With Halloween just over a month away, I decided to treat myself and picked up Anchor Bay's recently released 15-disc deluxe HALLOWEEN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Blu-ray box set, containing the eight original HALLOWEEN films and the two Rob Zombie remakes. Having only ever seen the first film, HALLOWEEN H20 and the first Zombie film, this is a bit of a gamble for me, and I'm aware that, as is invariably the case with long-running series, most people are of the opinion that the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly.
That said, the HALLOWEEN series is more or less required viewing for any horror fan, and it's always been a source of mild embarrassment to me that it's taken me so long to correct this oversight. Besides, this set includes the holy grail that is the producer's cut of HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, in addition to correcting the botch job that was done on mono audio track of the standalone release of the first film. (I sat down to watch it back in July and it would be no exaggeration at all to say that the balance between dialogue, FX and music was so bad as to render it unwatchable. I ended up watching it with the 7.1 remix selected instead.)
I'm not sure whether I'll have the time or inclination to do a write-up for each film in the series, but I'd quite like to write up my overall thoughts in the series once I've had the chance to see it from beginning to end.
Wish me luck!
:O You aint seen Halloween? (to be said in your best Hot Fuzz Nick Frost voice) Wowsers. The 1st is a gem, the 2nd iffy (but it's getting some re-evaluation these days) the 3rd unfairly lambasted but flawed and every other one pants.
ReplyDeleteOh no, I'd seen the original Halloween, H20 and the first Rob Zombie remake, but the rest of the series was completely new to me. Now I only have Halloween Resurrection to go. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for it. :(
DeleteSo far, I'd say the first is excellent, the second has a good second half, the third is interesting, the fourth is a solid but completely unremarkable slasher, the fifth and sixth are awful, the seventh (H20) would have been better if they hadn't tried to ape the success of Scream, and the two Zombie remakes are both utterly moronic.
An... uneven series to say the least.
Yeah sorry I misread your comment and realised as I'd posted. There's one instalment, Pleasance's last (so the one before H2O I think?) whose only plus point is the inclusion of indie rockers Brother Cane on the soundtrack. But yeah, uneven to the point of dire...though, dare I say it, like so many US horror franchises.
ReplyDeletePS, I've only seen the 1st Zombie remake. That was enough. I liked the exploration of Michael's life in the asylum as it focused on that preoccupation America has with its Manson like monsters, but it offered nothing beyond that at all and I didn't really rate McDowell as Loomis
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