Notes on Halloween

2024-08-16

It's my first chance in 5 years to see all the movies from the "Halloween" franchise, and I'm going to take it. I've seen the first one, so I'll skip it. I am most interested in the 4-5-6 fork and this weird cult they developed there.

2024-08-18

"Halloween II" picks up even moments before the first movie ended and continues on the same night. While John Carpenter didn't direct this time, he wrote the story. I expect it to get worse after that one. What I liked was that not all the kills were shown, some only after the fact. "The Fall of the House of Usher" proved it gets old quickly. And the finale, with all those hissing canisters while Michael is blinded, was really well thought. Lore-wise, Laurie became Michael's sister in this movie.

The finale had a really nice trope used. Earlier in the movie, a sheriff offers doctor Loomis a cigarette, but he's so preoccupied with the topic that he barely registers that, so the sheriff gives him a cigarette and a lighter. Which comes in handy during the final battle with Michael Myers. The room is full of explosive gas and the only missing ingredient is a spark. That's when doctor Loomis shows Michael the lighter he got earlier.

As always, Michael Myers' mask works miracles. It's like a dead serious face with dead, void-like eyes (due to the lightning). What surprised me was how bulky Michael's moves were this time. I remembered him as more sneaky in the first movie. But not this time around. He was more like Terminator. Especially, when he walked through the door instead of opening them. More like an unstoppable force of nature if anything.

2024-08-19

"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" departs from Michael Myers saga because John Carpenter was not interested in his return and he acts only as a producer and composer this time. They envisioned series as anthology centred around Halloween. Hence, this mix of Westworld-like techno thriller with a pinch of magic. It got bit old but is still watchable. If it wasn't a part of the series, we wouldn't be talking about it. The best thing is probably the soundtrack. Pure 80s synths.

2024-08-20

The idea for anthology died and "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" was conceived. Gone is John Carpenter in any capacity and Jamie Lee Curtis as well. Not to mention Roman numerals. What we have is what I always imagined as perfect B-movie horror. The movie is bad, although, has a couple of moments (like Jamie's costume and the ending). Due to budget constraints, Michael doesn't burn (again) this time. Lore-wise, he's still just a lunatic who escaped the institution.

As a side note, the mask seemed off this time. It's different as they had to recreate it, and it felt like a cheap rubber mask from a store. But then again, that's exactly what Michael does: he steals the mask from a store on the Halloween day (it's still produced 10 years later, but maybe because of him). So I suppose we're good. They gave the actor shoulder pads to make him look more ominous, but it fails in my opinion and makes him look as if he was shrugging all the time.

2024-08-21

"Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers," similarly to "Halloween II," starts moments before the end of the previous film, which ended in the Disney Villain Death. This time around, we have supernatural connection between Jamie and her uncle Mike. The ending gets quite okay, but a lot of earlier scenes seemed like looking good on paper but failed at the implementation (e.g., Michael chasing Jamie in a car). And with each next movie doctor Loomis is more and more unhinged.

As per mask, Michael Myers has the same one he stole from a store last time, but it's aged now and looks scarier. The fresh one also makes an appearance because it's Halloween and it's still in sales. This made for an unused chance that Michael could move around as is because others would think he's just impersonating himself, a bit like that Slavoj Žižek's idea of wearing a mask of own face, so everyone around thinks that you're anyone but you.

2024-08-22

"Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" had a troubled production, and I decided to see Producer's Cut, which was officially released in 2014 and is considered the best option. Despite all the bad things, the movie ambitiously tries to tie all the previous ones (sans part III). As a result, Michael's no longer The Heavy. They also threw in a towel and went on full with supernatural explanations, thanks to which, it felt like an "X-Files" episode at times.

One thing that I would like to make a note at this point of is how badly the music is handled. The titular theme worked really well in the first two movies, but in 4-5-6, it's used almost as an upbeat music when action starts. It's almost so bad that it's good.

The mask was fine this time. It was shaped for the actor, which would be a good thing because it fits better, but they changed the actor afterwards. :D This time around, we could see Michael's eyes, and this took some of his ominous vibe away. No, no, the eyes should always be hidden in the shadow.

2024-08-23

After the previous movie, it was decided it went too far. "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" [sic!] is another sequel back to "Halloween II." Someone accused it of being yet another "Scream," and it's an accurate depiction when it comes to the vibe, the pacing, and the characters. The elements are better in quality separately, but something is lost, and as a result this Halloween becomes just a generic slasher. Funny. It's also the first movie with "normal, illustrative music," not gorgeous synths.

And now, a standard entry about the mask. It's different. Just like everything else in this movie, it's better in quality and worse as the outcome. Looks like a different material was used, more flexible, and so it's tighter, making it look more like an actual face painted white. BUT YOU CAN SEE THE EYES. This leads to interesting encounters between Michael and Laurie, but his ominousness is gone.

On a personal note, this happened to be the first Halloween I saw in my life and for years also the only one. I realise now that I must have started watching it later (not an unusual thing back in the TV days), and so the first time I saw Michael was when he steals this cool old automobile. He's shown in the crack of the door and I thought it's some creep with his face painted. Terrifying. In fact, though, Michael appears in the opening sequence, thus taking away this first impression from viewers.

2024-08-24

The eight instalment is truly chasing its own tail, and I thought this happened in The Thorn Trilogy! "Halloween: Resurrection" cleans up a loose end from the previous movie, then moves to a new plot. Six students get locked in the Myers house for a reality show. Then it turns out Michael is there too. Hilarity ensues. I think that the idea with viewers writing chat messages to a girl inside and guiding her got old quite neat. But Michael Myers could be replaced with anyone else.

Fun fact. John Carpenter was less than impressed with this flick, which he must have seen by accident.

The mask looks like the design from "H20," which gives Michael certain harlequin's vibe, even more this time, but it's also less elastic, thus, it's no longer like a second face. A new effect is it goes up and down when he breaths, and this adds something ominous to his presence. It's strange and curious at the same time how the original cheap mask was so much better. He just stole it from the store on his way. But this one? He would have to specifically make it. Why would he?

This means I'm done with so-called timelines A and B.

2024-08-25

"Halloween" from 2007, Rob Zombie's reboot, is really good. You can see that Zombie was a fan. It's basically a remake but with the first hour being Michael's backstory. This sounds dangerous on paper, but Rob Zombie managed to execute it properly. Michael Myers is really intimidating in this movie. He's just physically huge, towering over everyone else. He also has this childish playfulness that we didn't see since 1978.

The mask seems to be done from the scratch. It's no longer something that was grabbed from a store. In the backstory, Michael has been shown to develop a general interest in masks (hence, a creepy room full of masks in the hospital). He goes back to his house to find the mask that he hid under the floor as a kid and so it's damaged, but as a result, it resembles a ceramic mask, as if with cracks. And Rob Zombie knows perfectly well when to show eyes and when to cover them in shadow. Top notch.

2024-08-26

"Halloween II" from 2009 picks up immediately after the last scene and seems to be a straight remake of the original "Halloween II" from 1981, but it turns out to be a decoy. Action moves 3 years later and focuses more on psychological aftermath and trauma of what happened to heroes. The movie could be titled "After the Halloween" or "The Legacy of Michael Myers." Michael appears in the movie, but it's a slow burner. Congrats for a different direction of doctor Loomis as a sell-out.

This is by far the most original follow-up in the franchise, partially because Rob Zombie got complete freedom. Even the main theme doesn't play until the credits (they tried, but it didn't fit anywhere). There are also visions of Deborah Myers and Michael's younger self, whom also Laurie can see, which moves the centre of the weight to quasi-supernatural. This gives Michael a voice, through his younger self. Unorthodox and, sadly, misunderstood by many viewers. But I found it interesting.

The mask is the same, but Michael wears it on and off, which allows him to move unnoticed, something I pondered about when writing about "Halloween 5." An interesting thing is that somewhat early in the movie, one of the victims tears of a fragment of the mask (roughly what Arnold Schwarzenegger lost in "Terminator 2"), and Michael Myers uses it like that. It makes an impression of someone trapped inside.

Timelines A and B: finished. Rob Zombie's reboot: finished. Now the newest trilogy. I know I didn't plan rewatching the first "Halloween," but I reconsidered it and I will.

Something I was going to post earlier. In terms of vibe and concepts, there is a gaping chasm between "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" (1995) and "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" (1998), as if they were products of completely different epochs, despite only 3 years between them. But they were, in fact, from two epochs, divided by "Scream" in 1996. It's interesting how clear that is from the distance. "Scream" was influential as fuck if even Halloween followed its path.

2024-08-27

I decided to see "Halloween" from 1978 before delving into the newest trilogy, which picks up after this movie, and this was a good decision. The movie matured like a fine wine. Everything is in place: the music, the slowly burning plot, keeping Michael Myers till the end, overall tension. Michael doesn't kill straight away, he stalks first. He plans. He's closer to Anton Chigurh than the usual unstoppable force, which started in "Halloween II," and carried to all the following films.

Hard to say anything about the mask because it's the original one. I compared all the other masks to this one. But what I can say is that due to showing Michael from the distance for the first two thirds, it was a bit ambiguous how does he look. It was said he had a mask, but did he? Even the first time when it's really close, it's behind car's steamy window. As this is the very beginning, Michael Myers can roam freely without attracting too much attention from anyone. It's Halloween, after all.

It was also worth seeing because I could appreciate Rob Zombie's homage better. I did not realise that many of the dialogues from his reboot were direct quotes from John Carpenter's film. The same words, but framed differently. Nice, Mr. Zombie.

2024-08-28

"Halloween" from 2018 is yet another soft reboot. After some ideas and some even weirder (like picking up right after "Halloween: Resurrection"), it was decided to fork off "Halloween" from 1978, which I guess makes this one... "Halloween II?" But they dropped numbers after "Halloween 5" (although, the sequel's Producer's Cut had 6 on screen). Anyway, they managed to get Jamie Lee Curtis onboard and John Carpenter, who consulted and did the soundtrack again.

After 40 years of being dormant, Michael Myers becomes active again and runs away and starts somewhat random killing spree. In this timeline, Laurie Strode prepared and is ready to meet her nightmare. She reminded me of Sarah Connor from "Terminator: Dark Fate" here. The rest is rather standard, but many scenes either mirror some (putting Laurie where Michael was previously) or reference (the scene in the toilet is taken from "H20," of all movies). There are also masks from "Halloween III."

In this timeline, Michael and Laurie are not siblings, and the movie comments on this straight in the beginning to clear out any misconceptions. Then they throw in a couple of retcons. But this is actually a tradition at this point. "Halloween" sequel without retcons would be incomplete. Too bad Jamie Lloyd didn't make it, but actress playing her was in Zombie's timeline, so there's at least that.

Mask, oh mask. Firstly, it was moulded on the actor's face, so all fits nicely. The prop guy made a research on how the rubber mask would get old because in-universe it's exactly the same one. After four decades, it finds its way to Michael Myers. So it looks similarly but older. As if it reflected Michael's age. Nice touch. (Albeit, we know from the real-life masks that forty years is a lot.) And they play properly with shadow and light, so the eyes are as dark as void behind them.

And BTW, not only Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter make it back, but also the first actor playing Michael. It's more symbolic because he's in a couple of scenes and he passes the torch to a new actor who's The Shape. Ah yes, The Shape. That's how masked Michael Myers is always called in the credits. But this time around, Laurie actually calls him like that. All things considered, this movie is full of nods like that, which shows that the right people were hired for the job.

2024-08-29

"Halloween Kills" starts the moment "Halloween" (2018) ended and continues the same night, very much like "Halloween II" (1981). Kudos for recreating 1978 scenes, not only telling us about but also showing us the arrest of Michael Myers. Many of the original characters come back this time. What I liked the most in this movie is the lynching mob that emerged and started wreaking its own havoc, which, paradoxically, gave leeway to Michael. It's something that we haven't seen in the franchise so far.

The finale was, however, a bit under-delivering and a bit ass-pulled. No spoilers, but I was like, "Wait? What actually happened?" But this movie was shot back-to-back with the following "Halloween Ends," so I won't be too harsh. (In general, if you're going to watch all the Halloween movies, don't be too harsh.)

And now, a standard entry about the mask. As the story picks up where it ended and the same crew is behind the movie, the mask is generally the same just charred a bit and melted on one side. Along with being aged, it really gives The Shape an old vibe. Not ancient, eternal old, but old.

2024-08-30

"Halloween Ends" bring closure to so-called Blumhouse trilogy that was build on top of the 1978's movie. After the frenzy of "Halloween Kills," this one is quite intimate, with only a handful of characters. Very much like Rob Zombie's "Halloween II," this one has Michael in a lesser role, and with a good result. The focus is on the survivors and a new character of Corey. There were some pretty nice twists here.

No entry about the mask this time, but I would like to say a word about the soundtrack. With John Carpenter back, as well as him having much more experience with composing, the outcome is fantastic. The music is a natural expansion of the original score but electric guitars added in some places. Very much yes from me.

And that ends my journey with the Halloween franchise. Thank you all for following. I'm gonna skip books/comics this time (maybe in future). In summary, I had fun, but it's a bit of a connoisseur thing and not for everyone. In case you're wondering which movies should you see, that will be answered in a text I am planning to write (those toots are actually notes for that text) because it's a much larger topic than a Mastodon post.

THE END

PS I wonder, though, what will the next Halloween be about. I would like to see someone picking up The Thorn Trilogy and making more sense of it. I feel there is a potential, but they have to restart with this intent. Another option is complete makeover of the original movie, close in spirit (no backstory), but with slightly different mask (still white face, though), a different score, etc. Many people would hate it. :D I expect something more repetitive, though.