Halloween Returns!

[LoadedNightraiN]

"The now 18-year-old child of one of Myers' victims plays a central role along with the child of a cop whose long been obsessed with Myers' case, even putting it before his own daughter. Myers is now on death row and the two kids with their own personal vendettas against the killer sneak in to watch his execution. But when things go awry and Myers escapes, the pair, along with their friends, find themselves in the firing line."

eh..

What? Who the hell would have married MM? Oh come on! This sounds lame now.

What are you talking about?

[Apollo]

Good, let's erase those Zombie abominations. Those were some bad films, especially the 2nd one. Its hard to make a steaming pile of Shit worse than Halloween 5, but Zombie succeded...

We need to Skype or something some night and see if we can find ONE topic that we agree on.

I LOVE the first Zombie Halloween. It's easily my favorite of the entire series.

I'll agree that part 2 was a mess. But I think there was some internal fighting between Zombie and the producers and they wouldn't let him do what they initially promised, so he ended up having to put out a movie that he didn't want and wasn't happy with it. Or something like that.

I loved the Michael back story, seeing him finally get revenge on the bullies, losing his mind, the entire process at the mental institution...........capped off by one of the greatest scenes of the entire series - killing Danny Treja (sp), the one guy who was always nice to him.

Zombie's first Halloween is one of my ten favorite horror movies of all time.

Can Michael Myers be killed?

No nor can Freddy or Jason, but I think Chucky was killed in the last movie. At least, Andy blew his head off, but who knows?

"The now 18-year-old child of one of Myers' victims plays a central role along with the child of a cop whose long been obsessed with Myers' case, even putting it before his own daughter. Myers is now on death row and the two kids with their own personal vendettas against the killer sneak in to watch his execution. But when things go awry and Myers escapes, the pair, along with their friends, find themselves in the firing line."

eh..

What? Who the hell would have married MM? Oh come on! This sounds lame now. I don't like when they take fictional characters and give them family members. These characters don't age or die, so keep them the main characters.

I will read the reviews when it comes out and see if it's worth $10 to see.

Again, they fuck up characters that are special to horror fans.

I think you read it wrong, bro.

It doesn't say Michael got married and had a family.

It said the daughter of one of his VICTIMS.

[Iron MikeyJ]

I don't mind the first zombie Halloween. I actually enjoyed it at first, to a certain degree. I'll take 1,2, and h20 in a heartbeat over zombies Halloween, but as for the rest of the series... It's possibly better than. But that seems to be the problem with that series, it's very hit or miss, not much middle ground. I myself would put the zombie Halloween, 4, and 6 in the pretty good category. Obviously 1, 2, and h20 are the good ones IMO (some don't care for h20, but I thought it was great especially after the the crazy places 4, 5, and 6 took the series.) by process of elimination, that leaves 5, resurrection, and zombie 2 in my shit category. 3 I don't rate, I actually like it for what it is, but a Halloween film it is not.

As for Michael's back story, I didn't mind that part, and I didn't mind the majority of the film. My two biggest problems were 1. They made him into a freaking Andre the giant killing machine. Michael Meyers was never supposed to be 7 feet tall, that was a poor choice IMO. Also, and I can't stress this enough, I hate how white trashy zombie makes all of his films. When carpenter created Meyers, he was meant to be that normal boy next store, that just plain loses it. Not the dirty kid from the stripper mom and drunk step dad, they just seemed to cliche for me. Those grievances aside, I did think the overall execution of the film was great.

Btw, I am a Rob Zombie fan, so I am not just ragging on him. I love house of 1000 corpses and devils rejects. I am still hoping he does a 3rd one of those films but looks into the whole Dr Satan and that crazy underground Shit from the first film. It was never addressed in devils rejects, they just focused on the firefly family, but based on the first film, I do feel their is more story to tell. But being he killed of Sherry, I don't know if he will make it now...

Edited June 26, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ

[tomfriend]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

[Apollo]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

Do you hate that Jason and Freddie Kruger had back stories? Did that wreck those two franchises for you? Were they sophomoric shite because of it?

[Georgy Zhukov]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

Do you hate that Jason and Freddie Kruger had back stories? Did that wreck those two franchises for you? Were they sophomoric shite because of it?

Freddy and Jason are different characters. Their characters didn't require a backstory yet they came with one. Michael just came out of nowhere and started killing people. That works.

[Apollo]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

Do you hate that Jason and Freddie Kruger had back stories? Did that wreck those two franchises for you? Were they sophomoric shite because of it?

Freddy and Jason are different characters. Their characters didn't require a backstory yet they came with one. Michael just came out of nowhere and started killing people. That works.

Sure. For you it works great.

I personally loved zombies take on it. My favorite movie of the entire franchise.

That's the beauty of movies.

I can watch this one and love it.

You don't like it so you never have to watch it again and can watch the ones you love. Maybe the Paul Rudd or Busta Rhymes ones!!! Or the TV cult one. Whatever floats your boat.

[tomfriend]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

Do you hate that Jason and Freddie Kruger had back stories? Did that wreck those two franchises for you? Were they sophomoric shite because of it?

When they became overly contrived and over explored, yes. Take the Krueger background story in the Elm Street remake for example.

[Len Cnut]

Michael Myers doesn't need a backstory. I hate this demystifying trend. In the first film he was billed as The Shape. Now that is horror. Faceless. "Oh, he was bullied as a kid, blah blah blah". Sophomoric shite.

Spot on, the whole scary factor is that hes inexplicably mental, the whole fear factor of that character is centred around that speech by Donald Pleasance in the first one where hes like 'i looked in that boys eyes and i saw nothing' and how he was like, completely silent the whole time he was banged up, thats what makes Michael scary, the idea that this individual can be just completely devoid of any kind of emotion or anything, just from straight childhood, thats ALL you need and any elaborating on that just fucks it up.

[Iron MikeyJ]

Apollo, you honestly feel zombies Halloween is better than the original? That is just such a hard thing for me to wrap my head around....

As others have said, sometimes (especially in horror) less is more. I agree the knowing less about Michael Meyers made him scarier. I think that's why zombie went with a 7 feet tall Andre the giant Michael Meyers, to compensate for over explaining everything. While the sheer size and intimidation factor did work to his benefit, it also made the character more unbelievable than ever imo.

[Iron MikeyJ]

As for Freddy and Jason, their backstorys were written in to the first film. It was the part of the essential story that made them who they became. Freddy was the murderous child molester that killed kids, the parents on elm street burned Freddy alive, and now he comes back to kill kids in their dreams. Jason on the other hand, was complete back story for the first Friday. He was a child that drowned in the lake, so on so fourth. But my point is those backstories were written in to the first films, it was until the sequels that that got overanlyzed and dissected.

Michael Meyers on the other hand, was just a normal boy that want crazy all the sudden and killed his sister on Halloween. Now 15 years later he escaped and is going back to his home town. Than when you add in all the things that Dr Loomis adds, like the "lifeless eyes" and "pure evil" it helps add to the terror of the character. But we don't need to know why he is evil, that's too much information, especially for a first film. All you need to know is that HE IS evil. It works so much better because of the simplicity.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ

[Apollo]

Naw. I respectfully disagree.

Imagine these two scenarios. It's dusk, just starting to get dark. You are out camping. At a lake. You and your family are sitting around the camp fire. About thirty feet away you notice a man standing in the woods. Holding an axe.

1. The guy is a complete stranger that you have never seen before.

2. You recognize the guy has a crazy dude who murdered ten people and who escaped from prison

In which scenario are you more scared? The stranger with all his mystery? Or the crazy psycho killer???

BUT ITS ALL GOOD!!!!!

Movies are about what please us individually. Our enjoyment of a movie (or food or music, etc) doesn't attach itself to what other people like or dislike.

The original is a classic. But I've seen it several times and find it a bit boring now. I think is rather watch part 2 than part 1 if I had to choose one to watch today.

Zombies version always leaves me feeling uncomfortable and creeped out.

Giving him a back story makes him seem real.

No back story just means he is a ghost. A make believe boogie man. That scares some people. But for me - personally - a real life killer is scarier than a make believe boogie man.

That's just me though.

You all can love and hate which ever versions you want!!!!

[Iron MikeyJ]

Well both scenrios you alluded to would be scary yes, which one depends on the individual. But the thing is, that's not really what I was talking about.

Good scary film would be like the following; a killer of 10 people escaped from prison. He is barely shown throughout the film, just a foot or legs or torso, but never the head. People talk about all the horrendous things he has done, but nothing or hardly anything is actually shown. Then all of the sudden he is standing accross from you....

Here is today's idea of scary; show the man who will kill 10 people growing up, his struggles with his parents and being bullied is highlighted. We feel sympathy for the man that will kill 10 people, it's almost like it's not his fault really. Then after the boy snaps, he is arrested and goes to jail. In jail we see him in his jail cell, and even get a friend. His face and body is shown quite a bit. Then one day he escaped...

The 2nd option isn't bad imo, it's just so overanalyzed. The reason why I said less is more, is because you mind is more terrifying than anything that is on screen. That's why modern cgi type stuff doesn't work in horror, showing the monster is the worst thing you can do. Keep him hidden, only show bits and pieces, let the audiences mind so the work.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ

[Val22]

Yeah, I remember seeing Halloween for the first time.

Not knowing Laurie was his sister and not knowing why he killed his sister was very scary to me.

Yeah, and Donald Pleasance had the best lines in that movie. when he said about how he saw nothing but pure evil, it gave me chills.

Sometime less is more.

I think sometimes not knowing why someone is a killer is scarier than knowing why he kills.

[bran]

i agree with mikey and len on this one. i didnt hate the rob zombie versions i just took them for what they were and just threw the original two out of my mind and watched similar to the latest friday the 13th movie, the originals and the RZ versions are just completely different styles and gives you really two completely different characters that is michael myers.

[Apollo]

Well both scenrios you alluded to would be scary yes, which one depends on the individual. But the thing is, that's not really what I was talking about.

Good scary film would be like the following; a killer of 10 people escaped from prison. He is barely shown throughout the film, just a foot or legs or torso, but never the head. People talk about all the horrendous things he has done, but nothing or hardly anything is actually shown. Then all of the sudden he is standing accross from you....

Here is today's idea of scary; show the man who will kill 10 people growing up, his struggles with his parents and being bullied is highlighted. We feel sympathy for the man that will kill 10 people, it's almost like it's not his fault really. Then after the boy snaps, he is arrested and goes to jail. In jail we see him in his jail cell, and even get a friend. His face and body is shown quite a bit. Then one day he escaped...

The 2nd option isn't bad imo, it's just so overanalyzed. The reason why I said less is more, is because you mind is more terrifying than anything that is on screen. That's why modern cgi type stuff doesn't work in horror, showing the monster is the worst thing you can do. Keep him hidden, only show bits and pieces, let the audiences mind so the work.

I get it, bro.

The Jaws theory of filmmaking.

I live in Alaska and spend a lot of time in the woods. Hearing a noise in the middle of the night, or hearing branches break in the forest - that doesn't scare me.

But seeing a momma bear or a pack of wolves or a couple homeless redneck dudes in the middle of nowhere - that gets my nerves up.

And again. Knowing Freddy and Jason's back story doesn't make them less scary.

If I'm out camping and I see a dude with a hockey mask and a machete and I hear that creepy breathing music thing in the background...... Not going to say "oh, he isn't scary because I know his back story."

But again - I fully understand what you are saying and understand the point.

Just for my own personal enjoyment - it's scarier to me to know the backstory of a character than for him to be just a ghost or unknown.

It's cool if you and Val prefer the unknown and think that's scarier.

I feel like I would have a chance to defend myself or defeat the original Michael Myers. But seeing Zombies Michael? I'm pretty sure I would be toast.

i agree with mikey and len on this one. i didnt hate the rob zombie versions i just took them for what they were and just threw the original two out of my mind and watched similar to the latest friday the 13th movie, the originals and the RZ versions are just completely different styles and gives you really two completely different characters that is michael myers.

Well said.

[tomfriend]

I'd actually take the Friday the 13th remake over parts 1-3, purely because of the excruciating pacing of the originals.

[Iron MikeyJ]

I'd actually take the Friday the 13th remake over parts 1-3, purely because of the excruciating pacing of the originals.

I don't mind the Friday remake, it's one of the better remakes imo, along with Texas chainsaw. But I disagree with your choices that it is better than. Id put it a head of 8, Jason goest to Hell, Jason x, and even Freddy vs Jason. 6 and 7 are special to me, so no way can I rate it above those. 5 is the odd ball of the series, but I sort of love it for that reason. I wish they would have ran with that story line for one more film, before bringing real Jason back.

Even though you didn't include 4, the first 4 are the heart of the series. They are all perfect imo, and I wouldn't change a thing about them. Yes the original is my least favorite of the first 4, but it sets the groundwork for the entire series. 2, 3, and 4 are arguably the scariest of the entire series. Why? Because Jason isn't over shown. He is understated still. Its the later films that over expose him and thus make him less scary.

Obviously to each their own, but the first 4 are treasured by me. I love them!!!

Edited June 28, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ

[Val22]

I like all the Friday the 13th movies. When you watch the first 3 now, it seems funny because of the way they dressed and how dumb most of the characters were.

Why do a bunch of teens keep going back to Crystal Lake when everyone knows Jason is hunting there. lol

As for the kids with Freddy on Elm Street, they kind of got condemned to die because their parents killed Freddy and never told them the story until the nightmares began. I felt bad for these kids but at least they tried to fight back.

I think to this day I still love the original Halloween. The music that John wrote and Michael walking to the beat still gets me even though I know who lives and who dies, it's still suspenseful to me.

Rob Zombie's Halloween I liked it because he showed more of the MM story and I thought MM and Sherry Moon Zombie were terrific in it.

[Apollo]

I like all the Friday the 13th movies. When you watch the first 3 now, it seems funny because of the way they dressed and how dumb most of the characters were.

Why do a bunch of teens keep going back to Crystal Lake when everyone knows Jason is hunting there. lol

As for the kids with Freddy on Elm Street, they kind of got condemned to die because their parents killed Freddy and never told them the story until the nightmares began. I felt bad for these kids but at least they tried to fight back.

I think to this day I still love the original Halloween. The music that John wrote and Michael walking to the beat still gets me even though I know who lives and who dies, it's still suspenseful to me.

Rob Zombie's Halloween I liked it because he showed more of the MM story and I thought MM and Sherry Moon Zombie were terrific in it.

Finally a post we can agree on. I grew up on those franchises and love most of the movies. Even the newer ones that most people don't like.

When I watch a movie I look for reasons to like it. Seems now days that people watch movies and look for reasons not to like it.

[Sixes]

I thought the second Rob Zombie one was pretty good.

Shit title by the way. 'Halloween Returns'? Not 'Michael Myers Returns', but the annual event of Halloween? No shit.

I love the second zombie halloween. The beginning tribute to the original part 2 was very well done. The sheer brutality of the movie is disturbing, in a good way. I liked that instead of doing the same old remake type of thing, he reimagined and made it his own. Edited July 3, 2015 by Sixes

[tomfriend]

I thought the second Rob Zombie one was pretty good.

Shit title by the way. 'Halloween Returns'? Not 'Michael Myers Returns', but the annual event of Halloween? No shit.

I love the second zombie halloween. The beginning tribute to the originalvpart 2 was very well done. The sheer brutality of the movie is disturbing, in a good way. I liked that instead of doing the same old remake type of thing, he reimagined and made it his own.

Bingo.

[Iron MikeyJ]

When it comes to Freddy, Jason, and Michael Meyers those characters are enough of a draw that I have genuine optimism. After that it's up to the film makers whether or not it's a good movie. But it's all a matter of opinion anyways. I liked the Friday remake and hated the Freddy remake. I thought zombie Halloween 1 was ok and thought the 2nd one was terrible.

I will admit that I am such a HUGE fan of the original series, that may cloud my judgement at times. Even though Halloween essentially already got rebooted with H20, those first 2 films are so untouchable imo, I mean it's John freaking Carpenter. I bet Rob Zombie himself would admit he is no John Carpenter.

As for Freddy, the original nightmare series is probably the best horror series ever made imo, they are just perfect (dream child is really the only bad film imo, even freddys's dead is ok in my book). Robert Englund IS Freddy, Jackie earl hayle was ok, but it just didn't feel right.

The Jason films (as much as I love them) are the easiest of the big 3 to remake imo. Why? Because they all follow a very simple formula. You have a killer wearing a hockey mask chasing teenagers that have sex and do drugs. Its not exactly the Godfather. Which the remake hit all of those points. As long as you don't mess with the backstory much, you will have a decent Jason film.

[Apollo]

When it comes to Freddy, Jason, and Michael Meyers those characters are enough of a draw that I have genuine optimism. After that it's up to the film makers whether or not it's a good movie. But it's all a matter of opinion anyways. I liked the Friday remake and hated the Freddy remake. I thought zombie Halloween 1 was ok and thought the 2nd one was terrible.

I will admit that I am such a HUGE fan of the original series, that may cloud my judgement at times. Even though Halloween essentially already got rebooted with H20, those first 2 films are so untouchable imo, I mean it's John freaking Carpenter. I bet Rob Zombie himself would admit he is no John Carpenter.

As for Freddy, the original nightmare series is probably the best horror series ever made imo, they are just perfect (dream child is really the only bad film imo, even freddys's dead is ok in my book). Robert Englund IS Freddy, Jackie earl hayle was ok, but it just didn't feel right.

The Jason films (as much as I love them) are the easiest of the big 3 to remake imo. Why? Because they all follow a very simple formula. You have a killer wearing a hockey mask chasing teenagers that have sex and do drugs. Its not exactly the Godfather. Which the remake hit all of those points. As long as you don't mess with the backstory much, you will have a decent Jason film.

Did you like Freddy vs Jason?

I even liked the last Friday remake, even though most horror fanatics don't.

And you are right about Jason. I really wish a better team owned the franchise rights to it. There are a couple really, really awful Friday movies. One where his "soul" jumps from body to body, so a new person becomes Jason all throughout the movie. Then the ESP one. The one where Jason goes to New York - that should have been a good concept but it was just boring and horribly done. Jason chocked out like five people....NO, Jason uses a machete or some other tool to dismember people. He doesn't choke you out. And I think there is one where Jason actually says a few words. I think they just pushed out toooo many of them. I enjoy a cheesy slasher movie. But somebody could have made all those Jason movies in much better quality, imo.

What do you think of the Texas Chainsaw series?

[Iron MikeyJ]

I "like" Freddy vs Jason for what it is. Its not a great movie, but it has its moments. Its more like a Godzilla type film than an actual horror film. I prefer most of the other films, in both series over it. But having said that, it's ok I'm my book.

I like TCM, especially the original. The remakes are pretty good, one of the better remakes tbh.