Dick Warlock would - because that's the kind of guy he is. So let's make our first All-Horror Month choice this one...
After the second Halloween movie made money - producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill were approached to create a third entry in the series. Neither felt there was any more story to tell about Michael Myers - so they came back with a counter offer - how about turning the franchise into an anthology?
Each year they would produce a new horror movie with different writers and directors that had no connection to any other movie in the series. Everyone agreed this seemed like a workable idea - so they came up with a wild story - a demented mask maker puts a diabolical plan in motion - a store owner discovers his plan and is injured - then murdered in the hospital. The doctor at the hospital teams up with the store owner's daughter to investigate...
However, with no internet to get people prepared for a Michael Myers-less Halloween movie - people were not prepared for a Michael Myers-less Halloween movie.
Halloween III tanked.
It also sent the franchise into a coma for six long years - until they gave in and brought Michael Myers back - five more times!
I liked Halloween III from the first time I saw it in theaters - and really liking only one of those five subsequent sequels - I really wouldn't have minded if Carpenter and Hill's anthology idea had been successful.
Halloween III is in the video vault in a spiffy Blu-Ray edition that can be in the player in moments - if you felt like venturing out in the dark to come watch it with me, that is...
Until next post - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
Fully agreed, Craig, I would have been happy to see the series go in the 'one off story' direction that was originally conceived. I came to this one late (I was probably about 20) and I absolutely loved it. It has a great cast with Atkins and Stacey Nelkin (who is a babe) in the leads, with O'Herlihy being as watchable as always. Unlucky for us that most of the gore got trimmed from the VHS and many prints on DVD over here still carry the same butchered print. The Scream Factory release is the only way to go.
ReplyDeleteWow - so when you first saw the movie it was that edited version? Did you know you were seeing something edited? And what was it like to see it again complete?
DeleteAnd just think - it the anthology series had been successful - we'd be on Halloween 35 or something like that. All those cool horror movies we didn't get to see...even allowing for a 25% clunker rate we'd have more than 25 more good movies to watch!
Craig, luckily enough my friend who convinced me to watch it had the uncut DVD (at the time I wasn't aware of any other version) so that's what I saw first. When I picked it up on DVD myself (this is back in around 2000-2001) I got a nasty surprise when I popped the disc in and found it butchered. It was one of the films that actually led me to websites like 'Melon Farmers' so I could see which edition was the best to get. It was dial up days back then, so I didn't hang out on horror boards or forums at the time to get my information. We had to do it old school before those handy websites - ask someone who knew! Thankfully I had a few very knowledgeable friends (who were in their 30's and 40's) so they never led my astray.
DeleteI really like those odds on what the series could have become!