WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Halloween III 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.480 Hey, everybody, Welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind and this 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.040 is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and we 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:13.200 are bringing you an episode of Weird House Cinema that 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:18.880 aired last October. October in fact, and this was one 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.239 of our one of our all time favorites. This is 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:26.840 on Halloween three, a a cherished Jim in the in 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.200 the I'm running out of metaphors here, but it's a 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.480 movie we love. Yeah, this is This is a great, 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.519 we've been great, great flick and I think of fun episode. 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:35.720 So if you didn't listen to it last year, dive 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.519 in for the first time. If you listen to it 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:39.760 last year, well, hey it's been a year. Time to 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:45.320 listen to it again. Welcome to Stuff to Blow your 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:55.360 Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.200 House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.160 McCormick and Rob or Since we started doing Weird How Cinema, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.160 I think I knew that one day would be the 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.440 day we did Halloween three. I've always known it was coming. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.280 It was like destiny. I could see over the mountain 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:13.880 ranges of time and I knew this would be waiting 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.959 for us. It was inevitable. You know. A few years back. 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.119 I think it was when we were doing a guest 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.360 spot on movie Crush with Chuck Bryant. Uh, it may 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:25.000 have been somewhere else, I don't know. You and I 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.360 were having a conversation on Mike somewhere that we were 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.280 talking about John Carpenter's Halloween, which which I of course 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.240 cherished as a as a wonderful horror movie, a near 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:40.000 perfect horror classic movie that has been copycatted so much 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.200 and and yet somehow is still never lost its uh 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.319 it's uniqueness and it and it's thrilling, scary power. And 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.880 somebody asked it might have been Chuck asking if it 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.800 was my favorite John Carpenter movie. And I still remember 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.720 at the time being surprised by my own response, though 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.760 I can't deny that I spoke my feelings. Not only 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.200 is the original Halloween not my favorite John Carpenter movie, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.440 It's not even my favorite Halloween movie because they're in 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.040 the back of my mind always is Halloween three, Season 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.240 of the Witch? I mean, was I joking? Was I 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.360 joking and saying that I like Halloween three better than 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:24.120 the original Halloween? Kind of but not really. Uh, you know, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:28.400 the Halloween sequels are largely just dismal, depressing, trash. I 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.520 dare you to watch Halloween five all the way to 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.519 the end. It's like, if you can do it, it's 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.720 it's it's such a miserable experience that fills you with pain. 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.080 It's like being dared to drink like a you know, 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.040 a swimming pool full of stagnant water with mosquito eggs 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.960 in it. Um So, so, how could it be the 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:52.040 case that there's this Halloween sequel that I like at 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.800 least as much as I like the original Halloween movie. 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.120 I don't know, but that's what we're going to try 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.600 to figure out today. I mean, I think you're right 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.560 to single this out as a favorite John Carpenter film 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.520 because no matter where the credits end up following, John 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.480 Carpenter's fingerprints are all over this baby. Well, that's funny. 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.120 So I said it was my favorite Halloween movie, I 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:14.880 would I don't know if i'd say it's my favorite 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.880 John Carpenter movie, especially since it was, as you're saying, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.760 not directed by or written by John Carpenter. Um well, 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.240 not officially, but I think on IMDb he gets an 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.880 uncredited rider credit. Uh so, I mean, I guess it 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.280 depends on how exactly you shake it out. But officially, no, 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:33.520 it was. It certainly was not directed by him, and 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.560 it was not officially written by him in any capacity. 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:38.680 I think he and Debor Hill at least both get 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.880 story credits on it, which may be just a thing 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.240 that's carried over from them, like creating the franchise itself. Yeah, 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:50.200 created because John Carpenter wrote the original Halloween and together 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.600 with Debra Hill, they wrote the first movie and created 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.080 the characters. Though actually the characters don't recur in this movie. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.560 That's one of the weirdest things about it. So warning 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.440 that this discussion today, this is a forty year old movie, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.080 but we will pretty much be revealing all of the 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.160 spoilers and plot twists and everything like that in the movie. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.360 So don't listen yet if you haven't seen it and 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.720 you want to be surprised by everything. And this this 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:17.479 bonkers cinematic god mode excursion. Um. But yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.040 So one of the weird things about Halloween three, I 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.000 guess that we're just trying to allude to is so 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.239 this is a movie that was not directed by John 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.240 Carpenter was at least not totally written by John Carpenter. 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.200 He gets some kind of unofficial writing credit. You're saying 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.000 he may have done a pass on the script or 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.680 something like that. And it does not feature any recurring 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.920 characters or plot elements from Carpenter's original movie at all. Nothing. 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.719 Uh unless, apparently I think you you your your love 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.760 of novelizations of strange films at some point led you 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.720 to the Alan Dean Foster novelization of Season of the Witch, 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.320 which had something connecting them. Yeah, apparently there's some sort 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.720 of a tangential connection made between the masks in this 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:01.800 film him in the mass worn by Michael Myers. But 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.520 I have not actually read the novelization yet. I own 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.680 a copy of it, but it's on my desk. It 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:11.360 works so Alan Dean Foster fan poser. I can't even 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.360 remember it was Allendine Foster. Oh, surely it was. We 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.480 got to look this up confirm. I mean, there's there's 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.120 it stands a chance. There's always a seventy chance that 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:26.120 Allen Deane Foster wrote the novelization. But I don't recall 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.520 who wrote this one. No, we were totally wrong. It's 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.840 not it's by somebody named Jack Martin. Okay, well there 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.440 we go. Are you familiar with the works of Jack Martin? 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.000 I think I looked him up when I was excited 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.479 about buying this paperback, and uh, I think it's a 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.760 it's a pseudonym used by another author, but I was 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:44.839 I'm not familiar with that other authors, so I can't 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.000 really speak to that. Okay, we'll start this off with 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.520 a big whiff. I was completely wrong about that being Allendine. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:55.120 You had a chance of being correct, though. That's like 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.720 some Scott Steiner math um. Okay, no, no, no, but okay, 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.200 so we said. Not directed by John Carpenter, not written 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.400 by John Carpenter, and does not feature any recurring characters 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.120 or plot elements from the original movie. And yet to me, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.240 Halloween three feels it doesn't just feel at home in 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:16.039 the John Carpenter Halloween cinematic universe. It feels like dead 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.560 center of that universe. It is the bulls eye of 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.800 of the target that I think about when when I 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.799 think about the John Carpenter cinematic style. Uh, this movie 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:31.640 is the Carpaween Nexus. It looks like Carpaween, it sounds 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:38.159 like Carpaween. It feels like carpa weeen and it feels good. Now, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:42.159 all that aside, Uh, this movie is largely hated. Uh, 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.520 it has started to gain a sort of cult following. 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.800 I think in recent years, I think it's not just us. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.359 Other people have started to pick up on and enjoy 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.080 this film. But when it was first released, it was 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.080 totally mocked and derided by critics. It was everybody was 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:01.200 just like, where's Michael Myers? What is this? So? What 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.120 did they miss that we're picking up on? I'm not 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.000 quite sure, but yeah, I don't know. Maybe we just 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.760 have a heightened affinity for the this genus of the 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.600 lowbrow absurd, or maybe this is one of those movies 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.560 and there are others like that just kind of needed 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.520 to age for a while, needed to age in the 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.160 oak barrels of time before it could be appreciated for 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.240 the succulently ludicrous concoction that it is. I think it 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.960 was in talking about this movie that I first articulated 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.760 the concept of a of a rub the fur movie 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.000 when we were talking about it with Chuck Bryant on 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.960 on Movie Crush. There are there are movies where the 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.920 primary pleasure is not located in story elements that can 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.400 easily be described in words or you know, like plot 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.360 or character. There are just these movies that are about 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:54.040 audio visual texture. They there to be experienced in the 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.240 same way that you would experience the soft fur of 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:59.720 a chinchilla, like you just kind of have to put 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.080 your executive function into low power mode and rubbed the fur. Yeah. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.480 I know, I'd have some definite thoughts on this this 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.960 question though about first of all, the people who are 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.160 saying where's Michael Myers. Um, I mean, on one level, 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.280 there is an answer to that. Michael Myers is in 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.440 the film because you see the Halloween, the first Halloween 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.480 movie playing uh in a bar. I think a couple 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.320 of different times TVs are on and the original Halloween 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.760 movie is playing. Yeah, there's a great a scene where 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.880 our protagonists played by Tom Atkins, who is a surgeon 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.040 I think, is on his lunch break and he's getting 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.959 drunk in a bar and and Halloween comes on TV. Yeah, 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.240 so it's um uh so, so he's there if you 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:41.800 really need him to be there. But I think more 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.040 more to the point, like the reason this this this 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.960 film Halloween three discards Michael Myers is that we already 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.840 had Halloween one, which is a I mean, what was 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.800 a real trend center is an essential slasher film. Uh, 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.040 it's not one of my favorite films. I feel like 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.120 it's it's like a lot of Trailblade. There's other films 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.280 came after it, and I'm not saying they necessarily did 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.120 it better, but maybe they did it bigger, and they 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.559 did it in ways that maybe sort of shocked the 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:13.040 zeitgeist a little bit more, you know. Um, but without 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.360 Michael Myers and the first Halloween movie and John Carpenter's 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.719 vision for that film, we wouldn't have had all these 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.319 other things. Um. But then we had a Halloween two 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.640 and that was the That was the bigger second scoop 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.640 of that franchise. And I'm not sure who really wanted 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.679 or needed a third helping after that. Well, I mean, 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:35.800 they kept doing it. I mean, and they're still doing 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:37.960 more as we record this. I just found out they're 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.840 doing another one of the sequel to the recent Halloween 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.080 movie that came out a couple of years ago. Uh. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.679 And you notice how in the Halloween franchise, like they 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.360 keep trying to do a movie where it's like Okay, 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.720 this is definitely the last one. You could not have 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.560 another one off after this because we chopped off Michael 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.400 Myer's head, or because Laurie Strode is now dead, or 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:00.600 because I don't know, a million different we set him 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.280 on fire and we watched him become a pile of ashes. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:05.960 Um that they've done that a million different ways, and 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.400 every time a couple of years roll by and somebody, 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.600 I guess somebody's bank account is starting to look a 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.280 little light and they're like, we need another one. Yeah, 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.200 because I guess that it comes out of the idea 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.400 like the name itself is going to be enough to 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.520 get people in theaters. And that was kind of the 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.640 idea with Halloween three, right. I mean, it's like, Okay, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.640 we've got the name. Why do we have to do 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.520 this whole Michael Myers thing again. Let's turn it into 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:32.200 an anthology um um series. Let's just have each Halloween 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.680 season we're gonna put out a Halloween film. But it 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.640 doesn't have to be Michael Meyer. It can be something 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.360 entirely different. It can be a weird kind of pagan 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.960 sci fi um adventure. Uh, and we'll have some of 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.080 the same touches there, we'll have that that you know, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.520 the Carpenter fingerprints will be there, but it will be 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.400 its own thing. Yes, And so that was the idea 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.520 behind the movie that became Halloween three, Season of the Witch. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.720 I believe it was by stick On the script of 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.120 that was just called Season of the Witch, or at 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.679 some point in the development it was, which was already 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.200 the name of another movie that had come out years 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.800 before that had different themes. So I think I don't 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.440 know that that that whole thing is kind of weird, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.240 but but it's very similar to something we've seen. Another 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.400 franchise is including the Tales from the Crypt franchise with 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.199 Demon Night, which we I think we just reran that 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.719 episode where that was a pre existing script and then 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.520 someone said, hey, let's make this our first Tales from 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.319 the Crypt movie, and so they tweaked it a bit 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.400 and it was good to go. I think they did 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.240 that a little bit like the hell Raiser franchise as well. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.000 I got this script looks good, Let's throw some cinembytes 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.840 in there and green light this sucker, right right, So 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.520 they were saying, Okay, here's just a totally unrelated horror 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.600 horror script um and we're going to say this is 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.840 the next in the Halloween movie anthology. Yeah, and every 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.960 year there's gonna be a Halloween movie that will have 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.720 nothing to do with the Halloween movies that came out before, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.679 except that maybe it would be I don't know, produced 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.520 by the same people. They might all be produced by 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:03.120 John carr Openter and associates, and maybe directed by people 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.439 who were part of John Carpenter circle, like Halloween three 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.760 is wonderfully directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who was who 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.400 had worked with John Carpenter on the previous Halloween movies 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:15.640 and would go on to do other things, like, you know, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.439 he directed the TV version of it and stuff like that. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.720 But um, but so I got I got the feeling 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:23.600 that that was kind of the idea, that it would 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.120 become sort of a thing where the Carpenter Club would 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:31.800 let somebody do a new Halloween series horror movie every year. Yeah. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.360 And I guess I always just assumed I forget when 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.080 I watched this for the first time, but I've loved 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:38.360 it for a while, and I always just thought it 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.120 was one of these cases where the idea was maybe 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.480 a little ahead of its time the mainstream. I guess 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.960 still wanted Michael Myers and some of us found things 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:47.959 to love about this film, and maybe we just did 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.360 it too late. I think I aw I'd read before. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.200 You know, the carpenter was fond of the film, and 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:53.599 you know, he didn't have any problems with it. He 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.199 didn't think it was a turkey or anything. But it 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.160 just things didn't line up for it to be the 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:02.280 financial success that the studio needed it to be. Um. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.200 But I wasn't really sure all that much how it 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.439 was received during the day. Uh. But then in the past, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.080 you know, a couple of years I picked up the 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:16.320 Michael Weldon books, the Psychotronic Film Guides, including the Psychotronic 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.680 Encyclopedia Film and I have to say, you know, I'm 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.240 the first thing I did was look up some of 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.720 my favorite films that were covered in that book and 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.400 see what what Weldon had to say about them. And 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.520 so I of course looked up Halloween three, and there's 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.640 there is a listing for it. But one of the 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.840 super interesting things about it is that this book came 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:40.480 out in three and Halloween three came out the year before, 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.440 in two, So at the time of publication, this was 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:48.760 the most recent Halloween movie. Um, this so it it 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.120 seemed like this was the course. Michael Myers had not 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.480 come back. Um, now, Weldon, I'm not going to read 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:57.560 Weldon's hole right up for it, but he he of 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.600 course digs it, but he ends his review with annual 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:05.040 Halloween features with unrelated plots are planned. So so it's 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.360 it's kind of an interesting time capsule to go back 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.960 and think like this was, this was the course, and 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:11.880 the idea was like, of course we're gonna get more 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.640 Halloween movies with weird, walky, non Michael Myers things going on. 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.840 And I wish that had happened too. I think maybe 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:23.480 I love the original Halloween more than than you seem to. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.720 But even then, I you know, I I don't thirst 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:30.080 for additional Michael Myers movies after after that first one. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.280 I mean I kind of enjoy a few of the sequels, 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.280 maybe a few, I don't know, Like Halloween h two 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.360 is cheesy, but it's kind of fun. Um most of 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.480 them are just direct and so I didn't need more 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.720 after the first one. And and if it had turned 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.080 into this, if this had come true, I would be 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.480 I would be so happy. Yeah, imagine the film, what 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.880 kind of films would we have received in the future. 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.400 I'm not sure that alternate reality is is tempting though. Um, 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.600 but yeah, at the end of the first hallowe movie, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.240 I feel like it's a it's a pretty perfect slasher film. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.360 You know. Donald Pleasant's character shoots him dad and he's like, 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.960 I got him. The nightmares over and then Halloween two 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.640 kicks off with actually I missed him. We're going to 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.360 need another picture for me to finish the job. Well, no, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.440 you forget the stinger at the end of Halloween one 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.000 as they go out and they look and the body 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.000 is missing. But I don't think that invites a sequel. 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.960 I mean to me, that's like Halloween one that should 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.240 have should have been done there. I think it should 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.680 have gone Halloween one. Then they should have made Season 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.400 of the Witch and then kept doing anthology stuff forever. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.760 But here we are, so let's go ahead and have uh, 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.120 let's have the Elevator pitch for this puppy, just just 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.800 to get the official plot points down. Well, okay, here 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:49.760 you go. It's actually pretty straightforward. Tom Atkins plays Dan Challis, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.960 a beer chugging surgeon who joins forces with Stacy Nelkin 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.440 to investigate the mysterious assassination of her father, a humble 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.000 toy and novelty salesman, and their sleuthing leads them to 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:06.120 a strange company town in northern California called Santa Mira, 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.360 in which all life and culture seems to revolve around 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.000 the local Halloween mask factory. Now, that would be the 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.520 more straightforward pitch that doesn't do any spoiling. But but 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.600 let me give you the spoiler pitch, because I think 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.040 that that might get our listeners more interested. And it's 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.360 that Dan o'hearla. He plays an ancient druid warlock who 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.800 commands an army of magical androids filled with frozen orange juice. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.080 And the Warlock hates children and hatches a plot to 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.680 massacre the children of America by manufacturing booby trapped Halloween 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.960 masks which contain microchips made out of pieces of the 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.640 stone Hinge magic Rock, which, when triggered by an embedded 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.800 signal in a TV commercial that will air on Halloween night, 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.880 shoot lasers that transform the heads of these children into 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.440 crickets and snakes. You know, I was in in an 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.960 effort to try and understand how this film was received. 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.760 When it came, I looked up Roger Ebert's review. Uh. 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.639 Ebert said that he did not understand what the villain 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.639 was trying to accomplish, and subsequently gave it one and 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:14.639 a half stars. Boom, Come on, Ebert, I love you, 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.360 but you missed the mark on this one. Um Man, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:19.560 you should have you should you should have gone into 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.440 rub the fur mode and then I think you would 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.359 have understood he was it was certainly capable of rubbing 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.800 the fur. I mean, that's the weird thing about ebert reviews. 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.280 It's like it's half the time it feels like I'm 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:33.359 either with him or I'm just completely opposed to everything 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.600 he's laying down about the film. But yeah, well, I mean, 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:42.120 so I as somebody who adores the this this bizarre movie, UM, 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.360 I get a mixed reaction when I when I show 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:47.399 it to people. I mean some people I've recommended it 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.480 to love it and and they're right there on the 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.280 Halloween three train with me, and some people are like, 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.840 I can't believe I watched that. What a piece of trash, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.400 And they're like mad about it. And you know, normally 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.399 I don't try to argue with people about some jective 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.560 responses to art and entertainment. I just don't. I don't care. 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:05.199 You know, if if you don't like something I like, 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.800 that's fine, vice versa. For this is like one exception. 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.639 This is one in which I'm like, oh, okay, you 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.080 didn't like it. I guess you don't know how to 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:17.840 have fun. Huh, all right? The line is drawn in 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.720 the sand. Regarding Halloween three. Um, there was a thing 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:23.679 I came across. I don't remember where I read this. 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.000 It might have been somewhere online, but I found a 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.160 quote where Vincent can Be the movie critic was talking 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:33.480 about this movie and he described it as quote anti children, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:38.359 anti capitalism, anti television, and anti Irish all at the 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.000 same time. Oh, I don't know that if it's really 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.760 anti all of those things. It's anti at least one 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.920 of those things. But but I don't think it's particularly 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.760 anti children. No, I don't think the movies AIN'TI well, 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.239 some of the children in it are truly obnoxious, and 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.720 I think they're supposed to be. But the villain is 0:18:55.760 --> 0:19:00.000 anti children. Oh well, well, yeah, I guess he Obviously 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.760 that doesn't mean the movie is anti children. Usually the 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.640 things that your villain hates doesn't mean that the filmmakers 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.480 hate them. Now, I just to come back to Michael Weldon, 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.879 I will read one more quote from his his write up. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.639 He said, just to to to weigh against the anti 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.960 children uh criticism. Quote, not another Slasher sequel, but a 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.560 fun you've far fetched new Halloween story with a cheap title. 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.120 I don't know, is that far fetched? Um? I mean 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.600 maybe not. I mean there are aspects of this film 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:29.080 that are not that far fetched, and I think that's 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.560 one of the reasons that that it speaks like it's 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.119 not it's there's a lot of weird, wonky stuff going 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:36.920 on in this film, but at the end of the day, 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:41.600 the idea of a a large corporation doing things that 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.080 at the very least do not have your children's best 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:49.360 interest at heart, that you know, I mean, that's I mean, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:51.600 turn on the news, that's that's that's the world we 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.160 live in today, and that's the world we're were we've 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.639 constantly been in. Uh So, I think this film, this 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.439 film does have an intelligent core at the part of it. 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.760 To whatever extent that core is able to shine through 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:05.640 the other elements of the film, I guess you could 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.720 have a discussion there. Yeah, it's funny. So I watched 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.720 this movie with the commentary track by the director Tommy 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.439 Lee Wallace, and he talks in this about how he's like, Okay, 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.160 so I was going out to make a horror movie 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.000 and and I thought about what am I really afraid of? 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:20.719 And he said, well, you know, the thing that scares 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.200 me more than anything is is like surveillance and and 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:28.560 corporate control of things like uh, big big government and 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.280 corporations and people who want to spy on you and 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:33.560 control your life. And those are the things that really 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.240 scare him and uh. And he wanted that to come 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.159 through in the movie. And I say, you know what 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:40.720 it it's a kind of a weird fit to try 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.560 to jam that into some kind of druid magic storyline, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.280 But that is the film you made that you succeeded. 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.600 So they're commenting about technology in the early eighties and 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:52.760 and trying to think about where we're going in a 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.080 weird way, like how I mean, what we have today 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.560