Halloween (2018)

Premiered October 19, 2018.

In 1963, the town of Haddonfield, Illinois was shocked when 6-year-old Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) stabbed his sister Judith to death on Halloween night.  Myers returned to Haddonfield 15 years later and murdered three teenagers.  Myers was shot and later caught by the authorities placed in Smith's Grove Sanitarium.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) escaped Myers that night, but the traumatic experience has weighed heavily on her every day since.  Her home is a veritable fortress, stocked with dozens of guns, security cameras and secret hiding places.  She has prayed every night that Michael will escape so she can kill him.  Laurie's experience has also negatively impacted her relationship with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer).

Laurie has a better relationship with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who is looking forward to attending a Halloween dance with her boyfriend Cameron (Dylan Arnold) and their friend Oscar. (Drew Scheid)

Myers has spent the last 40 years incarcerated in sanitarium.  He's being treated by Dr. Ranir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), who took over when Michael's previous doctor Sam Loomis died.  On October 30, Myers and other inmates are scheduled to be transported by bus to a maximum security prison and Sartain accompanies them.  However, Myers escapes from the bus and heads to Haddonfield.

While police pursue Michael, with help from Laurie and Dr. Sartain, Myers goes on another Halloween killing spree.  Laurie and Karen are worried about Allyson when they are unable to contact her (due to her cellphone being dropped in a punch bowl by Cameron).  When they suspect Michael will target Allyson, Laurie and the police decide the safest place for their family is Laurie's fortified house.

It will all culminate in a Halloween duel to the death between Laurie and Michael!  Will Laurie finally exact revenge on the man who has haunted her for four decades?  Or will Michael finally take down the only one who survived his 1978 attack?

J.A. Morris says:
When I reviewed the original 1978 Halloween movie here, I mentioned that it wasn't very good, but it was the best slasher film I could think of.  I have a similar opinion of this sequel.  It should be noted that this film ignores any of the other sequels.  This is fine with me because Halloween II (1981) was bad.

Jamie Lee Curtis is the best thing about this movie.  It's understandable that an encounter with a serial killer could turn a survivor into a one-woman army and adversely impact her relationships.  Curtis' scenes with Judy Greer are good too, they make the mother-daughter dynamic feel realistic (even though Curtis is a bit too young to be Greer's mother).

Director David Gordon Green and his co-screenwriter Danny McBride give us just enough call-backs and references to the original film.  John Carpenter's Halloween theme music still sounds great in a movie theater and the new music Carpenter and his team created blends nicely with his classic tunes.

However, it's still a slasher movie with slasher movie cliches.  Michael Myers (who would be 61 years old at this point) is still inexplicably nigh-invulnerable.  He takes multiple gunshots, gets hit head-on by a fast-moving car, is stabbed yet remains as strong and dangerous as ever.  I guess we're supposed to believe that his desire to kill gives Myers an "adrenaline rush" that enables him to survive?  It strains credulity.

Also, at the end of the 1978 movie, Myers disappears after being shot.  How was he apprehended?  Why was he not placed in a maximum security facility at that point, rather than 40 years later?  It would've been nice to at least have some exposition that answered those questions.

Donald Pleasence brought a lot to the Halloween franchise with his portrayal or Dr. Loomis.  It's not the fault of the filmmakers that Pleasence isn't around (they can't raise actors from the dead!), but his absence reminds you how important Loomis was.  Haluk Bilginer does his best as Loomis' replacement, Dr. Surtain, but the character isn't very well defined.

Halloween is a decent sequel that (hopefully) closes the book  on this franchise (for a few years, at least) and it's worth seeing for Curtis' performance.  I'm giving it the same rating I gave the original.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 jack o'lanterns.

Halloween II (1981)

Premiered October 30, 1981.

Doyle's Neighbor:Is this some kind of joke?  I've been trick-or-treated to death tonight!
Dr. Sam Loomis:You don't know what death is!

We pick up where we left off at the end of Halloween.

Michael Myers (Dick Warlock) is trying to kill Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).  But he is shot six times by Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), he falls out the window to his apparent death...but his body shows signs of life!  Myers gets up  and escapes through the alleys of Haddonfield.  He overhears police talking about him and the murders he committed.

Michael sees Mrs. Elrod (Lucille Benson) using a knife & decides to steal it.

Myers sneaks into a house and steals a kitchen knife and resumes his killing spree.  He follows a young woman named Alice (Anne Bruner) into her home and stabs her to death.

Laurie has been taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.  Her mind is somewhat eased by the presence of Jimmy (Lance Guest), one of the ambulance drivers, who recognizes her.  Most of the hospital staff is lackadaisical.  The ER doctor is drunk, one of the nurses is late and takes time during her shift to mess around with her ambulance driver boyfriend.  One nurse, Mrs. Alves (Gloria Gifford), is on task and assures Laurie that she will be okay.

While she sleeps, Laurie dreams of a young girl asking her mother why she never tells her anything.  The mother replies "I'm not your mother".  We see the same girl visiting a boy who seems to be catatonic.  Is this a dream?  Or a flashback to a repressed memory?

Michael Myers pursues Laurie at the hospital.

Myers learns that Laurie has been taken to the hospital and decides it's time to finish what he started.  But before he can find Laurie, he makes his way through the staff.  Michael offs the security guard with a hammer, a nurse with an IV (draining her blood), drowns (and scalds) another nurse in a steaming hot hydrotherapy tub, and kills the attending physician with a syringe.  Others get the business end of a surgical scalpel.

An unfortunate security guard gets "hammered" by Myers.

While searching for Myers, Loomis and the police are called to investigate a break-in at an elementary school.  They find a crayon drawing of a family, the sister in the family has been stabbed with a real knife.

Then Loomis notices the word "Samhain" written on the blackboard.  Loomis explains that it means "Lord Of The Dead" and is related to the Celtic origins of Halloween.

Their investigation at the school is interrupted when Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), a nurse from Smith Grove Sanitarium, says that Loomis has been ordered back to Smith Grove.  Loomis protests until he is told that there is a police marshal outside who will arrest him if necessary.

Laurie wakes up, somewhat disoriented and still in pain.  She watches Myers kill a nurse.  Michael chases her throughout the hospital, nearly stabbing her in an elevator.  Laurie takes refuge by hiding in a car.

A nurse gets a scalpel in the back, as Laurie watches.

While riding back to Smith Grove, Marion tells Loomis that she didn't want this to happen and that she has recently learned a shocking secret about Myers.  This revelation prompts Loomis to hijack the car and force the marshal (at gunpoint) to drive to the hospital.  Loomis (correctly) believes  Myers will be there and will stop at nothing to kill Laurie.  This will lead to a final showdown between Loomis and his former patient.

Laurie looks back at Michael as he moves in for the kill.

J.A. Morris says:

I realize my review last year didn't paint a wonderful opinion of the first Halloween film.  But Halloween II makes it look much better by comparison.  I was disappointed the first time I saw this 30+ years ago (when I was at the height of my slasher movie mania) and it hasn't improved with age.  So some of this review represents decades of pent-up rage (sorry, it's not like I had a blog when I saw this in 1982!).

Mrs. Alves assures Laurie she'll be okay (dig the Halloween decorations in the background!)

The film cold-opens with a newly-shot re-enactment of the previous film's finale.  But for some reason, they changed it.  Myers falls out of the window, into the back yard in the original.  This time it's the front yard.

A Michael Myers lookalike causes a collision

Strike one.

When the opening credits roll, we get a new recording of John Carpenter's fantastic Halloween theme music.  But it's an inferior version, to my ears it sounds like it was played on one of those 1980s Casio keyboards.  This robs a great piece of music of its power.

Strike two.

Halloween took place in a "typical 1970s suburban neighborhood".  This time most of the action takes place in a hospital.  Not nearly as interesting.  Michael Myers is a lot more menacing while stalking Laurie & friends in their own back yard.  This setting seems to have been changed so that Myers can use medical instruments to kill people.  This means that Halloween II has more in common with other 80s slasher movies, than with its predecessor.

Loomis takes a shot at Michael Myers.

Strike three.

When they see the word "Samhain" written on the blackboard, Loomis pronounces it "Sam Hayne".  Really?  Would it have been too much for Carpenter to call some friends at USC and consult with the Classical Studies department?  Or he could've just looked it up in an encyclopedia (they had those in the early 80s).  I'm not sure why Samhain was brought up in the movie.  Are we supposed to believe that Myers is Samhain, or think he's some sort of Celtic god?  The subject is not elaborated upon.

Worst of all, in the last act, we learn of a heretofore unknown connection between Michael and Laurie.  I won't spoil it for you, but I've always felt it was silly and it feels like they just pulled it out of thin air to make the film more "dramatic."  It doesn't work.

Laurie hides out in a car.

Plus, we get at least (by my count) two more scenes of Sheriff Bracket (Charles Cyphers) yelling at Loomis for releasing Michael Myers.  It was already established in the previous film that Loomis wanted him locked up for life.  I still don't know what the point of these scenes are, but they feel like padding, or lazy writing.

Michael walks through a locked glass door.

Most of the actors in Halloween II were unknowns then and now.  And none of them make much of an impression.  Lance Guest and Gloria Gifford are okay as Jimmy and Nurse Alves (respectively), believable as nice (if bland) people who are good at their jobs.  Most of the other characters who staff the hospital are loathsome beyond redemption, so when Myers kills them, we hardly care.  This is a big contrast to the teenage victims of the first film, who were "guilty" of merely being in the wrong place.

Myers gets shot in the eyes, keeps coming after Loomis & Laurie.

And Jamie Lee Curtis is mostly wasted here.  In the first film, she brought a certain natural, likeable spunk to the role.  We believed that Laurie was a smart, somewhat awkward high school student.  This time, Curtis/Laurie spends most of the movie sedated in bed, moaning hopelessly, displaying very little personality.  In the last 20 minutes, she gets to show off some of her "Scream Queen" skills, but by that point I'd lost interest.

Donald Pleasence is the only actor here who seems to know what he's doing.  We feel Loomis' desperation every time Plesence utters a line.  He deserved a better movie.

Michael emerges from a fiery explosion.

Halloween II is recommended only for Michael Myers completists.  When Myers breaks into a home early in the film, the residents are watching George Romero's classic horror movie Night Of The Living Dead.  If you need a Halloween scare, watch Romero's zombie classic instead of Halloween II.

J.A. Morris' rating:

Our first ever Rotten Pumpkin.

Halloween (1978)

 Premiered October 25, 1978.

"Death has come to your little town, Sheriff. Now you can either ignore it, or you can help me to stop it."
-Dr. Sam Loomis to Sheriff Brackett

Halloween Night, 1963:
In Haddonfield, IL,  6 year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his sister Judith with a butcher knife. Michael's parents arrive and see him leaving the house with the murder weapon.

Michael Myers' parents arrive home just after the 1st murder.

October 30,1978:  Michael has spent every day of his life incarcerated at Smith's Grove Sanitarium since he murdered his sister.  His psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is picking him up to attend a hearing.  He mentions that Michael has been catatonic since he killed Judith, and hasn't spoken since that night.  Loomis believes Michael is "purely and simply evil" and incapable of being rehabilitated.  Michael steals Loomis' car and escapes.  Loomis is convinced Myers will return to his hometown.

The next day, Halloween, in Haddonfield, brainy high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis)  is getting ready for school.  Her father Morgan, a real estate agent, asks her to drop off keys at the Myers House, which is up for sale.  She runs into a neighborhood boy named Tommy (Brian Andrews), who believes the Myers place is haunted.  Laurie drops the key off under the mat, never noticing that someone is inside the house.  Laurie is scheduled to babysit Tommy that night, they make plans carve Jack O'Lanterns & watch horror movies. 

The Myers house, abandoned & neglected for 15 years.

Later, at school, Laurie looks out the window and realizes she's being watched by a man wearing a white mask. She spots him a few more times that day.  Her friends Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda van der Klok (P.J. Soles) mock her & say she's imagining things.  They discuss their respective boyfriends and their plans for Halloween.  Laurie has no plans, which is why she's babysitting Tommy.  Lynda and Annie tease her, because she never seems to have plans.  Laurie doesn't date much, she says "guys think I'm too smart".  

Laurie Strode feels like she's being stalked.

At Tommy's elementary school, kids get out of class and run home in their costumes.  Tommy is taunted by a gang of older kids, they say the Bogeyman will get him.  The kids make Tommy trip & fall, causing him to break the pumpkin he's carrying.  As the boys leave the scene, Michael Myers (perhaps the "real" Bogeyman?) arrives and scares them away.

"He's gonna get you!  The Bogeyman is coming!"

After school, Laurie and Annie are driving around getting high.  They notice Annie's dad, Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) outside a local hardware store.  He tells them a robbery has occurred in the store, some masks, knives and rope have been stolen.  Loomis appears at the scene of the crime and tells the Sheriff that Michael is in town and probably robbed the store.  Sheriff Bracket isn't sure about Loomis' story.

 Michael pops out from behind a hedge & gives Laurie a scare!

Michael continues to stalk Laurie and her friends all over Haddonfield.  Before Halloween Night is over, Michael will go on a murderous rampage and Laurie's life will never be the same.

J.A. Morris says:

The younger version of myself was a connoisseur of slasher movies.  From about age 11 to 15, I watched as many as I could.  I clearly remember the first time Halloween aired on network TV in 1981.  A few friends of mine came over to my house to watch it. I found the NBC opening for the first broadcast of Halloween (isn't the internet great?), check it out here:


I went on to watch many of the sequels and imitators: Halloween II, some of the Friday The 13 movies,etc.  I say this just to prove my slasher/gore fan "bona fides".
But even then, I realized how formulaic they were.  Eventually I found the "plots" of slasher movies to be insulting and moved on.   

Halloween is the blueprint for just about every slasher film that followed.  Michael Myers is a mute, masked psychopath who seems to be invulnerable.  He commits heinous acts of murder in a typical small town or suburb.   

I'll start with what works in Halloween:
-Donald Pleasence is excellent as Dr. Loomis, flirting with but never quite going over the top.  He's obsessed with capturing Michael.  We get the impression that his attempt to "cure" Myers has driven Loomis crazy as well.  
-Jamie Lee Curtis is good, especially when you consider this was her first role.  She earns her title as "Scream Queen" with aplomb here.  It should be noted that she's the only real teenage actress in this movie (the other "teens" are played by actresses pushing 30).
-P.J. Soles (best remembered as Riff Randell in Rock N Roll High School) has a one-dimensional role, but she's memorable as Laurie's friend Lynda, with her incessant use of the word "totally".  
-Nick Castle (better known as a director & screenwriter) also does a good job as Michael Myers (he's credited as playing "The Shape").  It's a thankless role with no dialog, but Castle still makes an impression behind the mask.  Speaking of the mask, it should be noted that Michael's mask is a "Captain Kirk" mask painted white.
-Director John Carpenter has some nice moments where he keeps the audience on edge.  At several times, we think Myers will strike, only to be faked out.  And it's worth noting that Carpenter made the film on a $320,000 shoestring budget. 
-Haddonfield's Sheriff is named after Leigh Brackett, a famed SciFi author & screenwriter.  Brackett passed away about a month before Halloween was filmed. 
-Of course the best thing about this film and the Halloween franchise is the main title music, composed by John Carpenter.  Give it a listen and try getting it out of your head:

Now for what doesn't work:
-For starters, we're told Michael Myers has been catatonic for 15 years. Loomis says he saw no emotions or reactions from him when they met.  So how does Michael know how to drive?  There's a throwaway line from Loomis ("Maybe someone around here gave him lessons!") about this that is never elaborated upon.  If Michael doesn't steal Loomis' car, there's no movie.  I don't care if there were retcons created to explain this, it's a major problem.

- Moreover, Haddonfield is 150 miles from the sanitarium.  How did Myers get to his old home?  Did he secretly invent & make a GPS during "the catatonic years".

-Shortly after Michael's escape,  Loomis says he warned everyone about how dangerous Myers could be.  But we get a scene where Sheriff Brackett blames Loomis for any (future) killings implying Loomis got Myers out of incarceration.  How?  When?  Perhaps something was edited out?  Is Carpenter trying (and failing) to make a statement about law enforcement officials?  Low budget or not, that's a big gaffe.

Sheriff Brackett confronts Loomis outside of the Myers house.

-What is Michael's motivation?  I know, his "motivation" is he's a homicidal maniac.  But why does he target Laurie and her friends?  Do they remind him of his sister?  Are Annie and Lynda targeted because they're always talking about having sex?  But Laurie isn't like them, why does he pursue her?  Are Lynda and Laurie targeted because they're babysitting kids (like his sister Judith was watching him when he offed her) who are around the same age he was when he killed Judith?  I can't defend the existence of the Friday,The 13th franchise, but at least Jason and Pamela Vorhees had an obvious (if twisted) reason for killing Crystal Lake camp counselors.

-Why is Michael Myers invincible?  I won't spoil the movie, but he takes punishment here that would kill any normal person and keeps coming after Laurie.  Loomis describes him as an incarnation of pure evil, but how did killing his sister give him superpowers?

And finally, Halloween may have inspired dozens of imitators, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good film.  Inspiring a bad genre isn't necessarily a good thing.

One last note, Michael Myers' body count includes an unfortunate German Shepard named Lester who attempts to guard his house.  You don't see any of his killing, but I know some folks avoid movies where this sort of thing happens to dogs.

If you're going to watch a slasher film, watch this one.  Its Halloween setting makes it a bit more watchable than the average slasher flick.  But it's still not a very good movie.

My rating:

2 Jack O'Lanterns.