A few weeks ago, October 30th and 31st, I started working my way through the Halloween movies. Sure, I was familiar with the fact that Michael Myers was one of the 4 horseman of the Slasher Apocalypse that started in the 1970s and 80s (the other 3 being Freddy Kreuger, Leatherface, and Jason), but I’ve never really delved into any of them. I’m not a huge fan of horror films as it stands, but with it being Halloween weekend, I decided to make an exception. And what I found was that the first few films aren’t bad. As a matter of fact, I found them to be quite good. So, this week, I am going to delve into the first 2 films in the Halloween franchise; what is it that makes these films stand out, what I think works, and what I dont think has aged well. First off, here are the trailers for both.
So let’s get into this… First of all, like most franchise films from the pre-Marvel era, this wasn’t originally meant to be a multi-film franchise; rather, it was meant to be the first entry in an anthology series. The whole concept of “Halloween” was that John Carpenter wanted to be able to make scary one-off films from different directors, and each one would become a different self-contained story. And the first film really plays out like that; you get a good backstory of Michael Myers, and that is pretty much it.
Basically, the plot is that Michael Myers, as a child, stabs and kills his older sister on Halloween. The plot then jumps forward 15 years and Michael Myers has violently escaped from an insane asylum. His doctor (Dr. Loomis) believes he is headed home to Haddonfield IL, where the story of Michael Myers has become a local myth. Michael returns, becomes fascinated with Laurie Strode (played by a young Jamie Lee Curtis), and begins to follow her around.
The rest is pretty standard slasher-faire. Laurie’s sex-crazed friends get slaughtered by Michael, and then he starts to chase her. (This is a VERY abbreviated version of the last third of this movie, but c’mon… its a slasher film.) It ends with Michael basically standing over Laurie with a knife, only for the doctor to finally catch up with him and empty 6 shots from a revolver into the guy. Michael falls out a window, but by the time Laurie and Dr. Loomis get to look out of the window, he has disappeared. Boom… the evil unstoppable slasher is OUT THERE and might get you next! Classic horror film ending.
BUT of course, nobody could leave well enough alone. The popularity of the first Halloween spawned a bunch of slasher films that were wildly popular, most specifically Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film powers-at-be demanded a sequel. So, John Carpenter decided to add-on to the story for the sequel. Halloween 2, despite filming 3 years after, picked up immediately after the first left off. That means the first 2/3rds of the film had Laurie in a hospital. What we were treated to instead was Michael Myers wandering around town slaughtering people (with more blood this time around), only to find out halfway through that technically, Laurie was Michael’s sister. And so the hero from the first film becomes the macguffin for the franchise… Now the horrific Michael Myers has a reason to kill, while in the first film it was literally just that he was a wild killing machine.
Halloween II isn’t bad, its just unnecessary. I did read in my research that basically, the first film was so limited when it ran on television that it was less than an hour, so they used the filming for Halloween II to film additional scenes. That makes sense, because this movie does feel like a continuation from the first. But beyond that, I think making a family connection between Michael and Laurie cheapens the horror established so well in the first film. Like so many sequels, the desire to continue the story ruined the goodwill established in the previous outings.
I also have to say… if you told me John Carpenter didn’t want any more Michael Myers films, I would absolutely believe you. In this one, he kills off both Michael and the doctor. Then, the Carpenter-produced Halloween 3 completely changes gears from Michael Myers, only for the fourth film to bring back Michael but with no Carpenter or Jamie Lee Curtis. We will get into this more when we get to Halloween 4 & 5, but this purely looks as Carpenter had a brilliant vision for his anthology films, but came too hot out of the gate. Halloween 1 was GOOD, but it was TOO good. Nobody cared about other Halloween stories after that; they just wanted more Michael.
I don’t know what the moral is for this whole deal, but it is fascinating. Anyway, I’m gonna continue working through these over the next couple of weeks. Next blog will be on Halloween 3, but then we pivot back to the Michael Myers storyline for parts 4 through today! Should be a blast… except probably not. See you then.
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