Halloween Trilogy (David Gordon Green, 2018/2021/2022)

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DarkImbecile
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Halloween Trilogy (David Gordon Green, 2018/2021/2022)

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:08 am


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Lost Highway
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#2 Post by Lost Highway » Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:20 am

Yup, that's a Halloween sequel.

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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#3 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:30 am

Is that Toby Huss??

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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#4 Post by Murdoch » Sat Jun 09, 2018 3:03 pm

I wasn't aware Green helmed this while watching the trailer the other day. There are parts of the trailer that look great, like the shots inside the prison, but I can't muster much excitement for the eleventh entry (and second reboot) of a series that never topped the first movie.

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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#5 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:07 am

I don’t expect it to top the original Halloween, but with David Gordon Green directing, I‘m hoping it will be better than the other sequels. There is a back to basics quality to the trailer which looks promising. What was so great about Halloween was how it reduced the horror genre to its basics. Three girls, two houses, one man with a knife. There are lots of people bitching about this movie ignoring all the other sequels, but introducing the sibling relationship in the second movie was a dumb move and I’m glad they are reversing that. I’m just not a fan of simply calling this Halloween.

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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#6 Post by dda1996a » Sun Jun 10, 2018 7:52 am

I've never bothered with any of the sequels, but what makes Carpenter's original so great is its economy. His great use of steadycam (also used brilliantly in most of his other great films) gives a coiling evocation of a ghost, the evil permeating this small town. Even the old stereotypes feel ingrained here, i.e Laurie's virginity. The film is mostly just great atmosphere until the chilling finale. I should probably watch this again, such a great film. Are any of the sequels or Zombie's remakes worth watching? I've heard the third, non Myers film is decent at best

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#7 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:03 am

SpoilerShow
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Lost Highway
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Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films

#8 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:45 am

dda1996a wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 7:52 am
I've never bothered with any of the sequels, but what makes Carpenter's original so great is its economy. His great use of steadycam (also used brilliantly in most of his other great films) gives a coiling evocation of a ghost, the evil permeating this small town. Even the old stereotypes feel ingrained here, i.e Laurie's virginity. The film is mostly just great atmosphere until the chilling finale. I should probably watch this again, such a great film. Are any of the sequels or Zombie's remakes worth watching? I've heard the third, non Myers film is decent at best
Halloween II is a fairly coarse boobs and blood slasher movie, it gives Jamie Lee Curtis a goofy wig and not much to do apart from running and hiding and it introduced the idiotic "he's your brother" plot twist ported over from Star Wars. What makes it worth watching are Dean Cundey's cinematography, which is just as beautiful as his work for the first movie and the Carpenter/Howarth score.

The stand alone Halloween III is more of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Stepford Wives type movie and doesn't make much sense, but it's a hell of a lot of fun and it has a wickedly nasty streak. Again, Cundey's cinematography and the Carpenter/Howarth score still make this look and sound like vintage Carpenter, even if he didn't direct it.

Halloween IV is a soft reboot. Carpenter who still produced the previous movies is out of the picture from here on and the film lacks style. It is one of the better slasher movies of its period though because it features two likeable heroines. The then child actress Danielle Harris gives an exceptional performance as (the now dead) Laurie Strode's young daughter, stalked by her uncle.

Halloween V is a direct sequel to IV and a completely inept movie which doesn't explore anything implied by the intriguing conclusion of the previous movie. Probably the worst of the original series.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers ends the middle trilogy of the franchise. It exists in two very different cuts, neither make it a good film, though it's better than V. It stars a young Paul Rudd.

Halloween H20
is a reboot which ignores everything after the first sequel. Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie and she is in fine form. Everything with her is fun. There even is a bit of depth in how it explores her PTSD but the teenagers in peril angle is lackluster, featuring a young Michelle Williams. Watch out for a teenage Joseph Gordon-Levitt who gets dispatched in the first scene.

Halloween Resurrection
has an entertaining prologue guest starring Curtis who gets to put Laurie Strode to rest, the rest is trash.

The Zombie remake explains everything about Michael Myers you never wanted to know, featuring his preoccupation with poor, white Americans which is awkwardly shoehorned in. Unlike Carpenter, Zombie has no interest in or affection for his three heroines/victims. I'ver never watched his sequel though it appears to have fans who rate it as superior to the first Zombie Halloween.
Last edited by Lost Highway on Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#9 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:54 am

dda1996a wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 7:52 am
Are any of the sequels or Zombie's remakes worth watching? I've heard the third, non Myers film is decent at best
Here are all my writeups C+Ped from the Horror List thread:
“domino harvey” wrote:Halloween II (Rick Rosenthal 1981) There are several problems with this film, but none more glaring than the utter unnecessity of its existence. Why does this movie exist? I never once thought or cared what happened after the final moments of the first film, but boy this film'll tell ya. Not every horror movie manages to wipe out an entire hospital ward, but oh that Michael Myers! The cruel violence exhibited in several of his murders is also quite off-putting-- who's idea of a good time is seeing some poor girl boiled alive? Don't answer.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Tommy Lee Wallace 1982) Infinitely more entertaining than its immediate predecessor, this sequel in name only is exactly as good as a movie about killer Halloween masks can be. Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin's Annie Clark doppelgänger investigate a mysterious murder and all signs point to a crazed CEO who plans to sacrifice the nation's children to the Celtic Gods hidden within the rock of Stonehenge. Or something. The movie plays the scenario straight, which helps, and while there's no shortage of logical leaps required, the film has enough confidence to give it enough rope to sit back and enjoy.
“domino harvey” wrote:Halloween 4: the Return of Michael Myers (Dwight H Little 1988) I don't know why at this point I'm surprised at how little my tastes seem to match up with the fandom that descends almost automatically upon a horror series, but I found this return bite at the Mike Myers apple unfathomably awful and one of the worst sequels I've ever witnessed. It completely misses the point of the original and doesn't even have the decency to be a mean-spirited traditional slasher like Halloween II (which, if you'll recall, I didn't like much either, but it's a stone-cold classic in comparison!). Instead we get creaky theatrics surrounding Myers' improbable and highly predictable visit to his niece, played by young "scream queen" Danielle Harris, who is mostly only called upon to think she sees Myers around every corner. The film has no concept of suspense or even the cheap thrills gore scenes could provide and instead insists on lobbing a ludicrous and seemingly never-ending assault of half-baked thrills that revolve around Myers being some sort of white-faced robot capable of clutching onto the side of a truck without being noticed and taking a dozen shotgun blasts to the chest with little effect. My cursory research tells me this is the most respected Halloween film after the original, and that's the most compelling evidence yet that despite my continued forays into this genre I will still apparently never belong to or understand its brethren

Halloween 5: the Revenge of Michael Myers (Dominique Othenin-Girard 1989) And somehow this is seen as among the worst of the sequels despite it being the "best" of the three Myers-focused sequels so far to my eyes. At least this film has the common courtesy to being a mediocre traditional slasher film. Unlike the TV blockings of the fourth film, the director here does show some visual wit and energy that make it far smoother viewing than the interminable fourth film. The film wisely recognizes the limitations of the cast its stuck with and relegates Harris' child actress to a passive, mostly-mute role that works far better and has the perverse bonus of making her one of the youngest "last girls" I can think of-- the audaciousness of having the murdering machine known as Michael Myers actively target a little girl in the midst of all the traditional teenaged victims is at least an idea, which automatically puts it one-up on Halloween 4. I also enjoyed how this entry made Donald Pleasence's ever-present doctor into an asshole, baiting Myers with her writhing body clutched close to his chest. The film ends with the unlikely but inevitable escape of the world's most uninteresting slasher villain thanks to some unseen force dressed in black. I suspect this mysterious character is explained in Halloween 6. I also suspect it's doubtful (but not impossible) that I'll ever prove that first-hand
“domino harvey” wrote:Halloween: the Curse of Michael Myers (Joe Chappelle 1995)
domino harvey wrote: I suspect this mysterious character is explained in Halloween 6. I also suspect it's doubtful (but not impossible) that I'll ever prove that first-hand
#-o
Starring Paul Rudd's "serious" voice and a dying Donald Pleasence, this is the worst entry in what is already the least of the heavily-cycled slasher villain film series in terms of overall returns. Turns out a cult has adopted Michael Myers and is trying to get him to take part in an infant sacrifice? I don't know or get it, and no one else involved in making this movie does either.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (Steve Miner 1998) Jamie Lee Curtis is back, and so are a few hip young actors like Josh Hartnett and Michelle Williams. Janet Leigh is around too for a few minutes, mostly so marketing could say something about it. The film certainly doesn't utilize that or any of its other differing elements, though the resulting film is thankfully not as bad as most of the sequels in this series. Damning with faint praise, &c. The movie has one mediocre laff with Curtis' dispensing of typical horror tropes at the end, but even that felt familiar.

Halloween Resurrection (Rick Rosenthal 2002) Speaking of familiar, here we go again: turns out the ridiculous ending of the previous film in this series only serves to be upended by an even more ridiculous "explanation" as to how Michael Myers did not infact die despite suffering what could charitably be called a life-threatening injury. Once poor Jamie Lee Curtis is finally put out of her misery at the outset, things settle into the usual, as a buncha dumb college kids find themselves outfitted with cameras and set loose in the Myers House on Halloween for the entertainment of streaming internet viewers. Mildly interesting for how it captures the whole Big Brother et al fad, I guess, but I suspect other horror films did likewise around this time. Top-billed Busta Rhymes is alternately annoying and impish as the media impresario organizing the whole affair, and the rest of the cast is filled with no-names nobodies no one will miss once they go missing. All that said, this is the most tolerable Myers-centric Halloween sequel by virtue of it being merely mediocre. So, a fitting end to the original run of the series, I guess.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#10 Post by Mr Sausage » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:44 am

I could never bring myself to watch 5, 6 or Zombie's sequel, but, yeah the rest are all shades of mediocre. 2 has some creepy and effective shots (Michael descending the stairs, Michael walking through the glass door), but overall is a movie of missed opportunities.

Is Halloween the only major eighties horror franchise with a sequel that doesn't better the original? The Friday films have the surprisingly good 6 and the Nightmare films have the more imaginative 3. Actually, I think I'm really saying Halloween is the only major 80's horror franchise whose original is any good.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#11 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:55 am

The Slumber Party Massacre fits the bill-- first entry is an exemplar compendium of nearly every conceivable slasher movie trope packed into 75 minutes by producer Roger Corman, who knew exactly what he was doing. The next two entries are alternately a bizarro Elm Street ripoff and a mean-spirited and uninspired retread, both awful beyond belief.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#12 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:59 am

Mr Sausage wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:44 am
Is Halloween the only major eighties horror franchise with a sequel that doesn't better the original? The Friday films have the surprisingly good 6 and the Nightmare films have the more imaginative 3. Actually, I think I'm really saying Halloween is the only major 80's horror franchise whose original is any good.
I think with Hellraiser and The Howling the first movies are by far the best too. Neither is a genuine classic like Halloween, it’s just that the sequels are so bad.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#13 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:04 am

+ Poltergeist & Re-Animator. I’d also add Alien. Aliens is a great sequel but the first is still the best. None of the others come close.
Last edited by Lost Highway on Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#14 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:07 am

The Howling may or may not be a better film than its sequels, but Howling II: Stirba, Werewolf Bitch easily wins the best title race (and actually, I kinda liked the Howling III more than the original)

Lost Highway wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:04 am
I’d also add Alien. Aliens is a great sequel but the first is still the best. None of the others come close.
I don't think a series with exactly one film released in the eighties can in good faith be called an 80s Horror Franchise!

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#15 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:10 am

The title of the first Howling sequel is awesome, but I really love the first movie. The Howling III gets points for being thoroughly bizarre, but I couldn’t sit through it again. The synopsis makes it sound so promisingly insane but it’s hobbled by its execution.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#16 Post by Mr Sausage » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:28 am

I said major franchise because, yeah, there are number of smaller series one can look at.

Didn’t know if I should include Hellraiser as only two entries were in the 80s. I prefer the second one, personally, but not to a degree where I’d want to argue it.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#17 Post by dda1996a » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:24 am

Mr Sausage wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:44 am
I could never bring myself to watch 5, 6 or Zombie's sequel, but, yeah the rest are all shades of mediocre. 2 has some creepy and effective shots (Michael descending the stairs, Michael walking through the glass door), but overall is a movie of missed opportunities.

Is Halloween the only major eighties horror franchise with a sequel that doesn't better the original? The Friday films have the surprisingly good 6 and the Nightmare films have the more imaginative 3. Actually, I think I'm really saying Halloween is the only major 80's horror franchise whose original is any good.
I remember hating the original Friday, never bothered afterwards. In regards to Elm, I quite like the original, New Nightmare is decent from what I remember, never watched the others. Is the third really that great? I'm not really a fan of the slasher genre, so I usually check out after the acknowledged better ones (which are basically not a lot of movies when you discount Carpenter's work)

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#18 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:38 am

The third Elm Street is the best of the series, but I think Bad Dreams does everything that film does even better

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#19 Post by MongooseCmr » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:39 am

The original Friday the 13th is a terrible movie. I really don’t see much of a difference between it and the better films shown on MST3K. At least those can be somewhat imaginative.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#20 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:45 am

dda1996a wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:24 am
Mr Sausage wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:44 am
I could never bring myself to watch 5, 6 or Zombie's sequel, but, yeah the rest are all shades of mediocre. 2 has some creepy and effective shots (Michael descending the stairs, Michael walking through the glass door), but overall is a movie of missed opportunities.

Is Halloween the only major eighties horror franchise with a sequel that doesn't better the original? The Friday films have the surprisingly good 6 and the Nightmare films have the more imaginative 3. Actually, I think I'm really saying Halloween is the only major 80's horror franchise whose original is any good.
I remember hating the original Friday, never bothered afterwards. In regards to Elm, I quite like the original, New Nightmare is decent from what I remember, never watched the others. Is the third really that great? I'm not really a fan of the slasher genre, so I usually check out after the acknowledged better ones (which are basically not a lot of movies when you discount Carpenter's work)
Of the three big slasher franchises The Nightmare on Elm Street movies worked best as a series because the premise is more imaginative than just some psycho killing teenagers. Even if the movies weren't always that great, the dream sequences were the like horror version of song and dance routines in a musical and could still be enjoyed on their own. I like both Elm St 3 and New Nightmare better than the original. 3 is a sequel that genuinely expands the mythology of the original and Patricia Arquette is one of the fiercest final girls of any horror franchise. Elm St 2 is so loaded with gay subtext, it's kind of special in its own way.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#21 Post by Murdoch » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:06 pm

By no means a major franchise, but The Stepfather's follow-ups certainly never topped the first, even if 2 is good fun with O'Quinn taking a dead man's identity and playing therapist to a group of repressed housewives.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#22 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:16 pm

Murdoch wrote:
Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:06 pm
By no means a major franchise, but The Stepfather's follow-ups certainly never topped the first, even if 2 is good fun with O'Quinn taking a dead man's identity and playing therapist to a group of repressed housewives.
The first is a better all around film (and has one of the greatest "Oh shit" moments in film history), but O'Quinn is so much fun in the sequel and the entire movie is structured around letting him go nuts. I always think of the sequel every time I eat Rice Krispies!

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#23 Post by knives » Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:10 pm

Just so I understand the trailer correctly, is this asking us to find a seventy year old man scary? (also if this is really trying to be mythology minimizing why are they acting like the mask was anything other than a quick way to be anonymous in the first film)

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#24 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:22 pm

He is more like 60. I’m 55 and I hope I’ll still be scary in five years.

Michael Myers likes to play games, he’s not a rational criminal.

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Re: Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018)

#25 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:42 pm

I don't think an antagonist known as "the Shape" holds up to much character motivation analysis!

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