lynch mob, and the state police arrive, and when Michael rises after Jamie touches his hand, they relentlessly shoot Michael before he falls down a mine shaft. Loomis and Sheriff Meeker take the girls back home; Darlene and Richard, who have arrived home, console their traumatized children. As Darlene goes upstairs to run Jamie a bath, she is attacked by Jamie. Loomis hears Darlene's screams and races halfway up the stairs, before he stops dead in his tracks. He sees an emotionless Jamie standing at the top of the stairs, wearing a clown mask, holding a pair of scissors in her hand, with her costume stained with blood (similar to Michael when he killed his older sister Judith). Loomis backs against the wall and raises his gun to shoot her. Sheriff Meeker stops Loomis and disarms him, taking the gun into his own hands before he, Mr. Carruthers, and Rachel also see the horror that Loomis saw. Loomis slowly sinks to the floor, sobbing, having realized that Jamie is following in Michael's footsteps. It’s a fantastic twist ending the feels original as well as paying tribute to the original. To be honest, as much as it was good to see Michael Myers back, it is the return of Donald Pleasence that really makes the film so enjoyable. It is only Pleasence and the twist ending that make Halloween 4 acceptable and not feel like just a re-hash of old ideas, although it really is just that. You can’t match the mastery of the original but at this point it is all about the fun.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Dir: Tommy Lee Wallace
1982
****

Halloween II wasn’t quite the critical success as the original film was but it still made money. However, when approached about creating a third Halloween film, original Halloween writers John Carpenter and Debra Hill were reluctant to pledge commitment. When initially asked, Carpenter flatly answered, "No, ‘The Shape’ (Michael Myers) is dead. Pleasence's character is dead, too, unfortunately.” And that seemed to be that. However, after some thought from all parties (and after Halloween producers Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad stated they were prepared to put down a $2.5 million budget) they had an idea. Tommy Lee Wallace, the art director of Halloween and whom was asked to direct Halloween II (but eventually directed Halloween III), stated, "It is our intention to create an anthology out of the series, sort of along the lines of Night Gallery, or The Twilight Zone, only on a much larger scale, of course." All of the original characters, including Michael Myers, were dropped. Halloween III also departs from the slasher genre, instead featuring a "witchcraft" theme with science fiction aspects and parallels to old Celtic fairy tales. Carpenter and Hill believed that the Halloween series had the potential to branch into an anthology series of horror films that centered around the night of Halloween, with each film containing its own characters, setting, and story line. Director Wallace stated that there were many ideas for Halloween-themed films, some of which could have potentially created any number of their own sequels, and that Season of the Witch was meant to be the first of the anthology series. Carpenter would later admit that he wanted to release a Halloween film every year for the rest of his career. I personally think it was a great idea and maybe something they should have stuck with. Halloween III wasn’t popular but the mistake was only ever in the name – people expected a film linked with the first two films – and were disappointed when Michael Myers was nowhere to be seen. The film actually references the original, suggesting that the original is fiction and Halloween III is reality. While Halloween III isn’t as scary as the first two film I would argue that it is far more creepy and unbearably eerie at times. I’m one of the few people that actually really loved it. I hunted for a copy for years in the late 90s, the film was VHS gold-dust and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. In all honesty, if I had to watch just one film from the series on 31st October, it would probably be Halloween III because it is just so eerie. Once again though, one of the films key elements is about the ‘mask’. Special effects artist Don Post of Post Studios designed the latex masks in the film which included a glow-in-the-dark skull, a lime-green witch and an orange Day-Glo jack-o'-lantern. The skull and witch masks were adaptations of standard Post Studios masks, but the jack-o'-lantern was created specifically for Halloween III. Post linked the masks of the film to the popularity of masks in the real world: “Every society in every time has had its masks that suited the mood of the society, from the masked ball to clowns to makeup. People want to act out a feeling inside themselves - angry, sad, happy, old. It may be a sad commentary on present-day America that horror masks are the best sellers. The producers recruited British science fiction writer Nigel Kneale to write the original screenplay, mostly because Carpenter admired his Quatermass series. Kneale said his script did not include "horror for horror's sake". He added, "The main story had to do with deception, psychological shocks rather than physical ones." Kneale asserts that movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis, owner of the film's distribution rights, did not care for it and ordered more graphic violence and gore. While much of the plot remained the same, the alterations displeased Kneale, and he requested that his name be removed from the credits. Director Tommy Lee Wallace was then assigned to revise the script. The story begins on October 23, 1982, shop owner Harry Grimbridge runs along a barren road in Northern California, chased by mysterious figures in business suits. He makes it to a gas station, clutching a jack-o'-lantern mask. He is driven to the hospital by station attendant Walter Jones. At the hospital, Grimbridge is placed in the care of Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins). That night, another mysterious man in a suit enters Grimbridge's hospital room, kills him, then goes to his car and immolates himself. The next morning, Grimbridge's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), arrives to identify her father's remains. Ellie and Challis agree to investigate his murder, leading them to the small town of Santa Mira, California. The motel manager explains that Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) and his company, Silver Shamrock Novelties, which produces wildly popular latex jack-o-lantern, witch and skeleton masks for Halloween, are responsible for the town's prosperity. While signing the motel register, Challis learns that Grimbridge stayed at the same motel. Other motel guests include shop owners Marge Guttman and Buddy Kupfer, Buddy's wife, Betty, and their son, Little Buddy, who all have business at the company's factory. Guttman finds a microchip on the back of a Silver Shamrock button, and is electrocuted by its laser beam after poking it with a hairpin. Challis and Ellie learn of Guttman's accident, and Challis attempts to help, but is forced away by a group of men dressed in lab coats, who drive away in a van with Marge's body. The next morning, Challis and Ellie tour the factory with the Kupfers, and discover Grimbridge's car there, guarded by more men dressed in suits. They return to the motel, but cannot contact anyone outside the town. While Challis attempts to phone for the authorities, Ellie is kidnapped by the men in suits, and driven to the factory. Challis pursues them, breaks into the factory, and discovers that the men in suits are androids created by Cochran. Challis is captured by the androids and Cochran reveals his plan to sacrifice children wearing his masks on Halloween, thus bringing about a resurrection of the ancient age of witchcraft. For Silver Shamrock's "Big Giveaway", which will air at 9:00 P.M. on all television channels following the "Horrorthon", each of these masks contain a fragment of Stonehenge implanted in its trademark microchip. When activated by a flashing signal of the commercial's on-screen "magic pumpkin", the microchip causes the mask wearer to succumb to brain damage from absorbing the energy of Stonehenge and unleashes a swarm of insects and snakes that come out of the wearer's corpse and kill anyone nearby. To demonstrate, Cochran kills the Kupfers this way. That night, Cochran puts the Silver Shamrock mask on Challis, and leaves him to die the same fate as the trick-or-treating children, who will come back home for his false watch-and-win Halloween sweepstakes that he created for his company. But Challis, after destroying the television set and removing the mask, escapes through a ventilation shaft and rescues Ellie. He dumps the chips from the overhead rafters, and activates their signal with the commercial, killing Cochran and his employees, and destroying the computer chips along with the entire Silver Shamrock factory. As the two drive away, Ellie attacks Challis, revealing that Cochran replaced the real Ellie with an android duplicate. Challis crashes the vehicle and decapitates the android with a tire iron. On foot, Challis arrives at Jones' gas station, where he contacts the television stations and convinces all but one of the station managers to remove the commercial. However, at the same moment, a group of trick-or-treaters, wearing their masks that are not destroyed, come to participate in the Big Giveaway without being aware of the sacrificing threat. Challis persuades the stations to take it off channels one and two, but not channel three where the fake sweepstakes keeps on playing, right onto the magic pumpkin sequence. He then desperately tries to convince the company to stop playing the commercial, yelling on the telephone, as the animated pumpkin head blinks non-stop in front of him and the children. The film ends with Challis screaming for the final station to turn off the commercial. It’s not a great story admittedly and even though I’m a firm believe that one shouldn’t think too hard about a horror film’s plot if you want to fully enjoy it, this one does raise a multitude of question. I personally liked how ridiculous it was and how seriously it was taken. The music and the ‘Three more days ‘till Halloween’ jingle really add a special edge of eeriness that are extremely effective throughout the film. Whenever anyone mentions the franchise as a whole, the first thing that pops into my head is that jingle and I saw the film years and years ago. I liked that Dick Warlock had a cameo in the film as the android assassin and Jamie Lee Curtis provided he voice as the Santa Mira curfew announcer and the telephone operator but Nancy Kyes’s performance as Challis's ex-wife Linda was a bit confusing, given that she was in the first two Halloween films (that we are told are fiction) as Laurie Strode's promiscuous friend Annie Brackett. Stonehenge and killer robots – I can see why people didn’t warm to it – but for me I could still feel Carpenter, Hill and Wallace’s vibe and I really like it, despite how ridiculous it all is. I actually think it has got better over time.

Halloween II

Dir: Rick Rosenthal

1981

***

John Carpenter and Debra Hill had no interest in making a sequel as they believed the original Halloween was a standalone movie. When the studio offered him to write the script and pay them more money (Carpenter states that to this day he saw very little earnings from the success of the original movie) he took the job so he could earn back what he believes was his owed pay. However, the script was not forming out as well as he thought, and he has personally stated that the only thing helping him through the screenplay process was a six pack of Budweiser every day which led to what he believes an inferior script and bad choices in the movie's story. Personally I thought the film was fine, sure it wasn’t needed but it was still very much appreciated. Carpenter and Hill had originally considered setting the sequel a few years after the events of Halloween. They planned to have Myers track Laurie Strode to her new home in a high-rise apartment building – which would have been brilliant – but the setting was later changed to Haddonfield Hospital. Producers Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad wanted the story to continue exactly from where it ended in the first film, leading to a few headaches in the continuity department. For starters, the mask had suffered from being under Hill’s bed for several years, it had cracked and was yellow from nicotine stains. Jamie Lee Curtis had cut her hair short and everyone was just that little bit older. Still, Yablans and Akkad threw a lot of money at it after making a huge profit on the first film. Carpenter however refused to direct. He had originally approached Tommy Lee Wallace, the art director from the original Halloween, to take the helm. Carpenter told one interviewer, "I had made that film once and I really didn't want to do it again." Wallace excepted as he had his own thoughts about where to proceed with the sequel, and was excited by the project, however Carpenter eventually determined that this film would pick up directly from where the original left off. Despite some disappointment in this story direction, Wallace maintained his interest and was still set to direct, with his name even appearing as director in a 1980 trade ad released by Filmways Pictures. When Carpenter finished the script and presented it to Wallace, he was extremely disappointed to discover the intention to make the film as bloody and violent as the original's imitators, which had used such conventions to ensure their success. When it was realized that he had no choice but to include these elements in the film, Wallace withdrew from the project (although he return to direct the sequel). After Wallace left, Carpenter chose Rick Rosenthal, a relatively unknown and inexperienced director whose previous credits included episodes of the television series Secrets of Midland Heights. In an interview Carpenter explained that Rosenthal was chosen because "he did a terrific short called Toyer. It was full of suspense and tension and terrific performances.” There was discussion of filming Halloween II in 3-D; Hill said, "We investigated a number of 3-D processes ... but they were far too expensive for this particular project. Also, most of the projects we do involve a lot of night shooting - evil lurks at night. It's hard to do that in 3-D.” The story continues in much the same vein as the first film but without any of the mystery. At the end of the last film Michael Myers is shot and falls off a balcony. Taking shelter to recover from his injuries, Michael steals a kitchen knife from the home of an elderly couple, and kills a teenage girl living next door. Laurie Strode, who narrowly survived being killed by Michael earlier in the night, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, while psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, continues his pursuit of Michael. While with Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Loomis spots and chases after teenager Ben Tramer, who he mistakes for Michael as an oncoming police car suddenly crashes into Ben and a van which explodes, killing him in the process. Sheriff Brackett receives news of the death of his daughter, Annie. Blaming Loomis for her death, Sheriff Brackett goes home to tell his wife about it, leaving Deputy Gary Hunt in charge to help Loomis. At the hospital, paramedic Jimmy develops romantic feelings for Laurie, much to the chagrin of head nurse Virginia Alves. The real Michael discovers Laurie's location via the radio, due to the news of the murders reaching the media, and makes his way to the hospital. Once there, he cuts the phone lines, and disables the cars. Security guard Mr. Garrett goes downstairs to fix the power in the basement, and is killed with a hammer claw to his skull. Paramedic Budd Scarlotti is strangled, while Nurse Karen is scalded to death in the hospital's hydrotherapy tub. Meanwhile, Janet hurries off to find Dr. Mixter, only to find him dead with a needle jammed into his eye. Before she can flee, Michael kills her with a syringe. Jimmy and Nurse Jill Franco search the hospital for Laurie, who is trying to evade Michael; Jimmy finds Alves' corpse, and slips in a pool of blood on the floor, losing consciousness. Elsewhere, Loomis is informed that Michael broke into the local elementary school. As he investigates, Loomis's colleague, Marion Chambers, and U.S. Marshall Terence Gummell come to escort Loomis back to Smith's Grove on the governor's orders. Along the way, Marion tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's sister, but that information was kept secret for her safety. With the realization that Michael is after Laurie, Loomis orders Gummell to drive back to Haddonfield. Just after finding Laurie, Jill is killed by a scalpel-wielding Michael, who then pursues Laurie through the hospital. Laurie escapes to the parking lot, and hides in Jimmy's car. Regaining consciousness, Jimmy exits the hospital, and gets in the car to seek help, but he falls unconscious on the steering wheel horn because of his injuries, alerting Michael to their location. Loomis, Marion, and Gummell reach the hospital just in time to save Laurie. Loomis shoots Michael five more times. As Marion attempts to contact the police, Michael kills Gummell, and chases Loomis and Laurie into an operating room. Michael stabs Loomis in the stomach, wounding him, but Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, blinding him. Loomis and Laurie fill the room with ether and oxygen gas. Loomis orders Laurie to run and sacrifices himself by igniting the gas, which blows up the operating room with him and Michael inside, immolating them both in the fire. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally falling dead. Early the next morning, Laurie is put in an ambulance and driven to safety, having visions of Michael's burning body in her mind. I have to confess that, while I like the film overall, I didn’t think much of the ending. I thought that, if you have to make another film then keep the story going, it didn’t seem right to kill off both Michael and Dr. Loomis. I clearly wasn’t alone though, as both characters came back several times over. It was great that Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence came back and I thought Dick Warlock was good as ‘The Shape’. To get the role of Michael Myers, Warlock revealed that as he passed by a room, the Michael Myers mask was on a table. He put the mask on and walked into Rick Rosenthal's office and stood there. After Rosenthal continuously asked him who he was and he didn't reply, he took off the mask and asked if he could play Myers. For me Lance Guest was the great supporting actor of the film, thanks to his performance here director Tommy Lee Wallace cast him in the brilliant The Last Starfighter. It is what it is, not the best entry in the series but certainly not the worst. At least it had both Curtis and Pleasence but sadly it would be the last time they would appear together in the franchise.