Week 32: “The HALLOWEEN Franchise”
There are many horror franchises that have a special place
in the horror fan’s heart. This is not
because of the protagonist of any given film but for the villain of that
franchise. Where would the Texas Chainsaw Massacre be without
Leatherface or A Nightmare on Elm Street
without Freddy Krueger? Where would Child’s Play be without Chucky or Hellraiser without Pinhead? Friday
the 13th without Jason or Saw
without The Jigsaw Killer? What
would the Halloween franchise be
without the ultimate Boogeyman – Michael Myers?
Since the Halloween franchise
is one of my favorites I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s article on my
thoughts on each of the films in the series.
In 1978 the original John Carpenter classic was
released. I was but two years old at the
time so I was completely unaware of the film and wouldn’t be until after the
third film saw release. I ended up
watching this film as part of a trilogy of the first three films in the
franchise so this film ended up having a profound effect on me. I generally liked all the films but the first
one was always a favorite. I always
loved the Carpenter original because it was creepy and atmospheric. I also loved the mask. That mask was scary! And I can’t say enough about Carpenter’s
iconic score! As a young pre-teen
experiencing the Halloween franchise
these were some of the most frightening horror films I had ever seen. Michael Myers WAS the Boogeyman, no question
about it. This film would be a regular
Halloween tradition with me for almost the next two decades.
Halloween II
(1981) is an interesting film in that I used to really enjoy this film when I
was younger. Since I originally watched
it with the first and third films and because this film takes place directly
after the events of the first film this was always a film I had to watch with
the first film. I could enjoy the first
film by itself but I could never enjoy this film without watching the first
film. This was a more violent film but
the thing that struck me the most growing up is that it starred Lance Guest,
who starred in one of my favorite films The
Last Starfighter (1984). I know I
saw that film before Halloween II so
every time I saw the latter film it reminded me of the former film. Unfortunately, I didn’t know who Jamie Lee
Curtis or Donald Pleasence were at the time but Guest was someone I was very
familiar with. In later years this film
lost its luster with me. When subsequent
sequels were released this film, unfortunately, ended up at the bottom of my
list of films in the franchise. It still
isn’t one of my favorites but it is certainly not the worst.
Halloween III: Season
of the Witch (1984) was a film I hated growing up. I couldn’t understand why Michael Myers
wasn’t in the film and if you were like me and you watched the first three films
all at the same time then this film would be odd and strange and not even fit
within the franchise. Despite my initial
feelings about the film time has been extremely kind for this film. When I was young I didn’t understand the
absence of Myers but when you get older you read more and you understand more
about not only the intensions of the filmmakers but the themes and aesthetics of
the film itself. I was finally able to
view the film under its own merits and not those my young mind wanted it to
be. This is one of my favorite of the
sequels because of how creative the film is not just in terms of story and
execution but also because of the amazing cast which is highlighted by the
outstanding musical score. I now love
this film because it’s so different from the rest.
When news of Halloween
IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) arrived I was already a die-hard fan
and if I had been old enough to see the film at the theater on opening night I
would have (I was but twelve at the time but already a horror fan). Instead, I had to contend with the
novelization of the film which my mother bought for me (after much pleading and
begging). I loved the book! I was already a huge fan of Stephen King so
this novelization was right up my alley.
I was a horror fan who also loved reading about horror. When the film was released to VHS (Ahh, the
good old days) my parents rented it the first week. I must have watched the film three or four
times. Halloween IV was now my favorite of the franchise! For a while I considered it better than the
first film. I had waited so long for a
new film with Myers that it didn’t matter how good the film actually was it
would be my favorite horror film of the year.
The film itself does not disappoint.
It’s a great film and one of the best sequels of the entire
franchise. At this point in time I did
know who Pleasence was and had seen him in everything from Escape From New York (1981) to Phenomena
(aka Creepers, 1985) to The Devonsville Terror (1983), but he
was most iconic to me as Dr. Loomis in the Halloween
films.
I didn’t have to wait long before Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) and for a long
time I loved this film as well. As you
get older to come to realize that films that you liked as a child actually aren’t
as good as you remembered. That’s how
this film has fared over the years. I
used to really love this film. It’s dark
and moody and atmospheric but it’s also confusing and odd and doesn’t make much
sense. When I was young none of this mattered
because it had Michael Myers and a lot of killings and was entertaining and
that was enough for me at the time. Now,
when I look back at this film I consider it one of the worst. It may not stand the test of time but it is
entertaining and contains the basic elements for a Halloween film similar to that of Halloween II.
Halloween: The Curse
of Michael Myers (1995) was the first one in the franchise that I was
(finally) old enough to see at the theater.
The ‘90s unfortunately were filled with highly forgettable horror films
and sequels didn’t fare any better. My tastes
at this time had been refined and more sophisticated and this film had no
chance with me. Despite the presence of Pleasence
this film is a carbon copy of all the other forgettable horror films of the ‘90s. I always saw this as a hokey sequel with
subpar acting, little gore, and one of the worst Myers masks of any of the previous
films. This film’s only saving grace is
the unlikely comic turn from a very young Paul Rudd. Everything else about this film is completely
forgettable although I do enjoy the musical score by Alan Howarth and Paul
Rabjohns.
In 1998, someone decided to dismiss the direction of the
previous three films and start over thus was born Halloween: H20 (1998) which saw Jamie Lee Curtis return to the
franchise that helped make her a household name. After the abysmal Curse I was ecstatic that someone was going to take the franchise
seriously and craft an intelligent sequel.
One that all Halloween fans
had been asking for for years. I saw
this film with friends on opening night and we were not disappointed. This was a chilling and atmospheric film with
a very good young supporting cast but most importantly it had Curtis’ Laurie
Strode returning to the franchise and becoming a bad-ass in the same vein as
Ripley from the Aliens franchise or
Sarah Connor from the Terminator
films. THIS is what Halloween fans craved for and got!
The film is amazing but the ending was the icing on the cake. When Strode chops off Myers’ head with an axe
it was a defining moment not only in the franchise but in horror film history. Myers was not an un-killable force like
Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees so when his head was cut off this signaled the
end of a horror icon and film series.
Or so we all thought.
Halloween: H20 was
a huge financial success and the logical result was Halloween: Resurrection (2002) and unfortunately they sold the idea
to Curtis who would return for the opening sequence only. Strode was killed while in a mental hospital
and then Myers goes home where a reality TV show is filming at the old Myers
house, which would introduce a whole new cast of victims for Myers. There is so much wrong with this film that
fans of the series consider this the worst film in the series beneath Curse and Revenge. I’m no fan of this
film but I do love to watch Bianca Kajlich do battle with Myers and it is an
early screen role for Katee Sackhoff, who I now absolutely love. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a good film
but it’s more entertaining than Curse
and less cryptic than Revenge but its
reliance on the youth culture does date it worse than both of those films. This film was a critic and fan’s worst
nightmare and spelled the end of the franchise despite doing well at the box
office. It was going to be hard to
recover from the public’s outcry over this film.
It would be five years until it was decided to start over
from scratch. The ‘00s became the time
of the remake and that was the solution with how to make the Halloween franchise relevant again. It was decided that what the franchise needed
was a more realistic interpretation and therefore musician turned director Rob
Zombie was handed the keys to do whatever he wanted to with the franchise in
order to re-invent it for a new audience that had become jaded with the modern
horror film. He took the highly stylized
look and feel of his recent hit The Devil’s
Rejects (2005) and applied that to the Halloween
franchise by delving into the monster Michael Myers himself. I love Halloween
(2007). I thought it was inspired to
do an origin of Myers when he was a child for the first half of the film and
then use the plot of the original film as a road map for the second half of the
film. This is a brutal and unkind horror
film. Gone is the Boogeyman of the John
Carpenter era and what is presented is the story of an abused child from a
broken home who snaps. Zombie’s film was
a modern day fable about the making of a serial killer. This film had mixed reviews from both critics
and horror fans. Die-hard fans hated the
fact that the “Boogeyman” that they had grown up with had been turned into a
serial killer while others just didn’t like Zombie’s “trailer park” style and
thought it cheapened the franchise.
Regardless of your opinion of the film it got people talking and it
became a huge success.
I love this film for the same reason that I love the
original Carpenter film. Carpenter’s Halloween is 100% the style of Carpenter
of which no other director could adequately replicate in subsequent films. That’s not the biggest problem; the biggest
problem is that none of the original sequels feel like they belong to any
particular director but are trying to immolate Carpenter’s style. When Zombie put his hands on the franchise he
made it his own. You may not like his
style but there is no denying that this new Halloween
is a Zombie film and I would have hated it more if Zombie had tried to make a
Carpenter film.
Zombie would be asked back to the director’s chair for Halloween II (2009). This film I hated when I first saw it at theaters. I have to admit that I just didn’t get the
film. I thought it was a rushed mess of
a film and it very well might have been but when I watched it a second time on
video I realized that there are a lot of original ideas in this film that allow
it to stand on its own. Zombie is a
musician and music plays an enormous part in the style and feeling of this film
more so than in his original film. The
visual themes and motifs are stronger and the cinematography is more
refined. This film delves even deeper
into serial killer territory and any sense that Zombie’s Michael Myers is the
Boogeyman is erased. This is a dark and
atmospheric film which is not something most fans of the franchise were
expecting. This is a rare case for me
where I enjoyed a film more the second time around. I can appreciate what Zombie was trying to do
and I actually really enjoy his style therefore I can place his two films
separate from the original franchise.
Some other die-hard fans cannot.
I’m not just a fan of the Halloween franchise but I’m a fan of Michael Myers as well. I’ve seen all the films in the franchise
numerous times no matter how much I may despise the actual film. I love watching Myers do his thing and even
if some of the films are not as strong as the rest there is no reason to
dismiss them out right. Halloween is the
time of year were I get to re-watch and enjoy the entire franchise and I hope
you do as well.
