31 Days of Horror: Year 6 - Halloween Special

MOVIES 11 & 12

Halloween & Halloween 2 - 35mm at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA

My good friend Dr. Jimmy Terror posted a great blog about this night, which is a much better take than anything I'm gonna vomit up. So I won't be hurt if you go read his instead.

...

You're still here?

The Colonial is at least a good hour from me, and because this was a rainy evening, I ended up arriving in the area a good 90 minutes too early for the show. The movie theater was not letting anyone in for another hour, so I stood outside a hipster coffee house siphoning off their WiFi and sat in my car listening to NPR until the appropriate time to stumble towards the theatre.
It wasn't long before I was joined by my North Jersey cohort Dr. Jimmy Terror, and proceeded to make our way to the upstairs balcony. After scoring our seats, we went downstairs and hob-knobbed with fellow horror-hounds. Since the good Doctor covered my movie ticket, I bought the pop-corn bucket, which we adorably shared for the rest of the night.
Chris Garofalo of Quiltface Studios was there selling his awesome limited edition Halloween print, which I told myself that I wouldn't buy because I already have too many posters and not enough wall.
The good Doctor bought a poster, though.

Then came time for the pre-show announcements and prize giveaways. First up was a poster set donated from Mr. Garofalo, which was won by none other than the good Doctor Terror!

Next up was a Halloween 35th Anniversary bluray. I say to Jimmy: "There's no way in hell I'm winning anything while sitting next to the guy who already won something." Well, guess what happened:

"Both of you guys won??" some random guy behind us yelled. "I'm right there with ya, man." I retorted.

From there, the movies started up, and it was glorious. Yes, the Halloween one was a bit of a mess, but that's part of why we love 35mm.
There isn't much I can add to Halloween, but watching Halloween 2 immediately after really shows off how inferior it is in comparison. Still a good time, though.

Afterwards, I completely caved and purchased TWO posters from Chris: the awesome Halloween print, and a killer Hellraiser one.

This was a great night with great people. Thank you, Colonial Theatre. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later.

Kill Count: Halloween - 4 / Halloween 2 - 8(i think. my count might be flubbed)
Best Kill: The poor schmuck in the white mask who Loomis mistakes for Myers, and ends up getting destroyed by a ambulance with an inattentive driver.
One More Thing: During this viewing, it occurred to me that Dr. Loomis might be a total lunatic in his own right.
And just what the hell does Laurie Strode have against Neutron Man?

MOVIE 13

The return of The Shape after the Season of the Witch is the 2nd most financially successful Halloween film of the series. It holds up ok, and has plenty of nods back to the original film.
I love the ending, where Danielle Harris' character reenacting young Myers' first kill. It set up a sequel really well. Sadly, they'd blow it.
Kill Count: 11
Best Death: The Shape gets his hands on a gun for the first time, and obviously has no idea how to use it. Whomever taught him how to drive should've helped li'l Mikey with some weapons training.
One More Thing: Doctor Loomis has a scarred face(from the explosion he inexplicably survived from Halloween 2) that seems to heal as the film proceeds.

MOVIE 14

Yeah, this is where the series takes a massive nosedive. Danielle Harris is in what seems to be a children's mental ward(which I'm sure doesn't exist) and there seems to a be a slap-dashed story about a man-in-black searching for The Shape and there may or may not end with a huge soapbox derby, I don't remember.
Kill Count: 17! We have a new death leader for the month! Sorry, Hills Have Eyes remake.
Best ???: I watched this movie 3 days ago and i remember absolutely nothing about it. Not good.
One More Thing: Obviously they were hoping for Revenge to do as well as Return did, which is why they ended it with such a gigantic cliffhanger. Unfortunately, Revenge bombed, and we wouldn't get another Halloween film for 7 years.

MOVIE 15

Ah, The Curse. An aptly titled movie, as it seems it was a gigantic mess to film from start to finish. After Revenge bombed, Universal dumped the broken series to Dimension Films, and those were not good hands.
Money issues prevented Danielle Harris from reprising her role(she reportedly only wanted five grand), which is probably what lead to her character's quick demise.
Eleven script rewrites didn't help anything, along with constant fighting between the cast and producers/director. This lead to a story that was pretty dull and an ending that made zero sense. And because this movie was made several years after it's predecessor, it does not keep the same flow the previous two had. It does get into who the Man-In-Black is, and goes a little deeper into the cult known as The Thorn, but it's still not enough to make this movie interesting. There is a drastically different "Producer's Cut" available on the bootleg circuit, and I'd love to find a copy.
Sadly, this chapter in the Halloween saga would spell the end for Dr. Loomis, as the great Donald Pleasance died on February 2nd, 1995. While Curse featured one great actor's end, it also features one's beginning, as we're introduced to Paul Rudd(brilliantly put in the roll as grown-up Tommy from the original film). Not as great of an actor as Pleasance, but Rudd's still had a lot of really good roles.
At the end, The Shape is beaten "to death" by a lead pipe. Seems fitting, as this script should've been flushed.
Body Count: 14
Best Death: Ironically, as much as I just trashed this movie, it features THE BEST DEATH in the entire series(discounting 3), as The Shape electrocutes a man against a circuit breaker until HIS GODDAMNED HEAD EXPLODES. FUCKING BONKERS AWESOME. In my honest opinion, this death completely saves the movie. Ten stars!
One More Thing: I have never seen H:20 or Resurrection. I'm sure they're as bad as people make them out to be. I'll try to squeeze them in by the end of the month, but I'm not promising anything. Same thing with the Zombie remakes. I'll try to get to them, but there's so many other films I want to cover before the 31st.