Posts Tagged ‘Michael Myers’

Short Take: Contains satisfyingly creative deaths, and nothing else

Director: Steven Quale

Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer

Cast: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, David Koechner, Tony Todd

Length: 1h 32m

Synopsis: Sam (D’Agosto) is an office worker who in his free time is trying to pursue his passion for the culinary arts and win back his ex-girlfriend Molly (Bell), who is also an office coworker. The two join some fellow coworkers and their slimy boss Dennis (Koechner) on a bus to an office retreat, but while in route they narrowly survive a terrible bridge collapse that, were it not for Sam’s advisement to abruptly leave, would have caused their untimely and gruesome demises. The days following this divine intervention, however, prove to be no less perilous. One by one each survivor meets a grisly, macabre fate, leading the remaining few to assume that Death has intentions of correcting his oversights at any given moment.

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Robin Wood famously articulated the American horror film, but one thing still needs to be added

While rereading Robin Wood’s essay An Introduction to the American Horror Film I noticed that it failed to talk about an important element in the discussion of what exactly describes an American horror film. The absence of this topic in his subsection titled “Basic Formula” surprises me now, as it is arguably just as simple a provision to the genre as the overarching blueprint stipulating that “normality is threatened by the Monster.” While Wood’s essay has long since been considered a seminal one for both him and academic thought about the horror genre, and this is very true, an amendment should nevertheless be made. That amendment is specific but not intricate, dealing with the main protagonist’s direct relationship with the antagonist.

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Hello fellow moviegoers! It’s that time of year when we all relish the simple pleasures that come with the Halloween season. Whether it’s eating candy till you’re sick, drinking until you’re sick, scaring the neighbors’ children, or taking a date to a scary movie, the Halloween season is unlike any other. The holiday, like movies themselves, allows us to briefly live in a world of fantasy, giving us an excuse to dress up as whatever we want to be and, if we choose, frighten the crap out of each other.

One of the most popular Halloween costumes of all time (and one which I’ve worn on several occasions myself) is that of the killer “shape” from John Carpenter’s Halloween, Michael Myers. Walk around long enough on any given year, anywhere, and you’re bound to see at least one or two Michaels roaming the streets of your figurative Haddonfield. The classic horror movie has become inexorably bound with its associated holiday, which is of course only too appropriate. But its popularity goes far beyond just being titled “Halloween”. It is widely regarded as a milestone in American horror, and is still to this day reflected upon and studied by film scholars and critics, along with the general public (naturally). But aside from its impressive critical commendation, it’s simply flat out one of the scariest movies of all time. The jaded might be unimpressed, but those who are able to let down their guard and take off their armor of masculinity will attest to the film’s standing power. One of, if not the best test of a film is the test of time, and after 30 years Halloween is still as popular as it ever was.

As a form of celebration and to help commemorate the Halloween season, we offer all of you to read the authentic shooting script for Carpenter’s Halloween in its entirety. There are small and subtle differences that fans of the film will likely pick up on, and hardcore fans will no doubt have fun noting the comparisons (that is, if they haven’t read the script on their own already).

Michael gave new meaning to the words "trick or treat"

The script is a really fun read even if you’re not that big into horror. It goes by fast (as there’s lots of dialogue) and can be deceptively engaging. Horror scripts are typically tedious reads because they’re very predictable and borrow considerably from older films. Halloween, though, is the film that began the “slasher” craze, and is the one that all those formulaic knock-offs sponge from (more or less). In many ways, the script is an artifact of cinematic history. I fail to think of a higher honor for a screenwriter, and so I highly recommend that all of you reserve some time to be interactive witnesses to this history. And what better time to do so than now?

You can download the entire script here halloween script.pdf

Halloween‘s definition of normality - that is, how normality is represented in the film - is depicted as being relatively care-free with only minor day-to-day inconveniences and annoyances to battle with (a friend speaking to your crush for you, a boyfriend getting grounded on a date night, getting harassed by bullies, etc.). It is an enclosed suburban world where evil does not reside, and the time of when it once did is considered a distant memory; a history that is acknowledged but not really known or given much, if any, attention. The horror inherent in this film is that this normality comes under threat by something completely unexpected that they could not have prepared for. Michael Myers is a threat that seeks to change the definition of normality in his world – that is, the world as seen through his eyes - and ends up also changing it for others. Read the rest of this entry »