H22 #16: Halloween Ends (2022)

The third and concluding chapter of David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy (Halloween Ends) serves as a fitting epilogue. By turning some of the tropes inside out and slightly changing the tone, the film asks: What makes a monster?

Set a few years after the first two films, which both took place on the same Halloween night, Laurie Strode has achieved some semblance of normalcy living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matachak). Meanwhile Haddonfield remains in the grip of paranoia, terrified of Michael Myers reappearing.  

In a harrowing prologue sequence, echoing the opening of the original 1978 Halloween and Wes Craven's Scream, we're introduced to Corey (Rohan Campbell), a young man about to start a babysitting job for the evening. When a tragedy ensues that's not directly Corey's fault, his character begins a tragic journey.

Halloween Ends draws upon elements of the King/Carpenter film Christine and Bram Stoker's classic Dracula. Michael Myers almost becomes rudimentary to the plot and these are the strongest parts of the film. The last section falls into more conventional mode with the inevitable confrontations and call backs to other moments in the saga. 

The collaborative music score led by John Carpenter's team delivered on its brand of retro creepiness. Jamie Lee Curtis continued the long journey of Laurie from final girl to matriarch. Fans of the franchise may scoff at the somber tone of this finale, but it works as a fitting conclusion to this incarnation of the Halloween mythos.  ***

H22 #15: Halloween Kills (2021)

The second entry in the reboot Halloween trilogy, Halloween Kills strikes a curious balance between schlocky horror and being a thoughtful examination of repressed trauma boiling to the surface. 

The action picks up on the same night of the first film with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) recovering in the hospital from her recent, almost fatal, encounter with Michael Myers. Falsely believing her nemesis is gone for good, the focus of this entry turns to the residents of Haddonfield, Illinois. 

At a local watering hole, a group of survivors of the initial attack of Myers 40 years before gather in a communal sharing of support. When word starts to spread Myers is back in town and on another rampage, Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), the character appeared as one of the kids Laurie was babysitting in the original movie, gathers a mob intent on killing Michael. As a character states, "He won't stop killing until we stop him."

Much of the action, like the 1981 sequel to the original, takes place at the hospital. Believing it's the location where Michael is heading, the mob stages a standoff. As those seeking mob justice often discover, they make many errors and more harm and damage. Upon its release a year ago, many drew comparisons to the 1/6/21 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a hateful mob incited by a sitting president. 

But relations between angry mobs and monsters goes all the way back to James Whale's 1931 version of Frankenstein. The unsettling element of Halloween Kills is that we know some of the people in the mob and recoil at their behavior turning ugly. Eventually they realize they've made a mistake and inflamed the situation. A recurring theme running though these reboot films is a frustration and shock that old threats once relegated to the past keep recurring. 

That's where Halloween and Halloween Kills channel the unease and terror of our current era. In a new century, horrors once relegated to previous eras have returned. Facing the existential challenges of the future feels even more foreboding with so much boiling back to the surface. Whatever Michael Myers is as a force of nature or spiritual entity, the bogeyman has proved himself resilient as a catch all symbol for what we fear. 

Sci-Fi Summer #1: Dark Star (1974)

Dark Star may not be as well known as other science fiction films from the 1970s, at least not on the level of Star Wars or Alien, but its influence is everywhere. Filmed over the course of three years by USC students, it was the first feature film directed by John Carpenter. Dan O'Bannon co-wrote and acted in the film. Anyone who's seen Jodorowsky's Dune knows the film caught the eye of the Chilean filmmaker who was developing the ill fated adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune. Dark Star also sends up Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and other heroic visions of space travel like Star Trek.

The film begins with a four man crew in a claustrophobic ship. Their mission is to blow up unstable planets to clear the way for colonization. In their endless free time they bicker with each other and have the same conversations over and over. Crew member Boiler spends all his time on the observation deck watching the stars float by. Doolittle dreams about surfing.  Talby is about to lose his mind, while Pinback (O"Bannon) is an annoying know it all. The ship's leader Commander Powell was killed in an accident, but remains alive in cryogenic sleep. Meals are eaten out of liquid tubes. Space travel here is a never ending wave of monotony, an empty existence with no purpose.

In an extended sequence of physical comedy Pinback tries to capture the ship's pet alien that's literally a beach ball (a scene that would be recycled in Alien). Later a malfunction prevents a nuclear bomb from dropping and creates an existential crisis. Doolittle engages in a philosophical discussion with the bomb that recalls HAL from 2001, a simple dialogue evoking Cartesian doubt and Plato's allegory of the cave. A poignant ending ensues as the crew members meet their fate.

Dark Star provides irreverent humor of many varieties. Boredom can be funny, especially ennui in the workplace in films like Clerks and Office Space. Pinback keeps a video diary where he talks trash about the crew and admits to impersonating an officer plays like a precursor to youtube videos. When they revive Commander Powell he asks, "How did the Dodgers do?" The look of the spaceship is grungy and things break down constantly. Everything from The Simpsons to Spaceballs owes something to Dark Star. The sound design is also inventive, clearly influenced by George Lucas's THX-1138.

A true collaboration between O'Bannon and Carpenter, both had long careers in Hollywood. Alien has an almost identical plot reconfigured as a horror film with a bigger budget. Carpenter would have a remarkable run of films including Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, and The Thing. O"Bannon would play a major role in 80s Sci-Fi movies in writing and special effects. He also directed the 1985 cult classic Return of the Living Dead. 

***1/2 out of 4