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| I was very excited to see this movie when it came out in the fall of 1988. I was in Florida during that amazing time when I watched 125 movies in 60 days. This was one of them - viewed at a theater in Winter Haven, Florida the day it premiered. To be honest - it was underwhelming for me. I added the movie to the video vault on Blu-Ray a while back and launched Crazy Movie Weekend: Halloween Horrorfest III with it this past October. I know some people love it - but it's still underwhelming to me. The positives are Donald Pleasance, Danielle Harris, and a good October feel. But the movie is not scary, I hate Michael's mask, and the creative kills get a bit silly. Still, it's a visit to Haddonfield, so that counts for something. |
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| Dr. Sam Loomis - back on the hunt with new facial scarring from the fiery end of Halloween II. |
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| Laurie Strode's daughter Jamie (guess who she's named for? Wink, wink!) |
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| Michael does indeed return, but he brings along a fairly crappy mask. |
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| At least Kathleen Kinmont shows up in her underwear... |
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| A beefed up kill in a reshoot courtesy makeup guru John Carl Buechler. Thumbs up for this one! |
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| Michael hates his female relatives, no matter how adorable they are. |
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| Come on Dr. Loomis! Stop him! |
Until next post - tomorrow! - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
okay... i was a fan to see a back on track direction, i too had seen all of the films from this point on in the show.
ReplyDeleteI've seen every Halloween movie in the theater - except for any that have the words "Rob" or "Zombie" in the front of the title. Maybe it's time for a "Where I saw it" post about all the Halloween movies - I've done those for Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street series...hmmm...thanks, Jeremy...
Deletethe first Rob Zombie Halloween... was interesting, watch the unrated version.. the second was a mess that he didn't want to make and he made us not care about anyone in that film. Did you see Anchor Bay released a box set of all of them, including the remastered director's cut of Part 6? There has been a bunch of bashing on the forth film, but other than that... I really want this 15 Blu-ray box set. You need to sum up that courage and see the Zombie's at least for reference sake. :)
DeleteTo be clear - I didn't see the RZ Halloween movies in the theater - but I did catch up with them later on home video. I HATED both of them. Here's links to my LONG bashing reviews of both of them:
Deletehttp://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-of-foreboding.html
http://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2011/01/conquest-of-planet-of-buddha-man.html
Craig, I agree with you, Return of Michael Myers is the first inferior sequel in the series and the decision to have Michael Myers looking like he walked out of a beauty salon was a mistake (at least Jason's hockey mask aged as the series went on), but the film does has some plus points, like the memorably creepy opening titles and that singular 80's Horror movie atmosphere that I really miss... I'll second Jeremy's comment about the Rob Zombie films - I liked very much the first film, and while the second film was a bit of a mess, like Return of Michael Myers, it had its moments... Craig, I personally love your notes about where you saw the film, more please !
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like more about my experiences seeing horror films in the 80's - I am re-posting my Nightmare on Elm Street series retrospective sometime this month, and here's a link to part one of my massive and award winning three part series on Friday the 13th:
Deletehttp://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2011/10/voorhees-jolly-good-fellow.html
And these comments have inspired me - I'm working on a third one of these for the Halloween movies - hopefully to be published this month sometime as well!
I agree Craig, this (like Wes above) is where the series looses its appeal to me. I generally find it a struggle to make it through the sequels after this one. Saying that though, there are a few things going for it. As mentioned - the cast. Both Pleasance and Harris were excellent, and Miss Harris is a delight in real life too. The atmosphere is good fun with this one also, definitely captures that Autumn vibe, but I think this series did a good job of that in general.
ReplyDeleteMy final comment, that mask is DREADFUL. But to be honest, I found the mask looking a tad strange even in the second film. I guess the first film had less of a 'production design' look about it, in the same way that the mask works so perfectly in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
HATE the mask in this one - and for most of the rest of the series. I want to like this movie - but it's just not there for me on all fronts. I do agree on most of the positives you list though.
Delete