Inevitably, you or someone close to you, has had a toxic relationship at some point. One that offers good moments and days; but only so often. In between the good that is easy to focus on, the rest of the frustration and anger are glossed over in between. Most do not realize it until its long over. No this is not a relationship column, but rather how I feel about the Halloween franchise.The Halloween franchise has been at times great; and at other points equally as bad. Unfortunately there is not much of a middle ground. Rival franchises of the time were smart enough to stick to what worked and were consistent with their entries. We previously mentioned on the last episode how the Friday the 13th entries were not individually better, but were as a sum. The problem with the Halloween series is the complete absence of cohesion, care, and business acumen.
The first Halloween film was an amazing achievement in the horror genre and independent cinema. You know the many reasons why this film worked then and still does today. If you do not, it is a little surprising why you are here reading this. It is a classic and is somewhere near the top of the list for most horror aficionados. However, the point of this piece is not to praise that first film, as it certainly does not need my help. Not to mention we certainly addressed it in our show. So let's move on...
The second Halloween film was really good in some ways. My complaint is that they completely tried to copy the success of Friday the 13th by catering to that style instead of sticking with what brought them their original success. Halloween created the success that inspired Sean Cunningham to copy them in the first place! While I enjoy Halloween II, it is disappointing to see it step outside of what made the first one great. A good portion of the excruciating suspense was gone and the understated yet savage killing turned into more inventive and ridiculous attacks. However, it did remain subtle by comparison with its peers of that time. It just kills me (pun intended) to see a franchise stray from its integrity and original success so quickly. Ultimately, I do love the seamless transition of characters and time though and Halloween II has it's fair share of good moments.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch. What a disaster and unfair result for this film. Tommy Lee Wallace wrote and directed this wonderful piece of 80's pod-people fanfare. Take the "Halloween 3" off of the title, call it Season of the Witch, and you have a beloved 80's cult classic. Instead it flopped because viewers felt cheated and the suits would ultimately run back to Michael to line their wallets. Failing to follow through with the plan for a series of anthology entries only helped cement the maligned response of this film for a long time, if not forever. If only they would've saw it through to another new entry, I think it would have all been different.
So six years later, after the failure of the third installment, they returned to Michael with an approach of simple fun movies where he slaughters everyone he comes across and gives the viewers what they want. Ultimately they could not even get this right in the end with the poor entries that followed after. While this film was actually pretty decent, they completely spoiled it to a certain degree with the horrific and unsuccessful next sequel. Danielle Harris gave an astounding youth performance in this movie and Pleasence was fantastic as usual. While flawed, it was still fun to see Michael back, breaking hearts and necks again. We know that the decisions prior to this point had not been the best but at this juncture, this was where the tide turned. John Carpenter washed his hands of the franchise after having been involved in everything up until this point. They didn't show him the respect he he had warranted by then with his ideas for part 4 so he walked. Furthermore, the success of Part 4 was immense, so they rushed out the next entry. The problem is that they did not give enough time to let the success of part 4 finish. While they were trying to fill seats in the theaters with 5, they were competing with themselves and the home entertainment phase of 4. Wonderful business minds at work yet again. I do not mean to fully bash though and just want to clarify that I do like Part 4. I think it is a movie that ended up being twice the film it set out to be. Mainly thanks to the child acting of Danielle Harris.As mentioned above, then came part 5, and it was obvious they had lost interest in any kind of care for the series. Say what you want about other franchises like the Friday and Nightmare entries but one thing cannot be denied; those films consistently gave the fans what they wanted and presented it with at least some respectable effort. Halloween 5's director was an absolute joke, and the film was flawed from title to title. An example is that they made Jamie (Harris) mute! The best quality of the previous film is completely written out of the script, but yet they still brought her back, to be mute. Add to that, she was a killer at the end of the previous film, but in 5 that could not be less important.
Six, took that formula for disaster and doubled it. Between the director and the studios interference another incredible turd was made. I will not waste your time on this one anymore than we already have on the show.
Then we finally get a really good film in 1998 with H2O. It was fresh, well directed by genre hero Steve Miner, well acted with an impressive cast, and it brought back the best things about the original film. The music, the faces, the suspense, even the title fonts, they were all back. It was a huge win for the franchise and the fans. So what do you do now that you have brought a fantastic close to the series? A tough decision indeed, so the only logical next step was to make another film that top bills Curtis and kills her almost immediately. A film that is set within reality TV, rich with horrible dialogue, and the likes of Busta Rhymes thespian nature; what could go wrong? A film that did not respect the franchise or it's viewers in the slightest. A very painful finish (at least to date) to the original vision of Carpenter and it's franchise.
It is not surprising that nothing has come of the original franchise since Mr. Rhymes tugged at our emotions with his immeasurable acting. H2O and Resurrection are the equivalent of the boxer who wont quit trying. Somehow, miraculously we see the boxer win it all, and then retire when they have been long past their prime. We are left with a pleasant memory of the one-time prized fighter and we hold on to that memory with a smile. Unfortunately, the fighter greedily comes back and gets their ass absolutely kicked in a way that you are indelibly left with and wont forget. But at this point in the franchise's history there is no reason to be surprised. One bad decision after another was always the modus operandi of this series. Which is a shame because at times, there are glimpses of greatness in these films.
No matter what, I will always maintain a place for the series in my heart, but it isn't easy because it is in fact a toxic relationship. Those are not easy to be honest with yourself about and typically take a long time after the fact, if ever, to recognize. But when a series has more wrongs than rights, it is time to be objective about it. I love the character of Michael Myers, I love the original film, and I love a few of the sequels for peculiar reasons, but it all could have been much better and I am now coming to terms with that.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to our show and check out the blog and page. Happy Halloween everyone! Until next time......
Beware of the moon,
The Professor
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