What was the last movie you've seen?

[Raging Justice]

Halloween (1978)



It's interesting watching this in 2023. It feels a bit dated given the years of slasher movies that have come out since, though this no doubt is one of the pioneers that influenced them. It also feels particularly tame when compared to John Carpenter's The Thing (boy you could see his love for the original Thing movie throughout this film) and especially his very disturbing Prince of Darkness. I did dig the scenes though where:

SPOILER

Laurie finds her friends' bodies, the cool shot of the people wandering outside of the mental institution and the subsequent attack on the girl in the car, Mike Myers in his stolen car slowly coming into view in the traffic behind Samuel Loomis and the cop (I actually didn't realize how long the car had actually been there in the shot until it made that left turn), and the first person stalking at the beginning of the film

It's interesting how Mike is portrayed as this malevolent evil monster because...well, he just is that's all. Compared to Silent Night, Deadly Night or the more recent movie Pearl that spend a significant amount of screen time showing us why these people become psychotic killers. Mike Myers is portrayed like a supernatural embodiment of evil rather than a person.

Samuel Loomis is the best character and his scenes always held my interest. I like how his over the top descriptions of Mike Myers are hand waved away as "fancy" language by the the cop, who doesn't fully know if he can take this guy seriously.

I dig some of the musical themes in Carpenter's movies. I was very familiar with the Halloween theme before even watching this, and I've not been able to get the Assault on Precinct 13 theme out of my head since watching it. Speaking of which, Assault on Precinct 13 is a far better movie than Halloween, despite coming out two years before it. That's just my opinion. I've watched it twice, yet I feel no need to re-watch Halloween. I think Halloween is actually one of Carpenter's weaker films and doesn't stand the test of time while Assault on Precinct 13 does.

[Limewater]

The Atari 2600 Halloween game is actually pretty fun and interesting. It is much better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

My son can rarely make it through a movie, but I've been watching John Carpenter's Escape From New York with him. Probably because I subconsciously want him to be exposed to that "sex-haver energy."

I like Assault on Precinct 13, but a couple of odd choices still stand out to me, like the bizarre version of "one-potato, two-potato" and a made-up definition of "cholo," which has frequently had derogatory connotations, but has never meant what it does in the film.

[Golgo 14]

Samuel Loomis is the best character and his scenes always held my interest. I like how his over the top descriptions of Mike Myers are hand waved away as "fancy" language by the the cop, who doesn't fully know if he can take this guy seriously.

Halloween 5 is terrible, but it has one great Loomis line that Pleasence manages to croak out.

[Note]

I took advantage of the on flight entertainment on my way home last week and watched Renfield on the flight. I had seen a lot of advertising for it here but didn't hear or see much about the movie once it was released, so I was curious about it but went in with low expectations. The action and gore is over the top, which I wasn't expecting. Also, I didn't know the movie would be more on the comedic side. Going in, I thought it was just a straight up horror movie. The film's plot and character arcs leave something to be desired, but overall I found it to be a fun romp.

[prfsnl_gmr]

My wife and I are starting our journey toward Halloween with some fun horror films. We’ve watched:

Run Rabbit - <yawn> Not scary, pretty boring Australian horror film about a possessed child.

The Pope’s Exorcist - Russell Crowe sounds-a like-a Mario doing a ridiculous Italian accent. Not very scary, but very stupid - and very fun - demon-possession film.

Altered States - Pretty fun movie with William Hurt about taking psychedelic drugs and floating in sensory deprivation chambers. Not very scary, but sometimes very weird. Clearly inspired some aspects on the Netflix show Stranger Things.

Train to Busan - Fast zombies on a train! Train to Busan is a totally rad Korean zombie movie that’s more action than horror, but still plenty of horror.

In the Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter’s last good movie? This one stars Sam Neill, and is clearly inspired by, but not based on, HP Lovecraft’s works.

Vivarium - Disturbing horror film about two adults trapped in a suburban hellscape and forced to raise a child-like creature. Recommended!

I have a lot more movies queued up for the fall, and I’m looking forward to all of them!

[REPO Man]

Popped in my recently acquired 4K Blu-ray copy of Heavy Metal last night before bed. I really wish we'd get a follow-up. And no, Heavy Metal 2000 doesn't count, and not because they didn't have the decency to go the anthology route with each segment done by a different studio while presenting a spectrum of genres of speculative fiction.

[Raging Justice]

I like seeing Renfield and Train to Busan get some love. I've re-watched some scenes from Renfield a bunch of times and even recommended Train to Busan to a friend. I heard Busan 2 is a somewhat disappointing sequel that went in an entirely different direction.

I'm getting ready to try out Tucker & Dale vs Evil, which is hopefully as fun as it sounds.

I also wanna give the following movie a thumbs up. It's not amazing or anything, but I did have a fun time watching it. Sam Jackson as president, that's fun enough on its own. This is from the same director as Sisu, which was an awesome movie. Big Game is a mostly light hearted romp, but does have some some dark undertones in the form of:

SPOILER

CIA agents being shown as corrupt and fully willing to go as far as to assassinate a US president to further their own agendas

I give the following movie a thumbs down, go watch Violent Night instead. Fatman just never manages to do anything interesting with its wacky concept, and has nowhere near the amount of comedy and crazy action as Violent Night does.

Samuel Loomis is the best character and his scenes always held my interest. I like how his over the top descriptions of Mike Myers are hand waved away as "fancy" language by the the cop, who doesn't fully know if he can take this guy seriously.

Halloween 5 is terrible, but it has one great Loomis line that Pleasence manages to croak out.

That's pretty awesome. Out of curiosity, what Halloween movies ARE worth watching? There is so many of them, plus the remakes. I knew the first was a must see as it's the classic original, plus it's John Carpenter, but I'm clueless beyond that.

[REPO Man]

Re: Halloween: the first film is part of THREE timelines.

Timeline 1 consists of 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. MAJOR sequelitis. If you have a choice choose the Producer's Cut of H6.

Timeline 2 consists of 1, 2, H20 and Halloween Resurrection. H20 retcons 4-6 from the canon. Halloween Resurrection is just bad.

Timeline 3 consists of Halloween 1 and the Blumhouse trilogy (H2018, Kills, Ends). Best timeline IMHO.

There's also the Rob Zombie remake and it's sequel. The former is good for what it is but the sequel doesn't measure up.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is its own continuity and while slammed for its different direcback in the day, time has been INFINITELY much kinder.

[Golgo 14]

Out of curiosity, what Halloween movies ARE worth watching? There is so many of them, plus the remakes. I knew the first was a must see as it's the classic original, plus it's John Carpenter, but I'm clueless beyond that.

Halloween II could just be called More Halloween. It picks up right after the first one ended and is pretty much the same thing but worse. Since you didn't like the original that much, I think you can safely skip this one.

Halloween III is its own thing; has nothing to do with Michael Myers. It's a weird little movie, very much of its time. Give it a shot.

Halloween 4 brings back Michael Myers, now even more unkillable due to vaguely supernatural powers. It's late 80s schlocky fun. Not great, but I like it.

Halloween 5 sucks.

Halloween 666 (groan) also sucks but I'll add one note that shows the shipshod nature of the enterprise. Loomis got absolutely roasted at the end of Halloween II, so in 4 & 5 he has scars on his face and arms, but in this one he doesn't. I guess it's explained in the Producer's Cut (rubs temples) that he got some great plastic surgery and is back to his old self. I think the reality is that Pleasence was willing to spend his final days on Earth filming Halloween 666, but not willing to sit in a makeup chair before each day's shoot. His fellow actors say Pleasence smelled like a derelict, and he croaked before reshoots but the movie is dedicated to his memory so that's nice.

Halloween H20 brings back Jamie Lee Curtis in a direct sequel to the first two movies. Another time capsule, this time from the late 90s. I wanted to like it, but nah.

Halloween: Resurrections brings Jamie Lee Curtis back, mostly against her will, and kills her in the first fifteen minutes. A time capsule of the early 00s ensues with an attempted commentary on the Internet and reality programming. This clip features the only good line:


Halloween (2007) & Halloween II (2009): Do you like Rob Zombie? If so, you'll probably like these. If not, you'll hate them. The first film is a passable reboot, I guess. The second one is Zombie unchained and fairly noxious trash if you ask me, but that's what he was going for.

Halloween (2018) brings back Jamie Lee Curtis again! And this time she's old! A direct sequel to the original, voiding Curtis' earlier comebacks, this one is pretty tame compared to most modern horror movies and downright sedate compared to the Zombie era. I liked it quite a bit though.

Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends drag out the novelty of bringing back old Jamie Lee Curtis and can probably be skipped.

Overall, a franchise with a pretty poor record. Can't wait for the next one!

[Note]

Train to Busan - Fast zombies on a train! Train to Busan is a totally rad Korean zombie movie that’s more action than horror, but still plenty of horror.

Also really enjoyed Train to Busan! Running zombies are more entertaining than they should be. Lol.

Look forward to hearing about what else you watch this Halloween season! Hopefully I can check out some of the other movies mentioned in your post. Pope's Exorcist sounds like a fun time.