Everyday is Halloween...Halloween...Halloween...

I wrapped up Halloween II (1981) and Halloween III (1982) for the week after Halloween (1978) on Monday. I was happily surprised to see Cinemax was giving the second and third films some rub on premium channels this year. Of course, the 2018 Halloween was the highlighted film for Cinemax, with the aforementioned other two getting some rub thanks to it. I think these Halloween films from the 80s, the ones that suffered their critical poundings (and I wasn’t always kind to them, either, but I still have fondness for them or I wouldn’t write so damn much about them), are really best suited for night viewing on platforms such as Cinemax or as I remember from a couple years ago, StarzEncore. I think, since mentioning StarzEncore, they had Halloween II and were showing it periodically on different “package” channels. I think they are quite suitable also for “spot night” viewings. Even late like how I watched Halloween III Friday late, into Saturday morning. Although in times past, Halloween II and III were October specific, last year I didn’t watch either of them I don’t think. I sort of took a year off or knew that getting them in last year would have been difficult. And I had really put an effort into all the Halloween films in 2018 as I was preparing for the newest release. Although both Halloween II and Halloween III were not well regarded and even retconned years after, both have a special place and always will. I even one year chose Halloween III as my final horror film on Halloween Day, so I recognize its qualities as a 31^st kind of closer. And Halloween II, although a day viewing this year, has been a focal point of many Octobers in the past. I still one day plan to screen Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981) back to back as always intended. The time hasn’t come yet, but eventually it will.

The masks, music, aesthetic, spirit of Halloween is alive and well in these movies and I’m definitely happy I decided to try something different this year. I really wanted to sort of have a Halloween feel the whole year, not just October, like I used to. I used to watch horror films all the time, but it has seemed like I sort of lost my way, I guess. Or I just wanted to expand and not be so exclusive to that genre (and scifi, my other real love), but for 2020 I wanted to get that back. Seeing the kids plucking masks from shelves (even if they have the metal child killers pinned to them), riding on bikes with them on, stopping off by store windows to see the commercials, congregating together as they cross sidewalks, and take to the hills of Phoenix as the sky is painted orange as the sun disappears and the dark awakens, I love that Halloween III really sets the tone of Halloween and I don’t feel so obligated to keep that in October alone. When Laurie looks on at the kids trick-or-treating during the day in Halloween (1978), saying, “Kiddo you have outgrown superstition”, I’m happy I haven’t outgrown that feeling of true love for all things Halloween.