For the third Great Scene we go to the true classic,
my favorite film, John Carpenter's Halloween.
What do I like? Well, at this point in the film, we know Michael has escaped. Now we meet Laurie, the sweet, innocent teen walking to school and stopping to run a simple errand for her father. We also meet little Tommy, eager about Halloween and nervous about the old Myers house. And we almost see Michael as he watches them, barely hidden. Very creepy!
I love the subtlety here. And how Michael just chooses Laurie and Tommy to stalk because they just happen to be the ones outside his house that morning.
Remember, Laurie wasn't turned into Michael's sister until Part 2!
Here, it is all just random coincidence.
when Laurie and Michael come face-to-face again after so many years.
What do I like here? Well, to start, the tension and suspense is great, with Michael in pursuit of the teens, especially the bit where they are trying to get into the courtyard foyer as Michael slowly advances on them. Molly struggles with the keys and John has been stabbed by Michael, which is quite the homage to the first film, where Laurie had been stabbed and was desperately trying to get back into the Doyle's house as Michael slowly crossed the street.
And then Michael and Laurie come face-to-face,
with just a single pane of glass separating them. Chilling.
The one problem I have is the mask Michael wears in this film. It has too much of an "evil expression" on it. I wish they had gone with a simpler mask, like he wore in parts 1 and 2.
Anyway, a great scene that was much anticipated and which delivered on the tension.
My all-time favorite movie, of any genre, is John Carpenter's Halloween from 1978.
Just love this film, never fails to entertain me, to unnerve me, to impress me.
Instead of writing more on it, I just wanted to share some interesting art I have come across over the years, pieces based on the film, the characters or scenes.
Summary: At the end of H20, Laurie beheads who she thinks is her brother, Michael Myers. In Resurrection, we learn that Michael had changed places with a paramedic, crushing the man's larynx so he couldn't speak. Laurie had killed an innocent man and she has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for three years. On Halloween 2001, Michael finds her at last. But Laurie has been preparing for their showdown and has Michael trapped, hanging from the roof. But her reluctance to kill another man in a mask leads her to reach out to Michael. He grabs her and pulls her to him, stabbing her in the process. Laurie falls off the roof into the trees and to her (supposed) death.
Michael then heads back to Haddonfield and the old Myers family home, to apparently live in the basement. But the cast and crew of a reality show is also heading to the house, to film six young people as they attempt to spend Halloween night 2002 in the Myers' home. Michael is not happy to have intruders and the requisite murders occur.
By the end, only one student, Sara, and the head of the reality show, Freddie, survive and Michael is supposedly killed and taken to Haddonfield morgue. But as the movie ends, he opens his eyes, once again.
Okay... Let me first say that this is NOT my favorite Halloween film. There are a few scenes that are okay, but overall, I think this movie is just a sub-par entry in the series. Sadly, it ends up being the final film in this original series, as the next to follow from here is Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot/reimagining/whatever.
But, since the first time I saw this flick, I have had an idea of how much better it could have been if it had been edited differently. Now, I don't mean it would be a great film, by any means. But if it had played out like I think, it would have been at least a memorable send off for the original series and the characters.
Here's how I think it should have played (and remember, I am going with the storyline as we have it here, just edited in a different way.)
The film begins with Freddie and his DangerTainment reality show setting up at the Myers' home. Michael is in the basement, biding his time while he waits to find out the whereabouts of his sister, Laurie. The whole reality show part plays out as we see in the film, with Michael finally being "killed" and wheeled off to the morgue.
At the morgue, an orderly or nurse mentions that Laurie just happens to be a patient in the psychiatric wing of this very hospital and Michael opens his eyes at this news. A few more killings ensue as Michael makes his way to Laurie, who has been waiting for this confrontation, as we see in the beginning of the real film. Their battle occurs on the roof, with Michael grabbing Laurie and stabbing her and she falls.
Michael makes his way down to the grounds to see his sister's body, after all these years stalking her for this moment. But, when he arrives, all he finds is an impression in the lawn. Laurie is gone, off into the night, and the film ends with the "Halloween theme" playing as the camera shows the now deserted places from the movie - Laurie's hospital room, the morgue, the different rooms in the Myers' home - all empty and abandoned. The end.
Not only would it have played off better for the viewer, it would have given what turned out to be the final "original" film a tie-in to the first Halloween, with Laurie being the one off into the night, possibly finally free of Michael after all these years.
I know what you're thinking: Why put so much thought into an obviously badly written and ill-conceived sequel when the writers and producers themselves didn't put the thought into it? Well, what can I say? I love the Halloween films, love the characters of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. I just wish it had ended with a better movie than the one we were given.
So, that's my thought. I have no "film editing" talents, so this will just have to remain how the movie should have played out in my head. But I do think it would have been a more satisfying conclusion to what was a great horror movie series.
Today is October 1st - The beginning of Halloween Month!
I am taking part in The Countdown to Halloween. Go to the site to see the many great blogs participating with their own Halloween-themed content all month long!
I will be posting Halloween or horror posts each day. At least, that's the plan!
So, enjoy, have a great Autumn and a Happy Halloween season!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The video below is supposedly real audio from a 1978 showing of Halloween, when the movie first came out, synced up with the scenes from the end of the film.
Now, I don't know if that is real or not. But it does seem to be the type of reaction the audience would have had to the film, regardless.
And hell, I still get chills watching this. Unlike almost any other, I have never been desensitized to this movie. It gets me now like it did way back when. True classic.
The thing that really gets me in horror flicks is when the killer notices the hero/heroine/victim.
Hard to explain, but it is that fleeting, unsettling moment when the hero/heroine just knows the killer is aware of their presence.
Halloween had a few examples:
There was a similar scene in Jeepers Creepers as Darry and Trish drove by the Creeper's church as he dumped a body. He stopped and watched as they drove by:
Something about going from that eerie, 'something's-not-quite-right' feeling to actually connecting with the maniac on the loose just gives me the creeps!
So many ways I could take this theme, but I am going with John Carpenter and Debra Hill's classic "Halloween"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In case you haven't seen it before (although why I can't imagine), here is a quick plot synopsis:
On Halloween night in 1963, a young Michael Myers brutally stabs his sister to death. 15 years later, Myers escapes from the sanitarium and makes his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. Another Halloween night arrives, Myers sets his sights on a teenage girl and her friends.
The terror is unleashed once more.
Young Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My love for this film began, I suppose, the first time I saw it. I was 7 when it premiered, too young to see it then. But when I finally did watch it, I was probably only 11 or 12. I had known about the movie for awhile, and had a sense that it was something really scary, something that was just not good for someone so young. But I had to see it. Once I finally did, it scared the heebie-jeebies out of me. And I was hooked.
Carpenter and Hill created a film that embodies that uneasiness and fear of the unknown, the unexplainable. Michael Myers didn't have a reason for what he did. And he wasn't to be reasoned with. He just was, and he just did.
Sure, the film has a few bumps, but they are minor technical/acting issues, the film itself is a masterpiece of suspense and scares. The 'shape', lurking behind bushes and unseen peering in windows, is a spine-chilling thing. The boogeyman made real, our nightmares walking in the shadows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have seen this movie over and over again since that first time. And I have never tired of it. It strikes a cord in the young, anxious, scared kid in me. After viewing it, I still get the eerie feeling of fear, of unease. And each time I hear the iconic music, that simple yet creepy instrumental tune, I get goosebumps. Those are signs of good stuff, indeed.
Halloween Theme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the things to remember when watching this film is that it was made with no thought of a sequel, of a continuation of the story. Here, Michael wasn't Laurie's brother. She was just the girl he fixated on upon his return to Haddonfield. Halloween morning, when she walked up to his old home to place the key under the mat, he saw her and decided she was 'the one'. Simple, scary and nothing more to it than that.
The addition to the plot of Laurie being Michael's little sister was added in the sequel, and a scene of a young Laurie visiting Michael in an instituion was filmed to be added into the edited-for-TV version of the first film, not only to add some run time, but to make the revelation of their relationship less out-of-the-blue in the sequel.
I think Michael is scarier without this 'motivation'. Just a 'shape' bent on destruction and death. But, we also wouldn't have the ongoing story of Michael vs Laurie in some of the sequels without it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Movie Trailer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have no love for Rob Zombie's Halloween remake, as I have said before. He took the simple, unexplainable (with no need for explanation) Michael Myers and gave him a backstory and childhood that turned him into just another abused and misunderstood kid who went off-the-rails. Nothing creepy about that. Just sad.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are looking for a good, scary, Halloween flick to watch, without much blood or gore, but with tons of suspsense and chills, look no further.
Halloween is the film for you. I will be watching, scared as always.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will end with some pics & quotes from the film:
after Michael escapes: Dr. Terence Wynn: Now, for God's sake, he can't even drive a car! Dr. Sam Loomis: He was doing very well last night! Maybe someone around here gave him lessons!
********************
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: It's Halloween, everyone's entitled to one good scare.
********************
Dr. Sam Loomis: I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.
********************
Tommy: Laurie, what's the boogeyman? Laurie: There's no such thing.
********************
later... Laurie: It *was* the boogeyman. Dr. Sam Loomis: As a matter of fact, it was.
In fact, I liked it even more. Maybe the "anticipation" of it all was too much for the film to live up to the first time. I dunno. I liked it and had fun watching it.
The end still annoyed me. WHY would they do that??? Oh well.
Good Jason flick, glad I saw it on the big screen one last time.
The great Final Girl posted a list of what she calls "the sads", which are horror movie characters you felt sad for when they died or that you wish you could have saved. Here are the ones I pick (that I can think of right now):
