The Halloween Sequels

In celebration of the Halloween 2018 trailer being released click here I thought I’d deliver my thoughts on the sequels. None of the sequels hold a candle to John Carpenter’s original classic. There are things to like in the follow-up series so they are worthy of checking out but they haven't aged well, the original is the one that has timeless quality that was never matched. I am looking forward to the new film in October 2018, it's a brand new sequel to the original that will omit all the other sequels - plus Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, as well as original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle and while John Carpenter is executive producer. I’ll talk about the original 1978 Halloween in a separate review probably when the new film is released.

Halloween II (1981)

I like that it starts right where the original left off and continues events on the same night. Unfortunately the style change between the two is noticeable, the slow pace and suspense has been replaced with more gore and jump scares. The side characters take up a lot of screentime and they are all clearly just there to be killed off. The brother-sister twist seemed so unnecessary, Loomis is told this and it's not brought up again for the rest of the film, we don't even get to see Laurie's reaction. The latter sequels and even the remake series do make better use of the twist but this just feels like an afterthought, even John Carpenter admits he was drunk when he came up with the idea. Laurie is pretty wasted in this film, she just stays in a hospital bed for most of the film until the third act when she gets to shoot Michael. Loomis’ sacrifice at the end is pretty awesome.

Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)

This is a very good as a stand-alone film but it doesn’t belong in the series. I get they wanted to make the series into an anthology series, but fans weren’t having it and wanted Michael back. I think if they hadn’t made Halloween II then this anthology idea might have worked out. It’s very creative and original and deserves to be looked at.

Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988)

It's ok but this film is really just a rehash of the first two films. Jamie Lee Curtis wanted to move away from horror films, so they killed Laurie off and the new target for Michael is Laurie’s daughter Jamie. Danielle Harris is very talented and Jamie is a likeable character to route for and being a child does help raise the stakes. Her foster sister Rachel is also a likeable character. Dr Loomis returns and appears to just have scarring on half his face and a limp after a major explosion, but it’s still Donald Pleasence and he’s still awesome. Michael’s mask looks ridiculous and very cartoonish. The ending is excellent with Jamie in the clown costume stabbing her foster mother being a major callback to the prologue to the original.

Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989)

This undoes the excellent ending to Halloween 4, Jamie didn’t kill her foster mother just wounds her, she’s not become the new-Michael she's just temporarily insane due to a psychic connection to him. Michael has been unconscious the past year looked after by a hermit and gets a new mask, which is just as ridiculous. Rachel is wasted and is killed off early on and we have to follow this obnoxious character Tina that you just can’t wait to see die. We return to the Myers house that looks nothing like the original, which just goes to show they weren't even trying. It sets up a load of questions they had no intention of answering yet – What is that mark on Michael’s wrist? Who’s the man in black who released Michael at the end? What happens to Jamie at the end?

Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995)

Gives terrible answers to the questions left in Halloween 5. Michael’s mark is from the cult of Thorn, who cursed him to kill his family, the man in black is Dr Wynn from the mental hospital. Jamie has been kidnapped by the cult, imprisoned for years until she’s old enough to carry Michael’s child- yes it's just as disgusting as it sounds. Apparently many of Donald Pleasance's scenes got cut down which is an insult as he died during post-production. Danielle Harris got treated poorly so did not reprise her role. The whole film is just a mess, the editing is terrible and the gore is ridiculous. On the plus side Paul Rudd plays Tommy Doyle, the boy Laurie babysat in the original. 

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

After Halloween 4, 5 and 6 the series got so ridiculous that they decide to omit them from continuity and go back to basics. Therefore no Jamie or cult of Thorne. The movie is very 90's and tries to follow the self-aware slasher trend after Scream. While this is one of the better sequels I don’t think it holds up well. Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie and she is awesome, everything to do with her are the best parts. Laurie is sill traumatised 20 years after the event, she’s an alcoholic and a medication addict. She’s also a single mother to a teenage boy John and is headmistress at a private school. She’s been the victim all of her life but when Michael shows up again, after running she decides enough is enough and has a final showdown with Michael. The film also features then young talent Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Undoes Laurie's triumph in H20 in a ridiculous way, Laurie has killed the wrong person whom Michael switched clothes and mask with. Laurie has been in an institution and has another showdown with Michael and is killed 15 minutes in. According to Curtis, she was in this film as part of an agreement so that she could have Laurie kill Michael in H20 but she would have to retcon it in this. Then it becomes a reality show film set in the Myers house, which is not a bad concept for a slasher film but it belongs in the wrong film series. On the plus side, the production designers actually made the effort to make the Myers house look like the original, unlike 5 and even 6. Busta Rhymes is very annoying as the reality show producer, the new protagonist Sarah is 1-dimensional and boring and her friends are obnoxious.

I like Rob Zombie’s remake series, they’re no classics but I like that he makes them his own. I’ll probably review them at a later date as it’s own series and not part of this series.