video review : Halloween

video review : Halloween

This is just what the world needed; another Halloween backtrack. I say that sarcastically, of course, as it’s gotten absurd how many times previous narratives are flatly ignored in favor of new ones. They’re all based around a town in Illinois called Haddonfield and this one, the third simply titled Halloween, plays not as a remake but a direct sequel to the 1978 original. It continues the tradition of being set in real time though, so it’s forty years later.

That means Michael Myers is old. The gray hair on his balding head is shown within the first few minutes, which not only makes him less scary but stretches the believability of a plot that has him overpowering younger men and women without throwing out his back. If he’s inhuman, as the bullets he endures suggests, why does he age and breathe like one? There I go trying to apply logic to a cohort of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.

Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode; she returns every twenty years; but it’s all in vain. This sequel is basically H20 2.0 as it builds to a final showdown between the gun-toting Laurie and her knife-wielding nemesis. It’s Grandpa versus Grandma, except Grandma has the help of her daughter and granddaughter. Rob Zombie’s Halloween remains the best and only good movie in a series that should’ve ended long before even that movie was made.

my rating : 2 of 5

2018

video review : Halloween

video review : Halloween

What do you do after finally subduing and taking the knife from the masked murderer who’s been trying relentlessly to stab you to death? Drop it on the floor beside his seemingly unconscious body, of course, and hang around until he gets up.

It’s such dumb decisions that’ll have you rooting not for the protagonist, a girl named Laurie, but The Bogeyman himself; a ruthless killer named Michael. He’s escaped from a psychiatric hospital to wreck havoc on the night of, you guessed it, Halloween.

There are some scary moments here, most notably during the ending climax; the movie wouldn’t be as entertaining as it is if Laurie were smart enough to simply run away; but they’re undermined by all the wacky characterization and plotting.

my rating : 3 of 5

1978

video review : Halloween 2

video review : The Devil’s Rejects

video review : The Devil's Rejects

The Devil’s Rejects, also known as The Firefly Clan, are a family of Satanic killers. They slay people at will and store their body parts in the confines of their country home. This movie serves as both a homage and a documentary of their lives.

As mean and violent as they are, they carry a sinister charm, especially the Baby sister. She’s like the kid in school who sicced her big brother on innocent boys and got turned on by the sight of the blood. That brother is scary. So is the father.

Some of the acting is flawed. Sheri Moon has the tendency to come across unconvincingly in her role and there’s a scene in which a crying kid looks like he’s laughing, but there is plenty of evil entertainment to be found amidst the wackiness.

my rating : 4 of 5

2005

video review : 3 From Hell