Well anyway, Halloween season is underway. We are just over a month away from the big day itself. As we are well aware, or at least as much as we'd like to be aware, this is the time for horror movies. The type of genre that insults the viewer's intelligence more than a Zack Snyder DC Comics movie. Modern horror movies follow certain criteria; dumb girls, big tits, sex, blood, guts, obscene swearing, and an-all-around lack of attention to common sense. No series tried more to reinvent the horror genre only to fall grip to its vices, while simultaneously representing the season itself, than Halloween.
I already talked about Halloween in my post from a couple years ago, back when I didn't blog much. (Which can be found here). The Halloween franchise features every horror cliche as well as any groundbreaking effort on behalf of unknown directors, actors and writers trying to make names for themselves. The mascot of Halloween, Michael Myers, has become a staple decoration of the season. He's up there the big four of overblown scary-movie franchises: Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and yes, Michael Myers of Halloween.
The first Halloween in 1978 started the "slasher genre", or at least kicked it into overdrive. It is defined as any horror movie with a body count. It's incredibly tight, independent-level budget gave it a certain charm that could never be replicated by any of the sequels and remakes. It's presentation had complex characters thrust into a simple story which made for an entertaining ninety-minute foray. Michael Myers stalked babysitters Laurie, Annie and Lynda from the shadows and killed them one-by-one, trying to get to Laurie. All while his mental hospital doctor Sam Loomis sort of stalked him in a way, following him around the whole day and attempting to cease Michael's reign of terror.
Halloween II in 1981 continued where the first movie left off on the very same night. Michael survives six gunshot wounds and continues to stalk Laurie as she attempts to survive her injuries in the hospital. Dr. Loomis, haunted by the fact his patient survived six gunshots, continues to hunt Michael throughout the hospital and attempts to protect Laurie, even going so far as to risk his own career to do so...
Then the franchise switched gears in 1982 with Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The Halloween franchise was envisioned as an episodic anthology series that would be completely unrelated to one another, and Halloween III was the first film in the franchise to kick start the idea. Unfortunately, the plot involving mask makers that look to take Halloween back to its sacrificial roots, all while a doctor named Dan Challis goes on the hunt to solve the mystery of the killings done by the mysterious Silver Shamrock.
When the box-office failure of Halloween III failed to please audiences and confused moreso than entertained, producer Moustapha Akkad rebooted the franchise in 1988 with a new sequel in the Michael Myers-verse, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. This stylish and dark entry in the series takes place ten years after the events of Halloween & Halloween II. Michael stalks his niece Jamie while Dr. Loomis, frail and suffering from existing injuries, returns to Haddonfield to protect Jamie from a rejuvenated Michael's wrath.
The immense success of Halloween 4 rushed a sequel into the works. In less than a year, 1989's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers was out. It featured much of the same plot as 4, and featured Jamie receiving psychic links to Michael that helps Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police predict and prevent Michael Myers' crimes. Its cliffhanger ending where Michael is broken out of jail by a mysterious trench-coat wearing gunslinger and Jamie is captured would go unanswered for six years...
In 1995, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released. Though the film attempted to wrap up loose ends that 5 left behind, it ultimately didn't meet studio or critical expectations and fell flat. The Halloween franchise, now nearly twenty years old, was falling on blind eyes and deaf ears, and its tactics and cliches were no longer pleasing anyoen.
The series was rebooted once again in 1998, with Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later. Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the franchise as Laurie Strode. The movie ignores the continuity of everything since Halloween II and treats this as Michael's first reappearance in twenty years. Michael returns to the prep school where Laurie teaches and stalks both her and her son. The twist ending left people guessing where the rejuvenated franchise was going to go...
Until 2002 rolled around and Halloween: Resurrection was came out. Halloween Resurrection was an attempt to modernize the series and give it a fresh new perspective by having the Myers house linked up with cameras and having Michael's killing spree broadcast over the internet. While an interesting idea, some of the acting, a lot of the dialogue, and pretty much any situation involving Busta Rhymes is so far over the top its more of a farce than an actual horror movie.
The Halloween franchise would lay dormant over the next five years. A rumor of a potential Resurrection sequel, Halloween Retribution was rumored, as was Hall9ween. Both were eventually canned in favor of a remake, produced and directed by world-renowned music shockmaster Rob Zombie. Zombie's Halloween in 2007 was not only half a remake of Carpenter's '78 film, but also half of his own thing. It was an interesting mix and it was entertaining to say the least. So much so that unadjusted for inflation, it became the highest grossing Halloween film.
Too bad the same can't be said for Zombie's 2009 sequel, Halloween II. Zombie's Halloween II was so "House of 1000 Corpses" that it really rubbed viewers the wrong way. Involving trippy dream sequences, gothic arthouse imagery, and more of Zombie's music video charm than ever before, Halloween II tried to be similar to Zombie's previous film The Devil's Rejects. It just didn't measure up and really alienated its viewers in all the wrong ways...
With talks of franchise kingpin and founder John Carpenter becoming the executive producer for the next film, tentatively titled Halloween Returns, the possibilities are endless. Carpenter's executive decision over his own creation nearly forty years prior will prove advantageous for sure. In the mean time, prepare yourselves for C-Bass's "Ranking of the Halloween Movies".
COMING EVENTUALLY.
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