Post by tav7623 on Oct 8, 2010 23:42:55 GMT -5
hey everyone tav here with Part 2 of my 5 part series of reviews on horror documentaries, this part will focus on the 2006 documentary Halloween: 25 Years of Terror. The documentary is narrated by PJ Soles aka Linda from the original Halloween, directed by Stefan Hutchinson, and written by Stefan Hutchinson and Anthony Masi ( writer for His Name was Jason and Producer for the upcoming documentaries The Psycho Legacy and Unearthed: The Hellraiser Saga). The Documentary covers every Halloween movie except for the Rob Zombie remake and subsequent sequel because they had not yet been made at the time this documentary was made.
Pros: it's way shorter than the Never Sleep Again documentary running in at 1 hour and 24 minutes, has interviews from all the major players including old interview footage of Donald Pleasance and Jamie Leigh Curtis, has rare behind the scenes footage and promotional material for Parts 4 and 5, discusses the controversies surrounding the mask in H20, casting controversies for Part 6 and 8, includes footage from the 2003 25th Anniversary Convention, and has some commentators/interviewees who are not afraid to rag on the movies on camera.
Cons: includes some disturbing video submissions from fans who are such uber fans that their video submission is creepy, the included fan tapes are haphazardly tossed in here and there with no real defined reason for being where they are in the documentary
Overall I give Halloween: 25 Years of Terror a 5 out of 10 for being a for the most part short and straight forward documentary that starts off well with a defined chronology/game plan which is eventually hampered because it occasionally delves off onto tangents about whether the movies should be to blame for inspiring psychopaths to go on killing sprees or the video taped uber devotion to the series by some fans before getting back on track. After they are finished covering the movies (1-8) they move onto the 25th Anniversary Convention which is where a majority of their footage comes from and which is also incorporated throughout the documentary and found on the bonus features disc. Overall I am somewhat disappointed by this documentary primarily because it was poorly made and doesn't have the same kind of quality that current and future horror documentaries have. I like slasher films and so far two of the big three in slasher movie series (Freddy and Jason) have had decent documentaries made about them and I wish that someone would make a quality Halloween documentary someday soon. That said I would only recommend this documentary if you are such a big big big fan of the Halloween franchise that you want to see/own a documentary about the series, and don't mind having the horrors of parts 6 and 8 rehashed.
I hope you enjoyed this review and I will be back on Tuesday with Part 3 which will focus on the 2009 Friday the 13th documentary His Name Was Jason.
Update: Companion books for the Halloween movies are Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of Slasher Films by Adam Rockoff and John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness by Gilles Boulenger
Pros: it's way shorter than the Never Sleep Again documentary running in at 1 hour and 24 minutes, has interviews from all the major players including old interview footage of Donald Pleasance and Jamie Leigh Curtis, has rare behind the scenes footage and promotional material for Parts 4 and 5, discusses the controversies surrounding the mask in H20, casting controversies for Part 6 and 8, includes footage from the 2003 25th Anniversary Convention, and has some commentators/interviewees who are not afraid to rag on the movies on camera.
Cons: includes some disturbing video submissions from fans who are such uber fans that their video submission is creepy, the included fan tapes are haphazardly tossed in here and there with no real defined reason for being where they are in the documentary
Overall I give Halloween: 25 Years of Terror a 5 out of 10 for being a for the most part short and straight forward documentary that starts off well with a defined chronology/game plan which is eventually hampered because it occasionally delves off onto tangents about whether the movies should be to blame for inspiring psychopaths to go on killing sprees or the video taped uber devotion to the series by some fans before getting back on track. After they are finished covering the movies (1-8) they move onto the 25th Anniversary Convention which is where a majority of their footage comes from and which is also incorporated throughout the documentary and found on the bonus features disc. Overall I am somewhat disappointed by this documentary primarily because it was poorly made and doesn't have the same kind of quality that current and future horror documentaries have. I like slasher films and so far two of the big three in slasher movie series (Freddy and Jason) have had decent documentaries made about them and I wish that someone would make a quality Halloween documentary someday soon. That said I would only recommend this documentary if you are such a big big big fan of the Halloween franchise that you want to see/own a documentary about the series, and don't mind having the horrors of parts 6 and 8 rehashed.
I hope you enjoyed this review and I will be back on Tuesday with Part 3 which will focus on the 2009 Friday the 13th documentary His Name Was Jason.
Update: Companion books for the Halloween movies are Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of Slasher Films by Adam Rockoff and John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness by Gilles Boulenger