Monday, 3 October 2022

Halloween - The Night Mistakes Came Home

Before Halloween Ends hits the big screen (and Peacock for a limited period), I take a visual and descriptive look at the entire franchise.

Halloween (1978)

Fifteen years after murdering his sister Judith on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium and resumes killing spree in hometown.

The devil incarnate should be 21, but end credits beg to differ.

Michael age 23
This was never fixed, not even in later releases.

Halloween II (1981)

Sequel picks up immediately after original ends.

Check out the comparison of indentation left by Michael after Loomis shot him off the balcony.


Filmmakers apparently used instant grass.

Laurie is admitted to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital through an automaic door.
Funny.

End credits still insist Michael is 23.
What's worse, Loomis says he's 21 in dialogue.
How, what and why?

Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968, not 1978.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Third outing was supposed to kick off an anthology series, but things didn't work out.

Ahead of 'The Big Giveaway', Daniel (Tom Atkins) is kidnapped by Dan O'Herlihy's loopy Cochran.

7.30 P.M.
But almost immediately after.

7:46
Next.

7:47 is fine.
Less than 15 seconds later.

7:49
10 seconds pass.

7:50
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Due to predecessor's poor showing at the box office, Michael and Loomis's deaths were retconned.

We're told that Loomis shot Michael six times (correct), then set him on fire.  Latter statement isn't strictly true, as he merely caused oxygen tank to explode.

As screenwriters ref sequel, they inexplicably 'forgot' Mikey boy took another seven bullets.

Five from Loomis and two by Laurie in each eye, totalling thirteen.

Guess after ten years comatose, mince pies 'grew' back and flesh regenerated.

Even though he was blown up and/or burned alive, Loomis miraculously only suffered facial burns.

SmithGrove should be Smith's Grove.
'Spacing' is their problem, not ours.

Police and Sheriff are two different law enforcement agencies.

Sheriff Meeker leads his deputies.
As such, livery should display Sheriff, not Police.
Myers, Michael M
Nope, it's A for Audrey.
Middle name was first revealed in Curtis Richards' 1979 novelisation of original and presumably inspired an additional scene (set 1 May 1964) in extended 1981 TV version.

I know 'M' could stand for anything, but for shits and giggles, Judith's middle name is Margaret.

End credits list Leslie L. Rohland's character Lindsey as Leslie.
Oops.

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Haddonfield Childrens Clinic
Establishment is an apostrophe short of a plaque.
The Myers house has transformed into a mansion.


Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

HALLOWEEN MURDER
Local Tot Kills Older Sister
Article talks about the Mayor diplomatically keeping a low profile, so nothing to do with headline
Jamie Lloyd Feared Dead in Police Station Massacre
3 November 1959 fell on a Tuesday, not Friday.
Article speaks of public hearings, so again, total bollocks.
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

Laurie (going under the name of Keri Tate) tells Will Brennan that Michael murdered Judith when she was 17.

Flashing back.

November 10 1947 - October 31 1963
Gravestone confirms she was only 15.
Title sequence takes centre stage.

Longtime Haddonfield resident Laurie Strode, survivor of the so-called "Halloween" mass murders in 1968, was killed yesterday in an auto accident.
Year so horny, 1978 love you long-time.

Article mentions Michael Meyers (twice).
As Americans usually graduate in May or June, this should be Class of '79
And.

In Memory of DONALD PLEASANCE
Not Pleasence?

Totally disrespectful.

Halloween: Resurrection

At the time of initial release, executive producers Malek and Moustapha Akkad claimed 'JLC was so impressed with the screenplay, that she wanted a large part in it.'

The truth is contract forced her to.

Harold, the guy in clown mask, states John Wayne Gacy died on May 7 1998.  Notorious serial killer was executed by lethal injection on May 10 1994.

Excuse for shitquel is that Laurie actually beheaded a paramedic at the end of H20, as Michael earlier stole his clothes and crushed larynx.

Jesus Christ!

Note eyes are open.
In a new scene.

Unmasked, eyes wide closed.
Opening titles misspell surname of Katee Sackhoff as Sachoff.
End credits don't replicate goof.

Email address ends .org, but should be .edu.
Halloween (2007)

Rob Zombie's re-imagining begins on October 31.  Year isn't revealed, but guess the early 90's.

A 10-year-old Michael goes on an extended killing spree and 11 months later, is found guilty of first degree murder and transferred to Smith's Grove.

When Michael kills a nurse during a visit, his mother Deborah commits suicide.

Some 35 minutes in, we jump fifteen years, where Michael escapes.

Here's the problem.

On Halloween night, Brackett tells Loomis about 17 years ago he responded to a 911 that turned out to be about the Myers woman.

Halloween II (2009)

Sequel is primarily set two years later and significantly ups the gore.

There's no suggestion this iteration of Michael is supernatural, so how did he survive Laurie shooting him in the face at point-blank range without bearing any injury?

During Loomis's book signing, Lynda's father furiously tells him that Michael butchered his daughter.  In truth, he strangled her.

Film introduces the phenomenon of White Horse, which is driving Michael to kill.  Visions are represented by his mother with titular beast and younger self.

Laurie (really Michael's long-lost sister Angel Myers), also hallucinates mother and wee brother.

This makes no sense, as she never met either at that point in their lives.

Halloween (2018)

The first in David Gordon Green's trilogy created the fifth and final timeline, set 40 real-time years after John Carpenter's original.

A notice at Smith's Grove reads:
Please insure that all items are logged in the book before dropping
Next time, please ensure that a dictionary is used.

Thank you.

Halloween Kills

Evil dies tonight!

Tell us again and we'll fucking know about it.

Film imagines and plays out how Michael was apprehended in 1978.

Uniform displays Warren County, paying homage to Halloween II (1981).
But that doesn't exist in this timeline.

Livery should just be County.
It gets better.

Cornered and with nowhere to go, Michael makes no attempt to escape.
Considering Loomis shot him six times, why isn't there any blood or damage to his clothes?
Also, phone number on sign 555-0179.
In the original, it's 555-3679.
Ranbir Sartain was born in Izmir, Turkey and died in Haddonfield, Illinois.
Toe tag should read Place of Birth, not Place of Death.
Finally.

Film uses archival footage of Annie in Halloween II (1981), but as already mentioned...
Also, Night of the Living Dead (2016).
Err, what?
VHS box art

Bonus round start.

Halloween

Anchor Bay Entertainment - 1987
On a black and unholy Halloween night years ago, little Michael Meyers brutally slaughtered his sister in cold blood.
M.I.A Video - 1996

On "Trick of Treat" night, Michael Myers escapes from the Illinois State Mental Institution in which he has been forcibly detained for the past 15 years, for the brutal murder of his sister.
Personally, I think Smith's Grove Sanatarium sounds better.
In the process Michael Myers, an assassin so mysterious and dehumanised, starts taking on supernatural attributes.
Whoa, this was never confirmed and left ambiguous.
Running time 93 mins approx.
In actuality, it's 91.
But more amusing is this.
© 1974 Compass International Pictures Inc,
Year is obviously wrong and defunct studio wasn't founded until 1977.
Media Home Entertainment Inc. - 1982

Color/90 Minutes and Michael Meyers.
Tape's label states 92 Minutes.
WTF?

Halloween II - Roadshow Home Video - 1981

Halloween 2
Australian distributor couldn't even get title right.

More of the night "he" came home! Continuing the gruesome terror of Halloween, "he" is still alive. In the semi-darkness of a hospital room she's alone... but not for long! In the ghostly, echoing corridors the murders continue.
Why is "he" and she (less speech marks - weird) not Michael Myers and Laurie Strode?

Did they have some kind of copyright problem?

Going off track, the instructions of Halloween on the Atari 2600 describe MM as a homicidal maniac and LS as the babysitter.

Special Edition Double Feature - M.I.A Video - 1992

Both films on one tape. Bargain.
But why does cover only feature Halloween?
Reverse. Reverse.

Michael Meyers and 90 Minutes.
Michael Meyers and 90 Minutes.
Sequel is 92 minutes.
Halloween III: SOTW - M.I.A Video - 2000

A patient is brutally murdered in hospital; the atttacker is promptly incinerated when his vehicle blows up in the car park.
Magnificenttt.

Halloween 4
Like all promotional material, this is not the mask used.
Same thing applies to Halloween 5.
Halloween: TCOMM - Cinema Club - 1995

Haddonfield is ready to celebrate Halloween - so is Mike Myers
Christian name is never abbreviated.

H20 - Hollywood Pictures Home Video - 1998

In a dramatic turn of events, fault lies with critic's opinion (and printing).
"Its Plain And Simply The Scariest Movie In Years" Total Film
It's wrong man.

Halloween: Resurrection - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Ltd - 2002

Jamie Lee Curtis is clearly lifted from H20.
Shaggy appearance is 'slightly' different to what we're led to believe.
This is the only time Laurie officially dies on-screen.

Could that change?

All will be revealed on 14 October.

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