Ah the ‘Halloween’ franchise. It is one that I genuinely had absolutely no interest in watching before doing these Franchise Friday reviews. I was happy living in a world where I had only seen the first two and the newest one and leave it at that. Partly because I have not heard great things about this series and so the prospect of sitting down to watch eleven films, I mate hate was not an appealing one. But I with these Franchise Fridays I was forced to relent and here we are. Hears hoping what I have heard about these films is wrong.
Halloween (1978)
The one that started it all, and it still remains great to this day. I have seen this film probably about a dozen times at this point and so this time around watching it my brain went into full film studies mode, picking up all the little details and dissecting what the film is saying about the larger human condition. But in the hope of not losing the minimal readers I have I will try not to delve into that to much and focus on what makes this film great from a purely entertainment standpoint. The first thing to mention is that you cannot underestimate how influential this film was and still is. All the slasher films that became so popular in the 1980s exist because of this. The masked killer, the teenage victims, the virginal survivor, all the tropes of that genre of film were established with this one. But while this film is at its essence a slasher film it manages to extend itself further, becoming a much more well-rounded film as a result. It is more subdued than your standard slasher, and yet in being more subdued feels more violent and definitely more real. There is a lack of blood in this film, and yet it feels extremely violent in how it kills off its victims. It is also subdued in how it shows the killer. Michael Myers is a well-established slasher villain at this point with a deep backstory and character development which I know very little about (although I am sure I will find out during the course of the series) but what makes him scary in this film is that you do know nothing about him. He is an emotionless machine, killing with no motivation, and his costume of overalls and a blank, white mask allow hi to both look human and not human at the same time. He is effectively the epitome of evil and hopelessness in human form and that is what makes him such a good villain of the film. Also, the way he is shot cannot be understated. He is often shown in long shot, keeping him mostly hidden, and when he is shown up close, unless he is killing someone, his face is hidden and all we hear is his deep breathing. I also love when he is hidden in the shot. There are several scenes where you can see his mask emerging from the shadows or shown in the reflection of a window. I love that stuff in horror films and it is all over this film. And finally, the score of this film is superb. Like the rest of the film it is understated but so successful in creating an atmosphere for the film. It is so good that it has broken through int popular culture with people who might nit have ever seen the film at least recognising the score.
Halloween II (1981)
This is one of other two films from the franchise I have seen before, and my opinion on it second time around is actually slightly worse. That is not to say that this is a bad film because it most definitely isn’t, but it feels like a film that is caught trying to be two different things. For one it is trying to be a direct follow up from the original, both narratively in which it picks up directly from where the first ended and in its tone and style, and it manages to partially succeed. But it also feels like it is trying to be much more of a gory, bloody slasher film like what had started to appear around the same time. And, unfortunately, I don’t think it particularly does a great job at both. The way the film is shot does manage to capture the style of the first on occasion. It uses similar techniques of the first film which I like, hiding Michael in the scene, showing him only in shadow, etc. But because it is trying to be more of a gory slasher, when the kills happen, they are much more aggressive and don’t really match the style. However, I also think that they don’t go far enough. If you’re going to make a bloody style slasher you need to go all in on the kills, make them over the top. There is one kill like this n the film, but the rest are a bit tame. This is also the start of the Michael Myers back story and I am not a fan of it. I can see why it is included in the film, to give it a bit more of a reason for what is happening to be happening. But the reason Michael was scary in the first film is because he had no motivation. He was pure evil who had no reason to be doing anything he was doing. For me, giving him a motivation takes away some of that horror. Also, the motivation the film comes up with is dumb and actually hardly plays a part in the narrative of the film at all. Now, from here on out, at least until what is currently the last film in the franchise, I haven’t seen any, so I am going in mostly blind. So, buckle up because I have a feeling, we’re in for one hell of a ride.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
So, we have come to the black sheep of the franchise. Why? Well, because this film has absolutely nothing to do with Michael Myers. The original plan after the second film was to turn the series into an anthology with each new film being a completely new story. That obviously never came to fruition and so we are just left with this oddity within the series. This film instead tells the story of an evil corporation who are making masks that will key everyone wearing them on Halloween. If that sounds silly to you that would be because it most definitely is. This is one of the dumber films I have seen in quite a while, but it also feels like it knows just how silly it is. This silliness also means that it is also one of the least scary horror films I have ever seen. There is genuinely nothing scary about the film at all. There are a couple of pretty gruesome death scenes, but they aren’t scary. This may seem like a weakness for a horror film, but in this case, I don’t think it really matters. Any earnest attempt to make a genuine scary film out of a premise as silly as this one would most likely lead to a film which is a lot less entertaining than this film turned out to be. The film isn’t good. At all. In fact, I would go so far to say it is a bad film. It isn’t particularly well shot, the acting is sub-par, and the special effects have aged about as well as milk. But despite the lack of quality, it is silly enough that it just becomes fun. It is very much treading the line of being so bad its good, although to put it in the same breath as films like ‘The Room’ (2003) or ‘Troll 2’ (1990) would be harsh. It is levels above the quality of those films, but it still is pretty bad. If you get into the silliness of it all it is a fun time, but I can imagine a lot of people would not like this film at all. Also, I am never going to get that fucking Silver Shamrock jingle out of my head (if you know you know).
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
He’s back baby! Michael Myers has returned to the series and with him comes the franchises decision to follow the trend of the popular slashers that dominated the 80s. And I don’t blame them. After all, they have a franchise with a villain tailor made for that genre of horror films. And yet, this film still feels like it is holding on to that ‘Halloween’ atmosphere, and this is a detriment to the film. It starts promisingly with a fun opening with a pretty cool kill, but from there they decided the film needs to focus on building the narrative set up from the second film and Myers almost takes a back seat. Seriously, he is barely in this film at all really, and even when he is a majority of it is in dream sequences and I’m not about that. If you’re going to bring him back, bring him back properly. Have him killing left and right. That’s what I want to see. I don’t care about this familial narrative the film is going for. And even when he does finally show up to kill people it is really underwhelming. There is one scene in particular where they go to the school to hide. This could have been a cool scene, but it is not explored nearly enough and is also awfully edited. The entire scene I was questioning where characters were in relationship to each other, where in the space they were, and how they got from one place to another. It felt like the characters were all teleporting and I ended up just checking out because I couldn’t tell what was going on. The film also has a really dumb ending. I get why its there because it is quite a nice tie in to the first film, but it is horribly executed, which is actually a pretty good description of the film on the whole. My only hope is that the franchise goes more into slasher territory and drops the narrative aspect of the films. I really don’t think that is going to be the case, but a man can dream.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Step forward the worst film in the franchise so far. This film follows directly on from the events of the last film and in doing so continues that whole narrative thread that I don’t give a shit about. What I will say for this film is that it does have more Michael Myers in it so that is a plus. And the film is at its strongest when it descends into full slasher territory and starts sending obnoxious teenagers to the slaughter. That’s is what I want from my slasher films, not psychic children being chased by their murderous uncles. And that is what this film is for the most part, and so for the most part I did not give a shit and was mostly bored. I will also say this film is probably more competently made than the last film. Although there is this one moment in the film that completely threw me, and it is when a cop duo are introduced. The soundtrack while they are introduced is insane. Nit because it is something you have never heard before, but because it is played like a slapstick comedy introduction with slide whistles and jolly piano. It is bizarre. And yes, the two are meant to be comic relief of some kind but there are two problems with that. One, they are unbelievably unfunny, and two, it goes completely against the tone of the rest of the film. It is a really odd choice. But yeah, I don’t have much else to say. This is a pretty bad film without being truly horrible. So… yeah… on to the next one.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
As far I am aware there are two versions of this film, the theatrical version and the producers cut, with the majority consensus being that the producers cut is the better version. Now. I can’t be sure which version I actually watched, but I would assume that I watched the theatrical version because it was fucking terrible. This was easily the worst film of the series so far, no question. I will give the film some credit for trying to further the Michael Myers mythos in an interesting way, but the execution of that is horrendous. This film is all over the place, both narratively nd from a purely technical standpoint. It is a complete mess. It goes balls to the wall in terms of its narrative and it doesn’t stick at all, instead becoming a convoluted, confusing mess that tries to pull the rug out from under the audience on several occasions with little success. To be fair, I couldn’t give a shit about the mythos of Michael Myers so if you had bought into all that you might actually enjoy whatever the hell they are trying to do here. But what I can’t imagine anyone could possibly enjoy is how the film is pieced together. The editing in this film is dreadful. There are these horrible little transitions between scenes that don’t add anything, and a lot of the editing seems to be put in to hide the violence while still feeling violent. It’s a bit like an action scene using a ton of close ups and quick cuts to trick the audience into thinking that something exciting is happening. And finally, I have to mention Paul Rudd who plays our hero of the piece. It is a miracle that his career survived this. Not only is the film terrible, but he is terrible in it. To be fair, no one is good in this film, but if I had seen this performance in the cinema upon its release I would not have guessed in a million years that Rudd would go on to have the career he has had. His performance was brutal. So, this film is terrible, but it is not bottom of the barrel levels of filmmaking, which means that there is a chance that the series could sink deeper in quality levels. I truly hope not, but each film has been progressively worse since the third film so the trend would say that it is a downhill ride from here.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
This film politely asks you to forget everything that happened from film four up until this point and start anew. And I think it is better for it. For a start, it means that we get to see Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode and she is having fun in the role. She is also joined by a pretty start studded cast. Michelle Williams is probably the pick of the bunch in one of her earlier roles (seriously I couldn’t even recognise her in this film) and Josh Hartnett also makes an appearance, as well as a cameo from Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother and film legend herself, Janet Leigh. But a star-studded cast does not necessarily make a film good, and that is the case in this film, although I will say it does make it better. This is still not a great film, but it is a lot better than some of the films that have proceeded. The franchise has finally got to a point where it is making the teen slasher films it probably should have always been doing and it leads to a much more entertaining film. But again, it also feels like it needs to have this familial connection between Michael and Laurie and, yet again, I do not care in the slightest. The moments in the film where it starts to focus on this story is where I lose interest. I just want to see Michael killing people, is that really too much to ask for? Or, if you are going to make a familial connection the crux of your story makes it more interesting than people just recounting what happened in the first two films and seeing Michael in their imagination. There is one more film before the reboot, so you have this one last chance franchise.
Halloween Resurrection (2002)
This is probably the worst of the bunch so far. Almost every aspect of it is horrible. First of all, the opening is abhorrent. I can’t go into it without spoiling the ending of the last film but I will say that it disrespects Laurie as a character, and the retcon that it makes in terms of the story is laughably half arsed and insults the intelligence of the audience. The films quality doesn’t particularly pick up from here. It is a horrible film to look at. The directing is shoddy at best and the film is so dated in the early 2000s it is almost comical. The concept of having a group of teens taking part in a reality TV show set in Michael Myers childhood home leads to the film becoming a mix between shoddy regular filmmaking and horrendous found footage with some of the worst quality cameras you have ever seen. The acting in the film is also a joke. Our main girl, Sara (Blanca Kajlich), has one of the weakest screams I have ever heard in a horror film. She sounds mildly inconvenienced more than terrified. Busta Rhymes is also horrendous in the film, but I can’t say I expected much to begin with so that didn’t bother me really. And all the other performers are not that much better. And yet, despite me saying all that, this was actually one of the more enjoyable films in the series. That is because it does away with the Strode/Myers storyline early doors and becomes the dumb, ridiculous, slasher that I have been crying out for these films to become. Yes, it is really shit, but it is fun shit, and I would come back to this film first over a good chunk of the rest of the franchise. That may be shocking to some people, especially if you like the storyline of the franchise, but for someone who doesn’t care this is kind of what I want from these films.
Halloween (2007)
And so, we arrive at the remake. This was the film I was most worried and curious about, mostly because the other remakes of horror classics I have see have been pretty horrendous (I am looking at you ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’). But this turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise and one of the better films in the franchise. It isn’t great, but it is a lot better than I expected it to be. Perhaps unsurprisingly the film is at its worse when it is actually remaking the original film. That is when the film basically becomes pointless because you could instead be watching a much better version of the film that you are currently watching. It does make minor changes, mostly to do with characterisations, but I didn’t particularly like those changes. It isn’t bad, other than the last fifteen minutes which are completely pointless and actually make the film drag, but it is basically a waste of time watching it. However, the first half of this film is all new stuff and, although it isn’t perfect, it is at least interesting. This film decided to show Michael as a child and all the events that led to him becoming the serial killer, we all know and love. The first half of this is a pretty lazy, basically just showing him growing up in a broken home with an abusive stepdad. But after this we get to see Michael in a sanatorium as he becomes more and more psychotic and morphs into the emotionless serial killer of the series. These scenes are genuinely an interesting take that I didn’t necessarily know I wanted, made great mostly by Malcom McDowell as Dr. Loomis. He absolutely kills it in this role. He is so much fun to watch and seems like he is having the best time playing. My only disappointment is that there were hardly any scenes with him alongside Brad Dourif because these were my favourite moments in the film. Overall a pretty mediocre film but seeing as I half expected it to be pure shit that is a very big step up.
Halloween II (2009)
Bloody hell, where do I even start with this one. This film is unlike anything else in the series so far, both in a narrative and technical sense. For a start it is far more stylised than any of the other films in the franchise, using a lot quick cuts and extreme close ups throughout and taking on a visual style that makes it stand out massively from the rest of the films. Oh, and the dream sequences, I can’t forget about the dream sequences. Now, I am not necessarily anti dream sequence if they are used effectively, and that is the case for a large chunk of this film with the dream sequences used to show our characters state of mind. However, the first dream sequence I the film is the fake out type of dream sequence that I can’t stand. And it lasts for ten bloody minutes. It’s frankly amoral. But everything I have said so far does not warrant a ‘bloody hell’. That is where the narrative of the film comes in. This film feels like it is trying to be 3 or 4 films at the same time, and this leads the film to feel like a proper mess. Each idea on their own is interesting and could have worked as a film on its own but throwing them together does not work. Firstly, it is attempting to be a ‘Halloween’ film which is both a benefit and hindrance on the film. It is benefit because the kills in this film are fun and gore fans will love it with it being the bloodiest of all the films by some way. But it is clear that these sequences are only in the film because they need to be and so whenever they happen, they are not connected to the story at all. Secondly, it is trying to be a film about Laurie’s PTSD. I can’t say how accurate the film portrays PTSD as I am not educated enough on the condition, but in terms of entertainment it is a mixed bag with it mostly being Laurie shouting fuck. Third, it is being a film about whatever the fuck that white horse, Michael Myers mum stuff is about (seriously what the hell was that all about). And finally, and the story the film should have focused on, Dr. Loomis profiting off the murders by selling books. They shouldn’t have focused on this because it is the more interesting part of the film, but because it would mean more Malcolm McDowell who is once again a blast. Oh, also cut twenty minutes off this film and it instantly becomes better. As it stands it is a film which is trying to be far too many films at once and ends up being a big mess.
Halloween (2018)
And so, we have reach, as of now, the final film in the franchise. It also happens to be my second favourite film in the series, and this time I got to watch without a fight breaking out. I have a full review on the film where you can hear more about that, but for now I’m going to just focus on the film. Despite being my second favourite after the original film this is definitely not perfect. There are some bizarre shifts in town throughout the film, jumping from the horrific to comical in not so smooth fashion, and there are a few narrative points that are either brought up and forgotten about or come out of left field to keep the lot moving. But I can forgive the film these flaws because it remains a lot of fun. There are some great visuals in this, and all the kills are gruesome while having an air of realism about them that makes them that more horrific. There is a scene where a child gets killed in pretty brutal fashion which most films would usually shy away from but this one lays out to bear. The performances are all great as well, especially Jamie Lee Curtis who is killer returning as an older, almost deranged and obsessive Laurie Strode. But what I like about this film is how it pays homage to the original film. It does this in both pretty subtle and on the nose ways, but even when its on the nose it is great as the film goes for visual symmetry, having Laurie replace Michael in like to like shots from the original film. But the subtle nods are what I love the most. Just the simple musical additions accompanying visuals that remind you of the first film, they are handled really well and add a little extra enjoyment for fans of the original while never stopping this film from standing out on it’s own. And then there is that shot. If you have seen the film you probably know what I mean, but for those uninitiated, there is a single take shot in this film of Michael entering a house, murdering someone, leaving the house, going next door, and murdering someone else, all without a single cut (or at least a single visible cut). Not only is it brilliantly shot and choreographed but it also shows the relentless nature of Michael in a way while being t the same time fucking cool. It is a brilliant piece of filmmaking and stands up as one of my favourite moments in the entire franchise.
And so we come to the end of the ‘Halloween’ franchise. We have had some very good, some very bad, and a lot of mediocre to sift through, but I have to admit it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected it to be. Would I recommend the franchise on a whole? No. I think you can probably skip from the third film up until Rob Zombie’s films. That leaves 6 films worth watching in an eleven-film series so that is not bad at all, and now that I type it I can’t believe that is the case. Maybe I am getting soft. With this Franchise Friday in the bag it also means that one of the big three slasher franchises are out of the way. So, keep your eyes peeled for the next Franchise Friday….
One, Two, Freddys coming for you…