| Here is another reason why the Michael
Myers-Only-Kills-The-Girls-Who-Have-Sex issue does not work.
Michael Myers is also going after the children also. One of his
intended victims is Tommy Doyle, the boy Laurie Strode is
babysitting. Remember the scene where Tommy Doyle is being
picked on by bullies outside the school? Michael Myers grabs one
of the bullies and frightens the kid just by looking at him. And
this is before the Halloween store robbery by Michael Myers.
Michael Myers does not even have his mask on; so he is scaring
the bully with his actual face. Afterwards Tommy Doyle is being
followed by the same psychotic who also happens to like to
disembowel dogs with his bare hands. After so many sequels,
people forget that Michael Myers was once a sick and twisted
mutha.
But not Doctor Loomis; he never forgot. Who is the only
person Michael Myers, the boogeyman, is afraid of? Doctor
Loomis. He gave up 15 years of his life, even becoming a joke to
his peers, to keep Michael Myers restrained. Loomis knew what
would happen if Myers was let loose. When John Carpenter and
Debra Hill were searching for actors to play Doctor Loomis,
British Hammer horror icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
rejected the role before Donald Pleasance accepted. Christopher
Lee regrets turning down the role because Donald Pleasance
became famous to children and adults while having a steady job
for many years with the sequels. Doctor Loomis, the guy who
never gave up, is the one who rushes in and saves the day.
Halloween would also not have worked if it was not for its
music. The Halloween theme throughout the movie is simple and
easy in its beats, which is enough
for a person to remember. Everyone knows the Halloween theme and
probably has played the theme on their piano too but my personal
favorite is the chase theme when Jamie Lee Curtis is running
across the streets and Michael Myers is slowly catching up to
her.
I highly recommend the Halloween DVD. Two kinds of DVDs are
sold in stores these days with Halloween. One is the theatrical
cut and the other is the cut
made for television. In the television version, more scenes were
added to develop the days Michael Myers was inside the
institution. In these scenes, we see
Doctor Loom do his best in court to keep Michael Myers
restrained but Loomis’ peers criticize him and finally reject
his proposal. We also see Michael Myers as a
teenager, catatonic but always staring at something. Note how
his pad room is clean and sterile before and then notice the
destruction Myers leaves behind in his
room after he escapes from the institution. These scenes are
interesting but the editing and pace slows down the movie.
With the theatrical cut DVD, the audio commentary by John
Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Jamie Lee Curtis is important to
listen to for every novice filmmaker. John Carpenter and Debra
Hill give a how-to kind of commentary by explaining continuity,
casting, and photography. They each tell a personal anecdote
about having to work under pressure to finish the film in 23
days. When they were young, John Carpenter and Debra Hill were
trying to get themselves noticed and Halloween brought them
enormous fame.
How many female producers can you really name in the movie
industry? Debra Hill is one of the few, like Terminator producer
Gale Anne Hurd, who started
out from nowhere and succeeded on their own in a male-dominated
industry. She did not always need John Carpenter to make a
successful film. She produced The
Dead Zone, a successful Stephen King adaptation, which was
directed by David Cronenberg. She also produced the movie, Crazy
in Alabama, which was the directorial debut of actor Antonio
Banderas. The last film she produced before she passed away from
cancer was Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, starring Nicholas
Cage. During the making of the television movie, Roadracers,
Debra Hill worked with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who was
influenced by a movie she produced, Escape from New York.
In a scene from Halloween, Tommy Doyle is watching The Thing
From Outer space on his television set. John Carpenter would
later remake that movie and
create another cult classic, which would have an impact on
popular culture. His friendship with Kurt Russell would bring
the audience Escape from New York,
a classic in the sci-fi genre; which is usually dominated by
space operas and robot wars. He would later come up with a
sci-fi movie disguised as a western called They Live, another
cult classic starring Roddy Piper.
John Carpenter and Debra Hill succeeded in their careers with
numerous cult classics, and it all started with an independent
move called Halloween.
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