Horror Movies

[UVA_Guy81]

Yeah, it wasn't the worst of either franchise.

Now the rights are tied up in another battle:
"A quirk of U.S. copyright law allows the original author of a written work the right to revoke a copyright agreement 35 years after it was originally granted.
Victor Miller attempted to do this, and therefore reclaim the rights to Friday the 13th and its surrounding property from Cunnigham's Horror Inc., who formerly controlled the franchise. Cunningham, meanwhile, has argued that Miller's script was a work for hire, and thus according to applicable laws, the work and its intellectual property belongs to Miller's employer, and should thus remain with Horror Inc. This had led to a protracted court case, with Miller at one point winning, but Cunningham trying to overturn the judgment on appeal."

So apparently this remains ongoing in the appeal process. However there is optimism that after his court loss that Cunningham will be motivated to make a settlement soon.

I hate it when this crap happens. It has killed good franchises before. I'm still really, really pissed we didn't get another movie in the 28 Days Later franchise because the people making money off them can't agree on how it should be split up.

Yeah, I figured that on a Friday the 13th back in 2013 would've been a perfect time for the 13th overall film in the franchise. But with the legal battles going on, who knows when all of that will end and we'll get another entry in the franchise.
It's what I hate when movie franchises switch studios, more for trying to buy all the movies in the series but you have to buy them individually instead of in a complete box set.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Yeah, I figured that on a Friday the 13th back in 2013 would've been a perfect time for the 13th overall film in the franchise. But with the legal battles going on, who knows when all of that will end and we'll get another entry in the franchise.
It's what I hate when movie franchises switch studios, more for trying to buy all the movies in the series but you have to buy them individually instead of in a complete box set.

Well, we have gotten some decent fan films from the Friday the 13th series lately. The "Never Hike Alone" was really good, better than quite a few of the movies, and the "Never Hike in the Snow" was well done. The video game is/was really big. So they seem to be keeping it alive until they get their shit together and start making movies again.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Ok. Finally got around to watching Halloween (2018). I thought it was pretty decent on it's own but I understand some of the backlash for a few "issues".

In this timeline (#6 from my Halloween timeline breakdown post) everything after the first movie is gone. The next night in the hospital? Gone. The whole blood cult controlling Big Mike? Nope. Busta Rhymes verbally abusing Michael before beating him twice with his awesome karate skills? NEVER HAPPENED!!
I guess my point here is that this is both a plus and a minus, but in a franchise as convulated and retconned as Halloween does it really matter?? (Seriously. I don't know anymore!)

So it opens with a couple of Brit reporters visiting the asylum where Michael has been held for the last 40 years before an impending move the next day. Apparently Michael hasn't spoken or responded to anything in the entire time. They don't learn much but a bit of rambling about deception and evil from the psychologist who does his best to channel a bit of good ol' Doc Loomis.

We meet Laurie, who has been ptsd'd since the original night, and is a drunk with failed relationships who lives in a parnoid deathtrap of a house. We meet Laurie's family which includes the estranged daughter, her weird husband, and the grand daughter whom we follow around for a bit.

So of course the bus transferring the patients crashes and Michael escapes by killing a dad and his son who really just wanted to dance, and taking their truck. He happens to see the Brit journalists at a gas station and kills everyone to get his original mask, which the dumbass journalist had shown to Michael earlier.

Big Mike goes on a bit of a rampage, going from house to house killing folks. Police get involved. Laurie freaks out and her daughter and weird hubby go back to her fortress home with police protection. They track down the granddaughter and she gets transported there also (Don't ask how. I'll cover that in "the bad" portion), Michael kills a bunch of people, then the girls are hunted through the house. Girls escape. House burns. Movie over.

Overall I thought it was decent. Some parts worked very well. Other parts kinda sucked. Acting and direction were generally ok.

The good:
*They kept it a tight, little story with no room for a bunch of b.s., or meta stuff, or karate kicking rap stars, or massive blood cult conspiracies, much like the original.
*I thought that the broken Laurie character was portrayed very well in the writing, and Jamie Lee Curtis' acting. It seemed very realistic. It does bear to question how come she never got the help she needed but it was pointed out that she had refused any such support.
*The story as a whole is good. There are some issue in the details and execution along the way. The overall idea works well though.
*High quality fxs when they used them. Some nice kills and blood stuff.
*A good Michael mask! You wouldn't think this could be an issue but it has been in the past. More than a couple times.
*The movie is dark and a little gritty, which contributes well to the tone.

The bad:
*According to some things I've read Michael caused the bus crash. In the version I saw the bus was already crashed when the dad and the son who just wanted to dance stumbled onto it. What really happened? I don't know. They didn't clarify at all.
*Off screen kills. Way to many kills occur off screen. That sucks. At least they had the decency to show quite a few of the post kill body displays. I wonder if there is a better cut of the movie that puts the kills back in.
*For all of the training and preparation to kill Michael that Laurie has done over the last 4 decades, her house and set up is a bit eh in my opinion. She built a hidden cellar, but it really isn't very secure (plus she gives away the location by shooting up through the floor). She has some cool stuff set up, like the room door bars, but I felt it was a bit lacking.
*The replacement Dr. Loomis (Sartain?) and his crazy turn was ridiculous. It was an obvious plot contrivance to get the granddaughter to the house but it could have been done in a much better way.

Some other stuff:
*Lots of references, easter eggs, etc. I won't go into details here, but many, many of the same shots and homages from the series are used and done well. But this is a divisive topic as many liked it, but many others thought it was too much.
*Nick Castle, who played the original Michael (The Shape), makes a return to the role for a couple scenes. Also P.J. Soles returns as a teacher.
*Danny McBride(!) spearheaded, and was a main writer of this project.
*Two more on the way! Halloween Kills next year, and Halloween Ends the year after.

I'll go 6.5 - 7 range out of 10. I would put it solidly at #4 in the movies of the franchise.

As far as timelines go, I wish that they could have incorporated the events of Halloween 2 into this one. It would have explained her ptsd, and Michael's being obsessed enough to hunt her down as she would be his sister. I can understand why they didn't as they wanted to move away from that aspect. Also trying to explain away Michael's eye injuries and death by massive fire stunt would be iffy at best. But I will withhold judgement until I see how this timeline plays out over the next 2 movies.

See I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also went in knowing... and actually liking that they got rid of the other movies. I always felt that they were generic horror filler to the story, I mean watch the original and tell me why a death cult would come into play. It just seemed so far of a reach it made it inherently dumb to me, kind of like the Dream Warriors in Nightmare on Elm Street. We can look at that and know its dumb, difference is that Freddy talks and is often hilarious which makes up for a fair amount of silliness with a different type of silliness lol. And I could pick stuff like that out throughout the other Halloween sequels too, but I won't do that here.

Also, I don't really understand the house sucking. I liked it. She shot through the floors because the ultimate plan was to trap him in the basement. While it may have seemed stupid at the time, with the way it ended, it made sense. Also, without the other sequels, it makes sense that they would think trapping him in a room on fire would be mostly enough. I kind of agree in regards to the doctors turn being a little much, when it happened I was like... 'well of course' - meh. I would also agree that the greatest strength was it's gritty play towards realism. Going forward, I just hope they continue to do it right and don't overblow it with making him some unstoppable monster. Don't get me wrong, I want him to be unstoppable, but as a fan, it is that small belief inside of you that wants him to be stopped... well, to appear human. Basically, just keep it as realistic as possible lol.

This movie felt like it was specifically made to build a story whereas the other sequels always felt like they were just made to be filler, to profit as much as it could off of the original. I gave it an 8/10 or a 7/10... don't really remember.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

I watched The Rental last night. Annnnd I have mixed feelings. I like how it ended, but can admit the ending didn't add anything to the story. As a matter of fact, there isn't much to the story at all as nothing really comes together. I think I liked that it seemed somewhat realistic, that this is how a

Spoiler

serial killer

could do things in todays world. Nothing seemed far fetch, yet nothing seemed to matter either. I felt that the acting was ok, but the movie definitely felt lacking as well. Idk, like I said, mixed feelings.

I would probably give it a 5 or maybe a 6 if I was feeling generous out of 10.

Have any of you seen it, what were your thoughts?

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Unhinged (2020)... Russell Crowe is a madman! Pretty wild sequence of events in this one, and frighteningly realistic. Some moments felt a little implausible, but it was passable. Side note: my wife & I debated for the first half hour whether or not Crowe was wearing a body suit or if he really put on that much weight. He was pretty chubby for the filming, but he had to be wearing additional padding.

He was somewhat heavy in Nice Guys (amazing movie btw) so I think it was legit weight gain. I haven't looked into whether or not it is real, but I also don't see a character building or movie reason in general why that would matter too much. The weight never seemed to be a factor in the movie as far as him doing or accomplishing anything.

The Rental (2020)... Somewhat slow, and didn't care much for the entire first half of the movie. Not a bad watch though once things pick up a bit. I was laughing pretty hard at the scene where they are trying to dump the caretaker off the cliff. Yes I am morbid.

See my post before this lol. I chuckled a couple times throughout the movie, but walked away not sure how to feel. Like I mentioned, I liked it, but still felt it lacked.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

If you are a horror aficionado you definitely need to see TCM. It is low budget, gritty, and "dark" (not lighting) as hell.
The original Hellraiser and Hellraiser 2 are both very good imo. Everything else in the series is questionable to complete crap. So if you saw later entries in the series you might have seen a film abortion, such as the recent Hellraiser: Judgement. It is complete crap.

I’ve seen a few of the TCM movies (the reboot with Jessica Biel the last one) so going to try to watch the original some time by the end of the weekend since it’s on Tubi right now.
The Hellraiser movies I watched were some of those DTV releases back in the late 90s-early 2000s. I think the ones I saw had Dean Winters and Nick Turturro in them.

Fun fact: the only TCM movies I have seen are the Jessica Biel one and the one with Matthew McConaughey.

But I don't claim to be a horror aficionado, but I enjoy watching horror movies.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Oh. I forgot my other Halloween (2018) complaint!
*Michael is suddenly and obviously left handed! It never happened before, and he actually switches back to being right handed at some point. Ambidextrous? Developed his left in lock up? Hmmmmm.....

Dude lol... I think of myself as a relatively harsh critic for most movies, at least in the aspect of writing (story and dialogue), but I didn't even notice. Of course it had been YEARS since I had seen a Halloween flick when I went and saw the newest one.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

See my post before this lol. I chuckled a couple times throughout the movie, but walked away not sure how to feel. Like I mentioned, I liked it, but still felt it lacked.

The 2nd night where the blondie was on molly was pretty damn funny... But the cliff scene was so much funnier. Yelling F-ck after they realized it didn't make it into the water, and then the love tap on the head from that 2nd boulder... lol.

The entire 1st half of the movie wasn't tense at all, and the mystery element held little water. It wasn't until the intro of the shower cameras did things finally get interesting. But even then it was somewhat blah. The slasher-style finish was pretty abrupt so the tension just didn't build right.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

The 2nd night where the blondie was on molly was pretty damn funny... But the cliff scene was so much funnier. Yelling F-ck after they realized it didn't make it into the water, and then the love tap on the head from that 2nd boulder... lol.

The entire 1st half of the movie wasn't tense at all, and the mystery element held little water. It wasn't until the intro of the shower cameras did things finally get interesting. But even then it was somewhat blah. The slasher-style finish was pretty abrupt so the tension just didn't build right.

I agree. This may sound weird, unintentionally, but I liked how it seemed to be an instruction manual for a modern day serial killing. I was trying to explain it to someone at work and I kept saying... nothing mattered in the end. Everything that does happen between all the characters.... none of it matters.

lol so strange.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Fun fact: the only TCM movies I have seen are the Jessica Biel one and the one with Matthew McConaughey.

But I don't claim to be a horror aficionado, but I enjoy watching horror movies.

I am flabbergasted that we have horror fans (on some level) that have seen TCM: The Next Generation, and/or the reboot but haven't seen the original! That is like saying you've seen Caddyshack 2, but not Caddyshack! (Ok, not quite that bad, but close).

I understand that Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn't for general viewing. It, kind of unfortunately imo, inspired the gritty, hellbilly Rob Zombie schlock style. But you guys have to watch it at some point. There is a reason why it is considered to be an all-time classic.

 

[returnofjakedog]

Dude lol... I think of myself as a relatively harsh critic for most movies, at least in the aspect of writing (story and dialogue), but I didn't even notice. Of course it had been YEARS since I had seen a Halloween flick when I went and saw the newest one.

I have an unfortunate tendency to pick apart certain points in movies but just suspend negative judgements on others. I'm not entirely clear as to what my criteria is, but I do know I am far less tolerant of lazy stupidity as opposed to things that might be lacking due to budget, time constraints, etc.

As far as the left handed Michael, which occurs twice that I noticed in the 2018 movie, it never happened in any of the previous versions (I looked it up and some folks out there had already delved into it), and it switched back to right handed during the same movie. It was a lazy and avoidable mistake

Overall a very good addition to the franchise. But there are numerous things in it that don't quite add up and/or are rather stupid. That added a bit of a point deduction in my own analysis. Just a bit of cleaning up of continuity, plot points, character's actions, etc and it probably would have been an 8 or 8.5 out of 10 from me (just my opinion of course).

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

I am flabbergasted that we have horror fans (on some level) that have seen TCM: The Next Generation, and/or the reboot but haven't seen the original! That is like saying you've seen Caddyshack 2, but not Caddyshack! (Ok, not quite that bad, but close).

I understand that Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn't for general viewing. It, kind of unfortunately imo, inspired the gritty, hellbilly Rob Zombie schlock style. But you guys have to watch it at some point. There is a reason why it is considered to be an all-time classic.

Well, I have seen Caddyshack lol.

See that might be part of it. I do not like Rob Zombie movies... like at all. The only one that I thought was even worthy of a complete watch was... I think The Devils Rejects, but I might be mistaken. Not big on hillbilly stuff either, but I can watch The Hills Have Eyes no problem. Idk man, TCM just never really came across my radar in watching.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

I have an unfortunate tendency to pick apart certain points in movies but just suspend negative judgements on others. I'm not entirely clear as to what my criteria is, but I do know I am far less tolerant of lazy stupidity as opposed to things that might be lacking due to budget, time constraints, etc.

I am similar. I don't know what you thought of Invisible Man, but I didn't care for it and I seemed to be in the minority here when I was posting about it (don't recall where it would be in this heap of pages).

Also... time travel movies are probably my worst. I cannot help myself from sitting back and picking them apart and why they won't/wouldn't line up in the timelines correctly.

As far as the left handed Michael, which occurs twice that I noticed in the 2018 movie, it never happened in any of the previous versions (I looked it up and some folks out there had already delved into it), and it switched back to right handed during the same movie. It was a lazy and avoidable mistake

Well, I think part of this begs the question... what was he doing? Michael isn't exactly writing and stabbing motions, I feel are pretty easy to use either hand, but I have never actually stabbed someone lol so I don't know.

But nonetheless, I was impressed that you even noticed. To be honest, I appreciate it when other people notice small things like that. Kind of ashamed I never picked up on it, but like I said, I hadn't watched a Halloween movie in years leading up to watching that, so it was never on my radar either.

Overall a very good addition to the franchise. But there are numerous things in it that don't quite add up and/or are rather stupid. That added a bit of a point deduction in my own analysis. Just a bit of cleaning up of continuity, plot points, character's actions, etc and it probably would have been an 8 or 8.5 out of 10 from me (just my opinion of course).

 

[returnofjakedog]

I am similar. I don't know what you thought of Invisible Man, but I didn't care for it and I seemed to be in the minority here when I was posting about it (don't recall where it would be in this heap of pages).

Also... time travel movies are probably my worst. I cannot help myself from sitting back and picking them apart and why they won't/wouldn't line up in the timelines correctly.

Well, I think part of this begs the question... what was he doing? Michael isn't exactly writing and stabbing motions, I feel are pretty easy to use either hand, but I have never actually stabbed someone lol so I don't know.

But nonetheless, I was impressed that you even noticed. To be honest, I appreciate it when other people notice small things like that. Kind of ashamed I never picked up on it, but like I said, I hadn't watched a Halloween movie in years leading up to watching that, so it was never on my radar either.

*The left handed thing wasn't really a big deal in the scheme of things, more of a WTF reaction. It didn't affect my overall perception of the movie.
*But the doctor thing was an unforgivable contrivance. It made no sense unless he was just batshit insane which would beg the question as to how he has functioned in his job and society for decades now. Plus using him for easy transportation purposes seems like cheap writing imo.
*If Laurie was so terrified of Michael that the ptsd screwed up her entire life then why did she stay there? This seems extremely stupid but it is actually easy to explain that by family, or love, which will make you do stupid things. Still, just friggin move to Cal or Fla or somewhere.
*The house itself was a bit ridiculous. Trap him and burn the whole thing down? I can think of dozens of other ways to destroy the Michael that wouldn't require destroying my house. Once you had him trapped it wouldn't have been that hard. Also it was a very inefficiently designed house for this kind of trap. Then filling up the many with mannequins? The rooms didn't appear to have much other purpose than mannequin storage. Strange.

Anyways, like many movies Halloween (2018) has many issues, generally smaller ones. But the two that really detracted for me was the doctor and the not that well done design for the house. Not the concept, which was very good, but the execution. I started with an 8 but I deducted a point for those 2 flaws and the sum total of other offenses and such in my review and landed on a 7, which seems a bit harsh in the retrospect because it was quite good overall. Still, the series is inherently flawed. Even Halloween 2 (1981), which I rated as the 2nd best Halloween movie, has some really stupid shit in it with the bumbling security guard and police mowing down poor Ben Trammer for no good fucking reason. Still a damn good slasher movie.

I'm just rambling away! I think Halloween is an absolute masterpiece, and I've really gone overboard on the subject during these isolating times. Go back and check out my Halloween franchise movie ranking, and a bunch of trivia stuff from a couple months ago if you haven't read them. Some interesting stuff!

 

[returnofjakedog]

Well, I have seen Caddyshack lol.

See that might be part of it. I do not like Rob Zombie movies... like at all. The only one that I thought was even worthy of a complete watch was... I think The Devils Rejects, but I might be mistaken. Not big on hillbilly stuff either, but I can watch The Hills Have Eyes no problem. Idk man, TCM just never really came across my radar in watching.

I generally agree with you on Rob Zombie's directorial efforts. I don't like his style very much.
He way too often prioritizes trying to force the audience to empathize with the "bad guys" and hate the "good guys". The problem with that is that all of the "bad guys" are all horrible assholes. It makes the watch really annoying sometimes.

But stylistically I can enjoy some of the gritty gore feel that Rob can achieve. I don't like it when it becomes overbearing and just seemingly plays for shock value but the best of RZ's style comes from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The difference is, no matter how preposterous it may seem, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre actually seemed somewhat realistic. But the dark, gritty gore isn't for everyone.

Tobe Hopper did such an excellent job shooting and editing TCM. He did some other stuff I really enjoyed like Poltergeist, Lifeforce, and The Toolbox Murders but he never really matched what he achieved on such a low budget with TCM (you could debate that with Poltergeist but there is also the theory that Spielberg actually made the direction and editing decisions. But that is a seperate discussion).
Also, Gunnar Hansen was intimidating as shit as Leatherface. Unfortunately they kind of ruined him in the sequel.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

*But the doctor thing was an unforgivable contrivance. It made no sense unless he was just batshit insane which would beg the question as to how he has functioned in his job and society for decades now. Plus using him for easy transportation purposes seems like cheap writing imo.

It has been a minute since I have watched it, but I recall feeling that the doctor had an obsession with Michael. That he basically sought him out in his professional life, ultimately leading to what we saw on screen. I agree it wasn't a strong decision without more of him in the story making it make some sense.

*If Laurie was so terrified of Michael that the ptsd screwed up her entire life then why did she stay there? This seems extremely stupid but it is actually easy to explain that by family, or love, which will make you do stupid things. Still, just friggin move to Cal or Fla or somewhere.

Well given that she took it upon herself to train, build security upgrades on her house, train her daughter, etc... I think it was more of the feeling of 'I know he will get out at some point and he will come back for me so I might as well be prepared rather than run'. But then again, she obviously had a daughter so the love option is still possible as well.

*The house itself was a bit ridiculous. Trap him and burn the whole thing down? I can think of dozens of other ways to destroy the Michael that wouldn't require destroying my house.

Well if we are only counting the original 1978 movie, I think it makes some sense. He is a stone cold killer with tunnel vision for Laurie/ anyone in his way. In the original he fell from heights, stabbed, shot, etc... and never died, tbh... he was never really slowed down. I don't think he was set on fire until Halloween 2 (though I could be wrong, been forever since I have seen the others... only really like the original and this one lol).

Once you had him trapped it wouldn't have been that hard.

Well they trapped him in the basement, there is no indication he would have stayed by the door (even though he did in the movie) and allow them to shoot him in the face or something.

Also it was a very inefficiently designed house for this kind of trap. Then filling up the many with mannequins? The rooms didn't appear to have much other purpose than mannequin storage. Strange.

I felt the mannequins were part of the trap, to confuse Michael. I didn't think there was more purpose beyond that and using them as target practice.

Anyways, like many movies Halloween (2018) has many issues, generally smaller ones. But the two that really detracted for me was the doctor and the not that well done design for the house. Not the concept, which was very good, but the execution. I started with an 8 but I deducted a point for those 2 flaws and the sum total of other offenses and such in my review and landed on a 7, which seems a bit harsh in the retrospect because it was quite good overall. Still, the series is inherently flawed. Even Halloween 2 (1981), which I rated as the 2nd best Halloween movie, has some really stupid shit in it with the bumbling security guard and police mowing down poor Ben Trammer for no good fucking reason. Still a damn good slasher movie.

I'm just rambling away! I think Halloween is an absolute masterpiece, and I've really gone overboard on the subject during these isolating times. Go back and check out my Halloween franchise movie ranking, and a bunch of trivia stuff from a couple months ago if you haven't read them. Some interesting stuff!

To each their own. I really enjoyed it and love the homages to the original via certain scenes/shots. As for my rating, I am admittedly not consistent. It is just about how I feel about it at the time I am typing it, but if I pick up on terrible writing, that is the quickest way for me to drop a movie lower. I might have to give Halloween 2 a rewatch some time. But yes, the doctor thing needed more to make sense to just shouldn't have happened.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

I generally agree with you on Rob Zombie's directorial efforts. I don't like his style very much.
He way too often prioritizes trying to force the audience to empathize with the "bad guys" and hate the "good guys". The problem with that is that all of the "bad guys" are all horrible assholes. It makes the watch really annoying sometimes.

This! So true.

But stylistically I can enjoy some of the gritty gore feel that Rob can achieve. I don't like it when it becomes overbearing and just seemingly plays for shock value but the best of RZ's style comes from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The difference is, no matter how preposterous it may seem, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre actually seemed somewhat realistic. But the dark, gritty gore isn't for everyone.

Tobe Hopper did such an excellent job shooting and editing TCM. He did some other stuff I really enjoyed like Poltergeist, Lifeforce, and The Toolbox Murders but he never really matched what he achieved on such a low budget with TCM (you could debate that with Poltergeist but there is also the theory that Spielberg actually made the direction and editing decisions. But that is a seperate discussion).
Also, Gunnar Hansen was intimidating as shit as Leatherface. Unfortunately they kind of ruined him in the sequel.

If I come across it or happen to find it without having to pay lol, I will check it out. I like Poltergeist for it being a PG style horror flick, I even let my kids watch that since I remember watching it as a kid. Of course I also watched Childs Play, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Ft13th.... lol all the known slasher flicks as a kid too, but I don't think I am going to allow all that right now lol.

Tobe also did TCM2, how was that?

Also, I wanted to ask some of you guys, do any of you have Shudder? Is it good, is it worth the price?

 

[returnofjakedog]

This! So true.

If I come across it or happen to find it without having to pay lol, I will check it out. I like Poltergeist for it being a PG style horror flick, I even let my kids watch that since I remember watching it as a kid. Of course I also watched Childs Play, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Ft13th.... lol all the known slasher flicks as a kid too, but I don't think I am going to allow all that right now lol.

Tobe also did TCM2, how was that?

Also, I wanted to ask some of you guys, do any of you have Shudder? Is it good, is it worth the price?

TCM2 was kind of an intentional parody of TCM and 80's culture (they kill yuppies early on instead of hippies, the poster for the movie is based on The Breakfast Club). by Hooper. It has it's "charms" but it isn't genre-defining like the original.
It does have balls-ass crazy performances by Bill Mosley as Choptop, and Dennis Hopper as the "hero" Lefty. Tom Savini did the fxs and there is some pretty cool stuff in it.
I would recommend it if you like completely crazy horror-comedy. But it is a totally different creature than, and not a substitute for the original.

 

[returnofjakedog]

It has been a minute since I have watched it, but I recall feeling that the doctor had an obsession with Michael. That he basically sought him out in his professional life, ultimately leading to what we saw on screen. I agree it wasn't a strong decision without more of him in the story making it make some sense.

Well given that she took it upon herself to train, build security upgrades on her house, train her daughter, etc... I think it was more of the feeling of 'I know he will get out at some point and he will come back for me so I might as well be prepared rather than run'. But then again, she obviously had a daughter so the love option is still possible as well.

Well if we are only counting the original 1978 movie, I think it makes some sense. He is a stone cold killer with tunnel vision for Laurie/ anyone in his way. In the original he fell from heights, stabbed, shot, etc... and never died, tbh... he was never really slowed down. I don't think he was set on fire until Halloween 2 (though I could be wrong, been forever since I have seen the others... only really like the original and this one lol).

Well they trapped him in the basement, there is no indication he would have stayed by the door (even though he did in the movie) and allow them to shoot him in the face or something.

I felt the mannequins were part of the trap, to confuse Michael. I didn't think there was more purpose beyond that and using them as target practice.

To each their own. I really enjoyed it and love the homages to the original via certain scenes/shots. As for my rating, I am admittedly not consistent. It is just about how I feel about it at the time I am typing it, but if I pick up on terrible writing, that is the quickest way for me to drop a movie lower. I might have to give Halloween 2 a rewatch some time. But yes, the doctor thing needed more to make sense to just shouldn't have happened.

Don't get me wrong, I also really enjoyed it and am happier than hell that we got the movie and have more on the way. I just felt that they could have done better on the points I am whining about.

I kind of wish that they had kept Halloween 2 in this timeline. It would have explained Michael's obsession with Laurie as opposed to just being the one who got away 40 years ago and just happens to be correct in her assumptions when shit goes down. But Carpenter only made the brother-sister connection out of writer's block to begin with and he never liked it. Also the massive flame stunt at the end of part 2 seemed pretty final at the time (thus Halloween 3 without Michael) as they were very intentionally killing him off so they wouldn't have to do other movies with him.

Anyways, the original Halloween was a near perfect horror movie imo. Halloween 2 (1981 version) and the 2018 movie both very worthy movies but they both have storyline flaws that could have been rectified with a little better writing and execution.

Again, go back a few months and read the long posts on the subject. It goes indepth on the timelines, the overall franchise, and a bunch of trivia. I think you would appreciate them.