Halloween Ends

Last night, I saw “Halloween Ends,” which was released in theaters and on the paid tiers of Peacock for 60 days, two days ago. How is this conclusion to this continuity of the franchise? Let’s find out:

The legacy of the “Halloween” franchises cannot be understated. After John Carpenter’s original film was released in 1978, it created a surge to the horror genre unlike any film made prior. While influence from “Black Christmas” and “Psycho” was noticeable, the unique visuals and subject matter opened the door for slashers to be introduced into the mainstream. More than forty years later, the effects of “Halloween” are still impactful to this day. This made the release of David Gordon Green’s 2018 reboot a must-watch. Seeing how well received it got was amazing. The 2021 “Halloween Kills” was not met with the same acclaim, but continued to tell the story of Green and collaborator Danny McBride. The final film in their trilogy was released, and “Halloween Ends” will definitely be a troublesome one for years.

Picking up four years after the events of “Halloween Kills,” Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis) and Alyson (Andi Matichak) have been moving forward. After the murder of Alyson’s parents, the two finally found some peace in Haddonfield. One day, Laurie meets fellow outsider Corey Cunnigham, played by Rohan Campbell, being ganged up by high schoolers one day. Laurie brings Corey into Alyson’s office for medical attention, and the two young adults start a relationship. However, as Corey and Alyson begin to get closer, Laurie begins to see signs from her past. With Michael Myers still out there, there is reason to worry in Haddonfield.

Alan French said in his review, “The story of Halloween Ends seems primed for Rob Zombie levels of reception. The way the story unfolds, Green and McBride seem keen on shaking up the franchise. However, this also leaves many purists on the outs. To some, Halloween is dependent on copious amounts of Michael Myers, and Halloween Ends does not play bring this aspect about in a traditional sense.” Myers lurks over the film in about every scene, but the shape does not always take on the role of primary villain.

At the same time, Green and McBride continue to find the themes they’ve made to look at since the 2018 reboot. A lot of this “Halloween” forces Laurie Strode to look at her character’s strengths and weaknesses. French said, “She seems to have moved on, but there’s a lingering question of paranoia to the detriment of her other relationships. Curtis once again delivers an introspective and haunting performance, one that easily ranks amongst her best in the franchise’s history.”

French continued, “That paranoia and fear does not stay with Strode, but instead has infected all of Haddonfield. After the dozens of deaths at Myers’ hands in Halloween Kills, the cast is almost entirely reset.” Besides Curtis, Matichak, Kyle Richards, and brief cameos from Will Patton, the rest of the ensemble changes completely. This gives “Halloween Ends” with a challenge of covering the path for new characters in the supposed finale of the franchise. This becomes a burden on the film, and slows down the pace so much.

The majority of the story comes through Corey, and your connection to him as a performer will definitely make you to not like this film. French said, “While he seems sincere early in the film, his ability to maintain his charm dissipates. While this seems to be an intentional choice of the filmmakers, it also hurts our ties to our perspective for most of the movie. If anything, they put their finger too heavily on the scale, and the red flags stunning obvious to everyone except a single character. Playing a Romeo and Juliet story arc does work, and left this critic cold.”

French continued, “Additionally, the setup required to deliver this story eats up more than half the film. In many ways, this feels like a showdown that would have been welcomed as Part 2 of the trilogy, while Kills feels more like the epic conclusion.” Instead, those wishing to see a faceoff between Michael and Laurie should be shown “Halloween: H20,” which gives this part of the story in more exciting ways.

There will be many who like the direction and shared questions that “Halloween Ends” looks at. However, for the conclusion of this franchise and Curtis’ sendoff for Laurie Strode, there are some legitimately confusing decisions. French said, “The kills and violence that does cross the screen makes for some extremely entertaining and wild moments.” Sadly, the final film is a messy, unfocused conclusion to the forty plus year franchise.

This was really a mixed bag, confusing film. Why focus more on Corey and his relationship with Alyson, and not have Michael in the film that much. Isn’t this supposed to be a “Halloween” film, why is he not the main focus? However, if this is supposed to be the final film in the franchise, the way it ends is the most satisfying. It doesn’t end the way everyone thinks, but the way it does is fine enough. If you want to check it out and don’t want to go to the theaters, see it on Peacock, since it will be there for 60 days.

Thank you for reading my review today. Look out tomorrow for the next installment in “M. Night Shyamalan Month.”

Halloween Kills

Last night, I saw “Halloween Kills,” which came out in theaters and on Peacock (for 60 days) on the 15^th. I decided to check it out on Peacock and not go to the theaters, so I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

Richard Roeper started his review by saying, “For those of you keeping gore, I mean score, at home, Michael Myers a.k.a. The Shape from the “Halloween” movies will be celebrating his 64th birthday in a few days, but the relentless killer behind the white mask remains in remarkably good shape. I guess a steady appetite for destruction and gruesome kills keeps one slim, trim and grim.”

If there’s one thing the residents of Haddonfield, Illinois, should know by now, it’s that about 60 years after six-year-old Michael murdered his teenage sister Judith, 35 years after Michael went around murdering people in the late 1970s and just hours after he killed more than a dozen locals, he has changed into something immortal, something completely indestructible, something as strong as a comic villain. Roeper noted, “And yet when a diminutive, portly, escaped mental patient who looks like an unkempt Wallace Shawn wanders into a hospital where an unruly mob has gathered and the poor soul starts wobbling around, the townsfolk think this guy is the evil entity who has wreaked so much carnage, and they start chasing him around as if they’re in a bad “Frankenstein” sequel.” Come on, mob!

Roeper said, “That’s only one of the head-scratching, unintentionally comedic, ludicrous developments in the thudding disappointment that is “Halloween Kills,” the follow-up to the exciting and clever 2018 reboot/sequel that marked the return of Jamie Lee Curtis and was a direct sequel to the 1978 original.” You can forget about “Halloween II” and “Halloween III” and “Halloween H20” and every other sequel, and consider this the third movie in this alternate universe of the franchise, with many callbacks to the 1978 and 2018 films and many characters who were children back int eh 1970s and almost escaped Michael’s knight and are now adults who are still haunted and want this for of evil to finally end and die.

Good luck with that.

“Halloween Kills” starts right after the events of the 2018 film, where Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) trapped Michael Myers in a safe room in Laurie’s house and set the place on fire. As Laurie is rushed to the hospital with a stab to her abdomen, she sees firetrucks driving to her home and screaming, “Nooooo! Let it burn!” However, emergency responders arrive at the house just in time for Michael to come out of the burning basement and thoroughly take them out, one by one – and he’s once again loose on the streets of Haddonfield on Halloween night, ready to stab, jab, gouge, punch, and kill anything in his path.

With Laurie (and thus the great Jamie Lee Curtis) sidelined in the hospital, “Halloween Kills” changes the protagonist to Tommy (Anthony Michael Hall), who was one of the kids Lauire was babysitting on that famous night in 1978 and meets up with so many other survivors in a bar on Halloween night every year to raise a glass to Laurie and to insist the locals to never forget, or something like that. Another subplot involves a gay couple named Big John and Little John (Scott MacArthur and Michael McDonald, respectively) and get this: They’ve moved into Michael’s childhood home and completely renovated the place from top to bottom. Roeper noted, “On Halloween night, Big John and Little John break out the charcuterie plate, smoke some weed and watch “Minnie and Moskowitz,” I kid you not, and they’re woefully unprepared when Michael comes a-knockin’ on the back door and then the front door.”

As Laurie and other characters give really hard speeches about the true look of evil and how there’s strength in numbers but if the townsfolk aren’t careful, they’ll become as evil and savage as Michael himself, the Masked One carves a bloody path through Haddonfield, killing characters who behave as vacuous as the victims in countless of other typical slasher movies. Roeper said, “Granted, there are some darkly entertaining and strange moments, e.g., when Michael suddenly develops a Hannibal Lecter-like flair for the dramatic, arranging a murdered couple in the same pose they struck for a framed photo on the mantle and dropping the needle on a turntable to play “Can I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life?” by Anne Murray.”

Now wait, we’ve just heard from a police man who had the chance to kill Miachel in 1978 but missed his chance – and this guy says Michael is a six-year-old boy with the strength of a man who acts like an animal. How did he suddenly get so sophisticated, with the bizarrely arranged corpse displays and twisted musical selection?

It’s almost like “Halloween Kills” is an erratic, chaotic mess.

For a sequel to the 2018 film, which was the best sequel in the franchise, this one just gets an average rating. I was expecting better from the film, but this one just ended up being a disappointment, like many of the other sequels. That is why I do not recommend you to go to the theaters to see this. Instead, if you have the paid version of Peacock, see it on there, since it will be available on there for 60 days.

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you enjoyed today’s review. Enjoy trick-or-treating tomorrow night. Look out next month to see what I will review next.

Halloween (2018)

Tonight I went and saw the new “Halloween” movie, which came out last week, and now I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

Slasher films have never been particularly scary, even in their prime around 1975-85, which David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” tries to celebrate. Richard von Busack said in his review, “Like flaunting the silly Satanic emblems of heavy metal, it was more of a tribal custom—and the deeper you were in the country, the more their paraphernalia repelled boors and evangelicals.”

Busack continued, “John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) flaunted the same old Knifey McKniferson that all later sequels and ripoffs came to use. But it was better looking than it needed to be, and keyed up with an unsettling synth score.” It’s main star, Jamie Lee Curtis, had a scary traumatic experience, getting viewers into the right state of mind even before the teens get killed.

The 2018 movie ignores all of the sequels, saying that Michael Myers has been in a hidden state since he was arrested at the end of the original “Halloween.” We see him, played by Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney, in a mental asylum, where the patients are chained to cement blocks the size of car engine blocks. His inner murderer is summoned by two British podcasters calling themselves investigative journalists, played by Rhian Rees and Jefferson Hall. To try and make him speak, they wave Myers’ now rundown pale mask at him.

Laurie Strode, reprised by Curtis, always knew he’d come back. She’s now old and hiding in a house in the woods she build. Dealing with the visiting English reporters, Laurie shakes off the guilt about how her own daughter Karen was taken away by child services when she was 12: “If she’s prepared for the horror of this world, I can live with that.” Being haunted by an immortal murderer might be hard to think of. Busack said, “It's a little easier to understand the horror of being raised in a bunker by a prepper.”

Now an adult and married, Karen, played by Judy Greer, is a mother trying to keep everything normal, and not doing a good job. It’s evident that Michael’s last victim will be Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson, played by Andi Matichak. The men will be the victims, from Alyson’s father (Toby Huss), filled with dad jokes, to psychiatrist Dr. Ranbir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) and Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), to Cameron (Dylan Arnold), Alison’s boyfriend, who’s Halloween costume is Bonnie Parker while Allyson goes to Clyde Barrow. Busack noted, “Green and his co-writers are aware of the gender-switch in this slasher for 2018: the men die, and the women turn the tide.”

Busack continued, “Green (Pete's Dragon, et al) isn't a brilliant pop-up engineer, but he provides a great deal of texture, and a credible idea of how the cycle of violence turns. The vivid autumnal colors give this a chill, and the titles are played over a reverse time lapse of a jack o'lantern rotting: coming back from the grave, or at least the compost heap.”

Myers, nicknamed “The Shape” to make an already scary threat even more, is filled with the usual contradictions. Busack noted, “He lumbers like Frankenstein's monster and yet he's faster than the eye can see.” Green gives the film some room with quiet moments, such as the nice dialogue between Allyson’s friend Vicky (Virginia Gardner) and the young boy she’s babysitting (Jibrail Nantambu). Two slacking cops on watch (Charlie Benton and Christopher Allen Nelson) discuss sandwiches. One says that it’s the bread wrapping that makes it a sandwich. Inside could be anything from Vietnamese tidbits to peanut butter. Busack mentioned, “As critic J. Hoberman once noted, the slasher audience was the most democratic audience in the world: They didn't care who got it, as long as someone got it.”

Busack commented, “So per Hoberman, the killings are the bread.” However, the filling in this sandwich is Curtis’ one strength and weakness leading up to one of her PTSD breakdowns at a celebratory dinner for Allyson. Her Laurie is both weak and frightening.

It’s easy to see why some fans were dissatisfied with this: They went to see a horror film and they started to see a drama. Some of the murders have emotions to them. Some of it is a little frustrating. Busack said, “Laurie, who turned her house into a stockade of closed-circuit cameras and floodlights, nevertheless keeps the interiors dark; most people wouldn't give that monster a square inch of shadow.”

“Halloween” isn’t scary, but like the film that made it, it’s moody. Busack ended his review by saying, “What does survive is the malice endemic to the genre. Here is the pessimistic side of the ancient cinematic pleasure of watching Buster Keaton or 007 bouncing back from certain death. Here, instead are a series of morbid resurrections, featuring the unkillable quality of motiveless, mute, faceless evil.”

Now in all honesty, I think this might be the third best in the franchise. I don’t think the original two movies will ever be topped, but this one is perfect to watch after the original movie. If you watch the 1981 “Halloween II” or this movie, either one will leave you satisfied with how it ended. However, the more I think about it, I think this new movie might be the best of all the sequels. I don’t think anymore need to be made, but if they are planning anything else, I wouldn’t be surprised. However, I can finally say that I like a movie in this franchise after a long string of bad sequels. To reassure everyone, you are safe enough to go to the theaters to watch this movie and not feel like you wasted your money watching this.

Thank you for joining in on my review tonight. Stay tuned next week to see what movies I will end “Halloween Month” off with.

Halloween II (2009)

Is there a reason to remaking “Halloween?” For the first half of Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake, the answer looked like it was yet, within limits, as Zombie went deep into killer Michael Myers’s origins. Tom Russo said in his review, “The material wasn’t so much jolting as absorbingly weird, full of the low-res ’70s horror vibe on which the rocker-turned-filmmaker has built his screen (and music) career. Then the full-grown Myers returned home, and the homage turned slavish.”

With his 2009 sequel, “Halloween II,” Zombie spends less time paying tribute and more time being new, with mixed results. The story starts exactly where the first one left, with blood-covered, traumatized Laurie Strode sent off to the ER, and her murdering brother, the giant Michael, assumed dead. After a tribute to 1981’s original, hospital-set “Halloween II” (the only sequel where original director John Carpenter had worked on), the events goes ahead one year, with Laurie now a tattooed, rock-star piece of work haunted by nightmares that Myers is still after her.

Michael does come back, obviously, his head constantly having weird visions. Russo mentioned, “There’s Freudian stuff about white horses as symbols of chaos, and whispery exhortations from his dead mother - Sheri Moon Zombie, the director’s wife - to get the family back together.” Would you say that this is silly? Sometimes, but the dream sequences help to add something new to the standard slasher genre, and at their best have a sideshow spark that feels like Tim Burton doing straight horror.

Russo mentioned, “Other effective touches include a costume party scene that later supplies the excuse for a fetishy climax featuring Taylor-Compton in a “Rocky Horror’’ maid’s outfit. Meanwhile, Malcolm McDowell reinvents Myers’s shrink, Dr. Loomis, as a shallow true-crime author who hounddogs women at book signings.”

The abundant violence, as always, is an attack – even auditory, as every slashing knife strike is made to sound like something huge was dropped somewhere. The ads all say this is the franchise’s “final chapter,” but despite Zombie trying – or because of them – only the most die-hard fans will have a hard time succumbing to that.

Oh boy, what a movie. You have to go into this one thinking that you’re watching garbage, weird garbage with weird sick freaks talking about making out with dead corpses, weird Michael doppelgangers, weird White Horse subplot, weird dream sequences, and even a cameo by parody singer “Weird” Al Yankovic. This is probably the most bizarre sequel ever to be released by a mainstream studio. Also, the Halloween theme music is sorely missed in this movie.

I had seen the theatrical version and that had Michael going around with the traditional mask, but when I saw the extended and deleted scenes on the Special Features, he doesn’t have the mask on and instead goes around like a hooded hobo. All of that must have been in the Producer’s Cut, which also has a different ending than the theatrical version, and the Producer’s Cut ending actually looks like the definitive cap, although I did hear they were planning on releasing a new movie this year, but that didn’t happen. Maybe next year, but we’ll see.

Well, that concludes my “Halloween-a-thon.” I have finally reviewed this franchise, and I think you should watch it, even though certain sequels, if not all of them, did get progressively worse, but there are ones that are better. Stay tuned later today when I review another movie for “Halloween Month.”

Halloween (2007)

Just another bad Halloween sequel that can’t come close to the original shady slasher thriller in bringing some type of originality to such garbage, though it sure does try. It’s too long, dry, manipulative, not funny, poorly shot and edited (comes with a ridiculous false ending), and pointless.

Dennis Schwartz said in his review, “Director Rob Zombie ("The Devil’s Rejects"/"House of 1000 Corpses") in 1985 founded and sang for the group White Zombie until their disbandment. He now sings solo and makes films.” Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of John Carpenter’s 1978 independent slasher/horror film, a cult film classic that’s said to have started the genre of teen slasher movies, is interested in scaring its audience at the expense of any detail or shooting for any type of psychological tension or making things horror film scary. Zombie likes to think his “Halloween” as a re-imagining, as he puts his own stuff on the film by filling it with an overdose of graphic violence and a new take on the infamous killer child for evil, Michael Myers. Schwartz noted, “He resurrects the slasher killer and has him now with an unbearable loveless white trash family, a penchant for wearing multiple masks, having fun with animal torture and someone who in childhood talks back to express his anger with his family and the world when there's still a slight chance of reaching him.”

When we first meet the scary 10-year-old Michael Myers, played by Daeg Faerch, he’s part of a dysfunctional southern family that is high with abusive behavior. He’s also bullied at school by higher grade boys. His dancer mother, Deborah (Zombie’s wife, Sherri Moon Zombie), not capable of being a mother, is a prostitute and her boyfriend, Michael’s stepdad, Ronnie (William Forsythe), is a stinking alcoholic who is evil and bullying and enjoys calling him a “faggot.” Michael’s obnoxious uncaring horrible teenage sister Judith, played by Hanna Hall, treats him like dirt, while his baby sister Laurie is the one in the family he seems to like only. One Halloween day in the 1960s, Michael puts on a clown mask and in the woods corners and beats to death with a think piece of wood a school bully who recently picked on him. Next, after he returns from a trick-or-treat outing in his clown mask, he ties with duct tape the sleeping drunk Ronnie and cuts his throat with a kitchen knife. After that, he takes a baseball bat to Judith’s boyfriend Steve, played by Adam Weisman, and beats him to death. Finally, he stabs Judith to death by inserting a knife into her abdomen. The only ones to survive the murders are his mother, who was working in the adults club at the time, and his infant sister Laurie.

Michael is sent for a life sentence to the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis, played by Malcolm McDowell. Loomis at first gets Michael talking but a later murder with an attendant makes the treatment impossible as Michael turns to the dark side and doesn’t speak a word for 15 years. He even shows up at his therapy sessions wearing a mask.

Michael Myers, now played by Tyler Mane, has spent 17 years in an asylum, alone in his cell, when he escapes by seriously killing all the cops (one of the janitors that was good to Michael is played by Danny Trejo) transferring him to a different building. The institution wanting to prevent any bad press keeps his escape quiet from the public. To the rescue comes Loomis, who heads to Haddonfield, Illinois, because he still feels guilty of not treating Michael after all those years of therapy and wants to right a wrong by stopping Michael before he goes off murdering more people. The extremely dangers 6’10” murderer finds his old family house is abandoned and boarded up and used by teens as a place to make out. His baby sister Laurie, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, is now a ditzy high school senior. He doesn’t realize she’s been adopted by a more normal small-town family. Her mom committed suicide a few years after the infamous Halloween incident. Soon Michael finds Laurie (don’t ask how, since it’s never explained. Don’t ask how Michael gets by walking through town with a big knife in his hand without being stopped by the police) chatting with her desperate boy-wanting girlfriends. Both Laurie and Annie (Danielle Harris), Sherriff Brackett’s (Brad Dourif) daughter, are babysitting this Halloween and Annie wants to drop the kid (Jenny Gregg Stewart) off at Laurie’s so she can be alone to sleep with her boyfriend (Max Van Ville). Kristina Klebe plays Laurie’s other friend. The body count soon begins to increase in the town as Michael returns home in murdering mode and his later meeting with Laurie turns into a scary blood-covered family reunion.

Schwartz said, “Zombie's vision is a misguided effort to be all splatter.” He makes Michael a victim of his childhood and environment, and focuses completely on Michael as someone who was pushed over the edge to become a heartless murderer. Schwartz mentioned, “It leaves room to be nothing else but a misogynistic and sadistic offering of "torture porn," where it shows all the violence but can't tell anything about such a crazy dude that means much.” The silence is too much.

Even though the negative stuff I have to say seem to outweigh the positives, I still think you should check it out because if you like grindhouse-style films, then this one is for you. You might think the killings seem comedic since Michael isn’t “ninja-like” with it anymore, and the Halloween theme is used too much and too early. I didn’t care if Michael killed anyone in this film, seeing how the characters, even Laurie herself, didn’t come off as likable. Also, Sid Haig is in this movie. This is not one remake that I liked, but I still say check it out. I know it may be considered trash, but just think you're watching good old-fashioned trash.

If you can believe it, Rob Zombie actually came out with a sequel to this film. Stay tuned tomorrow for the finale of my “Halloween-a-thon” when I look at the final film in the franchise in this year’s “Halloween Month.”

Halloween: Resurrection

“Halloween: Resurrection,” released in 2002, the eighth film with every sequel John Carpenter’s 1978 original continues to get pale and have its name pulled further into shame. In this one, six college students (Thomas Ian Nicholas, Daisy McCrackin, Katee Sackhoff, Luke Kirby, Sean Patrick Thomas and Bianca Kajlich) are chosen by TV producer Freddie (Busta Rhymes) to spend a night in serial killer Michael Myers’ (Brad Loree) home as part of a haunted house type webcast. Can you guess who decides to make a cameo?

Harry Guerin is right when he stated in his review, “89 minutes long and none of them scary, Rick Rosenthal's attempts to bring a 'Blair Witch' edge to Halloween fall flat mainly because the series became 'Three Stooges' style horror a long time ago.” The beginning with Laurie guesses that this will be at least watchable but once he kills her (maybe since he’s indestructible, it might run in the family) it’s one cliché after another.

Guerin said, “Rubber heads and lines are the order of the night as Myers becomes miffed at the home invasion and gets the wrong idea about the term 'student body'. Doing his bit to make sure the world cutlery market never experiences a downturn, the heavy breathing yet incredibly fit knifeman goes on the rampage - until the brainy Kajlich realises that it's probably best to escape Chez Myers.”

Little is needed of anyone except to scream or look good, with the casting of Rhymes, super model and TV host Tyra Banks and “American Pie’s” Thomas probably the most alarming thing about the movie. Despite that some fine camera work within the dark hallways of the house – it’s a shame that what the lens is following would bore you to sleeping.

If there’s any life left in Michael Myers maybe someone with a big of thought can make a prequel to wash this bad taste since 1978. Other than that, just kill the man already.

As you might have guessed, this is the worst in the “Halloween” franchise. We don’t like the college students and we don’t care if they get killed by Michael or not. It’s a shame that Jamie Lee Curtis got Laurie killed off in the beginning of the movie, but you know what, I’m happy they did so that she didn’t put herself through another bad sequel. This one definitely can get a pass since you will not like this one at all. There is nothing saving this film from being so painfully bad.

Whew, it’s a relief I finally got that over with. Alright everyone, last night I saw the latest installment in the “Child’s Play” series, so I will review the film later today. In the meantime, I have to clean my thoughts out of this film.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Talk about visiting the past.

Because there is nothing like making box office movies to bring back a favorite slasher villain, Michael Myers, the William Shatner-masked villain of the 1978 John Carpenter horror classic, “Halloween,” has come back from the supposed dead to slash his way through the 1998 film, “Halloween: H20: 20 Years Later.”

The “H20” subtitle is often confused for the chemical formula for water. The letter and numbers are just a shortened way of letting everyone know that this takes place 20 years after what happened in the original.

Lawrence Van Gelder stated in his review, “For horror film devotees eager to know how this unseasonable visit from the darker spirits of autumn rates, frankly, it's more marketing trick than moviegoer treat.”

Gelder went on to say, “Though most of the action is routine and heavily dependent for suspenseful atmosphere on dim lights, billowing ghostly white curtains, rustling leaves and under-illuminated hallways and rooms, the big gimmick of ''H20'' is the return of Jamie Lee Curtis of ''Halloween'' and ''Halloween II'' (1981) as the prey of the homicidal Michael Myers (Chris Durand).”

In the latest sequel, directed by Steve Miner, a resident of the “Friday the 13^th” franchise, the former Laurie Strode is living under a new name, Keri Tate, and works as the principal of Hillcrest Academy, a protected high school in Northern California. She is also the single mother of John, played by Josh Hartnett, who, turning 17, is exactly the same age Laurie was when she first went against the traumatic moment in 1978.

Laurie has never forgotten what happened. She has nightmares, drinks alcohol a lot and has a medicine cabinet filled with prescription pills. Gelder said, “John, a student at her school, chafes against her possessiveness and uneasy fear that her ordeals have not ended.”

As what is shown, she’s right about that.

With the start of the 1998 Halloween season, most of the school leaves on buses for a field trip at Yosemite National Park. However, what Laurie doesn’t know is that John has planned to stay behind at school. Like mom, who has planned to spend the evening with her boyfriend, Will (Adam Arkin), the school counselor, John has planned a romantic, candlelit evening with his girlfriend, Molly (Michelle Williams from “Dawnson’s Creek”), and their friends, Charlie (Adam Hann Byrd) and Sarah (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe).

Throughout all of this, Michael Myers has been killing people to get to the school.

“Halloween H20” has some fun by inserting Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother and star of Hitchcock’s classic “Psycho,” as one of the school staff, which gives her the chance to start their conversation by saying, “If I could be maternal for a moment” and going on to say, “We’ve both had bad things happen to us.”

“H20,” written by Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg, also has some fun with rapper LL Cool J as Ronny, the school’s security guard, who is writing a loving romantic novel while apparently make sure its electronic gate keeps the students in and the monsters out.

Gelder noted, “But the throwaway jokes are few and far between, and after a pre-title sequence reintroduces Michael and shows just how far up suspense and thrills can be ratcheted, ''Halloween H20'' declines into the routine.” Nobody is going to be surprised by who survives and who gets killed.

The only question is whether the dead will stay dead.

In all honesty, if you want to skip the sequels after “Halloween 2” and see this one, by all means you can, and see how the series “should” have ended. However, I do have to say that this one definitely is still making the series go downhill, sadly. None of the sequels have come close to being as great as the first two movies were. I’m sorry to say that this one is not better than any of the other sequels, it’s still getting worse. If you want to not see this one, you’re not missing anything, so it’s alright to skip this one.

Well, unfortunately it won’t get any better now. The reason why is tomorrow we are going to talk about the absolute worst in the “Halloween franchise.” I know I’m not looking forward to it either. Just hold on to your vomit bags because the sooner we can get it over with, the sooner we can continue to better installments. Let’s just brace ourselves tomorrow for the continuation of “Halloween-a-thon” in “Halloween Month.”

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

“Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” released in 1995, is a mess in storytelling, but director Joe Chappelle does do an agreeable fall savoring to this otherwise ordinary fifth sequel. Set six years after “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers,” 15-year-old Jamie Lloyd, now played by J.C. Brandy, has disappeared, having been scared off by Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) and his friend, the mysterious Man in Black (Mitchell Ryan). After giving birth, Jamie runs outside in a rainy night (it’s Halloween night, obviously) with her newborn, succeeding in secretly hiding him away after getting impaled on a farm tool. Having heard Jamie’s voice on the radio begging for help, an adult Tommy Doyle, played by Paul Rudd, locates the baby at the Haddonfield bus stop the next morning. In a sudden twist (or just poor writing), Tommy coincidentally lives across the street from the Myers house, now housed by the dysfunctional Strode family, relatives of Laurie’s parents. Despite everything, single mother Kara (Marianne Hagan) and six-year-old Danny (Devin Gardner) – not to mention Kara’s mother (Kim Darby), father (Bradford English) and brother Tim (Keith Bogart) – have no idea of their home’s dark history. Dustin Putman stated, “Did I mention Haddonfield is gearing up to celebrate Halloween for the first time in over half a decade?” “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” pays respectful honor to the original the entire time – Danny, like Tommy, drops a pumpkin as he walks home from school. Kara and Danny run across the street and start knocking on the door to be allowed inside as Michael is closing in behind them – but the film is taken down by a ridiculous planning involving warlocks, druids and Thorn that don’t even belong in a movie about a villain who is supposed to be “purely and simply evil.” Donald Pleasence, in his final screen role before he passed, reprises one last time as Dr. Sam Loomis, but gets a disrespectful send-off in the movie’s final act.

Here’s a special note Putman put at the end of his review, “A controversial Producer's Cut (or P-Cut, as it's called by those in the know) of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" has been bootlegged around for years. This was to be the released version until the powers-that-be chopped it all up. Having seen the P-Cut myself, I can say that it is no better than the theatrical version, with a much-changed climax that nonetheless is still a disaster of story holes and asinine writing. If anything, the theatrical cut is slightly better, with a cool, moody rock-tinged music score of the well-known original themes and peppier pacing. Both, however, leave a lot to be desired.”

I have heard about the Producer’s Cut when I saw James Rolfe’s review on this film a few years back. I have only seen the Theatrical Version, so I have no idea what goes on in the Producer’s Cut. Although I do hear that it’s probably worse than the Theatrical Version, so I think I might be better off not knowing what goes on when watching the Producer’s Cut, even though certain questions are answered, but more are asked.

Anyway you look at it, “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” is a mess. This, in my opinion, started the downhill slope when it came to the franchise. People like to call this the “Thorn Trilogy,” which it can be, but I also like to call this the “Jamie Trilogy,” because it focuses on her. However, this is first in the series that I say to skip because you will not like this one at all. You will instead be asking what you’re watching and ashamed that they made the series go this bad.

Well everyone, just look out tomorrow when I look at the installment that came out on the 20^th Anniversary of the first film that actually would have been nice if they left it off there in the continuation of “Halloween-a-thon” in this year’s “Halloween Month.”

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Assumed to be dead after getting showered with bullets by the Haddonfield police, Michael Myers, played by Don Shanks, is secretly taken care of – and returns a year later to start back with his murder. He once again goes after his young niece, Jamie, who’s recovering in the local children’s hospital after attacking her stepmother, played by Karen Alston, and losing her voice. Jamie’s mental link with Michael may be the key to continuing the family trait.

The residents of Haddonfield, Illinois now have to go up against the revenge of Michael Myers. Doing exactly the same thing “Halloween II” did, this installment picks up exactly where “Halloween 4” left off. “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers,” released in 1989, exactly one year after the last one, with many characters return in here as well. Dr. Loomis returns along with Ellie Cornelle, Danielle Harris and Tina Williams (Wendy Kaplan).

After the traumatizing events of “Halloween 4,” Jamie is now in a children’s clinic being watched by Dr. Loomis. This nightmare was evidently a lot for the 9-year-old to take in, so she has not spoken a word. Michael, assumed dead after being blown by dynamite in a mine shaft, has been in a coma for an entire year while being taken care of by a hermit, played by Harper Roisman, on the edge of town. (Apparently the Haddonfield police department did not go for a good search in the town.) To continue with the Myers’ story and to make another sequel, Michael awakens on Halloween Eve, kills the hermit, and then goes to find his nice. Only this time Jamie can feel what killings her uncle is doing.

Jamie’s mental connection with Michael gives the story an interesting twist, and is not a complete redoing of the “good overcome with evil” trait. Her stepsister Rachel is back, but only for a short time. Michael ends up killing her in the first 20 minutes. Austin Hinderliter stated in his review, “Can you say BIG mistake? After the release the producers acknowledged their error by killing off Cornelle’s character. Hey, at least they admitted a fault. But it was nevertheless sad to see such a beloved character go.” Now that Rachel has bought the farm, we see her friends for the rest of the film: the 80’s icon Tina, the airhead Samantha (Tamara Glynn) and their boyfriends Michael (Jonathan Chapin) and Spitz (Matthew Walker). Hinderliter said, “For the first time in a Halloween movie, the characters are all cardboard cutouts.” The only thing they want to do is get drunk and make out. Somehow everything still seems to work. That might be because every character is surpassed by the amazing performances from Pleasence and Harris.

Continuing the story, “Halloween 5” is also famous for bringing a new character – the mysterious “Man in Black,” also played by Shanks. He has a Celtic symbol tattooed on his wrist, which looks exactly like the one Michael has on. (I think that was seen in the later sequels.) Nobody, even the crew during production, knew what his reason was. This character would be responsible for leaving the ending with questions for a sequel. Many say this subplot ruins this film. I agree with Hinderliter when he said, “But the “Man In Black” does not bother me, in fact I think he works to Halloween 5’s advantage.” The movie has a mysterious theme in it anyway, and this just does that.

In between the “Man in Black” walking through the streets of Haddonfield, Michael edges toward Jamie. She continues to feel he’s there throughout the film and with the help of a friend, Billy Hill, played by Jeffrey Landman, tries really hard to save Tina and her friends from being murdered by Michael. With most franchises, “Halloween 5” tries to give Michael some human feelings. Hinderliter said, “I find it to be effective here, because we as the audience feel the family connection between Jamie and Michael. Family is forever after all. Although I am not too fond of Michael being unmasked.” The final scene has a three-way fight between Jamie, Michael and Dr. Loomis in the old Myers’ house that is sure to please any fans of the Halloween franchise.

Hinderliter stated, “Now, let me enumerate the flaws of the film. Bottom line, it feels rushed. Going into preproduction directly after the release of Halloween 4, there was not much time to get the script perfected. And sadly it shows. The pacing is irregular at times, and some mistakes in continuity and editing are strikingly obvious. At times the words do not match up with the actors mouth even. Apart for the sparse Halloween decorations the movie doesn’t have much of a seasonal theme. Even though the film is set in October, the leaves are all green. But they were the same in the original, so I’m willing to overlook that. Overall though, this was a solid and grounded film.”

There are obvious errors in continuity connecting this with the fourth movie. The major one being Michael’s mask, because they change it from film to film. Hinderliter said, “I actually favor the mask in this entry over the lackluster one in H4. Another drastic difference is the Myers’ house, which has been transformed from a humble two story house into a multiple story Gothic mansion with wrap around porches and towers. Again, a change I do not have a problem with. The sequence with Dr. Loomis exploring the mansion is a personal favorite of mine.” Let’s not forget about the famous laundry chute part. That is suspenseful, claustrophobic and undeniably one of the more edge-of-your-seat scary moments in the series. Could all of that worked in the small house they made in the original? Most likely it would not have.

“Halloween 5” separates itself from the franchise when it comes to atmosphere and story. In all honesty, this actually works very well. Hinderliter said, “Girard brings a European feel to make this film stand out from the rest.” Let’s not forget the interesting opening credits, with the severe carving of a pumpkin with a butcher knife. That is, hands down, the strongest credit sequence in the franchise. Hazy lighting, Gothic houses, dropping shadows, and creaking barns give “Halloween 5” a stylish and successful sequel in this ongoing horror series.

I know that people didn’t like this film, but I personally thought this was better than the fourth. I do acknowledge the faults, like throwing away the idea of how the fourth film ended. However, I think the makers thought that they would be repeating the same plot threads if they made Jamie go down the same path as Michael. With her not speaking for the first 45 minutes, I thought was really effective. I actually feared for her throughout the film, and I liked the connection she tried to make with Michael in order to make him human. I do get that he should look more burnt and zombie like, but I don’t know why they made his face look normal. Plus, I think he was trying to be human, especially since he didn’t really hurt Jamie, seeing how it was his niece, so he was being like Two-Face that was fighting his split personality. Goes with the Thorn symbol they were doing. Definitely see this one and give it a chance.

Well, I’m sad to say it’s all downhill from here. If you want to know what I mean, check in tomorrow for the continuation of “Halloween-a-thon” in this year’s “Halloween Month.” Also, review to come later today since my brother and I went to see a movie that is based on our favorite toy product.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

After the wrongfully hated “Season of the Witch,” Moustapha Akkad and crew simply restarted the Halloween storyline by completely remaking the first film. While it does add some new stuff, “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,” released in 1988, is half restart and half remake. It’s also the start of another story arc about Michael and his evil mark of Thorn. After Michael was burnt in the second movie, Michael has been in a coma for a decade and is kept under high supervision in a hospital. During a transfer, Michael, played by Tom Morga in this scene, is now conscious and kills every guard that gets in his way. Dr. Loomis returns and looks into the ambulance crash Michael was in. While the police are sure Michael died in the crash, Loomis is determined that Michael is still alive and is out in the public.

We see young Jamie Lloyd, an adopted and disturbed little girl with a weak personality who is close to her foster sister Rachel, played by Ellie Cornell. Continuously haunted with nightmares and visions of Michael Myers, she wants to forget her problems with Halloween preparations, as Rachel also has relationship problems with her boyfriend, played by Sasha Jesnon. Jamie is an interesting and very convincing character with a nice back story that makes her the perfect follow-up to Laurie Strode. That is because we find out she’s Laurie’s daughter.

Danielle Harris (who was very adorable in this movie) gives a very realistic and brave performance as young Jamie who has trouble with the scary dreams of Michael, while giving one of the greatest screams in horror movie history. Harris manages to turn Jamie into a heroine we can cheer for and sympathize with, and she successfully puts the viewers in her trouble. Like Laurie, Michael, now played mostly by George P. Wilbur, is sadly the person she has to fight alone. He’s quickly traveling all the way to Haddonfield once again. For some reason, Haddonfield is still just a quiet town and has done nothing to recover the Myers curse at all. The residents are still wearing his mask during Halloween. You would think the town would not allow the mask after what Michael has done.

Felix Vasquez stated in his review, “Nonetheless, director Dwight H. Little manages to evoke some sense of tension every so often, with Loomis’ attempts to warn police about Myers re-entering Haddonfield, while Jamie and Rachel become victim to Michael’s murderous rampage. Once again under Akkad’s presence, Michael becomes another routine masked slasher who has a knack for doling out some painful murders, and “The Return” is changes its narrative mid-way from a stalk and slash to a suspenseful mission involving Rachel’s efforts to keep Jamie alive.” Even though this is not the best in the franchise, it’s an enjoyable slasher film with a very good final scene that takes the cake compared to the other titles in the franchise.

Despite this was a superfluous entry in the franchise, it’s actually not a bad film. It’s good, and if you were one of those people that wanted Michael Myers back after the third movie, your wish has been granted. So if you didn’t like the third one, you’ll like this one. I personally think the third one was a good movie that was wrongfully hated, but I think this one is better.

Check in tomorrow when we look at another wrongfully hated entry in my “Halloween-a-thon” in this year’s “Halloween Month.”

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

“Halloween 3: Season of the Witch,” released in 1982, is one of the perfect examples of expectations being beaten. Jeffrey M. Anderson stated in his review, “By that, I mean that audiences were disappointed by what they didn't see rather than what they did see; and in their disappointment, they failed to register what it was they actually saw.” This happens quite often in movies, especially in sequels and remakes. Basically, filmmakers had the idea that in this movie they didn’t want to create new Michael Myers stories, and decided to start a new series of Halloween-themed movies that told different, new stories, each year. That idea was discarded after this movie because irritated fans saw that Michael Myers wasn’t in here.

It wasn’t the fact that this movie was filled with hilariously bizarre ideas, some really dark, horrific stuff, and some completely insane stuff. Tom Atkins plays Dr. Daniel Challis, a divorced dad who spends more time at work flirting with nurses and drinking beer than he does with his kids (Joshua John Miller and Michelle Walker). A strange man, played by Al Berry, checks himself into the hospital holding a rubber Halloween mask. Before long a strange man in a suit, played by Dick Warlock, kills him and then goes kills himself in his car. The dead man’s daughter, Ellie, played by Stacey Nelkin, arrives and decides to look into the creater of the mask. Her father ran a store that sold the masks. For some reason, Dr. Challis goes with her.

They arrive at the factory, located in a small town and the boss is Conal Cochran, played by Dan O’Herlihy. They sleep in the hotel room and then take a tour of the factory. Clearly Cochran has some secrets. What’s really happening is that he has stolen so much of Stonehenge, and is using parts of it inside a computer chip attached to each mask. Then he airs a dangerous television commercial with a catchy jingle. When the children wear the masks and watch the commercial on Halloween night, their faces will melt and (weirdly enough) roaches and bugs will come crawling out from under their masks. The man in the suit earlier apparently was really a robot and Cochran has made an army of them.

What’s odd is that the movie looks like John Carpenter made this. Director Tommy Lee Wallace had been a production designer and editor on the original “Halloween,” and Carpenter was around on this installment as a producer, an uncredited co-writer, and as a co-composer for the scary, synth soundtrack (co-composed by Alan Howarth). Anderson noted, “Wallace uses the widescreen similarly to Carpenter, the wide composition creating a sense of false security, with threats hiding just outside of frame.”

The real deal to this movie is its strange depiction, combining all those dark, different scares, and building up to a really dark ending as Dr. Challis tries to get every TV channel to stop airing the commercial before it’s too late. Anderson said it best, “The movie isn't exactly scary, or even gory, but it's rather unsettling, and it's rooted in that old standby that evil corporations are out to get you, at any cost.” However, after thirty years of bashing, “Halloween 3: Season of the Witch” is starting to gain the status of a cult film from slasher fans.

I agree with James Rolfe when he stated that this film isn’t as bad as everyone said it was. I understand that people were mad because Michael Myers wasn’t in it, but I actually would have accepted the idea of the filmmakers going off on an anthology and telling separate stories about people returning Halloween to its sacrificial origins. Imagine all the horrible stuff that can happen on Halloween night? Why did fans want more of Michael Myers, especially when the final act of “Halloween 2” felt like it ended it off perfectly right there? Maybe because they loved slasher villains so much that they wanted more of that. Well, jokes on them because the series really started to go off in a bad direction from here.

If you want to know what I mean, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. In the mean time, definitely watch “Halloween 3” and give it a chance because this film has been, like the second one, wrongfully hated and shouldn’t be. Instead, try and accept it for at least trying something new, like I did. When you watch the film, you won't stop singing the jingle Happy, Happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock.

For those who are probably wondering what I mean by bringing back Michael Myers in the next sequels, stay tuned tomorrow to find out what I mean in "Halloween Month."

Halloween II (1981)

When “Halloween” became the highest-grossing independent film of all time when it came out in 1978, it was given a sequel that wouldn’t be long from then. Still, how could a sequel even try to meet the success of the previous film, a horror masterpiece that helped heavily in the creation of the slasher genre? Well, it doesn’t. “Halloween II,” released in 1981, is great for many reasons; the first of it being its frightening visuals, but it’s not “Halloween.” However, the first two films in the series are about the same feel, pace, tone, atmosphere, and look, which is all the more useful seeing how they take place on the same night. Dustin Putman stated in his review, “Viewers could edit "Halloween" and "Halloween II" into one three-hour epic, the latter picking up immediately where the former left off, and the transition between pictures would be nearly seamless.”

When Michael Myers disappeared after Sam Loomis shot him six times off the Doyles’ balcony, Loomis runs from the house to try and catch up to his escaped patient’s path. As Michael silently makes his way through the neighboring houses, stealing a knife from the old, sandwich-making Elrods, and killing another victim in the home-alone Alice, played by Anne Bruner, a wounded and frightened Laurie Strode is taken by ambulance to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Putman said, “It isn't long before Myers has reached the medical center himself, determined to find Laurie even as he paints the staff red.”

Directing from a screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, Rick Rosenthall masterfully has tried to copy the at purpose but fascinating pacing and overall feel of “Halloween.” Supposedly, it wasn’t Rosenthall but Carpenter who did the post-production reshoots to add more violence and gore effects in the film. Of course, this is one of the problems of “Halloween II” that separates it from the original, not having the control and doing everything in showing people being burnt alive or having too much oxygen inserted in their head. Putman said, “Even as Carpenter misguidedly tried to compete with the most graphic "Friday the 13th"-style movies of the era, he could not destroy the classiness with which Rosenthal mounted the majority of the picture.” Whatever happened to Rosenthal in the short-term is beyond people. He came back for the horrendous “Halloween: Resurrection,” which is what everyone says is the worst in the series, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

Now about this madman who just is targeting three teenage girls, “Halloween II” happens to give him a certain objective and a more thorough back-story. As such, as Laurie is put under anesthesia and scarily tosses and turns in her hospital bed, she dreams of a childhood that shows she is Michael’s kid sister, adopted by the Strodes’ not long after Michael killed Judith and only knowing him through short visits to the mental asylum as a little girl. Putman said it best, “This certainly lends weight to the relationship between Michael and Laurie during the taut climax—a scene where Laurie waits for elevator doors to open as Michael approaches steadily from behind her is especially suspenseful—even as this plot hook was solely created for the sequel.” Until the final act, Laurie has little to do but be in a hospital bed and wake up for a short period before passing out again. Jamie Lee Curtis (by 1981 a complete scream queen wanting to come out to the mainstream) comes back in her role and is amazing when her character is awake. There is also a cleverly threatening story point, several times said, where head nurse Mrs. Alves, played by Gloria Gifford, tries to call Laurie’s parents to tell them what happened. Mrs. Alves is not able to call them – this is really suspicious as the night gets really late – and it doesn’t take long in the film or any later sequel what it is said what happened to them. Putman said it best, “It is just as well; the act of not knowing and imagining the worst is far creepier than the alternatives.”

With Laurie not being in the film that long and Loomis, along with nurse Marion, played by Nancy Stephens, try to find the links connected between Michael’s behavior and Halloween, a lot of the movie focuses on the hospital setting of doctors, nurses and candy-lovers working on Halloween. As they say jokes, fights, flirt, take care of patients (there are very few seen, except for a little boy who is one of the victims of the old razorblades-in-the-apple trick), and sneak out for some love, Michael Myers sneaks through the hallways, selecting his latest victims as he moves closer to Laurie. Putman stated, “The palpable air of October 31st is all over these almost observational scenes, with jack-o'-lanterns and decorations throughout, a few scenes in town featuring passersby in costumes” – one which has Ben Tramer (Jack Verbois), Laurie’s apparent crush from the first movie, and another where nurse Karen (Pamela Susan Shoop) late for her shift and having to drop off her friend Darcy (Anne-Marie Martin) off on her way to work – and a synthesizer-heavy music score by Alan Howarth (based on John Carpenter’s themes) that basically displays horror with a look of autumn.

Putman said, “"Halloween II" holds some sloppy holes in its script that the first movie did not, such as the way the hospital seemingly becomes deserted the further the film presses on, and the fact that the electricity goes out without much mind paid to it (this played a larger part in the director's cut, which occasionally airs on AMC). If one can overlook these logistical and editorial mishaps, the film is otherwise a well-made thriller, exquisitely photographed by the returning Dean Cundey and mostly respectful to the style of the original.” Just because Michael Myers is not in the front of a camera does not really mean he isn’t there, and director Rick Rosenthal is smart in not giving these scary moments by obvious hat-tipping, but letting viewers figure it out themselves. The long third act, where Laurie is chased by Michael and sees she is weak and helpless in the parking lot of the hospital, trying to get Loomis’ help but unable to scream when the car he is in arrives at the front door, is pitch perfect in building the nervousness and pending danger.

Finishing off with a three-person fight between Michael, Laurie and Loomis (Pleasance played this role with splendid willpower) that would look like the franchise had completed if it wasn’t for money, “Halloween II” is a more than solid if obviously weaker sequel. Even with its added violence afterwards, the film still has the same basic story, with masterful builded tension the main purpose was just to put together a body count. Putman said, “For Laurie Strode, her character arc is completed here (well, until 1998's "Halloween: H20"), encapsulated in the part-quixotic, part-eerie ending credits music cue of The Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman."” She may have started “Halloween” as a weak, soft, kind of innocent teenage girl, but she brought a start of a new era as a stronger, but also more tired and scarred young woman. In the last shot of “Halloween II,” Michael’s body and mask aren’t the only things being burnt, so is Laurie’s innocence.

If you saw the first movie and loved it, you should definitely check this one out. It feels like the only one that is about as good as the first one, and it felt like it was needed, even if it felt superfluous. This is a good sequel, and I recommend this to everyone, as if felt like the definitive cap and the right ending for the franchise. Please give it a chance and I’m sure all of you will like it. Yes, this is my 600th movie review, which is hard to believe.

Check in tomorrow for an underrated and wrongfully hated entry in the “Halloween-a-thon” reviews in this year’s “Halloween Month.”