Tuesday, October 31, 2006
DVD Commentary: Halloween
By Andrew Clarke, Bill Nolen, Carlton Stevens, and George Merchan
The film begins on a black screen with a slow zoom in to a jack-o'-lantern on the left side of the screen while the credits show on the right. The first scene is the famous continuous first-person shot of killer Mike Myers watching his sister make out with her boyfriend, then following them upstairs and stabbing her sister to death with a kitchen knife.
Session Start: Sun Oct 01 12:34:20 2006
Bill: Already, I love this movie.
George: LOL
Andrew: Moustapha Akkad looks like Tom Bosely.
Carlton: The pumpkin is... it's hard not to laugh, honestly.
Bill: I want to sleep on that pumpkin.
George: I still always get a kick out of the jack-o'-lantern.
Carlton: It looks very loving.
Carlton: Very happy.
Bill: But that cut in it's nose. Battle scar.
George: Slow zoom = Ominous
Andrew: What is the deal with the cleft lip?
Andrew: Deliberate to make it creepy or just rubbish pumpkin carvers?
Bill: It sneezed.
Andrew: Okay, pause for a sec.
Bill: Pausing.
George: Paused on KOOL LUSBY.
Carlton: Tommy Wallace everyone?
Bill: Kool Lusby here too.
Carlton: Shit.
George: Haha.
Carlton: Well I'm right and you're wrong.
Bill: I want my name to be Kool Lusby.
George: I'd change it to KEWL myself.
Carlton: On Kool Lusby now.
Andrew: Bugger. Silly new DVD player.
Andrew: It started playing the trailer over and over.
Bill: We are so cursed this afternoon/evening.
Andrew: ...maybe i just bought a haunted DVD player.
Carlton: Andrew Clarke and the Haunted Celluloid is a good movie title.
Andrew: Where are you people paused?
George: "Associate Producer KOOL MOTHERFUCKING LUSBY!"
George: Ready?
Andrew: 321
Andrew: Go!
George: Critic Mode: Music.... excellent bit of simplicity.
Bill: I like the chant at the beginning too.
Andrew: The music is the key to all of this.
Bill: The music makes the film.
Andrew: It makes all his films.
Bill: Okay, get ready for the shortest lay in history.
Carlton: So, regardless of it being bright as the pure sun outside, will I end up scared at all?
Bill: Only if you are a babysitter.
Andrew: Never seen it?
Carlton: Never seen it.
Andrew: Are you counting the seconds from that music sting?
Andrew: That's when the sex starts.
Bill: I have a great story about this movie, but it's way too long to stick in here.
Andrew: Okay.
Andrew: Tell us about telling us the story. Is that shorter?
George: The sex has ended.
Andrew: That's less than a minute and he's heading downstairs - ALREADY DRESSED.
Carlton: "Hi how's it going oh god I'm done."
Bill: Okay, short version of my story:
Bill: My first experience with this movie was hearing my older cousins talking about seeing it just after they got back.
Bill: That was scary shit.
Bill: I was six years old.
Carlton: I'm at the naked stabbing now.
Andrew: This looks like Child's Play now, unfortunately.
Bill: How could you kill those tits, Michael?
George: He's GHEY.
Andrew: The clown stabs.
Carlton: It's a little odd.
Andrew: IT'S A KID!!!
Carlton: Okay, that was unexpected.
Andrew: Apparently that was a big freak out at the time.
Carlton: I'll give you that one, Carpenter.
Andrew: Did it get you, Carlton?
Carlton: Well, I wasn't expecting a child.
Carlton: But I didn't scream like a giant sopping pussy if that's what you're asking.
Bill: And here's where we don't need the TV edit of Dr. Loomis talking for hours and hours to a sanity board.
Andrew: Because one of the main problems with this film is that everything copied it afterwards, so it carries the danger of it aging. Badly.
George: That's always an issue.
George: With a lot of films really.
Andrew: What was fresh and new in '78 is now a cliche.
Carlton: Well, I haven't seen any other slasher flicks recently.
Carlton: Except a bit of Jason in Space.
Andrew: Jason in Space is the only fun sequel in any of those franchises.
Andrew: And Charlie's not here to disagree.
Bill: Part VI is good. Sod.
Carlton: I haven't seen many slasher flicks at all, actually.
Andrew: Well - you can be our bellwether.
The film cuts to a dark and stormy night fifteen years later and psychologist Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is visiting the secure psychiatric hospital where Michael is being kept, only to find that there has been a break out...
Bill: Great building of tension here.
Bill: Stormy night scenes will always work.
Carlton: The little sprinkle noise while he's on the car is a bit strange.
Bill: He's making those sounds, Carlton.
Bill: With his armpit.
Carlton: He's a robot.
George: Nice lighting.
Bill: There's tape on that glass!
George: You gots jacked, bitch!
George: "The evil is gone."
Andrew: Sam Loomis: 'Evil evil... blah blah... evil evil... blah blah."
Bill: If there was a god, there would be a GTA: Halloween Edition.
Carlton: I appreciate the simple title, compared to the swooping atmospheres and DNA of today.
George: Oh fuck yes.
Now we are in leafy suburb, Haddonfield, where a group of teenage girls (Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie, Nancy Kyes as Annie, and P.J. Soles as Lynda) are preparing to spend Halloween night babysitting, not realising that Michael Myers has come home to their neighbourhood...
Andrew: The dialogue is not the strong point.
Bill: No.
Bill: The Curtis is.
Andrew: Okay, Carlton? Curtis - hot or not?
Carlton: In this or overall?
Andrew: In this.
Bill: Smart dames are so hot.
Bill: Look at those stockings.
George: She's just carrying the smart dame's books.
Carlton: I'm not getting a good look yet. She looks kind of hot.
Andrew: We get a close up soon.
Bill: I would have beat this kid so much.
George: Hahaha.
Bill: "Shut it Tommy! I'm not on the clock yet!"
Carlton: Okay yes, she's semi-hot.
Andrew: She's at the haunted house!
Carlton: From my generational perspective, all I know of Curtis is that she was in a creepy scene with Arnold in True Lies.
George: Pretty unsettling having the serial killer out in broad daylight like that amidst the chirping birds and all. The imagery anyway.
Andrew: Carpenter does good fatalism.
Andrew: Mike Myers wouldn't know about her but for that key drop.
Andrew: Everything comes from just that one thing.
Andrew: One mistake you didn't know you made and then there's no escape.
Bill: A note on watching this on TV: Most of the step-ins from Michael are clipped off the sides of the picture.
Andrew: Assault on Precinct 13 is full of that.
Andrew: And this is Dean Cundey, Bill. It's ALL about them wide angle lenses and the widescreen.
Bill: I love it.
Bill: You can spot a Carpenter/Cundey film a mile away.
Bill: KID MURDER ICE CREAM!
Andrew: Yeah.
Andrew: Oh dear.
Andrew: Can we pause again?
A brief reprieve...
Andrew: Gimme a minute. This is being stupid.
George: No problem.
Bill: Need more Dew.
Andrew: When I click on the DVD player, then try to type in chat, it all goes wrong.
Andrew: Have to be careful how I click.
George: BRB - Need a drink.
Carlton: Drunken George.
George: Haha. No, no alcohol this time. Just H2O.
George: Okay. Shall we?
Andrew: Yes.
Bill: 321
Andrew: Go!
...and we're back...
Andrew: Also - on the 'Has this aged?' tip - nothing happens for about an hour.
Bill: Talking.
Carlton: "Fate never changes..."
Carlton: FORESHADOWING.
Andrew: It's all build up.
Bill: But the fate thing doesn't come into the story until what, Part Two?
Andrew: Well we've already had it twice in this film.
Carlton: I don't know, it just was emphasized enough that it seemed like foreshadowing.
Andrew: Carpenter is big on it.
Carlton: "He broke my pumpkin..."
Andrew: See? FATE.
Carlton: Now, to me, at least somewhat, the music cues are kind of a bit much, but not too distracting.
Bill: This would have been better sans soundtrack.
Bill: Quiet stalking is better.
Bill: Not the whole movie, just that Tommy scene.
Bill: He's such a kiddie stalker.
Bill: It does seem that Michael picks these victims randomly.
Andrew: Which is what good horror does. It could happen to you and there's nothing you can do.
Andrew: J-horror does this all the time.
Andrew: And the wet haired girls.
Andrew: And this is why having everyone be the mother/brother/lover of someone always lames up the sequels.
Andrew: Any sequels.
Bill: I agree.
Carlton: Is George dead?
George: Nope.
Andrew: So this is P.J. Soles?
Andrew: The 'totally' girl?
Andrew: I guess she looks okay. Don't see the obsession we all seem to have with her.
Bill: Just wait.
Andrew: Okay.
Andrew: Lots of waiting in this film.
Carlton: "uncharted territory"
Carlton: Oh how things have changed...
Bill: It's documentary style.
Andrew: It's almost all just steadicam in that wide angle.
Andrew: Practically fish eye, it's pushed so much.
Andrew: Wouldn't call it documentary.
Andrew: Just amazingly stripped down.
Bill: I mean the way the story plays out.
Bill: It takes its time.
Andrew: Almost like a blueprint. No flash.
Andrew: There's very little compression going on.
Bill: Annie reminds me of my first girlfriend.
Bill: She died so well.
Andrew: How did you do it, Bill?
Bill: I trapped her in a mine.
Andrew: Nice.
Andrew: Slow.
Carlton: Was this before or after The Thing?
George: Before.
Andrew: The entire first hour is just the girl's giggling and doing inane stuff, and Michael following them. Taking set up to its sadistic extremes, or just boring?
Bill: This also builds tension. The phone call and the man outside.
Bill: Like he ran to a phone.
Andrew: Every film that comes after gets to the action quicker.
Bill: I like that it takes its time.
Bill: The final half-hour is the goods.
Carlton: This would be boring if I didn't know something bad will probably happen.
Andrew: It's dangerous. Instead of a big kill every ten minutes, it's building up for an hour.
Carlton: In the back of my mind it's always, "LAWL SHE GET KILLED" while I watch all this.
Bill: Well, it starts with two scary scenes.
Carlton: Yeah, the intro did get my attention.
Andrew: One slip up and all the tension goes.
Andrew: Then teens for an hour.
Andrew: And these are totally lame teens.
Bill: All teens are lame.
Carlton: That's been enough to hold me up until now, where we're getting the stalking.
Carlton: I really don't care what Laurie and friends are saying to be honest.
Andrew: They say nothing very interesting.
Sam Loomis, following Michael, turns up in Haddonfield's graveyard and finds that Michael's sister's grave has been defiled...
Bill: The cemetery scene is effective.
Andrew: If you had the teens doing something more interesting, having Micheal impinge on that plotting would be more effective.
Carlton: Probably.
Carlton: As is, the teens are a bit of filler. The doctor stuff is interesting.
Carlton: The cemetery scene we just had was interesting.
Andrew: But maybe it was done just to show how normal the teens are.
Carlton: Carpenter is pacing all this well, keeping my attention right when it starts slipping.
Bill: These are not the hot girls in school, by the way. These are the plain girls.
Bill: Hot girls have things going on.
George: Whoring it up.
Bill: These are babysitters.
Andrew: It's not fat though - the plotting.
Andrew: No pointless subplots.
Andrew: It maybe a bit basic by modern standards, but it's lean.
George: Yeah, it's very streamlined.
Andrew: It's completely Carpenter.
Andrew: I noticed this when listening to the music.
Andrew: There's nothing fancy about the music. Quite apart from him only having three days to write it - which is why it's so repetitive.
Bill: I just think it's cool that a hardware store carries Halloween gear.
Carlton: Did she just say a guy's name was "Dick Baxter"?
Carlton: That sounds like something Stan Lee made up.
Bill: It's the step-child of Tubular Bells.
Andrew: The music is stripped down. Just the bare bones of the idea. Putting the piano in 5/4 so the beat is slightly disjointed, feels off.
Andrew: And just octaves. No flash.
Andrew: It's Carpenter's approach to the movie.
Bill: Those chirping notes are the stuff.
Andrew: Just the core idea with no fancy bits.
Andrew: Just the girls walking about oblivious and Myers following.
Andrew: For an hour.
It is night now, and the girls are settling down to a night of popcorn and watching scary movies...
Bill: It's dark out.
Carlton: Wonderful eye for lighting.
Bill: I'd notice the guy in my yard.
Bill: "Hey, Shatner's here!"
Andrew: Ha!
Andrew: Yeah. I wish Charlie could be here. His mask is a William Shatner mask with the eyes cut bigger.
Bill: He made one?
Andrew: It was a Kirk Halloween mask I think.
Andrew: You know, to scare the kiddies.
George: Hahaha.
Bill: Nice.
Andrew: The original idea was a giant clown mask - as the kid wore a clown suit in the first scene.
Bill: The clown mask would not have worked.
Bill: Speaking of which, anyone dressing up for Halloween this year?
George: Possibly. Going in a big group to a party, but we're not decided yet on our "theme".
Andrew: No.
Andrew: I am going to a goth Halloween party though.
George: HAHAHAHA.
Andrew: I may not survive.
Carlton: I'm dressing as fat black guy with Kool-Aid.
Bill: I'm being talked into going as Dagobah Luke with Yoda on my back.
George: Go as Blackberry-flavored Kool-Aid, Carlton.
Carlton: I call it fruit smack instead of Kool-Aid.
Carlton: It's much more fun.
Andrew: Anyway - the style is stripped down to the bare idea. carpenter is not much of a stylist. He just made the smart choices and did them as simply as possible. Just a steadicam in a dark corridor.
Andrew: That everyone has copied it is a testament to it being the right idea, which is why Carpenter's so great.
The first scary film of the evening is Howard Hawks' The Thing. Woah!
Bill: Camel toe.
Carlton: Carpenter's approach is so great.
Carlton: The bare minimum he applies to the look often makes it a little harsher.
Carlton: I felt that way when watching The Thing anyway.
Bill: Note what's on the TV.
Andrew: META!
George: What slasher films have actually done anything worthwhile with this formula?
Andrew: Done anything with the formula?
George: Like, taken the formula and added to it, either making it more effective or whatever.
Andrew: They just went with more.
Andrew: More kills, bigger kills, more tits.
Andrew: Typical low-rent cinema choices.
Andrew: MORE!
Bill: Great shot here.
Bill: Michael against the house.
Bill: Carpenter used the entire frame. Like Lean.
Andrew: Argento and De Palma were doing fun things with it at roughly the same time and through the 80's.
Andrew: But Carpenter distilled it.
Bill: The original Friday the 13th was stripped down. Not as well-crafted though.
Andrew: Friday the 13th is just basic film-making.
Andrew: Halloween is deliberately stripped down.
Andrew: Dead dog!
Michael Myers, after an hour of watching the girls, finally kills a dog.
Bill: I want to know how they got that dog to relax like that.
Andrew: Good dog acting.
Andrew: See - we're at the laundry room sequence.
Andrew: Which is the point where it's one build up too many.
Andrew: Or a very bold act of taking the 'Something is definitely going to happen!' tension as far as it will go.
Andrew: But, by itself, it's a huge fake out scare.
Bill: The Exorcist was very deliberate in its pacing too.
Bill: That's a 70's motif, I think.
Bill: They had more film to waste back then.
Andrew: The Exorcist is actually much more extreme than this. More bombastic.
The Annie character, distracted by the dog making dying dog noises, gets popcorn butter over her shirt and proceeds to strip down to her knickers. She puts on an oversized shirt and takes her clothes out to the laundry room, in the shed at the end of the garden...
Carlton: See, right now, I'm very antsy for SOMETHING. It's probably because I am used to stabbings and punches by now.
Carlton: But it is making me more attentive when Carpenter cockteases me with Michael shots.
Andrew: It is. Brave to have this sequence.
Bill: Face in the background is a great touch.
Andrew: Yeah. Huge cocktease.
Andrew: And you can only take cockteasing so far before... well, you know.
Bill: What babysitter wouldn't just break something to get out of that laundry room?
Bill: She's so stuck.
Andrew: Knickers!
Bill: This solidified my love of women in undies and a shirt.
George: At this point, do we WANT Myers to kill someone? Because we either don't give a fuck about the people that aren't Curtis? Or what?
Carlton: I don't necessarily want killing, just move towards more of... something. Back to the investigation and more information would do well.
Andrew: But Carpenter knew that after this cocktease, something had to start happening.
Andrew: There's an endless build up of tension, so the audience would want something, anything to break that.
Andrew: The teens aren't offensively obnoxious.
Carlton: No, they're not.
George: As opposed to the modern slasher film.
Andrew: These are nice enough, just not very well scripted or acted.
Andrew: The guy that turns up with P.J. Soles.
Andrew: Wanted him to die.
Andrew: See, after the laundry room, all these tricks of Mike just turning up in the corner of the screen are getting old.
Bill: Today's teen have too many iPods and cellphones to care about.
George: Too egocentric maybe. We want today's teens to fuck off.
Andrew: The baddies become the heroes.
Andrew: Freddy.
Bill: In a modern horror movie, Annie and Linda would have shared the house with their boyfriends. This one splits everyone up.
George: That's a good observation.
Andrew: The teens are written to be assholes.
Bill: Annie is an asshole.
Andrew: But she's not 'the bitch'.
Andrew: And there's no 'stoner' character.
Andrew: Or 'jock'.
Andrew: They're people, even if they're not that deep.
Bill: Linda is kind of the bitch.
Andrew: Yeah, but she's better than dim 'totally' P.J. Soles.
Andrew: I'd go for Annie.
Bill: I do miss the deleted scene of Linda borrowing the shirt from Laurie.
Annie takes her kid over to Laurie's house so she can drive to her boyfriend's for hot sex. But she finds the windows of her car already steamed up and someone waiting for her in the back seat...
Andrew: Okay. First death?
Bill: Kill!
Bill: Sexy.
Bill: This is a visceral kill too.
Bill: Closed quarters, no blood.
Carlton: That was rather creepy, yes.
Bill: The steamy car was a nice touch.
Carlton: His awkward breathing and the choking along with the silence made it nice.
Carlton: The music when she died killed it a bit.
Bill: I like the stingers.
Andrew: The two music themes get used too much.
Andrew: Even Precinct 13 had maybe three themes.
Andrew: This has two. And some stings.
Andrew: Taking the stripped down approach too far.
Carlton: I am incredibly desensitized to it because of cruel bastards like Miike.
Carlton: But still it was well shot and orchestrated.
Carlton: This does make me want to watch Audition right after.
Andrew: but then he only had three days to write it. for that matter, the huge long build up could be just because they had no money for anything else.
Carlton: He wrote it only in three days?
Andrew: Yeah.
Andrew: So was that hour deliberate tension building, or low budget padding?
Andrew: You decide!
George: Both maybe.
George: Low budgets... the arbiter of creativity.
Carlton: That still doesn't beat The Breakfast Club being written in a few hours, so take that, Carpenter!
Bill: I think it was tension building on a budget.
Bill: Except The Breakfast Club is dated now.
George: HAHAHAHA.
George: Pleasence.
Andrew: Evil!
Andrew: Evil!
Andrew: ...did i mention evil?
Carlton: "DEATH has come to your little town!"
Bill: I want Pleasence back.
Andrew: "more fancy talk"
Andrew: I like that line. Totally calls Pleasence on his 'Evil!!!' talk.
Andrew: But what a useless character the cop is.
P.J. Soles finally turns up with her boyfriend in a blue van. They drink, smoke and have sex...
Andrew: Guy with glasses is a twat.
Bill: I want that VAN!
Carlton: He's using his awkward biceps of nerdery to carry her.
Andrew: Well he left the door open.
Andrew: Jack it.
Bill: I love party vans.
Bill: I could live in a Chevy Van.
Andrew: I do think this is where it is showing its age.
Andrew: We've had all these scared before.
Carlton: Who the fuck leaves the house door open? I should expect that, though.
George: The interview on Videodrome's Criterion with Crony, Carpenter, and Landis is interesting. Though even then you could tell Carpenter was a tremendous coot.
Andrew: He was a total coot.
Andrew: That's why he's great.
Andrew: I'm chain smoking in his honour.
George: Hahahaha.
Bill: Carpenter is the poster child for STOP SMOKING.
Andrew: But he's honest. He never says he's a great artist.
Carlton: Apparently all Carpenter does now is eat fried chicken and play Splinter Cell.
George: Pretty gangsta.
Carlton: Sounds like my kind of guy.
Andrew: All his best films are just -get to the genre idea as unfussedly as possible.
Andrew: No ego. Just doing his job.
Andrew: Which is where the business-like feel of the films come in. No fucking around.
Andrew: It's his lack of 'style' or 'autership' that makes his early films great.
Carlton: I'm hoping I'm a reverse Carpenter. After my long years of chicken, smoking, and Splinter Cell, I'll make incredible movies.
Carlton: And you'll all want to be me.
Bill: I want to be you already, Carlton.
Carlton: Gain weight and turn black, Bill.
Carlton: That's about all you need.
Carlton: Oh and watch LOTR like 80 times.
Bill: I've got the weight.
Bill: But I'm very pale.
Carlton: Put on some blackface.
Carlton: It's cool. No one will care.
Bill: Racist.
Bill: So why didn't Ghosts of Mars work?
George: Don't blame Ice Cube.
Carlton: He was in Torque.
Andrew: He stopped caring, I reckon.
Carlton: We should have done one for Torque today instead.
George: We'll save that one for April Fool's Day.
Andrew: Instead of getting to the heart of what the genre film needs, he just started doing genre pics. Is there anything interesting in Ghosts at all? Apart from the rockin' music?
Bill: Henstridge as a tough guy.
Meanwhile, back in the film, the boyfriend has finished sex and has gone downstairs for some more beer...
Bill: Again, fast sex.
Bill: Don't get dressed. I have more fluids to give you.
Carlton: Michael loves to choke.
Andrew: Great kill by the way.
Bill: The two door thing is a great idea.
Andrew: Him looking at the body is the moment Myers became a great screen villain.
Bill: See, Carpenter has horror instincts, even if he doesn't want to admit it.
Bill: Again, the limp feet.
Bill: the guy who played Michael here did good work.
Bill: That was totally his idea.
Carlton: That was a great moment, him just staring the body down... and now bewbz! Yay!
P.J. Soles is back on screen.
Bill: Here's why she's hot.
Andrew: Fair enough.
Andrew: I'm not sure about the strangling.
Carlton: I'm used to stabbings and fountains of blood and such. That's my usual impression.
Carlton: So, the choking makes it a little unsettling. More than usual.
Bill: The sheet on Michael is a spooky idea.
George: Coupled with his breathing, it's totally sexual.
Andrew: I mean - Micheal is a psycho sexual killer. He kills his sister because he's afraid of her sex. And his own sexuality.
Andrew: Which comes up with the gravestone.
Bill: Eww. Psychoanalysis.
George: It had to happen, B.
Bill: I think Michael is just evil.
Bill: No motivation.
Andrew: But stabbing is a much more sexualised means of nasty death.
George: Knife = Cock
Carlton: Yeah, but the choking and the heavy breathing, it's much more perverse. Almost a little awkward actually.
Andrew: I like the awkward idea. He's just a dumb kid, fumbling at it still. The choking is slow, messy, almost silly.
Bill: Choking = Balls
George: Choking = Tea Bagging
Sam Loomis finally finds out where Michael Myers is and heads towards Laurie's house...
Bill: Does anyone think that Dr. Loomis is not a worthy opponent for Michael?
Bill: Even with a gun, he's overmatched.
Andrew: You want him to be Schwarzenegger?
George: It's scarier for Loomis to seem undermatched, underpowered.
Bill: It's just like, "Here comes the bald doctor to save the day!"
George: It's Doctor vs. Patient. Our earlier psychoanalysis might actually be appropriate.
Andrew: Maybe the Frankenstein motif.
Bill: Even the doctor forgoes the diagnosis though.
Bill: Evil is not in the DSM-IV.
Andrew: They were originally going for Chris lee or Peter Cushing.
Andrew: Which is totally mad scientist.
Bill: Chris Lee would have made this a whole different movie.
Carlton: Mad Scientist vs. Supernatural Being is far more familiar, but it doesn't fit here.
Andrew: That theme doesn't really play out much in the movie though.
Andrew: They popped it in, but didn't use it.
Bill: Micheal is simple. Which is why he works.
Andrew: Loomis is really there just to sell what a fucker Myers is.
Andrew: What with nothing much happening for an hour.
...But Laurie is in the neighbour's house, trying to find Annie and P.J. Soles...
Bill: This is maybe the original "revealing the dead" scene.
Andrew: "Oh, by the way, did I tell you he's EVIL!"
George: LOL
Carlton: "EVVVILLL!"
Bill: I won't swear by it.
Andrew: P.J. Soles is cross-eyed.
Andrew: Great dead acting there, darling.
Andrew: And the best bit of neagtive space ever.
Andrew: With Myers coming out of the black.
George: That's awesome.
Carlton: That was a little sloppy.
Andrew: That hasn't been done better.
Carlton: But that does fit the awkwardness bit.
Bill: That's the scene my cousins told me about.
Andrew: Charlie has dreams of that scene.
Andrew: Only it's really Shatner.
George: Hahaha.
Carlton: Hahaha.
Bill: KAAAAAAHNNNNN!!!
Michael Myers chases Laurie...
Carlton: GO JAMIE GO!
Bill: I always love it when they can't even try to unlock the door.
Carlton: Or fall on nothing.
Bill: See, Michael can unlock the door.
Andrew: And this is what a horror movie is. All it is. Set up the threat and put the heroine five yards in front of the killer.
Andrew: Cut to 20 years later and you get Scream where this is the first scene.
Bill: This scene with Michael stalking is one of the best in horror films.
Andrew: Where do you go from there?
Andrew: Nowhere except up your own arse.
Andrew: I'll even forgive the key fumbling.
Bill: Scream went downhill after that opening, though.
George: Exactly. The conceit of horror is so simple that anything more can often kill it. Like it has so many times in the genre.
Andrew: Exactly. Nowhere to go.
Bill: Great sound effect on the pot breaking. Classic.
Carlton: Never saw Scream all the way through.
Carlton: All I remember is Lillard screaming.
Andrew: You sure that wasn't Scooby-Doo?
Carlton: Or Dungeon Siege.
Andrew: Or Wing Commander.
Andrew: God Lillard, you suck.
Carlton: Oh, he knows it.
Laurie stabs Michael in the neck with a knitting needle. Surely he must be dead...
Bill: She just sits there. She's such a good victim.
...apparently not...
Carlton: He's just standing there, as if to say, "Hey, how's it going."
Carlton: Why does he have trouble with this door and not the other?
Bill: "No, please. Don't run. I want to play with you!"
Andrew: The difference with more modern films is that this is all tension building.
Andrew: No gross out moments.
Bill: It's not about shocks
Bill: Or music cues as shocks.
Andrew: And its ALL about building up to these moments.
Andrew: Which is why we're never allowed the calm at the beginning because Myers keeps popping up.
Bill: Imagine a sea of teens making out for the first hour, only to be sitting frigid in their seats by the end of this.
Andrew: Modern horror films will have a sequence of tension, then a bit of comedy, then some gore and so on.
Andrew: This doesn't let up.
Carlton: If I was that frightened with that much adrenaline going, I probably would have kept stabbing.
Carlton: I'm just saying.
More chasing and stabbing.
Carlton: Does Myers have retard strength?
Andrew: Big gym in the mental asylum.
Bill: He's got the power of Satan in him.
Carlton: Does he get supernaturalized in later films of the series?
Bill: Wait till the end of this one, Carlton.
Bill: He's pretty much unstoppable by Part 2.
Bill: The only thing that stopped him was Halloween III.
Bill: I would cut his head off.
Bill: I wouldn't wait 20 years to do it.
Andrew: Charlie would disagree with you (click here).
Andrew: You'd get paralysed.
Andrew: Adrenaline stops your thinking.
George: We also had that discussion in our Wolf Creek Commentary earlier this year (click here).
Bill: I still believe victims being stupid is okay.
Andrew: It's all about pushing the audience's buttons.
Carlton: If the victim is built up towards being unfamiliar in a situation like this, yes.
Bill: The only time it's not is when it sets up a contrived plot point.
Andrew: Having the audience scream 'oh for fuck's sake MOVE' means they are involved.
Bill: He is the Boogeyman. See?
Sam Loomis finally turns up and shoots Michael Myers off the balcony.
Carlton: That was quick.
But when he looks down, Michael is gone...
Bill: The alternate ending has him dead on the ground.
Carlton: And yes I see.
Bill: It works much better this way.
George: Yeah, here it's not even about realism. It's about setting up a horror myth. Like a tale you tell around the fire on Halloween or some shit.
Bill: Evil never dies.
Bill: It only makes more Britney Spears children.
And the credits.
Andrew: Like Argento films make NO sense. The things that happen are just rhythms to get the audience to react.
Carlton: Is there any horror slasher thing that did not feel the need to keep going after one movie, and was also good at the same time?
Bill: The idea of the sequel was born in this decade.
Andrew: If it was good/succesful, they made sequels.
Andrew: If they didn't make sequels, they just made rip-offs.
Carlton: Maybe that's why Carpenter made The Thing so absolute.
Bill: Carpenter was so put off by the idea, he didn't want to do Part 2.
Carlton: "This is it, don't fuck with it!"
Bill: You are right about The Thing, Carlton.
Bill: And he had to fight for that ending.
Bill: It's a great ending.
Bill: But it's a downer, so it didn't sell well.
Carlton: Well, I did like it better than this.
Bill: So now we've seen a classic. Overall thoughts?
Andrew: Too slow.
Bill: For today, or for any period?
Andrew: I'll let it go up until the laundry scene, but then it doesn't pick up for another 15 minutes or so.
George: It's great, but yeah, it's slow.
Carlton: To be honest, I can see why it's so important, establishing the formula. But, it really only grabbed me for a few scenes here and there.
Andrew: Well I'm here now.
Andrew: Can't be anywhere else.
Andrew: It hasn't been ruined by sequels, though.
Bill: Maybe they should have filmed him killing the truck driver?
Carlton: The killer is interesting in his simplicity, but it's a bit sullied at the end.
Andrew: It's an audience film as much as a comedy is, and you won't find an audience that a) hasn't seen it and b) won't think it's a bit dull.
Andrew: And it's rapidly becoming history - important because of it setting up the blueprint.
Carlton: For me it's a bit dull. There are some things about it that I really appreciated. The tension and build up is something to be admired.
Carlton: And how Carpenter frames and executes those kills is something to be studied.
Andrew: You have to the love the steely simplicity though. The purity.
Carlton: Like Myers looking over the kid's body after he stabs him. I'll remember that for awhile.
George: I'm with Andrew. That's what pretty much makes it.
George: Anything more would be a stretch.
Andrew: It's certainly not a great film. The acting and dialogue pretty much stops that.
Carlton: Yeah, that dialogue can't be forgiven really.
George: I don't know, I like "EVIL!".
Bill: In terms of slasher movies, how does this rate?
Bill: Trying to get some props here.
Carlton: It's too silly for me to take most of the characters as seriously as I could.
Andrew: This film is a machine. It has nothing on its mind other than getting the audience tense and then cockteasing them before the final chase type sequences.
Bill: Let's do it the dumb way. Between Freddy, Jason, Michael, Pinhead (I know), etc...
Andrew: Pinhead's not a slasher.
Bill: I know.
Bill: Iconic killers, then.
Andrew: But this is by far the best of any of them.
Andrew: Texas Chainsaw hasn't aged as much though.
Andrew: That's still obscenely intense.
Carlton: What I know of the others, Michael is the most interesting to me. It's the simplicity of the character that's refreshing.
Carlton: He wasn't born in the fifth circle of hell where he ate children and sin and came back in human form.
Andrew: Halloween is just a roller-coaster. Pure genre. Pure button pushing.
Andrew: And it's to Carpenter's credit that he recognised that, rather than trying to shove any other stuff into it.
Bill: Halloween is no longer to be judged by teens.
Andrew: Halloween does repeat itself a couple times too often and that kills the tension. but the tension is there and palpable if you aren't ADD.
Carlton: And this was only boring because none of the characters gave me any interest save for the doctor, and that was more The Pleasence than anything else.
Bill: It's part of the history of horror.
Andrew: So: better than everything else. But you should still just watch The Thing.
Carlton: I really like The Thing.
Andrew: Or Precinct 13. That film is better than this too.
Bill: Hmm.
Bill: I don't know.
Andrew: Honest.
Bill: The Thing is better.
George: I like They Live.
Andrew: Oh dear.
Bill: Well, I will always love Halloween.
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