"It was the Boogeyman"

by Cláudio Alves

The release of Halloween Kills marks the twelfth feature in the franchise that originated with John Carpenter's classic slasher. It's been 43 years since it all started, but the story of Michael Myers keeps on engaging audiences. Unfortunately, four separate timelines have twisted it out of shape, making the monster into a druidic nightmare, a manifestation of murderous fate that chases after its own bloodline, a human psychopath, an inhuman abstraction. As for Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, she went from the ultimate final girl to a scream queen offed off-screen to a traumatized woman and a violent avenger. Honestly, it's been a wild ride, and most of those sequels are misbegotten atrocities that deserve no attention. However, none of those sorry movies or their divergences from Carpenter's essential vision have retroactively worsened the first picture…

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Horror Actressing: Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween"

by Jason Adams

It is October 28th as I write this and so naturally one is thinking of Halloween -- not the holiday but John Carpenter's movie, I mean. I think in movies exclusively now, ya see. But with this franchise it's hard not to -- the original film was released 41 years ago yesterday and its star Jamie Lee Curtis is out there right now still playing Laurie Strode for the first of two brand new sequels, Halloween Kills for next year and then for 2021 (the no doubt deceptively titled) Halloween Ends. What a good time to celebrate Laurie Strode then...

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Beauty vs Beast: The Battle of Halloweentown

Jason Adams from MNPP here, wishing everyone a Happy All Hallows Week as well as (thematically related) a Happy 25 to Henry Selick's now-a-holiday-classic The Nightmare Before Christmas for this week's "Beauty vs Beast" contest. It seems strange to remember that when NBC came out it only got mixed reviews but I was there, I am old, and I remember it - it's stood the test of time though, and now I can't imagine Halloween or Christmas without Zero the Dog and the rest of the colorfully spooky gang. (The annual argument over whether the film is a Halloween Movie or an Xmas Movie that I could do without.) 

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PREVIOUSLY The winner of last week's PJ Soles contest was... drum-roll please... PJ Soles! PJ Soles is always our winner. Okay okay specifically it was her Halloween character of Lynda who won over her role in Carrie, with a vote of 69% (that number would totally make Lynda giggle). Said Rob:

"Norma was horrible and got what she deserved. Lynda was a totally lovable airhead. GO LYNDA"

Blueprints: "Halloween (1978)"

This week Jorge goes back to Haddonfield in 1978 for the 40th anniversary of a horror classic to look at how the original film establishes its point of view.

Every script has a point of view. Even movies with multiple protagonists, or whose perspectives change from scene to scene, we are experiencing the events through someone’s lens at any given moment; even if that person is not a character, but someone behind the camera guiding us to what we’re supposed to perceive.

But there are movies with a more literal point of view, where what we are seeing is exactly what one of the characters is. A literal POV is used sparingly in movies, but it’s a great tool to get the audience in the mindset and subjective state of a film. The opening of the original Halloween is told entirely through a POV shot, and though it is abandoned quickly, this sets up the dangerous mood and tone of a franchise that's continued for generations...

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Beauty vs Beast: Scream in your PJs

Jason from MNPP here - if you went and saw David Gordon Green's Halloween this weekend did you catch that voice cameo in the classroom scene? Mirroring a near identical scene in John Carpenter's original we see the granddaughter of Laurie Strode discussing the subject of Fate in her English class, and the voice of her teacher is none other than that of P.J. Soles, aka Lynda from the first movie and a total Horror Icon. Totally! And so we feel like giving some love to P.J. today, whose seal of vocal approval must count for at least 50 million dollars of its insane opening weekend box office. Totally. Just two years before Halloween Soles memorably co-starred in Brian De Palma's Carrie as Norma, another example of "girls making really bad choices in their best friends, and so let's face them down...

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PREVIOUSLY Clearly we're on a Halloween kick, having gone the Jamie Lee Curtis route last week - only this time it was Linsday Lohan who got shivved with a knitting needle in the neck, JLC taking just under 90 PERCENT of your vote on our Freaky Friday poll. Ouch, way to kick a redhead when she's down, y'all! Said Mareko:

"Lohan is indeed great in this movie—it still pains me to think of what could’ve been had she stayed focused on her talent vs. celebrity—but Curtis is the real MVP, no question. Love that the NYT stanned for her so hard in 2003, as you do, and she should’ve *easily* scored an Oscar nom over the likes of Naomi Watts and even Samantha Morton."