Terry's Reviews
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Movie Reviews: |
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Halloween
– 25 Years of Terror Anchor Bay Entertainment – 2006 Directed by Stefan Hutchinson |
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| This is a true
delight for any for of John Carpenter’s Classic and or the sequels that followed.
This DVD completely focuses on telling the story of the HALLOWEEN series from beginning to
end and succeeds in everyway by supplying information, photos and footage that is
priceless. DISC 1 Horror’s Hallowed Grounds is a fantastic new show created for the Horror Channel created & Hosted by Sean Clark. Clark takes us to all the important locations from the first movie and even has PJ Soles join him at times to help talk about the shooting locations used in the film. Many of the locations have naturally changed dramatically since the film was made and it’s fascinating to see what these places look like now. There is Extended Interviews from HALLOWEEN II, III and the Celebrity Interviews. Extended interviews feature ten people spread over twenty-five minutes of interview time. These are cool because of everyone’s enthusiasm, and seeing what these people look like now. Extended celebrity interviews run thirty-six minutes and feature Charles Cyphers, Dick Warlock, P.J. Soles, Alan Howarth, Greg Nicotero, John Carl Buechler and some other folks. It was neat to see the HALLOWEEN 5 On-Set Footage. We can see how the film as directed and how little Danielle Harris went through rehearsing before takes. Halloween Convention Montage was nice for me to view because I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend this historic event.
Fans Of Halloween is a neat collection of prop and memorabilia fans from around the globe that present their love of MM through video footage and home movies. Altogether the first disc is dynamite. DISC 2 Pamela Susan Shoop, Tawny Moyer, Cliff Emmich and Gloria Gifford represent the Halloween 2 Panel Discussion. These folks might be the most jovial out of all the panel discussions. I got a kick out of listening to Pamela Susan Shoop go into the intricacies of the hot tub murder scene she so lovingly was part of. Fans of the male sort will no doubt love to hear her story. Halloween 6 Panel Discussion has Marianne Hagan, Daniel Farrands, Janice Knickrehm, Paul Freeman, Bradford English and Kim Darby. They had a lot to say about the alternate version of the film. Kim Darby is a real quirky lady and Janice Knickrehm belies her age with incredible enthusiasm. The Ellie Cornell Panel Discussion gives the actress the opportunity to discuss her involvement in 4 and 5. She’s brutally honest that she did not like the script for 5, and that she demanded a rewrite of her character’s death because she felt she deserved better. I do like how she knew her character had to die because that’s what happens to most characters in these types of movies. The Michael Myers Panel Discussion consisted of Jim Winburn (HALLOWEEN), Dick Warlock (HALLOWEEN 2), George P. Wilbur (HALLOWEEN 4 & HALLOWEEN 6), Tom Morga (HALLOWEEN 4), Don Shanks (HALLOWEEN 5), Chris Durand (HALLOWEEN H2O) and Brad Loree (HALLOWEEN RESSURECTION). They each have their own stories of how they played the pale-masked killer, which is interesting and sheds light on each one of their performances. Sadly, the best Michael Myers, Nick Castle (HALLOWEEN) is not present. My favorite panel discussion is next, featuring master cinematographer Dean Cundy. Cundy talks around a half hour of truly thrilling, cinematic info that any filmmaker or fan of the movie will gobble up. Cundy has incredible memory of the most complex particulars of what he was doing to bring John Carpenter’s vision to the screen. This is not to be missed. Halloween Producers Panel Discussion features Moustapha Akkad and Irwin Yablans. These two guys were the initial spark that lit the fire that became HALLOWEEN. They go back to the beginning and tell the story of how it took place from Yablans’ bringing John Carpenter aboard to the actual physical production. Great stuff. Following is a HALLOWEEN Locations Stills Gallery displaying areas used in filming the original, HALLOWEEN III: Season of the Witch, and H2O. After that is a gallery of original artwork created by fans that show their love of Michael Myers and all that is HALLOWEEN. Lastly is a behind the scenes gallery of the H25 Convention. I really do wish I’d been there. Wrapping up the extras on the second disc is the song 'Pure Evil' by Vicious Disorder, a Metallic Thrash take on Carpenter's classic theme. The track features grungy guitars and the voice of James Hetfield and Cookie Monster’s love child. I was pleasantly surprised to find a comic book entitled Halloween Autopsis. There’s some moody artwork, but it’s a little bit too gory to capture the feel of true essence of HALLOWEEN. Also included is an insert listing chapters and a personal message from set producer Anthony Masi about the convention, documentary, how he became the webmaster for www.halloweenmovies.com and the loss of series producer Moustapha Akkad. I highly doubt there will be a DVD released in 2006 that I like or appreciate more than HALLOWEEN – 25 Years of Terror. |
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