Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Curse of Michael Myers, the sixth entry in the Halloween series tends to get a lot of slack among fans. Now I’m not saying this is the best movie of all time, but it’s definitely not the redheaded step child some would make it out to be. In my humble opinion, its actually one of the best in the series! It’s a very dark, creepy, moody film that finally fills us in on the question of “why” that we have about Myers intentions. Remember when I was bitching about how Rob Zombie fucked up the remake by including an origin? Well this film manages to give him one that doesn’t suck major horse cock!

“Please Michael, don’t hurt me.” That’s the first thing we hear, then we’re treated to some pretty traumatic child birth… A Mysterious women give’s birth in a mysterious facility surrounded by mysterious people. Probably the most Mysterious start to any Halloween film! The baby is taken away from the mother and given to the man in black who popped up rather randomly in the fifth film. We’re treated to a monologue about how Myers and Jamie disappeared 6 years ago. The mystery women is revealed (a little bit later anyway) as Jamie. She escapes (by this point the death toll is already up to 2! You know this movie is going to be good!) and drives off to a bus station. It’s kind of odd… if she’s apparently been missing since the events of Halloween 5 she really shouldn’t know how to drive…. Like Uncle like Niece I suppose… Anyway, she calls up a radio shock jock because the emergency lines are busy due to the epic storm outside. Turns out this is a pretty good idea, as both kinda creepy traumatized Tommy Doyle AKA the little boy from the first film and Loomis happen to be listening to the radio broadcast. Now this shock jock is coming to Haddonfield on Halloween to do a… thing on Halloween in Haddonfield. Jamie leaves her baby at the bus station and runs to a barn. Michael kills her. Next day we see Haddonfield. Apparently Halloween is banned in this town… Yet we see Halloween decorations and Trick or Treaters… must not be a very well enforced rule, despite the fact that a major plot point is this fall festival sort of deal to get Halloween back in Haddonfield. Anyway, we meet John Strode, who is Laurie’s uncle, and his wife Deborah. Living there with them is their daughter Kara and her son Danny. Also, yes. She is a total MILF. They also have a son named Tim. Tommy figures out that Jamie called from a bus station and heads there. He proceeds to magically find the baby and takes him away. He also conveniently heads to the local hospital and finds Loomis. Loomis say’s that Jamie is that last of Myers bloodline, while Tommy shows him living, crying, shitting proof. The middle part of the film is basically classic Halloween. Myers stalks and kills some folks while Loomis and Tommy are on his tail. Later on we find out that Michael suffers from the curse of thorn. Basically, the curse is what causes him to kill his family members. The Cult of thorn is apparently controlling him; possibly from the start. The film doesn’t clarify weather he’s controlled from the events of the first film, all you really know is that he was from at least 5. Thus, the plot is convoluted. Why do they impregnate Jamie just for Michael to kill the baby? Just kill Jamie and that’s it, no more Myers blood. What’s the point of bringing another child into the world just to kill it? Ugh so many questions…

This is a good movie. The plot is sort of convoluted and hard to follow but it’s alright. Plenty of good kills in this one, lots of gore.  This film is actually pretty creepy and suspenseful. This is really the only film in the series that can manage to actually make my feel uneasy while watching. It’s really dark with a gloomy mood to it; you can tell they were going for a darker film after Halloween 5. This film is different from the others, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a bit of a fresh take on the Series, at least the Cult angle was. The middle “classic” Halloween part was great as well. You can’t go to off the wall with this sort of movies; you have to root the stuff firmly in the series but deviate from the normal style subtly. This film manages to pull it off Very well. Personally I don’t like the thorn story that much, but it does bring some uniqueness to this film that the others lack. Also, the mask Myers uses in tis film looks fantastic, much better then that shit they use in the last film.  The producers cut of the film is more popular with the Halloween fan base then the theatrical cut. Problem is, only way you can get a hold of that is by bootleg. From what I’ve heard, I think I would prefer the theatrical cut anyway… Producers cut sounds pretty lame.

Halloween 5 : The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is yet another addition to the Halloween franchise. It’s a direct sequel to Halloween 4 and takes place a year after the first.

The film starts right where the last left off. Apparently, Myers has been unconscious in a bum’s hovel underground for like, a year. Also, Jamie is now living in a home for disturbed children or something like that after the events of Halloween 4. Her foster parents are out of town and Rachael is getting ready to join them. Loomis is watching over Jamie at the children’s hospital. He seems to be getting progressively nuttier after the events of 4, but really can you blame the poor old guy? By the end of the film Loomis is absolutely insane! Basically, the story is that Myers comes back from his near death on Halloween and once again goes on the hunt/rampage for his Niece, who inexplicably has a psychic link with Myers. The man is quite dedicated to his niece ;) Anyway, he spends the movie stalking teenagers trying to find Jamie, either that or he’s just trying to make her suffer by killing everyone/thing she seems to care about… Thus making him an even bigger bastard then he was in the last film. A bastard with a way shittier mask I might add… Seriously it only looks good in the fisrst shot you see it in, after that… Along the way we’re introduced to a bunch of meaningless, unlikable and annoying characters. Hell, even Loomis is a total dick in this movie. Jamie is far more annoying then she was in the fourth film. She barely talks but always fucking SCREAMS! We also get to suffer with another little kid who stutters every line. We also see a mysterious man in black whom the film makers don’t even know the purpose of. Though, he is explained in the next film.

Over all this one is sort of weak, there’s not a lot of blood (though the blood that is here is pretty cool) to make up for the kind of bland plot. The body count isn’t all that high but most of the kills are pretty interesting. To bad that’s really all it has going for it. It’s not a bad film but it’s not very good either. It doesn’t add much of value to the series and it doesn’t particularly stand out among the other films.  It’s a bit slow really, some scenes drag on a bit longer then they really should. Like the scene in the barn with the kittens and some assholes fucking around. There’s actually a pretty painfully long sex scene (also in the barn, seriously this place gets more screen time then Loomis), and the only nudity you see is the guy’s bare, pasty white, hairless chest… DOES NOT DELIVER! The chick is pretty hot too. Lame. I mean it is pretty sensual and well done but it really didn’t need to be this long. I also like how this is considered a “graphic” sex scene on IMDB (and other places I’m sure, you won’t see that part on TV broadcasts) because he pulls out a condom, implying he’s going to use it. They’re actually having safe sex in a horror movie… Like, the rarest kind of horror movie sex… and it’s considered “too graphic.” That’s hilarious. Anyway, the film is worth watching if you’re a fan of the series or if you just dig slasher films, but it’s not quite as good as one, two, four or six. Oh and Michael Myers never really gets any revenge...

Halloween 4 (1988)

The reason I’m skipping over three and going right to four is because part three has nothing to do with the main Halloween storyline. Instead it’s a stand alone film. For this Halloween season however, I’m focusing on just the Michael Myers storyline. I’ll do three sometime after Halloween. But for right now, Halloween 4: Return of Michael Myers is a great film in this great series. It introduces the character we’ll be following for the next few films, Jamie Lloyd as well as portraying Myers as more of a force of pure evil rather then a human being.

The film starts on October 30th with a prisoner patient transfer. This film takes place ten years after the events of Halloween II. Myers is getting moved to another nuthouse.  After the events of Halloween II Myers is badly injured and bed ridden. Myers is moved into the ambulance where he, unsurprisingly, regains conciseness and full strength. He proceeds to kill the shit out of the doctors in the ambulance. Before he kills them however, they mention something about living relatives. They mention his ten year old niece, Jamie Lloyd. Jamie Lloyd is the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode, whom died somewhere between the events of this film and the second. Myers goal in this film is to kill her. Its pretty basic Halloween fair, Myers comes back from the dead and hunts a family member. Shortly after Jamie is introduced Loomis comes back, obviously concerned that he wasn’t notified (well, he was, but the guy in charge didn’t really take Loomis seriously) of Myers being moved, shortly afterwards they find out the ambulance crashed and everyone on board was killed. Except Myers, who is missing. This film very much sets up the “He’s not human” angle. Myers has been bed ridden, waiting for his chance to strike again, for ten years at this point. The transfer was his chance. If he were a human being his muscles would be useless at this point, but here he is, seemingly stronger then ever ( he kills a man by sticking his THUMB into his forehead!) and just as crafty as he was ten years ago. He’s also gained an ability ro teleport apparently. Anyway, Loomis confronts Myers in a gas station, trying to stop him from returning to Haddonfield. He fails miserably, Myers escapes and blows up the gas station. He’s not fucking around this time! Jamie is teased by kids for being an orphan and apparently its common knowledge Myers is her uncle (Jamie’s an orphan/Jamies an orphan/Jamie’s uncle’s the boogyman!). Kids are dicks… Anyway, Myers returns to Haddonfield and searches for his prey, killing plenty of other people along the way. The other main character here is Rachael, Jamie’s older foster sister.

Another great entry in the series! It sets up Myers as a more supernatural entity then he was in the first two films. According to Loomis, Myers is indeed pure evil. Some great gore in this one, definitely on par with the second film. The body count is nice and high and blood is plentiful! The plot is pretty basic Halloween, nothing incredibly different from the first two films. Myers goes after a family member; Loomis is on his tail, kills lots of folks along the way. The ending of this one though is dissimilar from the other two films, not to ruin to much there’s no one/two on one face off with Loomis saving the day at the end of this one and there’s a twist as well! Oh, and this is the first time Myers has a little fun and kills an entire police station! He totally takes a level in badass in this one. Seriously, he’s like a force of nature in this film, not only does he leave the whole town defenseless by taking out a police station but he knocks all the power in the town out by throwing a dude on some electrical transformer things. All this, for one little girl. No wonder this bastard is a horror movie icon! Hell, apparently masks that look like Myers are even sold IN THE MOVIE UNIVERSE itself. That would be like the real world equivalent of Halloween stores around the country carrying real life serial killer masks…

This film is highly recommended, get it now! Along with Halloween II it’s the best film in the series and a great way to keep the story going. See this now if you haven’t yet. Tune into AMC fear fest to see the first 5 films. Yes, even three which I’m not going in to right now.

Early Helloween (part one)

Helloween is an extremely influential band for the genre of Power Metal as well as Speed Metal. Helloween sort of created the genre of Power Metal and defined its sound, every Power Metal or Speed Metal band out today owes a little bit to the first two Helloween releases. Today I’ll be focusing on Helloween’s extremely influential self titled EP and their First proper album. A bit odd, both came out in the same year the EP in March and the album in October. 

Band - Helloween

Album - Helloween EP

Genre - Speed/Power Metal

Year - (Early) 1985

Country - Germany

A little intro referencing Halloween III then we’re thrusted into Starlight. As soon as the vocals come in, you notice that Kai Hansen isn’t… really… the best singer… But it’s ok, because the EP has a very raw, underdeveloped sound to it that the sorta kinda crappy vocals complement. It actually seems like the bands getting better as the EP goes on. Anyway, Starlight is a great opener, lots of energy to it. Murderer and Warrior are both short fast songs. Murderer is a little bland to my ears; Warrior however is a great song! Great riffs and a very catchy chorus as well as other great vocal melodies make this song great. Victim of Fate is one of the best songs on this EP. The first part is a speed metal assault and then it goes into a mellow part with some creepy, hissing vocals. Love this part! Then it goes back to speed metal assault mode with lots of soloing, great song. Could be a bit faster though >_> Cry for Freedom starts with a cool ballad type intro, but proceeds to kick into a wild Speed Metal massacre! Awesome riffs and amazing lead work make this song leap out in front of the pack, it’s amazing!

Lots of great Speed Metal riffs and even a few that sound almost thrashy. The lead work here is great, plenty of great leads here. The bass playing really stands out here which is unusual for power metal, then again this EP was kind of the first thing out of the gate when it comes to Power Metal. It’s a shame more Power Metal bands don’t make such good use of their bassists. He doesn’t just follow the guitars, instead going all over the place to fill out the sound. Drums are pretty basic, but get the job done. As I stated earlier the Vocals are a bit crappy at times, but it adds to the raw, unpolished sound of the EP. This is a great release from a very important band I highly recommend it. This is an insanely important release in metal history! It’s pretty hard to find on its own, but it’s usually sold combined with…

Band - Helloween

Album - Walls of Jericho

Genre - Speed/Power Metal

Year - (late) 1985

Country - Germany

Another great release from these wacky German’s! After an intro reminiscent of the one for starlight your ass is immediately kicked by Ride the (fucking) Sky! Such a great speed Metal song. Right off the bat you can tell Kai has gotten better at vocals. The riffs are sweet, the vocal melodies are perfect and there are even some good backing keyboards during some parts of the song. Lead work is great. A perfect song to kick off a great album! Reptile is a bit of a let down after the Immense first track. It’s an alright song but not particularly memorable, it kind of sounds like a song German speed/thrash metalers RISK would do. Guardian’s is a great, fast, melodic tune with great guitar work and very prominent bass. Great bridge bit in the middle too! Phantoms of Death is a bit of an epic tune, with a very similar sounding main riff to Maiden’s Two minutes to Midnight. A fair bit of Keyboards in this tune but they’re never distracting and used tastefully. It’s a pretty long song (hence the epicness), but it holds your interest. All the longer songs on this album tend to hold your interest because it never starts to get old due lots of riff changes and plenty of soloing. The bridge is fast n wild with plenty of soloing. Metal Invaders is another pretty melodic speed metal tune. Actually a very melodic tune, especially when the bridge comes in. The guitars in the middle of this song are a bit overwhelming. Its short and sweet but till has a lot of sweet riffs. Gorgar is a mid-paced, heavy tune, which is a good contrast to the rest of the album which in pretty much a speed metal paradise. Very Cheesy chorus, but its alright, metal should never take itself TOO seriously. I mean the song is about a killer arcade machine anyway so… There’s also a little lead break in the middle referencing the classical score “Hall of the Mountain King” which is a great touch. Heavy Metal (is the Law) is one of my personal favorite Helloween songs. I can’t tell you how much I love this song. I once pulled a muscle in my back I was head banging so hard to this song! It’s just like, a perfect metal song. It’s a mock live song, as in played live in studio with crowd noise added in later. The guitar work is amazing and the bass is even better! Definitely my favorite Helloween song bar none! The album probably should have ended on that note. How Many Tears is kind of weak. Not a bad song really, great lead work as usual and there’s a balladesque part about halfway through. It kind of starts out with nothing special you know? It makes up for it in the later half of the song though! It’s very reminiscent of Victim of Fate. Oh, there’s also a bonus track on some releases called Judas. Great song! Vocals and riffs are very much in tune with each other and lots of sweet riffs and leads. Definitely should have been on the album proper! The album could have used Judas instead of Reptile.

Great album these are pretty much essential if you like Speed, Heavy or Power Metal. These guys did pretty much invent Power Metal as we know it today. If you’re a Power Metal fan and you don’t have these two releases you kind of owe it to yourself to check out your roots. Its way better then any shitty modern “Flower Metal” band out of Europe anyway ;)

Here are some stand out tracks from the EP

Here are a few from Walls of Jericho





Enjoy! Part two will be about the Kiske fronted Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. Expect that next week sometime.

Halloween II (1981)

I SHOT HIM SIX TIIIIMES!!!!

The second entry in this series is another classic; we learn more about Michaels intentions and get to see way more carnage then in the first! Rob Zombie ain’t got shit on John Carpenter!  

Film - Halloween II

Year - 1981

Country USA

The movie starts off right where the first one ends and incorporates the final scene on the first film into the beginning of this one. Michael survives being shot 6 times by Loomis and retreats. After the opening credits, Laurie is rushed to the hospital. For the first half (or so) of the film the action is cut in thirds by Loomis and the sheriff’s (later his deputy’s) search for Myers, Myers looking for Laurie and scenes in the hospital. There’s not a whole lot of story for this one, it focuses much more on the action and for good reason! The first film is, basically, the set up for its sequel. It’s best to watch Halloween one and two as one long film. After searching for a while Myers finally figures out where Laurie is and goes to the hospital. The rest of the film is basically Myers killing off the hospital staff looking for Laurie. Later we learn that Laurie is actually Myers younger sister, who was adopted by the Strode’s, and thus, his reason to hunt her down. This is the film that introduces that plot point, the fact that Myers goes after his family. The rest of the series is based around this.

This is another great film in the series; I actually prefer it to the first. It’s a lot more action oriented then the first one and has a faster pace. It’s probably the best film in the series. There’s A LOT more blood and a higher body count in this one, its pretty great. The blood is never excessive however, which is great too. There are, of course, plenty of scares. I highly, highly recommend this one, its essential for anyone who likes horror. Also, I highly recomend viewing the first film and this one back to back.

Halloween 1978

Halloween is one of the greatest classic horror films of all time. it spawned 8 sequels an awful remake and a sequel to that remake. John Carpenter and Moustapha Akkad are the masterminds behind these great films. This is a spotlight on the original 1978 classic that introduces us to Michael Myers and Dr. Sam Loomis whom we’ll be following throughout the rest of the series as well as Laurie Strode, the main character from these first two.

Title - Halloween

Year - 1978

Country - USA

The film opens up in 1963 with Myers sister, Judith, and her boyfriend messing around on the couch. Quite the horror movie staple now a days, I’m sure it was still somewhat fresh in ’78. Anyway, we see them go upstairs, presumably, to do the nasty. The camera acts as Myers eyes as he picks up a knife and a clown mask, he puts the mask on and proceeds up the stairs. Either Judith’s boyfriend in a minute man or she just likes to brush her hair before sex, when Mike (the camera still acting as his eyes) gets upstairs she’s sitting naked at her vanity brushing her hair. He proceeds to stab the shit out of her. He walks right out the front door and stands on the lawn while his parents pull up. We finally get to see Michael as a little boy dressed in a clown outfit with a bloody knife and some VERY confused parents. Scene zooms out to black, the proper movie starts. That’s it, that’s his origin story and it’s perfect. It’s what makes Michael Myers Michael Myers and its perfect.

Thus, the reason why the remake fails so hard… It tries to give Myers a background story a “more developed” origin story. The problem with that is that he simply doesn’t NEED all that. It completely goes against the concept of the character. Originally the character simply snaps one fateful Halloween and decides to kill his sister. THAT’S IT! His parents are on screen for no more then half a minute and they’re perfectly normal, middle class all American parents nothing abnormal about that. Myers came from a normal suburban family, snaps and kills his sister. This is the basis for the whole character. This is what makes him scary. Rob Zombies version of the back story goes on to piss all over the Myers name. But I’ll go into that some other time.

Anyway, its now current day (aka 1978) and we get to meet Dr. Loomis, who is headed to the nuthouse where Myers has been locked away in for 15 years, When the car gets there all the patients are roaming around outside, Loomis gets out and goes to the gate, leaving the nurse who was driving alone in the car. Myers jumps on top, pulls the nurse out and steals the car. How does he know how to drive? It’s because he’s pure evil and pure evil can get away with that sort of thing. That explanation can be applied to any question you could have about Myers in this film, he’s pure evil, as explained by Loomis, and he’s back to kill on Halloween night. If you don’t like that explanation go watch another movie, perhaps one that requires no imagination. Later we’re introduced to Laurie and her two friends. One is a dumb, bubbly blond chick and the other is a bitchy brunette chick. Later still we meet the blonds boyfriend. Myers comes into town and causes havoc, watch and enjoy =D

Great, great film! An absolute classic and for good reason as it’s one of the first slasher films and an example for all the rest to follow. This film isn’t particularly bloody, it relies more on suspense. Their really isn’t even a huge body count. The plot is great, it may be a bit formulaic but you have to realize that this is one of the first slasher films so it was fresh and new at the time. Not to say this film hasn’t aged well, it’s still a great film. The musical score in great as well, perfect horror film soundtrack! Some nice tits in this film as well, just throwing that in there. Honestly the film is a bit slow, not much really happens till the later middle half but that isn't to bigf of a deal. This movie is sort of a set up for the rest of the series (atleast the next film) so you can forgive it for being a bit slow. If you haven’t seen this, you’ve either lived under a rock since ’78 or don’t like horror movies. If you haven’t seen this I implore you PLEASE watch this, its far better then the awful remake. If you’ve seen it before though, none of this is news to you. Stay tuned because I’m doing the whole (Myers) series this week.

All this week...

Every day is Halloween =)

I'll be posting a feature on one of the Halloween films every day this week so stay tuned! Also, plenty more albums to feature as well!