Halloween Ends.

Review #1906: Halloween Ends.

Cast: 

Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Andi Matichak (Allyson Nelson), James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle (Michael Myers / The Shape), Will Patton (Deputy Frank Hawkins), Rohan Campbell (Corey Cunningham), Kyle Richards (Lindsey Wallace), Jesse C. Boyd (Officer Mulaney), Joanne Baron (Joan Cunningham), Rick Moose (Ronald), with Michael Barbieri (Terry), Destiny Mone (Stacy), Joey Harris (Margo), Marteen (Billy), and Michael O'Leary (Dr. Mathis) Directed by David Gordon Green (#1151 - Halloween (2018) and #1752 - Halloween Kills)

Review:  

Part 1: The Shape of BS

It took about a week to write this review, albeit mostly on purpose. I had a vacation coming in October because, well, it is baseball season, but I figured that a month of horror would need at least one 2022 film (as it turned out, this is the third from this year). Besides, there is plenty to talk about when refreshed and having covered thirteen films already, so let us get going. As much as I wanted to rush out a review that covered this film in quick detail in order to cover a new horror movie for the season, I think that the best way to give the film justice is in excruciating detail. No, this won't be a bit-by-bit picking of the film, but it will try to satisfy all of the angles that I'm sure will make this one of the most divisive horror movies in quite a while. If one wants to be pedantic, there have been premises suggested for Halloween films that never came to pass that I'm sure would be familiar to those who watch this film, since one of the ideas presented in the gap between Halloween films (2010-2017) involved a mockumentary where people would get slashed while a "Halloween" movie was being filmed. You could argue that the movie is meant to be bold with the way it wants to finally, finally, close the Halloween series (at least until Malek Akkad decides to make a deal with a producer besides Blumhouse to do it all over again). We have seen twelve follow-up films now, with varying "timelines". Halloween (2018), the first reboot to ignore continuity since the last film to ignore continuity in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), was pretty fine when I saw it back in 2018, but my opinion did diminish slightly when I heard that there would not only be a sequel but then another sequel. You know why? Yes, I am still stubborn in the belief that the 2018 Halloween would have been better off as just one thing, with no attempts at baiting more. Sure, Gordon Green and Danny McBride thought about doing back-to-back movies, but you can't seriously tell me that this trilogy of films (2018, 2021, 2022) deserved to be a trilogy. How the hell does one have so little confidence in themselves to go through with this? No disrespect, but people still would've gone nuts for a back-to-back row of Halloween films. At any rate, Kills was a flat-out filler movie filled with a silly idea about townspeople going nutty that went hand in hand with silly dialogue, albeit being better as a pure slasher film. As with before, Gordon Green and McBride wrote the film, this time in collaboration with Chris Bernier and Paul Brad Logan; the ending apparently was re-shot to be more modest. The film was released both in theaters and on Peacock (yuck), and I imagine it will make slightly less than the other two in audience curiosity, but who knows.

Part II

It is amusing to think about how the new trilogy has cribbed elements of the films they ignored with II, 4, 5, 6, except the whole Myers sibling thing. For example:

Laurie enters the hospital and stays there for most of it (Halloween II / Kills) 

A town mob goes after Michael (The Return of Michael Myers / Kills)

Michael gets injured and rests underground (The Revenge of Michael Myers / Ends)

A radio shock jock talks about Michael, needles the town, then gets killed (The Curse of Michael Myers / Ends)

A weirdo Tommy Doyle (Halloween 6 / Kills) 

Michael returns to his old house to kill people who happened to live there (Halloween 6 / Kills)

A person possibly follows in the footsteps of Michael (4 / Ends). 

Of course, you could argue that Ends tries to play the trick of being like the first one in not having much of Michael Myers or perhaps serve as a new example of being the divisive "third film" such as Halloween III; Season of the Witch (1982). Halloween (1978) was a great movie, let us get this out of the way. The classic took a premise as simple as murder of babysitters in a small town and made it a great horror classic that looked and sounded great, complete with a menacing terror in "The Shape". So...how is it? You know what was a better horror sequel that tried to do a different take on the original? Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). Watch that film instead. All right, you want more? Well...

Part III: Season of the Review

Halloween Ends is probably the most poorly executed of all the sequels that have come out in 40 years. I will say that it is average in terms of presentation and general filmmaking but a failure in the parts that matter most. Forget trying to call this the modern Halloween III in trying to push the boundaries of what can be done in this series, because this is just a lousy piece of dreck that makes the other one look less like hokey dreck. You thought killer masks with microchips from Stonehenge was bad? You thought Michael being a tool of a Thorn cult was bad? You thought trying to explain the psychology of Michael was bad? No, it is the idea of trying to make a movie where someone follows some of the footsteps of evil like Michael Myers that ends up being one of the most confounding misfires in this series. I think the only movie that managed to convey the terror of being killed by a shape of evil in a small town was, well, the original film. Every sequel since has either serve as a demystification of the killer or tried to amp up the gore, proving that one really can't capture lightning in a bottle twice. To be honest, the end result differed from what I really thought could have happened in this series: kill both Laurie and Michael as a full-fledged way to balance out good and evil. Granted, it would be pretty bleak, but isn't the point of doing a new "trilogy" to aim for something different? You could argue that Halloween: Resurrection (2002) and Halloween 4 came up with the death idea first, but hey, if you can do a better version of H20, then doing a better follow-up of H20 than what you got is not a hard tangent to leap to. But no, you have got to keep Curtis present and ready for another matchup of aging characters once again (box office dollars being the cynical reason). Maybe they wanted people to do think pieces about how the Rob Zombie features were better by comparison (uh, no).

Part 4: The Return of the Point

The 2018 version at least made a quality setup of an aged Laurie and Michael having their paths cross again, but it seems insulting to make a movie that tries to play with that for the last 25 minutes for a less inspiring result. The film isn't even better on a horror level than Kills, a mediocre hack of the fourth film. The slasher scenes are handled in a moderate level that falls by the wayside with bland social commentary that is not particularly clever. Who the hell thought seeing townspeople spew conspiracy theories about a killer was a particularly interesting idea? The Shape isn't exactly a hard presence to break down: he kills people without saying much of anything, he lurks in a way that may or may not be supernatural. John Carpenter aimed for "true crass exploitation", and every sequel has managed to only be just exploitation in different names. You could argue that Carpenter being involved as executive producer and music composer makes this sting less, but I imagine as long as the work and check clears, he doesn't really care (this isn't to knock Carpenter, because he obviously can do whatever the hell he wants - give him another shot at a film, you cowards!). 

Part 5: The Revenge of the Actors

Oh, right, there are actors in this movie. It relies mostly on the shoulders of Campbell, known for a handful of TV and film roles. In his attempts at trying to portray the descent of someone into madness in a love story manages to result in a bland performance. If you want to make chemistry between him and Matichak make sense, one would've actually had these two paired together earlier - as opposed to the third film of a trilogy! There is just too much of a hill for him to climb out of when it comes to trying to elevate a "new idea" that won't make you simply just watch Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986). In short, he is only effective in bland brooding scenes that would've made him an ideal one marked for death in a crappy slasher movie. Matichak comes off as listless, seemingly stuck in autopilot mode for nothing to do besides act opposite the "bad boy" stuff, as if the dynamic between her and Curtis had been played out in the last two films (uh, no?). I do appreciate Curtis getting her last portrayal of a character without reaching 65 (as opposed to Donald Pleasance, who was past that age for three sequels while still probably being the best part of those films). There hasn't been a bad portrayal in these seven films, but I can't say that she goes out as a complete winner, because the movie fundamentally fails her when it comes to presenting her trauma and guilt (oh look, the character is depicted writing a book...kind of like how Rob Zombie's Halloween sequels (2007, 2009) had one of the leads write a book). The voiceovers used from time to time are cliche and uninspiring, and there is nothing to grab on when it comes to the inevitability of a final confrontation that is more of a wet fart of a swansong rather than something interesting. The rest of the characters are just there, mildly interesting but only reminding me that this probably could've worked as a miniseries or a mega-cut. Here are the run-times of the films: 106, 105, and 111 minutes. Yeah, I think you can take 300 minutes from these films combined and cobble it into two films, and maybe somehow make this look like a real narrative as opposed to whatever bullshit this is, which seems to think the audience is stupid. The last film thought they could play the audience like a fiddle for filler, so obviously they think they can get away with it again. Imagine having the highlight of your film being a character getting put through the grinder (unless you count the opening scene as, uh, effective). 

 Part 6: The Curse of the Conclusion

In total, I assumed when I took time to process the film that it would sound better in my mind. Some have made the argument that it is a mixed bag, one that really tries to do something different with the series besides just being a slasher film. Well, that may be true, but a pile of crap with salt in the middle still taste likes crap no matter how you try to present things. I won't go as far as others who (seriously or not) put up a petition to re-do the film, but I will say that the best way to view the film is to look at it as a parody, one that sees what happens when someone has gone so far up their own...you know where that they have lost sight of what Halloween was about. It was a haunted house movie built around a holiday dedicated to getting one good scare that Carpenter and company turned into something chilling. Gordon Green's 2018 film and the original Halloween II are probably the only interesting follow-ups since the original, but when it comes to wanting one pure good time, the original movie wins every-time, proving that the past can lurk from beyond in more ways than one.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Dark Star.

Review #1221: Dark Star.

Cast: 
Brian Narelle (Lieutenant Doolittle), Dan O'Bannon (Sergeant Pinback, Bomb #19, and Bomb #20), Cal Kuniholm (Boiler), Dre Pahich (Talby, dubbed by John Carpenter), Joe Sanders (Commander Powell, dubbed by John Carpenter), Barbara Knapp (Computer), Miles Watkins (Mission Control), and Nick Castle (Alien) Directed by John Carpenter (#068 - Halloween (1978), #634 - Escape from New York, #712 - The Thing, and #732 - Escape from L.A.)

Review: 
This is a weird one. But what is one to expect from a film with an beachball alien with claws? Dark Star is the creation of Carpenter and O'Bannon, who wrote the film while being students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Carpenter was inspired by George Lucas' and his drive to adapt his USC short "THX 1138" into a feature-length film to make his own feature. The attempt began in 1970 with an initial budget of $1,000 and the use of USC soundstages. The budget rose over time, having one form as a 45 minute short made on $6,000. Carpenter also composed the music score, while O'Bannon served as editor, star, production designer, and visual effects supervisor. Through the help of distributor Jack Murphy and Jack H. Harris, additional minutes were filmed to make it feature-length (along with doing certain cuts) that resulted in a 83 minute feature made for $60,000. O'Bannon subsequently described the film as such: “We had what would have been the world’s most impressive student film and it became the world’s least impressive professional film.” Carpenter later stated that it was "one of the most difficult, brutalizing, devastating, and satisfying experiences of my life." It wasn't a huge success upon limited theatrical release, but it has found its own place as a cult classic. It certainly stands out from other science-fiction films, that is for sure, seeming like a riff on features such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a bit of a precursor to Alien (1979) with its blue collar crew on a spaceship (which O'Bannon subsquently wrote) who have the task of destroying unstable planets that might threaten future colonization of other planets. Being stuck on a ship like that for years on end would probably either make for a horror or a comedy film - the result is an uneven, but fairly enjoyable little comedy. I didn't find myself loving what comes out on screen each and every minute, but it did prove to make a few interesting moments that overcomes some of its amateurishness. After all, the buttons on the bridge consoles are ice cube trays, the space helmets are from a toy line, and the bombs are made out of plastic model kits. The ending is apparently inspired from Ray Bradbury's short story "Kaleidoscope", albeit with a plummet towards a planet with a makeshift surfboard. 

For a movie described by Carpenter as "Waiting for Godot in outer space", there is plenty of discussion one could have about the place this film has within sci-fi, cynical yet biting in its tale that stands out from other space films of previous ilk (especially so in the years that followed), being a product of its decade that resonates for those who allow themselves to do so. The special effects team (Ron Cobb, Bob Greenberg, Greg Jein, Harry Walton, John Wash) prove to do a fine job with what they are given - it may be a cheap film, but at least it is an ambitious one too. The scene with the beach ball alien is also pretty neat too. The acting isn't too particularly great by any means, but there are a few moments that make for chuckles, such as O'Bannon and his reflections on being stuck on his ship through video tape with this casual crew, or Narelle having to try and give a philosophical try at stopping a smart bomb detonation. It isn't a great film by any means, but it is an ambitious one that sets out for its own take on moving beyond the stars with a fair sense of conviction on its side. It might not be for a casual taste, but it does have an appeal within for those who are curious enough to let it linger in its reaches.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Halloween (2018).

Review #1151: Halloween.

Cast: 
Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Judy Greer (Karen), Andi Matichak (Allyson), Will Patton (Frank Hawkins), Virginia Gardner (Vicky), Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney (Michael Myers / The Shape), Haluk Bilginer (Dr. Ranbir Sartain), Rhian Rees (Dana Haines), Jefferson Hall (Aaron Korey), Toby Huss (Ray), Dylan Arnold (Cameron Elam), and Miles Robbins (Dave) Directed by David Gordon Green.

Review: 
On October 25, 1978, John Carpenter's Halloween came out to theaters and it soon became a hit with audiences. It's not hard to say that it was a great horror film, having plenty of thrills and scares alongside great music from Carpenter and a well-done script from him and Hill that shines even forty years (and numerous follow-ups) later. I make it a habit to try and watch the film at least once a year (I had the pleasure of doing so at a re-release at my local theater last year), preferably in October, and it seems to get better each time. I was surprised to hear that a new one of these films was coming out, but even more surprised to hear that it would be a direct sequel to the original, complete with Curtis starring and Carpenter contributing to the music (alongside his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies). This time, the writing for the film comes from Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, and director David Gordon Green.

I didn't know what to expect from this film, since this is not the first time that a Halloween film has tried to ignore the continuity of the previous films while having Curtis return, and the result of that film (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) was a mess. After all, this is a film series that has five timelines, with Curtis' character being dead in two of them (more specifically, stated to be dead for Halloween 4-6 and killed in Halloween H20's sequel, Halloween: Resurrection). When compared to the original, it is easy to say that this film isn't quite as great as the original film, but it is likely the best Halloween film since 1978 - for better or worse. It's clear to see how much the filmmakers embraced the original film, with certain scenes feeling like homages - one scene I can cite is a classroom scene that is inverted to show Laurie watching her granddaughter while she is in class. The acting is pretty effective all across the board, with Curtis being the key highlight. In her second go at playing a character haunted by the memories of her encounter with Myers, she plays it pretty effectively, making her obsession and preparation for a showdown as watchable as one could expect. Matichak, in her first major film role, does a pretty good job, having a certain quality to her that makes her someone the audience is willing to follow in the scenes besides Curtis. Greer plays her role with a fair amount of weariness that feels like a variation on the skeptic role for horror films - but it does play itself out decently enough, particularly due to the climax. The teenagers in the film seem to follow the tradition of the others in having them be a bit cliche - just as one would probably see coming. Castle and Courtney are certainly satisfactory enough as the lurking shape, particularly since the mask looks just right and we don't ever see his true face (despite him being without the mask for some of the first half). Bilginer, described at one point as the "new Loomis", does a fine job with showing a certain degree of obsession to his care taking role that I liked just fine. The two podcasters, played by Rees and Hall, are a bit ridiculous in their pursuit for more into the Myers story (with this pursuit for more into his nature seems awfully familiar), but at least they aren't too overbearing on the actual plot too much. The film certainly likes to have a sense of humor to it, and while it may come off as a bit distracting at times, I do think that it works more often than not to help give some levity. There are some points in the narrative that do come off as a bit strange, but on the whole the movie does get itself to a natural point without too many bumps in the road in its 105 minute run-time. The music is top-notch, not being just amped-up versions from before while feeling refreshing. The movie is (naturally) violent at times, but it is executed fairly effectively, not going overboard on gore or being over-the-top, with a body-count that will certainly fit horror tastes.

The climax of the movie works is handled pretty well, having a bit of thrill to it, with the predator and prey roles being a bit blurred this time around. Thankfully, this movie is simply not a rehash of all the greatest hits for the franchise, having a bit of depth to it. Was it something that really needed to happen? I suppose if you really desired more from this series, than the answer would be yes, particularly since a return to the roots that made this compelling in the first place is admirable. It sure didn't take me long to find myself enjoying what I was watching, and it certainly will have a place of fair enough standing among the eleven films in this series. I doubt that this is really the end for this series and its villain (even with its ending), but at least they managed to make something that was worth watching, particularly for the Halloween season, where everyone deserves at least one good scare.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night Redux: Halloween (1978)

Review #068 - REDUX: Halloween.

Cast
Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis), Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Nancy Kyes (Annie Brackett), P.J. Soles (Lynda van der Klok), Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Leigh Brackett), Kyle Richards (Lindsey Wallace), Brian Andrews (Tommy Doyle), John Michael Graham (Bob Simms), Nick Castle (The Shape), and Nancy Stephens (Marion Chambers) Directed by John Carpenter.

Review
I originally reviewed this movie on October 30, 2011, watching it on television. I remember it being entertaining to watch back then, for me movies are entertaining when you can just sit back and talk about how the movie works. Two years later, I decided to revisit this movie, which had been appearing on TV once again. Out of all the movies in the Halloween franchise, this is the best of them all, it also could be considered one of the best horror films of all time. The movie isn't perfect by any means; the beginning has a few choppy dialogue scenes where it feels really cliche, especially from P.J. Soles, who just keeps saying "totally". But the movie overcomes it with some really chilling music that makes the boring scenes more interesting. I especially love when the characters are talking and Myers suddenly appears out of nowhere, while the music adds a layer of depth. Of course it helps that the movie is also frightening with its death scene, showing little blood but using lighting and perspective to make for a truly chilling movie. My favorite scene is after one of the deaths as Myers looks at the body and tilts his head. It really is a perfect scene.

Donald Pleasence does a wonderful job as Loomis, explaining the motives (or there lack of) for Myers but also saying his lines in a tone of voice that fits the movie's tone, which is fright. Curtis is a really good screamer and a good actress here as well, she's the most interesting character to watch. Special mention goes to Nick Castle, who is the one most famous for playing Michael Myers (The Shape), though he wasn't the only one who played him, there were several others who did stunt work, but Castle is the most notable, and he would later become a movie director in his own right, with films such as The Last Starfighter and Major Payne. The movie takes its time, letting you get interested into what happens next, and it has one of the best endings that leaves you waiting for more. This is an essential movie for October, or for any month when you're looking for a scare.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.