Michael Myers

‘Halloween: Resurrection’ – You Think ‘Halloween Ends’ is Bad? Check This One Out!

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

As I write this, “Halloween Ends” has earned a box office gross of over $40 million in its opening weekend. Those are great numbers, and yet many fans have been rebelling against this installment with an everlasting passion. Listening to them makes me wonder if they have seen the other sequels because, when it comes down to it, “Halloween Ends” is way better than “Halloween: Resurrection” which I actually took the time to watch over the weekend out of morbid interest. If it were not for “movie ever. While certain entries in this series may age like a fine wine, this one never will.

This ill-begotten mess begins three years after the events depicted in “Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later” which ended with Laurie Strode (Jamie-Lee Curtis) decapitating Michael Myers once and for all. But, thanks to an ironclad clause in Moustapha Akkad’s contract, Michael cannot ever be truly killed off, and it turns out the man whose head Laurie chopped off with true precision was not Michael, but instead a paramedic whom Michael attacked, crushed his larynx so he couldn’t talk, and then took his uniform to walk away from the crime scene with relative ease. Keep in mind, this development was written for “Halloween H20,” but Curtis refused to do the film if this ending was featured in the final cut.

While I knew this ending was invented to make “Halloween: Resurrection” a reality, I can’t help but wonder what was going through Michael’s mind when he took out that paramedic. I imagine he was thinking, “Okay, maybe this isn’t the time to kill my sister. Perhaps another time in the near future. In the meantime, I am getting out of town for a bit. I have a timeshare waiting for me.” Michael was so close to killing Laurie, and yet he sensed things were not going to work out for him this time around. But how did he know what asylum Laurie was going to be residing in three years later? Oh wait, you don’t ask those questions in a movie like this.

As we all know by now, Laurie gets killed by Michael even though she has the upper hand. Laurie leads him into a trap, but she still needs to look under his mask to make sure she has the right guy this time around. A knife in her belly is all the proof she needs, and her lifeless body falls to the ground. This was to be Curtis’ last time playing Laurie as she did not want to make any more “Halloween” movies, but we all know how that turned out. The promise of anything final in a horror franchise always has us rolling our eyes and laughing uncontrollably, and this one is no exception.

We then move to a year later when we arrive at the campus of Haddonfield University, and we meet the students who have just won a competition to appear on an internet reality show entitled “Dangertainment” which is operated by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and Nora Winston (Tyra Banks). They include Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) who proves to be the Laurie Strode of the group as she plays with her hair in the same way Laurie did, Jennifer ‘Jen’ Danzig (Katee Sackhoff) who, like Lucy Van Pelt, keeps signing her classmates up for events they never expected to participate in, Jim Morgan (Luke Kirby) who is looking to get laid on or off camera, Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas) who quickly proves to be quite the cook, and Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas of “American Pie” fame) who is looking to score even though the ladies are understandably quick to reject him. Their mission, spend a night in Michael Myer’s childhood home and determine what led him to kill so many people.

Now the key thing to keep in mind about “Halloween: Resurrection” is that these participants are being equipped with head-cameras so we can see what they see as they walk through Michael’s childhood home, and this threatens to make this sequel more promising than it has any right to be. While this one came after “The Blair Witch Project,” it came before the glut of reality shows and found footage movies like “Survivor” and “Paranormal Activity” which Hollywood burned through before the profits ran dry. Still, while this installment could have done a number of clever things with these genres, it instead devolves into the same old thing to where nothing on display feels the least bit surprising.

The one thing which got me excited about “Halloween: Resurrection” was that it was directed by Rick Rosenthal. This is the same man who directed 1981’s “Halloween II,” a sequel I came to appreciate because I first saw it years after its initial release. I thought Rosenthal deserved more credit than he was given at the time and having a veteran “Halloween” director at the helm of this installment seemed like a really smart idea.

Right from the start, however, Rosenthal quickly fumbles the ball as the art of subtlety is completely lost on him here. With his previous venture in this franchise, he knew how to keep the action and characters grounded in a reality we all knew and understood, just like with the 1978 classic. But here, the volume is turned up way too loud to where the suspense is all but neutered, and the characters are unable to speak quietly if at all. Like a certain character Will Ferrell played on “Saturday Night Live” who had vocal modulation issues, these ones make you want to turn the volume all the way down. Okay, maybe that’s pushing things a bit, but these characters got annoying ever so quickly.

The one actor I feel bad for here is Katee Sackhoff who did this film long before she broke through into our collective consciousness on SyFy’s rebooted “Battlestar Galactica.” This is not Sackhoff at her best and, like Stacy Nelkin in “Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” she has to play her last scene without a head.

I should add there is also a subplot involving a college freshman named Myles “Deckard” Barton (Ryan Merriman) who has been communicating online with Sara Moyer for months. While at a college party, he watches this virtual reality series play over the internet and invites other students to watch it with him. This could have led to some interesting moments as the characters try to disseminate what is real and what is fiction, but the performances by everyone here are too broad to where we mock these foolish characters instead of relating to them.

And there is Busta Rhymes who is the first thing anyone thinks about when it comes to “Halloween: Resurrection.” For what it’s worth, he is an entertaining presence as reality show entrepreneur Freddie Harris, but he also takes this sequel into “Batman & Robin” territory as he turns the proceedings into a complete joke, the kind which makes you wince more than laugh. Seeing him trying to take Michael Myers out via martial arts made my eyes roll, and seeing him end things by speaking to television reporters about violence in the media is insulting and a bitch slap to everything we just watched.

When it comes to the recent “Halloween” movies like “Halloween Ends,” they were made by filmmakers who wanted to try something a little different while giving fans some of the things they came to expect. “Halloween: Resurrection,” however, was made by a committee which was designed to take this installment through a number of test screenings in an effort to hopefully give audiences what they wanted and get a return on their investment in the process. If Rosenthal has any artistic aspirations with this sequel, they are all but snuffed out as soon as we realize how cheap the opening credit titles look.

It’s no wonder the Akkad family went out of there way to reboot this franchise yet again after this misbegotten entry. Sure, Michael’s eyes open wide before the screen goes to black, but who gives a shit?

* out of * * * *

‘Halloween Ends’ – Expect The Unexpected

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I got to listen to the film score for “Halloween Ends” in its entirety before I sat down to watch the concluding chapter of this particular Michael Myers trilogy. Composed and performed by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, it reminds me of what Carpenter himself said about this installment: it is meant to be “more intimate” than its predecessors, and the music helps to illustrate this. But more importantly, it reminded me to go into this sequel expecting the unexpected as the previous installment was undone by too many expectations.

While 2018’s “Halloween” may have delivered the goods thanks to the return of Jamie-Lee Curtis and John Carpenter to the long-running franchise, “Halloween Kills” was treated indifferently as everyone looked at director David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and their team of filmmakers as if to ask them, “Do you even know what you are doing?” But it occurred to me that, like Rob Zombie did with his “Halloween” films, Green is not out to give us the same old thing, Instead, he is determined to add something new to a franchise which has burned itself out from fatigue more than once.

Four years have passed since the night Michael came home again, and everything in Haddonfield has more or less gone back to normal. Still, the physical and emotional scars of the townspeople are on display as people look to blame Laurie Strode for all the chaos and death which has occurred over the years. Nevermind the fact none of this was Laurie’s fault; everyone needs a scapegoat when the killer is nowhere to be found, and people these days tend to believe in the wrong things because they never bother doing the research.

As for Laurie, she has since procured a house for herself and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) to live in, and she is working on her memoirs as a way to deal with all the evil and death which seriously derailed her life. Allyson now has a job at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and is expecting a promotion any day now, Deputy Frank Hawkins is still quite sweet on Laurie even as she begs him to eat more vegetables, and Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) remains a good family friend and continues to serve drinks at the local Haddonfield bar.

Into all of this enters Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), a young man who, like Laurie, once had a promising future which involved going to engineering school. But this is all laid waste to after a child he babysat ends up dying in a freak accident. As a result, he is seen as a freak of nature by the townspeople who hate him with little in the way of shame, and he is reduced to working in his Uncle Ronald’s junkyard fixing cars and stuff. But soon he gets the attention and sympathy of Laurie Strode and also Allyson as they see him as someone to help and relate to, but it doesn’t take too long for things to become very sinister to where many are reminded of a force of evil often referred to as “the shape.”

Right from the start, it should be clear how Green is looking to give us a new slant on things with “Halloween Ends.” I expected this one to start off with Michael Myers making his first kill, but it goes a whole other way which I did not see coming. Also, the classic font from the 1978 film is dropped in favor of the font used in the opening and closing credits of “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.” As for the pumpkin, it keeps changing faces as to indicate to us how nothing is what it seems on the surface. Yes, he is defying our expectations in a way I personally welcome.

Truth be told, we don’t even get to see Michael Myers until almost a half an hour into “Halloween Ends.” The way I see it, the filmmakers see this sequel as a way of meditating on our collective relationship with evil; how we deal with it, how we can possibly overcome it, and how it can consume us beyond all repair. Laurie and Allyson have had their brutal experiences in this realm, and Corey is only getting started. This is why I find this particular installment so fascinating as I wondered who would prove to be more fearful, Michael or those who survived his wrath as a person’s dark side can easily overcome all else.

The fact “Halloween Ends” is getting such polarized views is not surprising to me. Fans go into them expecting certain things, and this one doesn’t always deliver on them for a variety of reasons. While fans may be begging for the same old thing, I always admire a filmmaker who is willing to take things in a different direction as franchises like these need any form of freshness they can get. Sure, there are some solid scares here, but this sequel is more about getting into your head psychologically than anything else as the dark side in all of us can easily consume our common sense and purpose in life before we realize it.

Andi Matichak remains a wonderfully strong presence as her character of Allyson maneuvers through a life in which she has lost so much and strives for any kind of normalcy she can get her hands on. Will Patton is still one of our most dependable character actors, and it is fun to see him try to warm up to Laurie Strode in a way few others could. And then there is Rohan Campbell who gives us a character in Corey who succumbs to an evil nature partly because life has given him few other avenues to pursue. In the process, Campbell gives us someone we empathize with and fear all at the same time.

But in the end, all praise goes to Jamie Lee Curtis who never fails in giving a strong performance in any motion picture she appears in. “Halloween Ends” is no exception as she makes Laurie Strode’s struggle to stay one step ahead of the evil which has destroyed much of her life all the more involving. Like Ellen Ripley from the “Aliens” franchise, she has been fighting her personal antagonist for so long to where she cannot remember a time when Michael was not in her life. Curtis represents the strong character a franchise like this thrives on as she strives, and encourages those around her, to not fall victim to a way of feeling which is inevitably destructive.

Many have complained about how “Halloween Ends” takes too long to get to the penultimate event we have all been waiting for; Laurie doing battle with Michael Myers one last time. Some need to be reminded of how the original 1978 acted as a slow-burn horror movie as it, aside from the key murder at its start, left the violence on hold until its latter half. Carpenter was more interested in creating an atmosphere of horror and suspense than in perpetrating violent onscreen violence back then, and Green mostly follows suit here. Also, this movie is not called “Michael vs. Laurie” for a number of reasons (and thank God it wasn’t by the way). I mean come on; this sequel is not just about these two.

Sure, it does contain a number of disposable characters who are just asking to be sliced and diced here. There’s a nurse who gets the promotion Allyson was hoping for, but that’s because she’s having an affair with the doctor the two are working under. Then there’s Allyson’s ex-boyfriend, a police officer who just won’t let their relationship, and there’s no forgetting the African-American DJ who never knows when to keep his mouth shut. They are all just begging for an exceptionally brutal exit from life, and one murder in particular would make Tom Savini proud, seriously.

In the end, I admired “Halloween Ends” for trying something different in the slasher movie genre. While it might not be completely successful, its ambitions kept my eyes glued to the screen, and it helps to bring closure to Laurie Strode’s constant fear of “The Shape.” Perhaps this ending will not satisfy everyone, but I can accept it for what it is.

Of course, it is hard to believe this will be the last “Halloween” movie ever. We have seen promising titles such as “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare,” “Saw 3D: The Final Chapter” and “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday” throughout the decades, and they eventually became punchlines we still laugh at. For sure, this is definitely the last “Halloween” movie for Jamie-Lee Curtis, John Carpenter and Blumhouse among others as the rights to franchise will now revert back to the Akkad family.

What life has taught me and others is evil never dies. It simply changes shape, especially when money is concerned.

* * * out of * * * *

Final Trailer For ‘Halloween Kills’ Promises a Big Reunion

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

While the previous trailer for “Halloween Kills” showed how brutal the latest installment of this long running horror franchise is going to be, the final trailer proves it will be one hell of a reunion as well as several familiar faces return in an effort to lay waste to Michael Myers. Evil never dies, but it never stops the residents of Haddonfield from trying to kill it.

Kyle Richards returns as Lindsey Wallace, one of the kids Laurie Strode babysat in the original, and seeing her yell at a couple of young trick-or-treaters to rush home shows she has not fully recovered from the events of 40 years ago. We also see Nancy Stephens back in her fourth go-around as Marion Chambers, former assistant to the late Dr. Sam Loomis, and she is smart enough to bring a gun to a knife fight. But like Loomis in “Halloween II,” Marion appears to lack that extra bullet, and it looks as though she will have as much luck in this “Halloween” timeline as she did in the other.

Tommy Doyle, the other young lad Laurie saved in “Halloween,” is back as well, this time played by Anthony Michael Hall. Tommy as a youngster was convinced of how no one can kill the boogeyman, but seeing Hall wielding a metal baseball bat indicates he will give it his best shot.

Heck, even the kid who bullied Tommy as a kid, Lonnie Elam, makes a return to the franchise, and he is played as an adult by Robert Longstreet. This trailer also hints at Lonnie’s own encounter with Michael Myers, which he somehow survived, and even he is determined to take out “The Shape” anyway he can, even if it means going to Michael’s childhood home.

So, what is opening up in October looks to be a horror film where everyone is still deeply traumatized from the horrible events which took place four decades ago, and now history has repeated itself to where no one in Haddonfield will allow this murderous rampage to continue. While Laurie looked to be the only one traumatized amongst the characters in the previous “Halloween,” this follow-up is filled with dozens of people whose lives have been forever shattered. Of course, there is another sequel coming after this one (“Halloween Ends”), so it will be interesting to see how this one will conclude as Michael’s reign of terror is still far from over.

Seeing all the characters in town chant “evil dies tonight” makes “Halloween Kills” especially chilling as an angry mob, even with the best of intentions, can make some seriously awful mistakes. We have seen this in previous sequels like “Halloween IV,” but on a much smaller scale. This installment has a budget which allows for the appearance of far more characters than its predecessors could ever hope to have.

Watching this final trailer several times over makes me wonder about a few things. Is Will Patton actually returning as Deputy Frank Hawkins even after what happened to him in the last film? Will we see how Michael Myers was captured by the Haddonfield police all those years ago? If you look really closely, Sam Loomis does make an appearance, but will he look and sound like Donald Pleasance?

But another thing I wondered about more than anything else was this: will Laurie Strode (played by the great Jamie Lee Curtis) die in “Halloween Kills?” While Laurie is featured throughout much of this trailer, the climax appears to be dominated by her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) as they attempt to not only kill Michael, but unmask him for all the world to see. We don’t see Laurie in any of those scenes, so I am worried this film maybe it for her. If she is to be killed off, let’s hope she gets a better fate than the one she received in “Halloween Resurrection.”

And of course, we have been promised an unmasked Michael Myers before. We got a glimpse of his face in John Carpenter’s original film, and we were promised an up close and personal look of him in “Halloween 5,” but the latter turned out to be a cruel tease. Besides, with one more “Halloween” coming in 2022, is this really the time to see Michael unmasked? Well, anything is possible.

“Halloween Kills” will finally arrive in theaters everywhere on October 15th, and will also debut on the Peacock streaming service on the same day. If I were you, however, I would see it on the silver screen with an audience, be it a big or a small one. And if you do see it in a theater, wear a mask. Hey, it works for Michael.

In Defense of Rob Zombie’s ‘Halloween’ Movies

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The two “Halloween” movies written and directed by Rob Zombie were eviscerated not just by critics but by the fans as well. Some critics, like James Berardinelli of Reel Views, said they did not even feel like “Halloween” movies. Fans were vocal in how characters like Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis were unforgivably degraded compared to how they were portrayed in John Carpenter’s original. Others simply said Zombie’s take on Michael Myers just wasn’t that scary.

Well, I say phooey to all this nonsense! Zombie’s “Halloween” movies may not be as scary as the one which started off this never-ending franchise, but for me this was pretty much a given. There is no way you could recapture what Carpenter thrilled us with years ago. Zombie was aware of how Michael Myers, like other horror icons such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, had pretty much worn out their usefulness. His respect for Carpenter’s slasher opus was strong, and after making a true grindhouse classic with “The Devil’s Rejects,” I knew he would take this story and these characters and make them his own.

What makes Zombie’s “Halloween” stand out from what came before it is how he treats the backstory of Michael Myers. Granted, this threatens to take away from what made him so scary in the first place. Carpenter’s original was an unrelentingly visceral experience mainly because we were not sure what to make of “The Shape” as he became less than human throughout. But here we get a strong idea of how young Michael went bad as he dealt with an uncaring sister, a busy mother, and an abusive lout of a stepfather. Seeing all he had to deal with made it understandable, if not forgivable, as to why he went psycho in the first place.

Now whereas Zombie’s “Halloween” was about Michael, his “Halloween II” was all about Laurie Strode, Dr. Loomis and of how the horrific events they went through forever destroyed them. It is here we come to realize what Zombie has accomplished with these movies: They are character studies instead of the average slasher movie we have come to expect. This is made even clearer on the “Halloween II” director’s cut which is available on DVD and Blu-ray as it proves to be infinitely superior to the theatrical version.

Fans hated how Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis were so different from how they were portrayed in Carpenter’s original film, but they forgot how Zombie’s films were a meant to be a reimagining of the franchise and not business as usual. Strode’s extreme emotional reactions might make her unlikable, but they soon become understandable as no one involved in what she went through can ever walk away from it unscathed. Both Scout-Taylor Compton and Malcolm McDowell deserve credit for not being constrained by what Jaime Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence created before them. In Zombie’s incarnation, these two actors inhabit their characters more than they play them.

In a time of remakes which are as endless as they are unnecessary, you have to give Zombie points for taking this long-running franchise in a different direction. It may not have been what diehard fans wanted or expected, but whereas most remakes repeat the formulas of movies they originated from with negative success, there is something to be said for a filmmaker who willfully goes against expectations. Seriously, this says a lot in a time when originality in cinema is largely frowned upon.

‘Halloween II’ Shout Factory Blu-ray Review

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Halloween II Shout Factory blu ray cover

Universal Pictures first released 1981’s “Halloween II” on Blu-ray, and it was a release many horror fans had long awaited. But a year later, Shout Factory gave us another edition of this sequel, and it contained a lot of extras which were sorely missing from the Universal release: audio commentaries, a documentary on its making, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, trailers and TV spots among other goodies. This release also includes what the previous Universal Blu-ray controversially, and unforgivably, left out of the opening credits: “Moustapha Akkad Presents.”

Great care has been taken in this release’s packaging as it contains an excellent cover created by artist Nathan Thomas Milliner. This illustration has Michael Myers walking with that scalpel of his and crying tears of blood, Donald Pleasance holding out his hand which has Myers’ blood on it, and Jamie Lee Curtis looking as fierce as she did in the first “Halloween” movie. Looking at this cover should everyone an idea of just how big a cult following this sequel has more than 30 years after its theatrical release.

When comparing the look and sound of Shout Factory’s release to Universal’s, it’s hard to see much, if any, of a difference between them. Both versions make this sequel look better than it has in ages even though there is a bit of grain in certain scenes. But what this version does have which the Universal release lacked are two DTS-HD Master Audio tracks which include a 5.1 remix and a stereo mix.

This edition also contains two audio commentaries, and the first one is with “Halloween II’s” director Rick Rosenthal who is joined by actor Leo Rossi who played the chauvinistic ambulance driver Budd Scarlotti. Now this is an audio commentary fans have been dying to hear for the longest time, and Rosenthal provides a number of interesting tidbits throughout. Rossi himself is a delight as he talks about how Rosenthal went to bat for him when the late Debra Hill did not even want him in the movie. Hill was instead looking for Midwestern actors as the movie took place in Illinois, but Rosenthal managed to wear her down and get Rossi cast even though he looks and sounds like a New York native.

The other audio commentary is with stunt coordinator Dick Warlock who also played Michael Myers. Of the two commentary tracks, this one proved to be the most entertaining. There are a number of spots in the Rosenthal/Rossi where they both went silent and seemed unsure of what to say, but Warlock is full of details on how he went about playing Michael Myers and of how he handled some of the more dangerous stunts in the sequel.

We do also get a documentary entitled “The Nightmare Isn’t Over: The Making of ‘Halloween II'” which features interviews with Rosenthal, Warlock, Lance Guest, Rossi, Nancy Stephens and many others who were in front of or behind the camera. Like Rosenthal’s commentary, this is another special feature fans have been waiting for endlessly, and it does not disappoint. Some of the best anecdotes come from Rossi who explains how and why he changed the lyrics to “Amazing Grace” when he sang it, and Warlock makes clear why metal zippers do not belong on insulated clothing when you have been set on fire.

There is an additional DVD disc which contains the TV version of “Halloween II” on it, and this is the same version which has been shown on the A&E network. It features additional scenes not found in the theatrical cut as well as an alternate ending which shows one character to still be very much alive.

Other special features include an episode of “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds” which has host Sean Clark revisiting the original shooting locations of “Halloween II.” It’s surprising to see some of them still intact 30 years later. There’s also the theatrical trailer, television and radio spots, and deleted scenes with commentary from Rosenthal.

For those of you who still own the Universal Blu-ray release of “Halloween II,” you may not want to get rid of it just yet. The documentary “Terror in the Aisles” did not transfer over to the Shout Factory release, and it is unlikely you will see it available in its own release in the near future.

When Universal Pictures released its Blu-ray of “Halloween II,” it looked like we would never get a better version of it and had to be happy with what we got. Shout Factory, however, has given us a 2-disc set which has just about every special feature fans of this sequel could ever want, and it will certainly keep them busy for hours.

While it was ill-received upon its release in 1981 and considered a pale imitation of the original, “Halloween II” has long since gained a cult following as there are actually many things about it worth admiring. The look and feel of this sequel mirrors the original, and this was something the sequels which followed it could only dream of capturing.

David Gordon Green’s ‘Halloween’ is the Sequel We Have Been Waiting For

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Halloween 2018 theatrical poster

Why do filmmakers constantly insist on doing a retcon of the “Halloween” franchise? Every once in a while, the continuity of the series is tossed to the wayside, usually for profit and greed, but perhaps deep down there are those out there who remain infinitely eager for another and more fulfilling showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. We thought we got it in 1981’s “Halloween II,” but even Michael couldn’t stay down after being burned beyond recognition. Then there was “Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later,” but that was really a “Scream” movie disguised as a “Halloween” movie, and what resulted did not feel particularly compelling.

But just when you thought it was time to lay this long-running franchise to rest, along comes the simply titled “Halloween” which wipes the slate clean to give us the true sequel fans of the series have been waiting 40 years for. Once again, Michael Myers breaks free and heads back to Haddonfield, Illinois for a bloody homecoming. But this time, Laurie Strode is ready and waiting, and she is not about to take any prisoners. As this “Halloween” unfolds, you will see what Sylvester Stallone meant when he said, while in pursuit of Wesley Snipes in “Demotion Man:”

“Send a maniac to catch a maniac.”

In this alternate timeline, Michael did not escape at the end of John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” but was instead captured and sent back to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and has remained there for the last 40 years. His latest psychiatrist, Dr. Ranbir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), insists Michael can talk but chooses not to, but this doesn’t stop a pair of true-crime podcasters, Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees), from trying to make him say something, anything. But once Aaron pulls Michael’s old mask out of his bag, we know it won’t be long before they are reminded of what curiosity did to the cat.

This particular “Halloween” was directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by him, Jeff Fradley and actor Danny McBride, and the respect they have for Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic is on display throughout. They even bring back the serif font from the original’s credits as they are determined to make us accept this is a direct sequel to the one which started it all. I admired how the credits started off with a pumpkin which looks to have been stomped on one too many times and which reforms slowly but surely. It’s almost like a metaphor for this franchise as many continue to resurrect Michael, or “The Shape” as he is often referred to, with varying results.

Green is one of those filmmakers who can go from making independent films like “All the Real Girls” and “Joe” to more mainstream fare such as “Pineapple Express” and “Stronger” with relative ease. With his “Halloween,” he gives a slow-burn thriller which thankfully doesn’t peak too soon. Many horror movies give us their best moments far too early these days, so it’s nice to see Green not making this same mistake here as he gives us a deeply suspenseful thriller which builds up and up to its much-anticipated climax.

I also have to give Green and his collaborators credit for giving us characters we care about. It is impossible not to relate to them in one way or another as we remember having their same needs and desires when we were their age. Many of the “Friday the 13th” sequels kept giving us characters we couldn’t wait to see get killed off as we were made to hate them, but when the residents of Haddonfield are killed off, you cannot help but feel for them, and not just because they never got the chance to lose their virginity.

The real big news, however, about this “Halloween” is John Carpenter is back. It marks his return to the franchise he created for the first time since “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.” I imagine money was a big motivating factor, but I do believe Carpenter when he said how enthusiastic he was about Green and McBride’s pitch for this movie. In addition to acting as executive producer, Carpenter also scored the movie along with his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, and they give the brutal proceedings here an extra hard kick in the ass (click here to check out my review of the soundtrack).

But let’s face facts, the real star of this “Halloween” movie is Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role with a real vengeance, and she plays Laurie to the hilt in this installment. When Curtis first played Laurie, she was a kind, shy and innocent young woman. 40 years later, Laurie is a shell of her former self as her life has been severely undone by PTSD, alcoholism and agoraphobia. She has spent the past few decades training to be a survivalist as her life is now dedicated to removing Michael from the face of the earth, and it has all come at the expense of caring for her own family.

Curtis has always put in a great performance in each movie she appears in, be it a good or a bad one, but she really hits it out of the park here. She succeeds in turning Laurie Strode into a bad ass warrior who is never determined to suffer in the same way she did before, and at times she threatens to be more frightening than Michael herself. Just check out the scene when Laurie breaks into her daughter Karen’s (Judy Greer) house and reminds her bluntly of how unprepared she is for the oncoming slaughter.

Moreover, Curtis really makes us sympathize with Laurie Strode throughout. We know all what she has been through, and to see the effect it has on those closest to her is heartbreaking. We learn she has been divorced twice, and her daughter Karen wants little to do with her and constantly begs her to get help. Even when Laurie absent-mindedly takes a drink from a glass of wine like as it it were was an automatic impulse, we feel for her as no one can see Michael Myers as being the embodiment of pure evil the way she can.

Watching Curtis as Laurie here quickly reminded me of a line the late Natasha Richardson said in “Patty Hearst:”

“I finally realized what my crime was, I lived. Big mistake. Very messy.”

The cast overall does really good work, and they are made of very likable and dependable actors which include Judy Greer and Will Patton who make their characters seem very down to earth in a way you want them to be. One real standout here is Andi Matichak who plays Allyson, Laurie’s granddaughter and the only one capable of having a meaningful relationship with her. Matichak proves to be a very appealing presence here, and she makes Allyson into a strong and defiant young woman who is not about to suffer fools in the slightest.

As “Halloween” builds up to its inevitable climax, Green keeps increasing the tension throughout. He smartly leaves Michael in the shadows, and you can’t help but wondering when he is going to jump out next. Green also leaves you wondering if we might actually see Michael’s face or even hear him speak. Does he? Wouldn’t you like to know?

This “Halloween” is not at all groundbreaking, but then again neither was Carpenter’s film. The 1978 “Halloween” owed a lot to the works of Alfred Hitchcock among others, but it also managed to give a freshness to the horror genre in the same way “Psycho” did years before. With any “Halloween” follow-up, we can only hope for it to be as good, if not better, than the original. There’s no way you can top what Carpenter pulled off 40 years ago as none of us saw Michael Myers coming. But with this “Halloween,” we get the true sequel the original never quite received, and it proves to be well worth the wait.

There is also something very cathartic about watching this one in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Essentially, we are watching a woman take revenge on a man who thoughtlessly ruined her life years before, and seeing her do battle with him makes this “Halloween” especially thrilling. Lord knows women have been forced to be silent for far too long, so seeing one get her revenge feels much, much overdue.

By the way, I think I’m going to start calling this one “Halloween: 40 is the New 20.” It seems appropriate, don’t you think?

* * * ½ out of * * * *

WRITER’S NOTE: A lot of people have been getting mad at Jamie Lee Curtis recently. We see her wielding many different weapons and firearms in this movie as Laurie Strode, but some have been quick to call her a hypocrite for doing so as her stance on gun control and the need for it has been well-documented. Why is she appearing in this movie armed to the hilt and yet complaining about gun violence in real life? Ladies and gentlemen, what Curtis is doing in this movie is called ACTING. SHE IS PLAYING A CHARACTER. Whatever happened to make believe anyway? Not all actors are out to put their political issues into each movie they do. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and stop blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. That is all.

First ‘Halloween’ Trailer Has Been Released, and it Looks Awesome!

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Halloween 2018 teaser poster

I have not been as excited for a movie trailer as I have been for this one. Sure, there were the ones for various “Star Wars” movies, particularly “The Force Awakens,” which got me all excited, but this one feels especially thrilling. It is a direct sequel to one of the scariest horror movies ever made, and it dares to retcon a franchise which has seen a large deal of retconning throughout a number of sequels. Plus, with the director of “Pineapple Express,” “Joe” and “All the Real Girls” at the helm, I cannot help but anticipate something more than just another dumb horror sequel. I am of course talking about David Gordon Green’s upcoming “Halloween,” and after a week filled with teasers, the first full trailer was released, and damn it looks awesome!

Unlike “Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later” which was a direct sequel to 1981’s “Halloween II,” this “Halloween” serves as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s original 1978 film. The trailer indicates that, instead of disappearing even after being shot six times by Dr. Loomis, Michael Myers was in fact captured and has been imprisoned in an asylum ever since. Gone is the implication of Laurie Strode actually being Michael’s sister, and this is made perfectly clear by Allyson, Laurie’s granddaughter, who is played by Andi Matichak. There’s no battle this time between brother and sister, but instead between a survivor who has no choice but to believe in the boogeyman, and a man who, as Dr. Loomis once said, isn’t even remotely human.

Right from the trailer’s first frame, I already love the look of this “Halloween” as the visuals are stark and ominous. I was taken aback at the production values on display here as horror movies in general are made on very low budgets to where the filmmakers are forced to cut more corners than they would ever want to. But here it looks like everyone at Blumhouse Productions and the filmmakers have crafted a true horror film where the shadows prove to be as ominous as ever, and we all remember how easily Michael can disappear into them.

In several interviews, the filmmakers behind this “Halloween” have said this film will ignore the continuity of the sequels, but that it will allude to them in one way or another. The scene in which the two reporters, both whom we see attempting to interview Michael, are stuck a deserted gas station and are stalked by him quickly reminded me of similar scene from “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.” When Michael approaches the female reporter while she is in a bathroom stall, it brought to my mind of when Ken Foree tried to explain why he wasn’t finished dropping the kids in the pool in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween.” It will be interesting to see what other allusions Green and company have in store with us in a few months.

After the first poster for the movie was released, many complained about how Michael Myers’ mask looked way too similar to the one used in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” and “Halloween II.” Seeing it in the trailer here, it doesn’t look the least bit similar, and it instead looks very much like the one Nick Castle donned all those years ago. Many of the “Halloween” sequels had Michael wearing a different mask in each one, and it made me miss the original as it had an infinitely creepy look none of the others could match. But seeing Michael put on this particular mask once again had my excitement levels going through the roof.

And of course, it is so great to see Jamie Lee Curtis back in her star-making role as Laurie Strode. While Curtis portrayed Laurie as a barely functioning alcoholic in “Halloween H20,” she looks to play this character here as a survivor whose scars are more apparent on her psyche than on her body. As Laurie tells a police officer, played by Will Patton, how she always hopes Michael will escape again so she can have a chance to kill him, we see her shooting guns at various targets to where we can believe she has been practicing her aim for a very, very, very long time. Curtis is always a fantastic presence in any movie she stars in, and to see her make Laurie Strode into a true badass here has me looking forward to this “Halloween” movie even more.

I also have to say how much I loved this trailer’s last image of a young boy asking his babysitter to shut his closet door. Boy does this bring back memories of when we were young and believed there was a monster hiding in our closets. As we get older, we stop believing in monsters as real life proves to be far more terrifying, but in this scene certain characters are shocked to see there is one inside this particular closet. Whether or not you believe in monsters, we are once again reminded of how the boogeyman is real and that evil never dies.

Ever since learning David Gordon Green was working with Danny McBride on a new “Halloween” screenplay, I have been super excited about this project. Having Jamie Lee Curtis come back as Laurie Strode makes me even happier, and I have to applaud Jason Blum for managing to bring John Carpenter himself back to this franchise for the first time since “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” as securing Carpenter’s involvement could not have been easy. Carpenter serves as executive producer, and he will also be scoring the film along with his son, Cody Carpenter (YAY!). Furthermore, Carpenter made it clear how this addition to the “Halloween” franchise will bring Michael Myers back to his original roots as he always saw this character as not a real person, but instead as an almost supernatural force and the embodiment of evil. With all these talented people involved, I cannot help but have huge expectations for this upcoming horror film, and the trailer makes it seem like this endeavor will be worth the wait.

I also have to say I am glad this one isn’t titled “Michael vs Laurie” as it would have cheapened what we see here. Granted, this movie is to contain the final confrontation between these two, and I would hate to see it end when they both realize they have mothers named Martha.

“Halloween” is set to be released on October 19, 2018, a date which cannot come soon enough. Please check out the trailer below and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already.

 

All-Time Favorite Trailers: ‘Austin Powers – The Spy Who Shagged Me’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

It was December of 1998, and “Star Trek: Insurrection” just opened in movie theaters everywhere. At the time, I was a student at UC Irvine, and I had just wrapped up the last of my finals in the first quarter. To say that I was relieved was an understatement as I was minoring in English and made the mistake of taking three classes which left me with a boatload of reading and not nearly enough time to have a life outside of school. Once I was done, I didn’t even hesitate to celebrate, and I drove straight out to the Irvine Spectrum Center where “Star Trek: Insurrection” was playing.

But while the theater was filled with many people ready to boldly go with the crew of the starship Enterprise to where no one has gone before, the one thing foremost on our minds was if “Insurrection” would be preceded by the just released trailer for “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” It had been almost 16 years since “Return of the Jedi” came out, and now that a new “Star Wars” movie was on the horizon, it felt to many like the second coming of Christ.

As the lights went down, I could feel everyone around me holding their breath in anticipation and praying that the first movie trailer shown would be for “The Phantom Menace.” Sure enough, once we got past “the following preview has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES by the Motion Picture Association of America” title card, we were thrust into outer space and shown what looked to be the wreckage of the last Death Star. As the camera zoomed in on the chair where Emperor Palpatine once sat, the audience got super excited and started to cheer as they were convinced the first look at the next “Star Wars” movie was about to be unveiled. Instead, the chair turned around to reveal Michael Myers as Dr. Evil who, while holding Mr. Bigglesworth, said, “You were expecting somebody else?”

It was a brilliant move on the part of Myers, director Jay Roach and New Line Cinema to promote “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” in this way as it played on what we know about “Star Wars” and exploited it to great effect. Once we realized what was actually being promoted, we all responded enthusiastically as Myers danced with abandon as the title character and sported those glasses and the inescapably large teeth he had. Yay baby indeed!

I also loved it when the trailer’s narrator said the following:

“If you see only one movie this summer, see ‘Star Wars.’”

You have to admire New Line Cinema for admitting this as even they had to admit there was no way this long-awaited sequel was going to beat “The Phantom Menace” at the box office. Instead, they presented it as an underdog to where it was kindly asking audiences to give it a look after they watched the latest “Star Wars” movie for a second time. Hollywood and the studios which inhabit it are always out to promise audiences how this movie is a must-see, and yet here this particular studio, which has since been absorbed by Warner Brothers, admitted this one was not going to use the force the same way Lucasfilm was going to, and it worked to the advantage of this “Austin Powers” adventure.

This is one of those movie trailers, let alone teaser trailers, which has stayed with me after so many years. I still remember the great feeling and humorous effect it had on me and the rest of the audience. As a result, it has long since earned its place on my list of the greatest movie trailers ever made.

We did eventually get to see the first “Phantom Menace” trailer before “Star Trek: Insurrection” began, but while the audience gave it a thunderous response, there was no forgetting the mark Mr. Powers left on us beforehand.

Halloween II (2009)

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

halloween-ii-2009-poster

It’ll be interesting to see what people think of Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II.” With this sequel to his remake, he has not made your typical slasher flick even though it does contain some amazingly brutal and bloody moments. One crushing death plays like an homage to the fire extinguisher scene from Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible.” I have also heard some complain because this sequel doesn’t even feel like a “Halloween” movie to them, but wasn’t that the whole point of this re-imagining? Do you really want the same old slasher formula we have long since gotten burned out on? Isn’t this why Zombie was brought on to do the remake? You know, to give this long running series a much-needed re-invigoration?

Zombie’s vision of Michael Myers may not be as scary as John Carpenter’s was, but I wasn’t expecting that to be the case. With Zombie’s take on the “Halloween” saga, what have here is more of a character study of how Michael became so infinitely evil, and this something we have seen much of in this never-ending franchise. “Halloween II” is definitely on a par with Zombie’s previous film, and everything comes around full circle to where there’s no doubt family is forever.

“Halloween II” starts moments after the previous film with Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) walking down the street all bloodied up after shooting Michael dead at close range. However, it turns out Laurie didn’t kill him. The bullet must have bounced off his skull knocking him unconscious or something else along those lines. This seems to be a reasonable excuse to bring Michael back, and it is step from previous “Halloween” movies which managed to come up with ridiculous excuses to bring Michael back for another round with horny teenagers.

As Laurie is wheeled into the hospital crying hysterically, the first of many times she does so, shades of Rick Rosenthal’s “Halloween II” emerge, but this cannot be mistaken as a remake of sequel. Meanwhile, the drivers of the coroner van carrying Michael’s body end up smashing into a cow leaving them severely injured. This allows Michael to escape to live and see another October because, in the end, what is Halloween without Michael Myers?

Meanwhile, we see Laurie getting patched up in surgery, and the extent of her injuries is unsettling. The detail given to the doctors working on her is horrific very realistic, just the way Zombie wants it to appear. You look at Laurie’s mangled body, and you think to yourself it’s a miracle she lived through this dark, dark night.

“Halloween II” then moves to a year later as Laurie, still deeply traumatized by that horrific evening, struggles to go on with her life. She has since been adopted by Sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) and lives with him and his daughter, Annie (Danielle Harris). While the previous movie was told through Michael’s eyes, this one is seen through Laurie Strode’s perspective, and she is no longer the person she once was.

One of the big differences with this sequel is the way it was filmed. Whereas Zombie’s “Halloween” was filmed in 35mm, he instead filmed “Halloween II” is in 16mm which gives everything a much harsher edge. This worked very effectively for him on what is still his best movie, “The Devil’s Rejects,” and it makes the killings in “Halloween II” feel all the more brutal. Michael doesn’t just slash his victims; he pounds them to a bloody pulp.

Tyler Mane once against gives us the most lethal and threatening Michael Myers ever unleashed on the big screen. Being as tall and hulking as Mane is, it’s a wonder why anyone would be foolish to take him on. Here’s another interesting thing about Michael in this one, he has a beard. That’s right, for the first time ever we get to see this iconic character with facial hair. This is ironic because Michael has proven to be very useful with knives to where I am convinced he can give himself the closest shave without ever having to use any shaving cream. Then again, Michael has more on his mind than facial hair.

Taylor-Compton’s Laurie Strode is not the chaste and resourceful character Jamie Lee Curtis gave us in the original, but she digs deep into this role and takes Laurie to places no ordinary person would dare go. You think she is at bottom when the movie starts, but she’s not anywhere near it. Taylor-Compton makes you care about Laurie as she comes to the realization of who she really is, and you want her to escape the abyss she is drowning in. You want to help her.

One especially good performance comes from Brad Dourif as he gets more screen time here. The sheriff he portrays here is not your typical clichéd stupid cop who makes all the wrong decision, but instead a caring adult and who is constantly looking out for Laurie and Annie. Dourif is great here in a way you would not usually expect an actor to be in a film like this, and he is one of the most underrated character actors working today.

That’s the great thing about Zombie’s “Halloween” movies; he is not out to give us the usual slasher flick. With these two films, he has taken the time to develop his characters to where they are not the usual pack of one-dimensional stereotypes the horror genre keeps relying on. While he still does employ the usual white trash characters who utter disgusting dialogue, it is clear he is moving beyond them now. This shows growth on his part which makes me look forward to his future work.

Zombie also conjures up some truly weird imagery throughout as we get a closer look into Michael’s deeply disturbed psyche. Sheri Moon Zombie returns as Michael’s mother, but this time she speaks to her murderous son from the grave and convinces him that if he kills Laurie, he can bring the whole family back together. Some may still criticize her acting abilities, but she is better than people tend to give her credit for.

Danielle Harris also returns as Annie Brackett, but Zombie doesn’t have her doing the same old things she did previously. Considering how Annie almost died, she is nowhere as foolish this time around (not completely anyway). Annie, along with her dad, is desperate to life Laurie out of her emotional abyss even as Laurie makes it incredible for them to even try to do so.

But of course, we cannot forget Malcolm McDowell who returns as Dr. Sam Loomis. This time around, the “Clockwork Orange” actor gives us a Sam Loomis who is a pure asshole getting high off the fame he obtains by exploiting his involvement with Michael and his family. Loomis is no longer the helpful psychiatrist he was before and is instead a profiteer off the misfortunes of others. His sudden change of heart towards the film’s climax may feel a little forced, but McDowell sells it to where we really feel his pain when he comes to accept the damage he has wrought on others.

The brilliant sound design in “Halloween II” also needs to be mentioned as well. Michael doesn’t just crash through windows and walls in this one. You feel him bashing his way through everything in his path, and it this movie a visceral thrill the other “Halloween” sequels could only dream of offering. Zombie is not out to give you a bunch of cheap scares, but is instead out to horrify you as much as possible as we suffer along with Laurie as Michael continues his endless pursuit of her.

Zombie also does a better job with suspense this time around, and it really boils in certain moments when our anticipation gets the best of us. We know Michael is going to strike, and we fear the bloody damage we know he will brutally inflict. I’m glad Zombie came back to do this sequel even though he originally wasn’t planning to. Having anyone else direct this follow up would have been a mistake.

John Carpenter’s “Halloween” was a one of a kind film which was never intended to start a horror franchise. Zombie is not trying to outdo Carpenter, but to merely make Michael Myers and all these characters his own. While “Halloween II” is not a masterpiece, he does stay true to his vision of this unstoppable monster and improves on his previous film quite a bit.

NOTE: The DVD and Blu-ray release of “Halloween II” contains the director’s cut of the movie. This version changes a few things and adds more scenes which focus on the characters more, and it’s even better than the theatrical version as it gives you an even clearer sense of what Zombie was trying to accomplish.

Theatrical Version: * * * out of * * * *

Director’s Cut: * * * ½ out of * * * *

Halloween (2007)

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

halloween-2007-poster

This one is a remake of one of the best horror films ever made. What could be the point of remaking it other than to make a quick buck? So many people have been milking this franchise dry for decades. Just when you thought Michael Myers was finished once and for all, he springs back with some utterly lame excuse for still being alive.

But what this “Halloween” remake has going for it is Rob Zombie who gave us “House of a 1000 Corpses” and the brilliant grindhouse flick “The Devil’s Rejects.” We all know just how much he loves John Carpenter’s original film, and we believed him when he said he would make this “Halloween” his own. If there was ever going to be a “Halloween” remake, who better to do it than Zombie?

This reimagining proved to be polarizing for “Halloween” fans in general. They either loved it, hated it or had a mixed reaction to it. One thing for sure, it is far more brutal than Carpenter’s film. Zombie does not try to hide from the ugliness of violence, and there is no campiness to be found here.

The first half is the freshest part as it deals with Michael Myers as a child and looks closely at what made him such a monster. This is where Zombie’s “Halloween” could have been disastrous as things tend to be scarier in a horror movie when the motives of the killer are barely described or explained. But what Zombie does is force us to look at Michael as a human being instead of an indestructible force of nature, and this makes his version all the more compelling.

Michael could not have come from a more dysfunctional family if he tried. His mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) is a stripper at a local bar, his step dad (William Forsythe) is an abusive prick who has nothing nice to say about anything or anybody, and his sister Judith (Hanna Hall) would rather make out with her boyfriend than take her little brother trick or treating. On top of that, he is constantly bullied at school and has this little hobby of killing animals which is typically a serious warning sign of someone about to embark more homicidal adventures.

Zombie succeeds in making you feel for Michael even as we condemn him for the violence he inflicts on others. We fear him but also empathize with him because we see the pathetic hell he has been put through.

The adult Michael is portrayed by Tyler Mane, a huge individual whom you never ever doubt will leave some serious damage in his path. I thought it was genius of Zombie to cast such a tall actor in this role. When he was at a Fangoria convention, Zombie said it made more sense to cast a very tall actor in this role as opposed to a regular height kind of guy. Michael has to be a formidable force of evil, and Mane gives us the best version of this character since Nick Castle played him in the original.

After spending a lot of time on Michael’s back story, Zombie moves us through the “Halloween” we grew up on as we get introduced to Laurie Strode and her friends from school. Many of the scenes from the original are repeated here which brings this movie down some as they remind us of just how great Carpenter’s film was. Zombie moves through those scenes at such a rapid pace to where the characters never seem as fully realized as they could have been. Laurie Strode is played by Scout Taylor-Compton, and she is one hell of a screamer! She may not be on the same par with Jamie Lee Curtis, but she does make the role her own and is fun to watch.

Playing Laurie’s babysitting friends are Kristina Klebe as Lynda and Danielle Harris as Annie Brackett. Harris is a Michael Myers veteran herself, having played the daughter of Laurie Strode in “Halloween 4” and ‘Halloween 5.” It is important to note she was not cast in this movie as a result of her previous work in the franchise, but because Zombie said he was truly blown away by her audition. She does deserve a lot of credit for playing such a believable teenager even though she was 30 when the cameras started rolling.

Zombie casted many of his friends like Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Leslie Easterbrook, and Ken Foree as well. There are also cameos from B-movie actors like Dee Wallace Stone, Sybil Danning and Clint Howard. One of the best performances in “Halloween” comes from Sheri Moon Zombie herself. As the mother of Michael Meyers, she shows a lot of range here we haven’t seen before as her character proves to be the only who truly cares about Michael and what he is going through.

Another awesome actor featured here is Danny Trejo whose character encourages the young Michael to live inside his head so he won’t feel so boxed in when inside his prison cell. The way Trejo spoke those words must have come from a real place as he once served time in prison. His performance and scenes with Michael are haunting, and I would have loved to have seen more of him in this movie.

Overall, I liked Zombie’s ever so brutal vision of Michael Myers. It does not quite equal what Carpenter gave us, but it is certainly much better than several of the sequels which were inflicted on us. Zombie has created a movie which truly shocks and unsettles the viewer. Whereas you cannot help but snicker at the usual clichés in every other slasher movie, this one throttles you back into your seat. At the very least, it is the best remake of a John Carpenter movie yet. After the dismal remakes of “Assault on Precinct 13” and especially “The Fog,” this one fares much better in comparison.

* * * out of * * * *