Three
Halloween Series DVD Releases
Halloween: 25 Years of Terror
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras:
A Program: A
John Carpenter's Halloween
(1978) is a suspense masterpiece, and 28 years later remains one of
the scariest films ever made. However, by allowing the
film to end with a hint of the supernatural -- Michael Myers (aka The
Shape) disappearing after being shot several times and falling off a
balcony -- it left the door open for a seemingly endless number of sequels
and countless imitators such as Friday
the 13th and A
Nightmare on Elm Street.
Halloween and the much-bloodier Halloween II (1981) are unique in that they take place
on the same horror-filled night. The unfairly maligned Halloween III: Season of the Witch
(1982) has nothing to do with the first two films or Michael Myers, and is more
of an Invasion of the Body
Snatchers
knockoff. Then there's the Salt Lake City-filmed Halloween 4 (1988), 5 (1989) and 6 (1995), which brought Michael
Myers and Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) back, but acted as if Laurie
Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) was now dead. But after Pleasence died in 1995
shortly after filming the sixth installment, Curtis finally agreed to
return in 1998 with Halloween: H2O,
and now suddenly the series acted as if 4,
5 and 6 (where Laurie was dead and
Michael was chasing her orphaned daughter) never happened, and went back to
referencing only the first two films.
Halloween: Resurrection followed in 2002 with Curtis' Laurie
really getting killed off this time, but that didn't stop the evil Michael from
murdering another group of people on Halloween night. The
series has remained dormant amid many rumors for the last four
years. And sadly, the one constant in all the Halloween films, producer Moustapha
Akkad, was killed in a terrorist attack in the fall of 2005. But Akkad's
son, Malek, has inherited the rights to the series, and evidently Michael
Myers will return in 2007 with a "re-imagining" of Carpenter's
original by Rob Zombie.
Anchor Bay's new 2-disc Halloween:
25 Years Of Terror is as complete a retrospective of the entire
series to date as you're likely to find. It starts with an informative
84-minute documentary (narrated by P.J. Soles) chronicling all 8 films
thus far from John Carpenter's 1978 original to Halloween: Resurrection (2002). There's an
episode of a show called Horror's
Hallowed Grounds, which visits all of the Pasadena-area
locations used for Carpenter's Halloween,
followed by tons of interviews with cast and crew of the 8 films,
including footage and panel discussions from the 2003 convention in Pasadena
commemorating the 25th anniversary. Packed with interesting details about
the series, this 2-disc set is a must-have for every Halloween fan.
Highlights include a question and answer session with most of
the various stuntmen on-stage together who played Michael Myers
-- the only ones missing are director Nick Castle, who played The
Shape throughout much of the original, and actor Tony Moran, who
played the then 23-year-old killer in the original when he's briefly
unmasked; Producers Moustapha Akkad and Irwin Yablans discussing the genesis
for the first Halloween;
Cinematographer Dean Cundey discussing his use of lighting in the first three
films; panel question and answer sessions from the 2003 convention with
actors from all the Halloween
films except Halloween III,
Halloween: H2O and Halloween:
Resurrection (although there are previously recorded interviews
from actors from these films somewhere among the plethora of special features);
and finally lots of behind-the-scenes footage of the 25th
anniversary convention where Heather Bowen won the contest for a walk-on
role in the next Halloween
sequel -- Bowen even flashes her bare breasts at one point, a pleasing extra
not mentioned on the DVD case. A Halloween
comic book is also included inside the DVD.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (Special Divimax Edition)
Picture: B Sound:
C+ Extras: B+ Film: C
When we last saw Michael Myers at the end of 1981's Halloween II, Dr. Loomis had shot
him in both eyes and caused a fiery explosion that apparently burned them
both to a crisp. But even though Michael takes the shape of a human
being, he's evil personified as Dr. Loomis kept telling us. By Halloween 4, Michael has become an indestructible
creature slashing about like a more-vicious version of the Frankenstein
monster -- in 4, Michael
now has the ability to tear flesh and bone with just his fingers. Michael
is clearly some sort of supernatural ghoul, and therefore it's no surprise
he survived the inferno at the end of II
with only some burns. In the intervening years, the
mass murderer has been convalescing in an insane asylum where
he's a bedridden burn victim wrapped in white gauze.
It's highly unlikely, though, that the very human Dr. Loomis
could have survived the same inferno, but that doesn't prevent Pleasence from
returning as Loomis once again in 4
with burn scars on the side of his face, a cane and the same tan trenchcoat.
Halloween 4 begins on the night before Halloween in
1988 -- ten years after Michael's first bloody killing spree -- with
Michael escaping while being transferred from facilities in an ambulance.
As Michael (played here by stuntman George P. Wilbur) heads back toward
Haddonfield for another rampage, Dr. Loomis attempts to warn the
townsfolk. Laurie Strode, Michael's target in the first film, who turned
out to be his sister, is dead, but her orphaned little girl, Jamie
(Danielle Harris), still lives in Haddonfield, and crazy Uncle Mike now wants her
dead.
Although this is just more of the same old same, Halloween 4 is directed with some
skill by B-movie specialist Dwight H. Little (Marked for
Death, Anacondas: The
Hunt for the Blood Orchid), and some sequences (like Loomis
confronting the escaped Michael at a desolate roadside diner and a rooftop
chase) are well staged. Young Harris and Ellie Cornell as her stepsister
also contribute good work, and make us care about their characters.
And Pleasance is always fun in this role. However, a mind-numbingly stupid
ending ruins any goodwill the film has built toward being a guilty pleasure.
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on the Divimax edition
has very nice picture quality, but both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 recorded
from the original Ultra-Stereo are much less impressive. I remember this
film sounding great in a theater in October, 1988, but the DVD doesn't come
close to recapturing that sound. Extras include two
audio commentaries, one with Harris and Cornell, who both come across
as very nice people and the other with screenwriter Alan B. McElroy.
There's also the panel discussions from Halloween
4 & 5
from the 2003 convention, a making-of from previous DVD editions and the
original theatrical trailer.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (Special Divimax
Edition)
Picture: B Sound:
B- Extras: B+ Film: C-
Hurried into production when Halloween 4 far surpassed box-office expectations, the
fifth installment begins by showing how with Michael Myers (played here by
stuntman Don Shanks) survived about 100 bullet wounds from high-powered
guns and a fall into an abandoned mine shaft -- come on, they should have known
that wouldn't have been nearly enough to kill such a resilient
monster. Meanwhile, young Jamie (Harris) is now mute and staying in
a Haddonfield psychiatric center under the watchful eye of Dr. Loomis (Pleasence),
who now acts like he's in need of a good shrink. Poor Dr. Loomis' nerves
are pretty much shot at this point, leading to some
unintentionally hilarious moments.
Co-writer-director Dominque Othenin-Girard tries hard to make this
one "different," but his making the plot more dense only leads
to boredom since the real point of these movies is Michael killing
people. Also, Haddonfield now looks like it has enough cops and police
cars to rival New York City, but that's not nearly enough to stop old
Mike. The mystery man (whose face we never see) dressed in all black with
steel-tipped cowboy boots was added simply as a device to free Michael at
the end. The idea was apparently toyed with to make the man in black
Michael's brother, but he ended up being explained another way in 6, which rivals 5 as the worst one in the series.
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on this Divimax edition
has the same good picture quality as 4,
but the 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital sound is noticeably better on 5 than 4 for some reason. The extras
include a brief introduction by Danielle Harris and Ellie Cornell; an audio
commentary with Harris, director Othenin-Girard and actor Jeffrey Landman;
on-set footage; an Inside
Halloween 5 documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
and the filming of a cut scene; plus the original theatrical
trailer.
- Chuck O'Leary
