31 Nightmares: Halloween · 5:24am Nov 1st, 2014
Halloween. The night He came home. This is it people, the big one. We are looking at a movie that essentially invented the slasher film. If you watch a movie in which an unstoppable, implacable man murders you people, it exists because of this film.
In 1963 a boy by the name of Michael Myers murdered his sister and her boyfriend. He was locked away for years, a nutcase psychokiller to most and pure fucking evil to his Doctor, Samuel Loomis.
Years later he escaped, and then he came home dressed in black, his face hidden behind an eerie pale mask. That night he began a legend, carved his name into cinematic history and changed the way we all think of horror movies forever.
These days it’s easy to look at Halloween and say “so what?” It’s not the bloodiest of slasher films, not the darkest or most memorable. But it was the first, and to me it’s still the best.
Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is a film with a legacy and reputation far bloodier than it is. While there is plenty of brutality on screen it isn’t accompanied by buckets of blood and viscera. To me this only makes the film more powerful.
Also like Texas chainsaw, this is a film where I love almost everything from the cinematography to the soundtrack with only that bizarre 70s habit of casting adults as teenagers to detract from it. It spawned a number of sequels of steadily decreasing quality. I can honestly only recommend Halloween, Halloween II and the previous entry Halloween III.
Halloween II is a direct and adequate continuation of the first film’s plot, as in it literally takes place later the same night but all subsequent Michael Myer’s sequels were significantly less than spectacular and I do not recommend them.
In 2007 a remake was release directed by Rob Zombie. Despite what many say I do believe that Zombie’s Halloween stands up as a movie, and that its largest flaw is that it is called Halloween. If it were an original slasher film then I’d happily praise it as I do House of 1,000 Corpses and the Devil’s Rejects.
2009 however brought us a sequel that was truly, spectacularly abysmal. Rob Zombie actually was not interested in making Halloween II, but making it was the only way he could procure funding for the movie he really wanted to make, Lords of Salem which I hear is laughably bad.
Well friends, that’s it. 31 movies in 31 days. 31 terrors to keep you up at night, 31 nightmares of blood and monsters and doom.
Tomorrow I will list a few honorable mentions as well as few items I considered talking about that are not actually movie! After that… well… there’s always next year…
Pleasant dreams my sweetest friends.
One thing ok and many, didn't like it Hobo Meyers screaming "die" at Loomis, just seemd like an odd choice of words, considering what he did. I can get the white horse, as the Lady on the Grey (his mom) or the Pale Rider of Revelations.
Rob Zombie should have stuck to music.
Dragula was awesome.