📜 My History with Halloween

Halloween and I go back a long way. I'd seen the first movie at maybe age 7 because it was tame enough to play on TV a lot, but when the 20th anniversary film was in the works, that's when my obsession hit hard.

My sister introduced me to the internet and the many fan sites for the franchise and I became fascinated not only at the fandom of what seemed to be such an endearing series (20 years seemed like a long time for a film to stay relevant), but also at the idea of building one's very own web page on AOL hometown.

She made one with a random tiled background image, then I had to immediately rip her off. While her interest in building web pages waned, mine went into overdrive. I learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript enough that I just had to build a better web page to hone in on my interest and learn everything I could about the ever elusive sequels I had yet to see.

Continuity: Out of Order

The first two were the easiest for me to watch. My sister owned the first one on VHS, and when she kept borrowing the neighbor's copy of part 2, they eventually bought her a copy of her own, and as a bonus, they got me a VHS of part 6. I wasn't crazy about part 6 because even as a child, I knew the integrity of the film was compromised by bizarre storylines, but it didn't stop me from feeling awesome for owning a copy of a horror movie before I was even 8.

My sister and I were anxiously awaiting the release of H20. We didn't even consider how asinine it was for a Halloween movie to come out in the Summer. We just needed our fix. I was collecting entertainment magazines of the upcoming movie. I had newspaper articles describing the absurdity of Michael surviving so much abuse across 5 prior movies. I saved promotional images of H20 on my computer and printed them out in tiny resolutions. I took whatever I could get, which was never enough.

Season of the Witch

When I was visiting my mother's apartment in the Summer of '98, I was astounded to catch Halloween III on TV. My brother was hassling me because he knew it had a bad reputation and couldn't fathom why I would be watching a Halloween movie without the infamous Michael Myers, but the mere fact that it was part of the same series made it perfectly entertaining to me. I loved the Carpenter atmosphere and Irish adjacency and would often daydream about it. Even the VHS artwork was beautiful, capturing childhood innocence marching from dusk to darkness; a metaphor for growing up that I was learning all too quickly the magic of the franchise's cynical narrative.

H20 Screening

We all went to see H20 in the theater when it came out. My mother took my sister, my brother, and I to a daytime showing for what would be my first theatrical horror endeavor. My eyes were glued to the screen. Even though I had only known the franchise for a few years at that point, Jamie Lee's return seemed epic. She was a Hollywood big shot by the time this movie rolled around. While this was my first R-rated horror theater experience, she also happened to star in my first general R-rated theatrical viewing: True Lies. Suffice to say, an A-lister going back to her roots to star in a horror movie was awesome to see. And when she hijacked the van to deal with the body of the never-dead boogeyman, my heart was racing... until the projector died right after the van stopped tumbling down the hill and caught fire. We waited a good five or ten minutes before watching what we all thought would be the definitive conclusion to the entire franchise. You couldn't top that decapitation, and you felt the amazing victory alongside Laurie Strode. We did it. We defeated Michael Myers.

By the time Resurrection was in production, I had already vowed off of it. How would they bring him back? Would he become supernatural and have his head magically re-attached to his body? Or would they use the equally implausible copycat angle? There's no good reason a man would have dressed up as Michael to go after Laurie, and even considering it was demeaning to H20's brother/sister arc. What we ended up getting was arguably worse. Switching bodies with the paramedic in such a contrived scenario was mind-bogglingly insulting, even to a dumb 12 year old like me. I didn't actually catch the movie until years later, and even then, I wish I hadn't.

The Return and The Revenge

To wash the bad taste out of my mouth, I spent my time fixating on the lost retconned entries. My neighbor let me borrow his rented copy of Part 4, and with that movie, I gained my first childhood crush that I've kept even into adulthood. The film itself had me hooked from the beginning autumn intro, and keeping Loomis as a central character made it seem absolutely authentic. Nevermind Michael's goofy mask and shoulder pads, I instantly fell in love with the movie.

It wasn't long after that my other sister took us to the video store where I'd finally watch Part 5 after hearing so much about it. The back of the VHS box advertised the movie as your chance to finally see Michael unmasked, which was absolutely enough to sell it for me, despite being entirely under-delivered in the actual movie, but again, who cares? The atmosphere and weird vibes instantly struck a chord with me and I felt equally obsessed with 5 as I did 4. And with that, I felt even more insulted by Part 6's apathetic discard for everything that was great about the previous two films.

The End of an Era

By this time, I knew the series was basically over. Resurrection was inherently awful as all the other rumored scripts floating around the internet at the time. I remember hearing one pitched Hulk Hogan as Dr. Loomis's brother? Halloween: Retribution? None of it mattered, because Laurie was dead. Jamie was dead. Nothing felt right in the world of Halloween anymore. Yet, I would still daydream of how they might bring back Danielle Harris into the fold. If Jamie Lloyd was recast in H6, does that mean she could have been a decoy and faked her death just like Laurie? Bringing back Jamie was always my dream scenario, but it could never happen. Not directly, at least...

A New Beginning... and End

Come 2007 and Danielle Harris is back in the mix. I'm stoked as fuck thinking of what could be. The Devil's Rejects was an awesome movie and Rob Zombie's casting was getting me more excited by the day. Rumors circulated that Danielle could be playing Laurie. She was 30 at the time, which made it seem unlikely, but what we got was surprisingly fitting anyway. I was happy to see her back either way, but knowing she was playing Annie got me pre-emptively upset that she would get killed off again. Plot twist: she survived the movie, but at what cost?!

My sister and I went to see this Halloween remake in theaters. Again, we never questioned how stupid it was for this movie to release in August because we needed our fix. My sister was getting pissed because the ticket-person wouldn't sell her a ticket because she couldn't find her ID, but we eventually got in. By the time we left the theater, we were both visibly drained and disappointed. We hated it in many ways, and there I went back to thinking the Halloween series was dead.

Even though I hated it, I bought the DVD as soon as it came out, hoping to gain any insights I could with its various special features. I was hoping the director's cut would change my perspective, but it didn't really. Rob Zombie was coerced into doing another one, which was equally offputting. I've grown to accept his movies over the years, as well as H6 and Resurrection. I bought the whole series on DVD as any obsessive fanboy would. There was a time when the series meant something, but it became a joke. You don't come back after a remake, because that precedent wasn't set yet. I had accepted that my obsession with these movies was childish and largely unjustifiable at this point and my interest faded over the years. I almost forgot what made these movies so magical to me. Then, something changed. Something got me excited again. They announced a 40th anniversary movie was in the works, and Jamie Lee Curtis was coming back. John Carpenter would be involved, and Nick Castle would “play” the Shape.

Halloween Triumphant

What resulted in the 2018 film was nothing short of legendary. My hopes and dreams were fulfilled in what would be the ultimate Halloween sequel. It's the best sequel we're ever going to get. The setup, the non-sister retcon, the perfect Haddonfield atmosphere... Everything was back to the basics, and it was beautiful. It was everything I could have hoped for, and when they announced it would be a trilogy, it became more than I could have ever dreamed of.

Halloween Kills gets a lot of shit, but I absolutely loved it and went on to see it multiple times in the theater. Halloween Ends is even more reviled, but I was equally fascinated with it. There's no denying that the new trilogy was crafted with love and fan-service, even if the direction was unexpected and not what we were promised. From the release date and narrative parallels to the original three films, it was a worthy conclusion to a decades long franchise that made me fall in love with the movies all over again.