My Blog Woes, Rob Zombie's other Halloween film, and that "Filling Station in Flames!"

 I'm the first to admit that I have no idea what to do with this fucking blog. Just no idea. I've tried every kind of theme, different styles, colors, approaches to material. Nothing ever really sticks very long. It is like this inability to find a voice or comfort I can settle on. I guess it is like any mental haggle that just won't let you feel confident, content, at ease. I'm always wondering if this is the right way to leave behind my feelings or opinions, or another way.

Anyway, it is late October 3rd and I just finished Rob Zombie's Halloween II (2009), a film I just can't seem to find a real satisfaction with. I watched it with the volume down, my fan going loud, gulping down separate tea and water. I think Brad Dourif and Danielle Harris are just so good as Sheriff Brackett and daughter Annie, while I totally get the trauma inflicted on Taylor-Compton, her unbearable emotional state of mind really puts a strain on me as it does on them, living with them since Michael Myers murdered her foster parents (she thought were her real parents) in the previous film. This was on AMC, so I just kept it on while looking over my blog and trying to figure out where to go from here. During the film, I was much more in tune with the way Zombie and his director of photography, Brandon Trost, shot it. I can recall in time's past really not jibing well to all the cuts, camera placements, (un) steadicam, etc. But while looking at the film -- I had been on the treadmill so I didn't lay down in bed until around the point of Michael Myers returning to Haddonfield while Annie and Laurie are exchanging heated words -- I thought there was a really voyeuristic, "especially close" aesthetic personality applied. Being inside their heads, as well as, deeply entrenched in their lives, all the warts and unpleasantness of seeing the pain and agony involved with Myers' victims...this isn't a fun time at the movies, though.

It is 2:18 in the morning, and I'm currently watching Halloween 4 (1988) yet again, with Loomis hobbling with his cane towards the filling station and nearby cafe yielding a mechanic and cooking staff left wrecked by Michael Myers. Dwight Little really has the dust kicking up with the wind, the place so desolate and quiet. The last few years, I've noticed I actually really like the opening chapter of the fourth film as much as anything after it. Loomis' journey to Haddonfield and all the encounters on the way. Once Loomis gets there and talks to Sheriff Ben Meeker, he sort of settles in to the typical "time to hunt Michael" routine that I think has been more than reason enough for why it is criticized. I hope I can add a screen shot soon of a scene where Rachel is looking for Jamie throughout a dark neighborhood and Dwight shoots her through a broken window. When Rachel hops a fence, while Jamie is by herself moving down a sidewalk, I just like how Dwight Little captures Haddonfield, seemingly with very few kids or parents left out in the night.