Phew, and I made it through RZ's HII
Man, I'm as exhausted as I was when I watched this in the theater. Laurie just wore me out with her raving. I wish I could say I was empathetic, but by film's end I just wanted her to: shut. the. fuck. up.
I just had this common feeling. It was moments where I was grooving to the photographic work then I'd see Sheri Moon and that replacement kid Michael as specters in Myer's mind and groan.
Dream sequence at the Haddonfield Hospital at the beginning and even prior to it, the night where Laurie had shot Michael in the face, was taken to HH for her amazing stitch work and surgery, are absolutely splendid. Two coroners with a warped sense of humor hitting the cow with the carriage van carrying MM's body (not dead), with Michael cutting a head off. The hospital savagery inside the nightmare of Laurie with poor Octavia Spencer just getting brutalized by the blade. The hunters driving up on *some bum* they pummel some with a bat. I didn't mind Zombie going in a different direction with the brutality, necessarily, but all the constant cursing (cursing in itself doesn't bother me as much as just excessive, non-stop cursing) and yelling, and noise just kind of wore me out.
Like in his first Halloween, RZ really goes for broke on the audio viciousness of the blade and the blunt force authority. If a window breaks it is as if twenty windows broke. Glass everywhere. And wood doesn't just break apart, it splinters and explodes. It reinforces Michael's fury and rage and how all of it impacts with great momentum.
Loomis being an asshole full of himself, having sold his soul and all that didn't bother me as Malcolm's "selling the sizzle, not the steak" persona does indicate he's having so much fun acting like a jerk. His wardrobe and presentation to the masses on his book tour. Malcolm plays this quite well.
The Annie and Laurie dynamic, so fractured and turbulent, really exhausted me, and Rob meant for us to feel that way. The hell they've endured thanks to MM has turned them inside out and upside down. But the viewer enduring this can be taxing. Again, as intended.
The whole point is that everyone thanks to MM has scars. The scars run deep and bleed. The bleeding is what we see with Laurie in constant hysterics, Annie so beyond tired of all the bullshit, and Sheriff Brackett (serious, Brad Dourif is an actor's actor; the guy is good) totally spent with all that has happened. You include Dr. Loomis airing dirty laundry about Laurie, and all these blood spills.
So no one is who they once were in this one. The experience two years later has created damaged souls (along with damaged bodies).
As I write this I'm listening to RZ's audio commentary, having watched the film and now listening to his experience and reasoning behind the writing and presentation of the film and its characters. It seems to have been a nightmarish experience. Interference in all facets of the filmmaking process undermined him. I certainly recommend listening to him to get an understanding of why the theatrical film and his director's cut seem to be so different. The schedule and time constraints (and difficult occurrences) seem to be a constant in his commentary...you can just tell this was not a good experience.
I think the Brackett business with the sheriff and his daughter totally ruined by Michael is so potent and made me just agonize. Out of the damaged folks, poor Annie deserved to have something of a happy ending...not happening in this bleak piece of horror.
The look and feel of the film, though, even if the content might not always light my fire, were just a home run. He has these stellar color schemes, gets good rural flavor with Michael walking about, and even if I was annoyed by the Mother/Kid Michael specters of the mind always popping up, RZ gets them quite well with his camera and lighting at times.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I was quite astounded at how similar the Brackett house was to the old Myers house. Perhaps it wasn't intentional because I don't recall RZ mentioning it. Still, the exteriors just kind of took me aback. That and the Rabbit in Red sequence...that is intense in how Michael just executed these cats in this monstrous fashion. The stripper smashed into the mirror and the broken arm of the owner (Daniel Robuck) after Mikey crushed his bouncer under his bootheel unfolds in this blitzkrieg. When it comes to Mikey and his "having some fun", RZ just turns him into this raging beast of knife stabs and structural wreckage.
I just had this common feeling. It was moments where I was grooving to the photographic work then I'd see Sheri Moon and that replacement kid Michael as specters in Myer's mind and groan.
Dream sequence at the Haddonfield Hospital at the beginning and even prior to it, the night where Laurie had shot Michael in the face, was taken to HH for her amazing stitch work and surgery, are absolutely splendid. Two coroners with a warped sense of humor hitting the cow with the carriage van carrying MM's body (not dead), with Michael cutting a head off. The hospital savagery inside the nightmare of Laurie with poor Octavia Spencer just getting brutalized by the blade. The hunters driving up on *some bum* they pummel some with a bat. I didn't mind Zombie going in a different direction with the brutality, necessarily, but all the constant cursing (cursing in itself doesn't bother me as much as just excessive, non-stop cursing) and yelling, and noise just kind of wore me out.
Like in his first Halloween, RZ really goes for broke on the audio viciousness of the blade and the blunt force authority. If a window breaks it is as if twenty windows broke. Glass everywhere. And wood doesn't just break apart, it splinters and explodes. It reinforces Michael's fury and rage and how all of it impacts with great momentum.
Loomis being an asshole full of himself, having sold his soul and all that didn't bother me as Malcolm's "selling the sizzle, not the steak" persona does indicate he's having so much fun acting like a jerk. His wardrobe and presentation to the masses on his book tour. Malcolm plays this quite well.
The Annie and Laurie dynamic, so fractured and turbulent, really exhausted me, and Rob meant for us to feel that way. The hell they've endured thanks to MM has turned them inside out and upside down. But the viewer enduring this can be taxing. Again, as intended.
The whole point is that everyone thanks to MM has scars. The scars run deep and bleed. The bleeding is what we see with Laurie in constant hysterics, Annie so beyond tired of all the bullshit, and Sheriff Brackett (serious, Brad Dourif is an actor's actor; the guy is good) totally spent with all that has happened. You include Dr. Loomis airing dirty laundry about Laurie, and all these blood spills.
So no one is who they once were in this one. The experience two years later has created damaged souls (along with damaged bodies).
As I write this I'm listening to RZ's audio commentary, having watched the film and now listening to his experience and reasoning behind the writing and presentation of the film and its characters. It seems to have been a nightmarish experience. Interference in all facets of the filmmaking process undermined him. I certainly recommend listening to him to get an understanding of why the theatrical film and his director's cut seem to be so different. The schedule and time constraints (and difficult occurrences) seem to be a constant in his commentary...you can just tell this was not a good experience.
I think the Brackett business with the sheriff and his daughter totally ruined by Michael is so potent and made me just agonize. Out of the damaged folks, poor Annie deserved to have something of a happy ending...not happening in this bleak piece of horror.
The look and feel of the film, though, even if the content might not always light my fire, were just a home run. He has these stellar color schemes, gets good rural flavor with Michael walking about, and even if I was annoyed by the Mother/Kid Michael specters of the mind always popping up, RZ gets them quite well with his camera and lighting at times.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I was quite astounded at how similar the Brackett house was to the old Myers house. Perhaps it wasn't intentional because I don't recall RZ mentioning it. Still, the exteriors just kind of took me aback. That and the Rabbit in Red sequence...that is intense in how Michael just executed these cats in this monstrous fashion. The stripper smashed into the mirror and the broken arm of the owner (Daniel Robuck) after Mikey crushed his bouncer under his bootheel unfolds in this blitzkrieg. When it comes to Mikey and his "having some fun", RZ just turns him into this raging beast of knife stabs and structural wreckage.
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