Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

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Morbii
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:38 am

Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#101 Post by Morbii » Mon May 03, 2010 4:32 pm

Alphonse Doinel wrote:Thanks for this post. It's very rare that you see anyone writing intelligent things about horror films. I'll probably get around to seeing this now. Can't say I enjoyed his remake much, but I did like his first two films. They were very welcome in a sea of remakes.
I assume you mean his second film (which I'm sure was a remake of something, I just don't know what so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). The first film was undoubtedly a remake with yet another remake of a scene or two from disparate films tacked onto the end for good measure.

I will say that I enjoy intelligent conversation on horror as well: For more, there was a thread some time ago that contained several such conversations if you want to hunt it down. In addition, there was some recent activity in the Dario Argento thread that was quite interesting.

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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#102 Post by AttitudeAJM » Mon May 03, 2010 8:22 pm

I didn't think Halloween 2 was as solid as the first. Rob did too much and spread himself very thin. The Loomis portion of the film really went nowhere and was a complete 180 character shift from the last film. His turn late in the film also felt rushed.

Rob's grotesque imagery also seemed out of place. There seemed to be rage distributed in odd places. Overall I just felt that the film was a mess compared to the first one.

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solaris72
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#103 Post by solaris72 » Tue May 04, 2010 9:47 am

Morbii wrote:I assume you mean his second film (which I'm sure was a remake of something, I just don't know what so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt).
Well, The Devil's Rejects is kind of a remake of The Empire Strikes Back.

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paranoid-knight2008
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#104 Post by paranoid-knight2008 » Tue May 18, 2010 9:17 pm

Alphonse Doinel wrote:Thanks for this post. It's very rare that you see anyone writing intelligent things about horror films. I'll probably get around to seeing this now. Can't say I enjoyed his remake much, but I did like his first two films. They were very welcome in a sea of remakes.
I also wasn't really a fan of the remake. But this one is far from it. Although it is pretty necessary to understand the events in that film, this film is just entirely different completely. It's best to look at the two films like cause (the first film) and effect (the sequel) films. In this film, the characters are all changed, which is refreshing when you note other horror sequels where the characters are all getting together better with their lives after witnessing the massacre of their family and friends.
Alphonse Doinel wrote:Comparing him to filmmakers like Kubrick and Cassavetes is going too far in my opinion though. I feel he has yet to escape the genre and make a film that has something interesting to say. I think he almost went there with The Devil's Rejects, but I felt like he was trying to be clever, rather than examine the horror genre and question his audience.
Maybe I should have phrased what I said better? I am in no way comparing him to those great auteurs in terms of the fantastic work they have put out, but making the point that at least Rob Zombie has his own style to his works. You can tell you're watching a Rob Zombie film when you are. He's got his own flavor. And with this film, I think he delivers it at his absolute best. I cannot think of another American slasher film quite like this one.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#105 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:06 pm

I just picked up the Blu-Ray release of this, and I'm stunned at how awful it looks.

First off, the color timing issues are still present, but even if you were to set those concerns aside, the PQ of the long shots (and quite a number of medium shots) is shockingly poor considering how many good reviews this release received.

I realize this was a low-budget film that may have been shot on terrible film stock, but I'm not sure if that would explain everything. Again, when the camera's further out, it looks smeared and cruddy like too much DNR was applied. This is true even when it's outdoors in broad daylight - skip through the early chapters until you get to the one where Pleasance is walking out of a building with someone in the middle of the day. It doesn't look too good. Anyone else disappointed by this transfer?

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#106 Post by dwk » Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:49 pm

I think a lot of the positive reviews were because it was an early Blu-ray and a lot of people didn't know any better. Also, it was the best looking transfer out of the horror films (Evil Dead II, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead) that Anchor Bay released on Blu-ray in 2007. Still, It really needs to be redone.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#107 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:50 am

Wow, after the somewhat disappointing first film that sort of undid everything that Zombie accomplished with The Devil's Rejects this emerges as one of the most heartfelt, fucked up, and terrifying horror films I've seen. It's difficult to imagine a horror film representing death in a more gut-wrenching way - no one could possibly feel good as the credits roll on this one - and that's a great accomplishment on the part of emerging auteur Rob Zombie. Wow!

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CSM126
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#108 Post by CSM126 » Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:54 am

I...

No. Just...no.

Don't encourage this man. Just don't. Rob Zombie is an incompetent, low-brow, vulgar idiot who has no business making movies. Halloween II is a pretty fine example of that, from the leaden cow of vehicular doom and the ensuing several-minute long string of "fucking fuck"s (because RZ thinks swearing is scary, apparently) to the impossibly still-alive Loomis (who had his skull crushed in the first movie) and the unexplained anachronistic cell phones (in a movie taking place around 1982!), to the washed-out, incompetently framed photography which demonstrates the director's complete lack of spacial awareness (seriously, pick any scene in this movie and just try to tell me where the characters are, and what their spatial relation to one another is. I dare you). Oh, and the nonsensical white horse BS he made up only to never make any good use of it.

and The Earl of Pumpkins. Oh god, the Earl of Pumpkins.

Also, was anyone else kind of confused by the costuming? Laurie and Michael are both dressed to look like Rob Zombie, with the dreadlocks and the messed-up skin and in Michael's case the big bushy beard...which makes the ending of the movie kind of odd, as if the feminine and masculine sides of Rob Zombie's personalities are squaring off to determine whether or not he's actually a woman. I dunno, maybe it's just me.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#109 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:24 pm

You're calling into question the realism of someone surviving for a Halloween sequel? That's all anyone's ever done.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#110 Post by knives » Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:30 pm

Hell Michael survived decapitation in one. I'm largely with Mfunk on this given that at least Zombie seems to be aiming for something different from the norm (which is the best the horror genre in America can hope to accomplish) with the film. Hell even the spatial thing which normally is a button for me seems to work in this context.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#111 Post by Mr Sausage » Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:57 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:You're calling into question the realism of someone surviving for a Halloween sequel? That's all anyone's ever done.
Not the first time Loomis has come back from the dead, either. He got stabbed with a scalpel and blown up in a hospital only to reappear two sequels later with a little burn patch on his cheek.

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bainbridgezu
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Re: Halloween II (Rob Zombie, 2009)

#112 Post by bainbridgezu » Sun Mar 24, 2013 9:26 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Wow, after the somewhat disappointing first film that sort of undid everything that Zombie accomplished with The Devil's Rejects this emerges as one of the most heartfelt, fucked up, and terrifying horror films I've seen. It's difficult to imagine a horror film representing death in a more gut-wrenching way - no one could possibly feel good as the credits roll on this one - and that's a great accomplishment on the part of emerging auteur Rob Zombie. Wow!
This film touches upon moments of perfect nightmare, reviving the raw, feverish terror of House of 1000 Corpses within a more grammatically mature cinematic framework. Zombie’s developing technique is the reason I’m so excited to see Lords of Salem. Early word is that his direction recalls Polanski and Lynch in balancing emotional intensity and formal control.
knives wrote:Hell even the spatial thing which normally is a button for me seems to work in this context.
Like some of the films discussed in the "180-degree rule" thread, whether or not these "mistakes" are intentional, I feel they contribute to the overall quality and effect of the work.

The sound design is also fantastic, no surprise given Zombie's background in music. When the film was first released, I read somewhere that this Michael Myers 'didn't stab, but punched with a knife' -- a perfect expression of the film's devastating, visceral brutality.

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
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Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#113 Post by manicsounds » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:22 am

Halloween 35th BD review at blu-ray.com

So the Criterion commentary is replaced with a new one, the "Cut Above The Rest" 80 minute documentary is gone, the 25 years later featurette from the 25th anniv DVD is back, new jamie Lee Curtis documentary included, so it's a hodge-podge of extras, new and old, lots of missing things from previous releases makes this new release not as definitive as the usual Anchor Bay anniversary release... but the good news is the picture quality looks a lot better than the bright and beautiful old Blu-ray, this new one being colder and grayer.

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Wes Moynihan
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Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#114 Post by Wes Moynihan » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:45 am

Honestly I thought the old Blu was really fine, and I won't be buying this edition - I mean it's great for anyone who has yet to pick the film up, but I can't in all conscience buy Halloween for the 3rd time

Interestingly, a poster over at the Cult Labs had this to say:

"I own a 35mm print of Halloween and I can tell you right now that the colors on this are wrong. The older blu ray release is not correct either. Shame because the new transfer is very good, they just went a little too far with the de-saturation"

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JamesF
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Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#115 Post by JamesF » Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:24 am

Wes Moynihan wrote:Interestingly, a poster over at the Cult Labs had this to say:

"I own a 35mm print of Halloween and I can tell you right now that the colors on this are wrong. The older blu ray release is not correct either. Shame because the new transfer is very good, they just went a little too far with the de-saturation"
So any Blu-Ray release of Halloween should look like a used old theatrical print rather than a transfer from the original negative? :?

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hearthesilence
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Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#116 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:34 pm

Just checked out the new 35th anniversary Blu-Ray and the transfer is definitely an improvement in terms of PQ. Never mind color, everything else is what I hoped the older Blu-Ray would be. Film grain and detail are all intact, this is an excellent transfer with no obvious futzing done to it. (Again, it's still shocking how poor the old Blu-Ray looks.)

I'm not well-versed in the film's history, but on aesthetic preference alone, I have to admit, I like the 1999 DVD transfer the best in terms of color and brightness/exposure. The later transfers look too bright, even blown-out, and the spring-like colors take me out of the film. Not just the lawn, having really green trees looks wrong, it makes the fall leaves scattered on the ground look even more fake and sometimes laughable. This is one instance where I prefer historical revisionism.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#117 Post by EddieLarkin » Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:40 pm

Idiotically, this time around the "original" mono track included is just a mix down of the 7.1. The real original mono was included on the 2007 Blu-ray.

LavaLamp
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:59 am

Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#118 Post by LavaLamp » Sat Nov 02, 2013 2:22 am

hearthesilence wrote:Just checked out the new 35th anniversary Blu-Ray and the transfer is definitely an improvement in terms of PQ. Never mind color, everything else is what I hoped the older Blu-Ray would be. Film grain and detail are all intact, this is an excellent transfer with no obvious futzing done to it. (Again, it's still shocking how poor the old Blu-Ray looks.)

I'm not well-versed in the film's history, but on aesthetic preference alone, I have to admit, I like the 1999 DVD transfer the best in terms of color and brightness/exposure. The later transfers look too bright, even blown-out, and the spring-like colors take me out of the film. Not just the lawn, having really green trees looks wrong, it makes the fall leaves scattered on the ground look even more fake and sometimes laughable. This is one instance where I prefer historical revisionism.
Thanks for the review of the new 2013 Blu-ray; I haven't seen this yet, but it sounds like it's a great version of Halloween.

Just recently re-watched the Anchor Bay regular DVD (the back of the box says it's copyright 2007, but, as the OP said, there are so many DVD versions of this film - so, it's hard to keep track). And, the transfer is definitely sub-par.

Also, I agree 100% that it's quite evident this film was shot in the Spring, and the fake fall leaves on the ground just make it even more obvious - it would have been better to have not had any leaves at all, since not all parts of the country have a specific Fall/Autumn where leaves actually change color and fall off the trees (though, Illinois, where the film is set, does).

However, since the leaves are there & it would be tough to remove them digitally, I wouldn't mind seeing the film tinkered with somewhat so that the leaves on the trees actually have some Fall colors (red, brown) instead of all being green.

LavaLamp
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Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#119 Post by LavaLamp » Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:06 pm

Just watched the recent 35th anniversary BD release of Halloween - Wow.....I am completely floored by the truly stunning PQ & sound on this Disc. Fantastic. I never though the film could look this great, based on the previous versions I've seen. The picture is pristine & unblemished, the detail is incredible, and the sound definitely seems enhanced.

Even the green trees during Autumn (that I mentioned in my last post) didn't bother me, since the lighting is appropriately somewhat dark/dim, even during the daytime scenes.

Also enjoyed the small booklet that came with this, which goes into the history behind the making of the film & has behind the scenes photos. Great stuff.

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Koukol
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:31 pm

Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#120 Post by Koukol » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:06 pm

While they did drain the color for the daylight scenes the new BD is gorgeous.

LavaLamp
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:59 am

Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#121 Post by LavaLamp » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:36 pm

Koukol wrote:While they did drain the color for the daylight scenes the new BD is gorgeous.
I actually preferred that change, since in previous releases the extremely green trees make it very obvious that it was filmed in the Spring as opposed to the Fall, when it's supposed to take place. However, with this new BD release the green color isn't as evident, which is much more appropriate. In general, the muted daylight scenes here seem much more foreboding than in previous releases....

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Koukol
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:31 pm

Re: Halloween, which version to buy?

#122 Post by Koukol » Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:16 pm

LavaLamp wrote:
Koukol wrote:While they did drain the color for the daylight scenes the new BD is gorgeous.
I actually preferred that change, since in previous releases the extremely green trees make it very obvious that it was filmed in the Spring as opposed to the Fall, when it's supposed to take place. However, with this new BD release the green color isn't as evident, which is much more appropriate. In general, the muted daylight scenes here seem much more foreboding than in previous releases....

While I hate the new trend of draining color I liked it here too.
This will be my go-to BD from now on.

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#123 Post by dwk » Sat May 17, 2014 3:59 pm

Amazon jumped the gun and put a pre-order up (that they have since removed) for two different complete Halloween Box Sets. Anchor Bay is expected to officially announce it on Monday, but here is the description from the Amazon listing for the 10-disc release
Halloween night - Haddonfield, IL. A young boy butchers his older sister with a kitchen knife. 15 years later, he escapes from a mental institution only to return home and terrorize the town, including babysitter Laurie Strode. Now pursued by Dr. Loomis, the doctor who tried to treat him until he realized that “what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil”. His name is Michael Myers. And so began one of the most iconic horror franchises in history, spawned 10 feature films and lasted over 35 years. Now, for the first time ever, experience the terror of every Halloween film available together in 1 set! This collection includes all 10 Halloween films: Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20, Halloween: Resurrection, Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Halloween II. Here it is, the one that started it all – Halloween: The Complete Collection.

and a 15-disc release:
Now, for the first time ever, experience the terror of every Halloween film available together in 1 set! This limited edition deluxe set includes 15 discs jammed with content Halloween fans will love. Brand new, never before seen bonus features including new interviews with cast and crew, commentaries, behind the scenes documentaries, and so much more. Plus, the NEVER BEFORE RELEASED Producer’s Cut of Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers! The set also features both Blu-ray versions of Halloween as well as the Network TV versions of Halloween and Halloween 2. Here it is, the one that started it all – Halloween: The Complete Collection.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#124 Post by Adam X » Sun May 18, 2014 5:49 am

Can they release a set that stops at part 6?
While it sounds like a great thing (except for "both Blu-ray versions of Halloween"?!!), aside from the Producer's Cut of Halloween 6, it almost sounds like they're just throwing all previous releases into a boxed set, rather than creating something new. That doesn't sound like Anchor Bay at all.
Figures crossed they release individual editions of parts one (with the TV cut) & six somewhere down the line

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captveg
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 pm

Re: Anchor Bay Entertainment

#125 Post by captveg » Sun May 18, 2014 2:52 pm

So, does this mean that Anchor Bay now distributes the part of the Miramax catalog that Echo Bridge used to? In theory that would be an improvement.

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