In Defense of Halloween….6?!

October 28, 2020October 28, 20203 Comments

Few films in the Halloween franchise are as maligned as Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), well, other than Halloween: Resurrection (2002) or maybe Rob Zombie’s two entries. The sixth entry, which also marked the beginning of Dimension films, is weird, for sure. It includes a cult that tries to control Michael Myers, and it attempts to tie up the loose ends of the woeful Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), which underperformed at the box office to the point that it took six years to make another sequel. Hear me out, however. Halloween 6 is a DECENT installment. It makes Michael Myers scary again. It has teenagers that are likeable, and director Joe Chappelle’s direction has a beautiful Gothic aesthetic.

The film picks up some years after Halloween 5’s conclusion. Michael’s niece, Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy), is pregnant, and based on the opening, we can assume she’s carrying Michael’s seed. She’s strapped to a table, surrounded by robe-cladded monsters. Are they Satanists? Who knows exactly! I said the film is weird. A nurse helps Jamie escape, but it doesn’t take long before Myers tracks her down and kills her. Her death is one of the most brutal takes in the Halloween franchise. The scene is important for a few reasons. It shows that the franchise is done with the Jamie storyline of the previous two installments. She’s killed off in about 15 minutes. Further, her death sets the tone for Michael’s kills for the rest of the movie. They’re bloody and gruesome. Additionally, the aesthetic of the shot is stunning in a Gothic kind of way. Rain pounds outside the barn where Jamie hides. Thunder cracks. Michael finds her and approaches from the shadows. There’s a blue light cast on him, not too dissimilar from Carpenter’s shots in the original film.

The rest of the film has several other nods to Gothic horror films. Two of the film’s most likeable teens, Beth (Mariah O’Brien) and Tim (Keith Bogart), dress up as The Bride and Monster for Halloween. In one of the film’s last sequences, the film’s final girl of sorts, Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan), wears a long white robe similar to the one that Elsa Lanchester wore as The Bride.

Myers’ house, meanwhile, is occupied by Kara’s family, but it’s the neighborhood spookhouse. It LOOKs run down and dilapidated, and kids mount cardboard cutouts of Michael Myers. It is a looming presence in the film, something that continues drawing Michael back to Haddonfield, a place that’s familiar to him. In fact, some of the best kills happen in the house, and one echoes P.J. Soles’ death in the original.

It’s impossible to talk about the sixth installment without mentioning two of its main characters, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in his final performance and Tommy Doyle, played by Paul Rudd in his FIRST major performance. Pleasence really leans into the mad aspects of the character, thus furthering the film’s Gothic underpinnings. At the start of the film, he’s retired, hauled up in a cabin, working on a book. His burn scars from the second film’s conclusion are even more grotesque. He spends much of the film chasing Myers one last time, while ranting about all the years he spent trying to understand “evil.”

Doyle is one of the film’s most interesting characters. His trauma from being terrorized as a kid in the first film manifests itself into an obsession. He has pictures of Myers tacked up in his bedroom. He peers through a telescope at his neighbors, and he rarely smiles. Loomis has always been obsessed with Myers. Doyle, however, takes it to another level. It consumes him, and Rudd does a good job in the role.

Lastly, and this is a BIG spoiler alert, the film corrects the mistakes of the previous installment. In one of the bloodiest scenes, Michael kills off every single member of the cult, thus erasing that absurd ending of part five. You can’t help but cheer when he does this. It’s an attempt to right the franchise going forward; unfortunately, the next sequel, just might be the WORST Halloween of the bunch.

There are plenty of other reasons to watch Halloween 6. I already mentioned the kills. The film’s blue and dark tones are a visual delight, too. The cinematography will put you in just the right kind of mood. And thankfully, there is NO character as annoying as Halloween 5’s Tina (Wendy Kaplan).

The Curse of Michael Meyers has a lot of flaws, for sure. Most of those have to do with the silly storyline about a cult that the previous installment introduced. Curse does its best to right these wrongs, and the result is a decent sequel, nearly 20 years after the original film. At the very least, watch the film for its cinematography, Gothic aesthetic, decent kills, and Paul Rudd’s first big film gig.

Some Questions Regarding Those Halloween Sequels

July 23, 2019July 22, 20191 Comment

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Since Blumhouse’s reboot of Halloween earned over $250 million at the box office last year, it’s no surprise that the production company is bringing Michael back to the big screen for not one but TWO sequels.It was announced last week that Halloween Kills will be released in 2020 and Halloween Ends will be released in 2021. Jamie Lee Curtis will reprise her role as Laurie Strode, and writers Danny McBride and David Gordon Green, who also directed Halloween 2018, are also returning. John Carpenter is staying involved, too, most likely to score both films.

The world could always use a little more Michael Myers, but there are some serious questions to ponder in the meantime:

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How is Michael still alive? Okay, okay, I know that Michael has survived many times before. Heck, at the end of the first film, he’s shot by Dr. Loomis before falling off of a balcony. Cue the famous end shot where he’s GONE. That said, Halloween 2018, like the original, made Michael fairly human again. The last time we saw him, he was engulfed in flames in the Strode basement.

How does Michael reconnect with the Strodes? Like the original film, Halloween 2018 made it clear that Michael has no specific connection to Laurie. He is merely a ubiquitous presence and agent of evil. Laurie just happened to cross his path in 1978 and became an iconic Final Girl. The new film ignores all the sequels, especially Halloween II, that made them brother and sister. So in that regard, Michael really has no need to go after her or her daughter and granddaughter who featured prominently in the last film. It is possible and maybe likely that she hunts him, since that’s the role she assumed in the last film.

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What role will the other Strode women play? We know Jamie Lee Curtis is coming back, but what about Judy Greer, who played Laurie’s daughter, Karen, and Andi Matichak who played granddaughter Allyson? These three together on screen, especially in the closing 20 minutes, were a real highlight of the last film and there is SO much untapped story potential there. The ending of the film was poignant in so many ways. It featured the ladies working together to defeat the boogeyman, but it also had an interesting and ambiguous ending, featuring the women riding in the back of a vehicle, blood-soaked, after defeating Michael, with Allyson clenching the butcher knife. The last shot is a nice reference to both The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween 4, but that’s for another day. Let’s hope all three ladies will be together again to kick ass.

Will the sequels resonate? Halloween 2018 is really Laurie Stode’s story and how she’s processed what happened to her 40 years earlier. The film is rooted in trauma. What happens to the Final Girl after all of her friends are dead? The last film hit at the right time during the #MeToo Movement and only a few short months after the powerful testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during the tumultuous Kavanaugh hearings. Will the sequels also resonate? We’ll have to see. Sometimes, headlines make a film all the more powerful.

Who is going to play Michael/The Shape? The original Shape, Nick Castle, returned to the role just for a scene or two in 2018, but the Shape was mostly played by James Jude Courtney. No word yet on whether or not he’s returning.

Blumhouse is taking a risk launching two Halloween sequels, while also rebooting the Universal Monsters, with the first being an updated version of The Invisible Man. Halloween 2018 proved, however, that these iconic horror figures can still bring in the big bucks. Feel free to share your thoughts on the Halloween sequels and where you’d like the franchise to go from here.

Some Thoughts on The Halloween Trailer

June 8, 2018June 8, 2018Leave a comment

For horror fans, today’s the day. The new Halloween trailer has dropped.

There is quite a bit to digest in this nearly three minute trailer, but here are some of my general thoughts.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a badass. Much of the trailer shows Laurie Strode ready and eager to confront Michael Myers after her first encounter with him 40 years ago. She fires shotguns. She secures the house. She says, “I’ve been waiting for him.”‘
The film ignores all of the other Halloween movies, other than the original. This film is sort of a soft reboot, and it’s already been reported that it will be a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 film. At one point, a friend of Laurie’s granddaughter asks, “Wasn’t it her brother who murdered all of those babysitters?” The granddaughter counters, “No, that was something people made up.” So, there you have it. This film ignores the story-lines from all of the sequels, even the brother/sister story first introduced in Halloween II.
John Carpenter’s name is very present in the marketing. Early in the trailer, it is noted that the film was produced by John Carpenter. He also handled the score. It is likely they will continue to push and market his return to the franchise.
Several nods to the original. From the mental asylum story-line, to the scar on Laurie’s arm, to the closet scene at the end of the trailer, it is clear that this film will have several nods to the original film.
Michael looks aged… but menacing. Just look at that mask! It is worn and tells its own story. Michael, meanwhile, looks hulking and menacing in every scene. It should be noted that Nick Castle, who played the original shape, has returned for this film.
Women, Laurie will face off with Michael again, but it’s clear her legacy/the plot of the first film will have a major impact on her daughter and granddaughter. At one point, her granddaughter says, “Everyone in my family turns into a nutcase during this time of year.” I hope this idea is explored, and I hope the other Strode women go toe to toe with the boogeyman.

So, there you have it. Our first glimpse at the new Halloween film is here. I am curious to what others think and what observations they may have. What are you expecting and hoping for with this film?

Halloween 2018 (What We Know So Far)

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018Leave a comment

Without a doubt, one of the most anticipated horror films of 2018 is Halloween. Instead of another unnecessary sequel, Halloween 2018 is going to follow only John Carpenter’s original film, thus wiping the universe clean and placing us back to the beginning. With John Carpenter returning as executive producer and with Jamie Lee Curtis returning to play Laurie Strode 40 years after the original, there is reason to be excited. So far, some minor details about the film have leaked, after Jamie Lee Curtis introduced the first trailer at CinemaCon in Las Vegas a few days ago. Based on reporting, the trailer begins with a true crime documentary team investigating Michael Myers’ murders from the first film. The investigators visit Myers, who’s been held in a facility for years; obviously, something goes wrong and Myers returns to Haddonfield. Curtis has said that this time, Laurie Strode is ready for Michael, meaning she has stockpiled guns for the day he returns. This is quite a contrast to the 1978 Laurie Strode, who was a quiet, bookish teenager who outlived her friends by following the typical tropes of final girls in slasher films (innocence, being a virgin, etc). Seeing a more confident version of the character has peeked my interest as much as the description of the trailer.

It has also been reported that Carpenter will score the film, and Laurie’s daughter will be played by Judy Greer. Her granddaughter will be played by Andi Maticha. So far it is unclear what role they will play in the film, but let’s hope that the plot centers around the Strode family, specifically each generation of women, facing off against the Boogeyman.

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There is much to be said about the first poster of the film, too. It clearly shows a mask that is aged, perhaps one that Michael has worn while rotting away in a facility years after the first film. The mask is dominant on the poster, which may indicate that the film intends to make Michael the ever-present force that he was in Carpenter’s original story, a type of evil that can be present anywhere at anytime, behind a bush, in a yard, in a house. That is what truly made him the Boogeyman in the first place. Lastly, the text at the bottom of the poster somewhat reassembles the text from the first film, which is another indication that this film intends to have more in common with the original than the many sequels.

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