Halloween End (spoiler free thoughts)

[The Six]

If I had to summarize it, Michael Myers shows up to a fairly run of the mill Lifetime movie a little past the halfway point.

What an incredibly shoddy "end" to a shaky-at-best trilogy of half-baked ideas half-realized in the narrative and on the screen.
It’s the problem - the biggest one - this trilogy made for itself. When they went legacy they couldn’t ignore the 40 years. And when you want to have all the contemporary themes laid on top of what was an originally a simple premise, you strip it down to being a tired old corpse.

Your thoughts? (Keep it spoiler free for those who haven’t seen it yet.)

[GH2001]

Decent beginning. Decent ending. But that middle 60-70 mins? The route they used to get to the end? I thought it was odd.

Halloween was indeed a simple premise that was made so good by carpenters talent and nack for suspense.

Not to do any kind of spoiler here but there was zero need for another antagonist. A random one at that. I saw multiple themes going on here. The evils of society, how we create monsters, how society creates these things. But also - hey errrrbody it’s Halloween, let’s get spooky. Mix em together in a bowl, introduce a new antagonist as a means to get to end, and you get a weird recipe for sure. I was ok with the end. But thought the road to get there could have been much more simplistic. With a running time of almost 2 hours, I thought it was too long. Could have been shortened 20 mins easily. Which would have opened the possibility of it being a much more direct, simple and clever means to an end.

[Kaos]

So that's over.  Ended with a dud.  Just not a good exit.  I doubt the entire saga ends, though.  There will be more. Reboots likely. 

If I were starting over, this is how I'd frame it.  It would be a trilogy, because that's the nature of these things. 

Halloween Begins
Begin the series by telling the story from Michael's perspective. That's what Rob Zombie intended to do, I think.  He just made some mistakes. He's got a very heavy, vulgar hand and his reliance on/need to showcase his wife hurt the film in the long run.  Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be.  Yeah, his second entry in the series fell off the boat badly, but his original take had a lot of potential. A lot of what I'd do here follows what he started.

So start with seeing things from Michael's point of view.  What drove him, why his psyche cracked.  How he managed to hide his growing obsession with killing and torturing animals and the final mental break event that led him to murder his babysitter.

The Halloween theme doesn't play in this movie until the very end frames when you realize he did it just to see what it would feel like, and not only doesn't regret it but now has a taste for it.

Halloween Unleashed
Second film introduces Loomis, his effort to figure out Michael and how his interactions with the child actually makes things worse.  Not in some mental asylum, but in a juvenile center probably.  The first third of the film would be on the progression from killer kid to self-made monster who feels the need to hide who he is.  I don't think I'd do what Zombie did with the mask obsession, but I do think I'd gradually show how Loomis' efforts create two personalities - and that when he kills he hides behind a mask.

Forget escaping. Against Loomis' recommendations, the board releases him when he turns 18.

The last two thirds are efforts to fit into normal society while the urge to kill still eats at him. Eventually driving him back to Haddonfield where his obsession finally leads him to kill sexy little PJ Soles. I want to know why he did it. Why did he choke out Annie and target Jamie Lee Curtis.  WHY those three? 

Halloween Forever
Third film taps into the mystique surrounding the character.  The stories that build up as he manages to escape prosecution. How the myth builds. 

He is just a man, but the killings have unmoored him.  Hones his craft and his mind into a killing machine.  But I still want to know why.  I never really accepted the random killing aspect.  Killings can be random, but need to have a reason.  Like randomly encountered people who were critical to his demented plan - whatever it is. 

The last film watches him age.  As his myth/legend grows there are copycats. Things he didn't do are attributed to him, adding to the myth.  The groupie cult that grows up around him. 

Want to explore why he continues to kill.  The connection with Loomis, etc. 

I don't know how it ends.  But whatever, it would be better than what we got. 

[GH2001]

I truly think this is what happens when two knuckleheads like Green and McBride are given full control the finish off probably the greatest horror movie arc in history. That was the biggest mistake. Letting those two do it.

[Kaos]

I truly think this is what happens when two knuckleheads like Green and McBride are given full control the finish off probably the greatest horror movie arc in history. That was the biggest mistake. Letting those two do it.

Should have let us.