Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Just for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoqxhvdAdns
I have a strange fascination and love for Halloween 3, I'm definitely going to have to get that Blu.
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Lets discuss John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978)
- Thread starter Horse Detective
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Just for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoqxhvdAdns
I have a strange fascination and love for Halloween 3, I'm definitely going to have to get that Blu.
Yeah dude, when I joined, I didnt think I'd meet some Carpenter fans on here, and I was surprised when you mentioned to me being a JC fan last year.
I do agree that Carpenter hasn't made a great film since 1995, but its not like him making shitty movies erases his good films from existence.
You mention liking H2 and H3. I like them as well, although Laurie is a bore in H2.
H4-H6 have atmosphere but for the most part are just generic slashers, H20 is the opposite. H20 is well written but it didnt feel like a Halloween film to me, more like a Scream film. Fuck Halloween: Resurrection.
sans_pants
avec_pénis
One of my film professors was making a movie(tourist trap) at the same time with the same producer as carpenter. the producer thought tourist trap was going to be the hit between the two. they ponied up 400k for a great composer to score his fim, while carpenter did his score himself
just shows producers often have no idea whats going on
just shows producers often have no idea whats going on
I love this movie and the franchise as a whole. This was the first movie I saw as a kid that I recognized how awesome the cinematography and camera work was. It's like a full on character. It's such a basic story and basic movie, but Carpenter's behind the camera work was so masterful. You'd never expect it from a low budget horror movie.
I'm a big fan of H2. It's not as good, obviously, but I think it can be more interesting to watch multiple times. I also think H4 is super strong outside of the terrible mask. H5 really has no redeeming qualities, but I'm a weirdo who really likes H6. Both theatrical and Producer's cuts. I've always just really loved it for some reason. It's dark and vicious and cynical after two much lighter (especially 5) movies. It's not great, but I've always had a soft spot for it.
I didn't care for the remake. It was ok once Michael was an adult, but it felt like that movie would have been much better if it weren't a Halloween movie. I did enjoy Michael McDowell's performance, though. He was the only good thing about it. I didn't see H2 remake.
I'm a big fan of H2. It's not as good, obviously, but I think it can be more interesting to watch multiple times. I also think H4 is super strong outside of the terrible mask. H5 really has no redeeming qualities, but I'm a weirdo who really likes H6. Both theatrical and Producer's cuts. I've always just really loved it for some reason. It's dark and vicious and cynical after two much lighter (especially 5) movies. It's not great, but I've always had a soft spot for it.
I didn't care for the remake. It was ok once Michael was an adult, but it felt like that movie would have been much better if it weren't a Halloween movie. I did enjoy Michael McDowell's performance, though. He was the only good thing about it. I didn't see H2 remake.
JasonUresti
Member
amazing that you are so sure that your kids are processing horrific violence as just imaginary and not part of the real world (despite that it is), but sex talk would blow their minds.
Like how Braveheart can be shown on TV with heads being crushed, limbs cut off, men being killed by the dozen, but oh shit don't dare show that woman's breasts. It's so twisted.
I guess scientific studies can't compete with centuries of repressed, near insane Puritanical values.
DonasaurusRex
Online Ho Champ
He didnt continue anything really, came in to do some reshoots on a few scenes and purposely made them formulaic and gory. Then by contract had to have his name in the credits. Beyond 2 i dont think he did anything but keep in touch with donald pleasance , he did say he should do part 4 cause it was a good script.
Otherwise Michael Myers is the only slasher/horror icon that scared me ever, and he did it with nearly zero gore. The lighting work was just amazing, and of course the soundtrack was classic. Oh and Dr Loomis is the only person i would ever trust if something like this happened IRL, he did not play always had a gun and always had it out , loaded and aimed, thats how you do this.
DonasaurusRex
Online Ho Champ
oh your gonna have a threeway by the time you watch The Thing , its awesome.
Muffdraul
Member
I vaguely remember when it was in theaters and getting a lot of attention, but I didn't see it myself until a few years later when I was about 13 we got our first VCR. I feel like it's beyond anything I could say about it. It's the prototype for every slasher flick ever. It's a bona fide classic. It had PJ Soles naked. I fapped.
The Horror the horror
Banned
Pretty interesting and disappointing how Friday the 13th was able to take the Halloween formula and develop Jason into such a mainstream juggernaut in the 80s and early 90s. What's sad is that Friday the 13th neither perfected nor added anything postive to the template created by Halloween, yet the Jason character saw enormous success in relation to Michael Myers.
Halloween (1978) is one of my favorite films of all time, and I've seen all the sequels.
2 is OK, 4 is good, but H20 is the real kicker. I think if you watch Halloween (1978) and then H20 as a sequel, it really is an amazing sequence.
Horseticuffs
Full werewolf off the buckle
Not that violence isn't real, of course. But they understand that these are horror movies and as such are not real.
And, yeah, I'd rather be the one to discuss sexuality and human relations with them than their learning it from Halloween.
But perhaps this isn't the thread for this discussion.
On another note, it's kinda funny that this film got so huge and Black Christmas was just a footnote.
Yeah, she didn't really need to be in the film at all. They could have come up with some other way to get Michael to the hospital.
Agreed, I didn't like the sibling storyline, especially when they kept expanding it. By H6 it just got way too ridiculous.
Carpenter was originally going to write H4 as well. His version of the story had Michael returning as a ghost, but the producers wanted it to be more like F13. So Carpenter left the film and disassociated himself with the series.
Q
Queen of Hunting
Unconfirmed Member
i like the fact that alot of the scary scenes are the ones during the day, it really takes some effort to do that
Mariah Carey
Member
Oh, it still happens, especially with horror movies.
As for Halloween, it's a masterpiece. It comes off a little plain watching it after 30 years of imitators (yes, it was a surprise back then that the killer wasn't dead!) but it's a tight, nigh flawless thriller all the same.
Absolutely. Another reason it's the best horror film ever.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
I love the franchise. The first is the undeniable classic, not much to say. Last one I enjoyed was probably H20 though. The remake from Rob Zombie I thought was good when they were dealing with young Michael, super creepy. But the whole second half sucks.
I saw it for the first time during the 2011 31 days of horrorrs thread. I was surprised at how much of the film was devoted to suspense and build up, given the reputation of the film - or perhaps it's the series - for being really violent. Only a small handful of people are killed, none of them in bloody fashion. It's a restrained film, and that works in its favor.
It was superbly crafted, paced, directed and lit. Though the frequency with which our hero quite unreasonably thinks the killer is dead was infuriating.
It was superbly crafted, paced, directed and lit. Though the frequency with which our hero quite unreasonably thinks the killer is dead was infuriating.
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
My God. On the big screen!?? Halloween Night?? Oh yes. Gonna get a bunch of friends for this and be nice and toasted and subsequently terrified. Love, love, love this movie. It's always the last movie I watch every Halloween horror marathon. The king, now and always.
Macready1306
Banned
Thanks Count! Felt my face slowly melting!!!
Another amazing early Carpenter film is The Fog. So damn scary and very well done. His score for that is fantastic too. Seriously, there's no better composer for film than John Carpenter in my opinion. Prince Of Darkness is awesome too (film and soundtrack). Sad but true- pretty much all of the great mans work gets shot down at release (perhaps none more famously than The Thing) then find a life years later. He's a genius and in my eyes doesn't get the recognition he fully deserves by the masses. No biggie though, we can (and do) all love his work!
I love that this is a thread.
I grew up watching the Halloween films and loved all of them in their own way (4&5 because I had a huge crush on "Jamie" as I was about 12) but the first film still holds up today as the greatest slasher horror of all time.
I have said before, on my top 5 horror films 4 are by Carpenter:
1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. The Shining
4. Prince of Darkness
5. Mouth of Madness
MoM is, as noted Carpenters last good film, it's just a shame he made it in the 90's when he had started to slide, he could make it now with modern effects and I would be there day one.
Prince of Darkness is one of the creepiest, most atmospheric horrors of all time, the "dream message", the glimpse of the thing beyond the mirror...
I grew up watching the Halloween films and loved all of them in their own way (4&5 because I had a huge crush on "Jamie" as I was about 12) but the first film still holds up today as the greatest slasher horror of all time.
I have said before, on my top 5 horror films 4 are by Carpenter:
1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. The Shining
4. Prince of Darkness
5. Mouth of Madness
MoM is, as noted Carpenters last good film, it's just a shame he made it in the 90's when he had started to slide, he could make it now with modern effects and I would be there day one.
Prince of Darkness is one of the creepiest, most atmospheric horrors of all time, the "dream message", the glimpse of the thing beyond the mirror...
Roland Deschain
Member
Thanks Count! Felt my face slowly melting!!!
Another amazing early Carpenter film is The Fog. So damn scary and very well done. His score for that is fantastic too. Seriously, there's no better composer for film than John Carpenter in my opinion. Prince Of Darkness is awesome too (film and soundtrack). Sad but true- pretty much all of the great mans work gets shot down at release (perhaps none more famously than The Thing) then find a life years later. He's a genius and in my eyes doesn't get the recognition he fully deserves by the masses. No biggie though, we can (and do) all love his work!
Dude, 80s Carpenter was on some kind of roll:
1988 They Live
1987 Prince of Darkness
1986 Big Trouble in Little China
1984 Starman
1983 Christine
1982 The Thing
1981 Escape from New York
1980 The Fog
Some stone cold classics in there. I can't think of many directors who put out that many great movies in such a short span. And I fucking love Prince Of Darkness. The atmosphere and music are just great.
revolverjgw
Member
Vampires is one of my guilty pleasures. I loved that stupid movie. I love James Woods and his genius IQ and huge penis.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
I hated the 3rd as a kid as I loved the whole Myers thing (although not where it went later, with the cult), but watching it now I can appreciate what he was trying to do with a new theme for a new year.
Edit: also, ITT I am reminded why I had such a hard-on for JLC for so long.
Edit: also, ITT I am reminded why I had such a hard-on for JLC for so long.
I don't know. I think 2, 6, and the remake got the mask right. 4 and 5 had terrible masks (5 was just...what the fuck?), and the H20 and H:R masks looked like Tim Curry. What really bothered me was the covers for 4 and 5 that had this awesome mask, but the actual masks in the movies looked nothing like it.
It looks so much more like Shatner, even though it was allegedly the same mask from the first movie.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
Lmfao, that part 4 mask is such a piece of shit, it is unberievable
PhoncipleBone
Banned
D:
Damn, so many awesome shots like that in the movie.
Aaaand, now I start my day off being freaked out. The only horror icon to actually freak me out in pictures.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
What's the word on the Blu-Ray for Halloween? Is it quality?
yes. people say the color timing is slightly off and a bit too blue toned, but its nitpicking for sure. it looks great.
the BD is a good buy. well worth it.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Awesome, thanks!
I'm a nascent Halloween fan. Have loved Halloween for a while. Even before that I was a huge fan of Halloween III. I'm still not 100% why I say the third before seeing basically any other horror movie, but I did. And it's the sentimental top for me. which brings me to what I got today:
Can't wait to dig into the bonus features, and for people to see that poster and be like "I have never even heard of Halloween 3" so I can launch into speeches about how good it is.
I'm planning on watching more of the series, along with Freddy and Jason's films, as October goes on. I've been thinking of watching all three series at once in chronological order. Should be fun.
Can't wait to dig into the bonus features, and for people to see that poster and be like "I have never even heard of Halloween 3" so I can launch into speeches about how good it is.
I'm planning on watching more of the series, along with Freddy and Jason's films, as October goes on. I've been thinking of watching all three series at once in chronological order. Should be fun.
in addition to the review above in my post: I usually head to blu-ray.com for blu reviews. for Halloween they say the picture looks really great, special features are mediocre, and sound could be better but overall it's a definite buy.
Horseticuffs
Full werewolf off the buckle
I'm a nascent Halloween fan. Have loved Halloween for a while. Even before that I was a huge fan of Halloween III. I'm still not 100% why I say the third before seeing basically any other horror movie, but I did. And it's the sentimental top for me. which brings me to what I got today:
Can't wait to dig into the bonus features, and for people to see that poster and be like "I have never even heard of Halloween 3" so I can launch into speeches about how good it is.
I'm planning on watching more of the series, along with Freddy and Jason's films, as October goes on. I've been thinking of watching all three series at once in chronological order. Should be fun.
in addition to the review above in my post: I usually head to blu-ray.com for blu reviews. for Halloween they say the picture looks really great, special features are mediocre, and sound could be better but overall it's a definite buy.
That is an amazing poster. You know, thinking back, I believe I saw Halloween 3 first as well.
As you can tell from my avatar, the "commercial" in part 3 made quite an impression on my young mind!
DiscoJer
Member
I really think it's an underrated movie, one that absolutely creeps me out more than any other movie I've seen (that scene where he demonstrates how the masks work).
I think it got panned because Carpenter tried something different, rather than just more Michael Myers slashing people up.
brianjones
Member
er didnt carpenter only do the first halloween
Nope, he helped write H2 and H3, and wanted to make H4 a story about Michaels ghost - that idea got rejected and then he left.
Horseticuffs
Full werewolf off the buckle
I'd never heard of that, so I wanted to get a little more info;
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0095271/trivia
Man, that would have been bad ASS. Really shows the difference between someone who is just in it for the money and someone who is in it for the love AND money.
Heh, it's fun to sit here and dream about what might have been. The older I get the more I appreciate 3.
Carpenter did the first movie and the sequel, but he thought a third one would be pushing the Michael Myers/Laurie Strode story too far, so he decided that "Halloween" should just be a catch-all name for various Halloween-themed horror movies.
Carpenter's Halloween 3 got bad reviews and didn't make as much money as 1&2, so the rights holder gave Carpenter's plan the boot (along with Carpenter) and found someone else who was willing to blindly follow orders and milk the Michael Myers formula to death. This series would've most likely been A LOT better and earned more money if they gave Carpenter some slack and stuck to his variety plan.
Halloween 4, 5, and 6 had no Carpenter.
For Halloween 7, Jamie Lee Curtis had a desire to revisit her roots, so she pushed for a new Michael/Laurie story made by Carpenter that ignored 4, 5, and 6, but Carpenter got kind of pissy and told the rights holder that he wanted compensation for all the money that was made off his hard work, so negotiations broke down and they made the movie without Carpenter. It's still a good movie for fans of Halloween 1&2 though.
Jamie Lee wasn't interested in Halloween 8, but her Halloween 7 contract said she had to appear, so they forced her into the movie just to kill her onscreen in the first five minutes.
This is a great series for "now what if I imagine this movie doesn't exist?"
Oh, and randomly: I hadn't seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers until this year. I noticed the town was Santa Mira, and of course Halloween III's town is a nod at that film. So cool.
2 and 3 were certainly impacted by Carpenter; he was a producer on both, wrote 2 with Hill, he came up with the idea to turn the series into an anthology starting with 3. But neither were directed by Carpenter. In fact, while I've only seen 2 once, it's my theory the reason I don't like it anywhere near as much as 1 or 3 is Rick Rosenthal. The direction is just sloppier. Not as tight and focused. Where, with 3, I think Tommy Lee Wallace is why I love the movie. He took Kneale's original script and made it darker and more violent, turning the whole thing into the moody anti-corporate tale it is.
And hypothesizing about where this series could have gone is fascinating. Would knocking "Halloween" off completely gotten more people to see Season of the Witch? Or even changing the title to reflect the actual film? Even not changing 3 at all, would sticking with the anthology plan have kept the franchise financially viable? That I think would have worked: it'd basically be a new horror movie each year guided by Carpenter, and between his auteur status and the proposition of an original but popularly backed film, it would have been successful. Maybe it's idealistic to think that.
I just want to say about 1-3:
2 and 3 were certainly impacted by Carpenter; he was a producer on both, wrote 2 with Hill, he came up with the idea to turn the series into an anthology starting with 3. But neither were directed by Carpenter. In fact, while I've only seen 2 once, it's my theory the reason I don't like it anywhere near as much as 1 or 3 is Rick Rosenthal. The direction is just sloppier. Not as tight and focused. Where, with 3, I think Tommy Lee Wallace is why I love the movie. He took Kneale's original script and made it darker and more violent, turning the whole thing into the moody anti-corporate tale it is.
And hypothesizing about where this series could have gone is fascinating. Would knocking "Halloween" off completely gotten more people to see Season of the Witch? Or even changing the title to reflect the actual film? Even not changing 3 at all, would sticking with the anthology plan have kept the franchise financially viable? That I think would have worked: it'd basically be a new horror movie each year guided by Carpenter, and between his auteur status and the proposition of an original but popularly backed film, it would have been successful. Maybe it's idealistic to think that.
I think it would've worked REALLY well. One more unrelated movie after Halloween 3, assuming it was good, and people would've started warming up to the idea. I remember when people were bothered by the fact that Final Fantasy sequels were brand new games. Nobody likes it the first time they see it. People like scary movies around Halloween, and "Halloween" was poised to be "the name" in scary movies for Halloween. Instead of just one movie (stretched out across sequels), they could've cornered the entire scary movie market.
They wouldn't need to keep Carpenter on hand for every single movie, and they would still have the freedom to revisit Michael Meyers (or any other popular characters they created) any time they wanted.
I think that missed opportunity was eventually sort of capitalized on almost ten years later by the Simpsons with their annual Treehouse of Horror episodes.
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