Tuesday, November 15, 2011

DARK WATER

On Saturday, November 12, the Copro Gallery opened a group show sure to make any art fan gaze endlessly at the screen, or in person if your lucky enough. Dark Water is a group show curated by Martin Wittfooth and features the work of: Aron Wiesenfeld, Billy Norrby, Andrew Hem, Adam Miller, Charlie Immer, Alyssa Monks, Steven Assael, Christian Van Minnen, Jenny Morgan, Caitlin Hackett, Brad Kunkle, Dave Cooper, Elizabeth Winnel, Jean-Pierre Roy, Keniche Hoshine, Jean Labourdette (Turf One), Matt Rota, Jason Yarmosky, Nicola Verlato, Phil Hale, John Brophy, Eric White, Josh Keyes, Jeremy Lipking, and even Martin Wittfooth. The thing that makes this show so amazing, besides the outstanding work from each artist, is the idea that this show is really a collection of some of the mot talented, exciting artists creating art today. This show has the ability to give fans of Josh Keyes, Martin Wittfooth, or Jeremy Lipking, an introduction to some other artists that might not have been on their radar. It’s also one of those exhibitions that every work is breathtaking and has the ability to steal the show. Below are more than a few examples of favorites from the show, the rest are over at the galleries homepage.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

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Jose Luis Carranza is an artist working out of Peru. He attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes del Peru, a school which is known for sticking to the more classical side of art training. Along with this technical training, he has also spent years studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens and Francisco Goya. In 2009 the French embassy in Peru held the National Passport Contest, and after having won this contest, Jose studied in France and was able to further dissect the work of European Masters. Of course like all good artists Jose is not just looking at the past, modern artists such as Dan Schutz and Neo Rauch are also great inspirations for his work — most recognizable in the way the Jose applies the paint. His work talks about the idea of religion and politics and the state they are in, and the belief that we are born into a world of violence. The paintings have a foreboding quality to them, and even though their may be multiple characters in one piece, there is this sense of isolation to them.
The most striking thing to me about Jose’s work, is the style in which he paints as well as the eyes and visage of the characters. These figures are meant to be everyman, and the choppy style of paintings the faces is meant to symbolize that the figures are not fully formed yet. While the paintings already have this unnerving feel about them, the eyes drive this feeling to the very core of the viewer. The gaze is piercing, and in a way looks as though the figures in some of these works are scrutinizing the viewers as opposed to the other way around. Take a look at the preview images below, and then make sure to head over to Jose’s website to see more and keep up with new work and events.

Friday, November 11, 2011

LESLIE DITTO

Leslie Ditto is currently having a print sale over on her Facebook fan page. There is 8, 8″ x 10″ prints up for grabs at only $10 a piece or 3 for $25. The shipping for the prints is only $3 regardless of how many you end up getting. The sale will only last till the end of this week, Sunday November 13th, so make sure you head on over. Below is a few examples; Big Lebowski, Princess Bride, Alice in Wonderland and more.

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Opening, tonight, Friday November 11th, is a 4 person show featuring work by Megz Majewski, Jasmine Worth, Jason Hernandez, and Young Chun at the Cave Gallery. while the show does not have a set theme, looking at the work there is a “dark surreal” tone to it, and the four artists fit well with each other. I am always happy to see new work by Jason Hernandez, and love the fact that he is showing ink and painted works. This is the first time I have seen the work of Young Chun, and while I would like to see a bit more variety in the layout of the works, I do like the way the artist handles the paint. I am also open to the idea that this is a series of works which rely on the similar layout of each piece, so I am going to keep my eye on this artist to see what comes next. The show runs until December 3rd, so if your in the area make sure to stop by.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

SPIRIT BOARD

On November 5th the Articulated Gallery in San Francisco opened the Spirit Board group show, curated by JL Schnabel. The show features a wide variety of artists all taking inspiration from the Ouija Board. Back in 20o8 Copro Gallery hosted Chet Zar’s “Taking Board” show and like many shows in Southern California, I wasn’t able to see the show in person. However, I do feel that the Ouija Board itself merits a few shows dedicated to it, so I was very happy to hear that Articulated would be hosting this show. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the reception night; I heard that many artists were in attendance and it was quite a night. I did stop by he next day so I could see the show, and took some photos and made another video walkthrough.
Just a few of the benefits of visiting the Articulated Gallery, aside from seeing some amazing art, is the ability to check out the Loved to Death storefront, and take advantage of some of the restaurants in the area. There’s nothing quite like spending a day looking at art, grabbing a slice of pizza, or sandwich from Say Cheese right around the corner. It was raining off and on for a bit when we arrived at the gallery, so this gave us a chance to check out the art and film a walkthrough without too many people in the gallery.
The gallery space is pretty small as you can see by the video, but unless it’s packed like a reception night, each show seems to have the right amount of work in it. There is enough to make it a successful group show, and not too much that it becomes overwhelming. The show has some outstanding artist in it such as Jennybird Alcantara, KuKula, Edith LeBeau, Liza Corbett, Jeremy Hush, Paul Romano, Kristen Ferrell, Elizabeth Levesque, Monique Ligons, Karyn Crisis, Caitlin Hackett, Jessica Ward, Buddy Nestor, and many more. I liked the idea that not every piece was made to look like a Ouija Board, such as the works by Monique Ligons and Buddy Nestor. Here you are instead seeing a figure use the Ouija Board, and in the case of Ligons piece In Search of Zozo, conjuring up some pretty nasty looking creatures (seen below).
Out of the Ouija Board styled pieces, I really enjoyed the works by Liza Corbett, Paul Romano, and Jessica Ward (seen in video). Jennybird Alcantra created this amazing multi-layered work that was breathtaking. Her style is very powerful and has the ability to stand out no matter what type of work it is shown alongside. Edith Lebeau and Elizabeth Levesque both focused on the planchette in their works, and with the very painterly style they both have it was a good choice. The show runs until the end of November, so you still have some time to check out the show. The works should be online soon as well.

DEAD HEAD

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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

AFTER DARK

SCARY MOVIE MOMENTS


Scary Movie Moments
Halloween is that one time of the year in which most everyone loves to be scared. While the devil’s favorite holiday usually comes with the release of many terrifying (and some not so terrifying) movies (see: Paranormal Activity), the truth of the matter is that movies, in general, have the power to get our hearts pumping, our blood curdling, our skin laced with goosebumps and our breath suddenly missing from our lungs. Movies can scare or thrill us any time of year, but Halloween season is when we really seek out that thrill.


experience5 dream cars on the track ultimate present ON SALE now


In fact, the fear inspired by a movie can reinforce some lifelong phobia we already had, or even give us new things to dread. And the effect is not always temporary: many moviegoers will confess that something scary they saw in a film years ago still terrifies them to this very day. For example, after watching Scarface I now always make sure to check every closet, nook and cranny for  chainsaw-wielding gangsters before using a motel bathroom in Miami. Better to be safe…
In the spirit of the night of frights, we’ve had the Screen Rant crew recount movie moments that in ways large or small have scarred their souls for life. Some of those moments are ones you and your friends can probably relate to, while others may have you thinking that some of us on staff here are nothing more than yellow-bellied cowards. Either way, by the time you’re done reading, you’ll (at the very least) have yourself a handy to guide on how to get under our armor of bravery, should you ever want to use the following passages for Saw orHostel-like purposes. You’re welcome.

Our Scariest Movie Moments

Vic Holtreman – Arachnophobia

spiders in the sink from arachnophobia (1990)
One of my favorite scary moments in film time-warps me back to 1990 with the filmArachnophobia. Spiders creep me the hell out, especially when they reach a size where I think that technically they should no longer be classified as insects, but as mammals. The scene where the spiders start really coming into the house – specifically where they are crawling up out of the drain in the bathroom sink sent ME climbing up my theater seat. There’s nothing quite like taking a personal fear and facing it in the safety of a movie theater via what’s happening on screen. :)
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Kofi Outlaw – Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Terminator 2 T-1000 eye stab
While my parents were typically strict about what they allowed my young impressionable mind to absorb, whenever there was some big “event” in cinema, they liked the entire family to share in it.  I was only nine when James Cameron brought Terminator 2 to the world, but the director’s groundbreaking use of CGI effects to create the shapeshifting T-1000 convinced my parents that this was a moment in cinema I needed to witness.
There’s nothing quite like a good villain, but for me, the T-1000 was nightmare incarnate. The idea that my own mother could suddenly turn around and skewer me, left me with trust issues I carry to this day. While the entire film had me crouched in my seat with my face in my hands, it’s the moment when the T-1000 rises up out of the floor and stabs a hospital guard through the eye that messed me up the most. Seeing a grown man wriggle and spasm like a hooked fish just does that to you, I guess.
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Rob Keyes – Gremlins

kitchen scene in Gremlins
As a little kid in the late ’80s, Gremlins was the movie that messed me up. I remember loving the film, begging to watch the sequels with my parents and even re-watching it, knowing full well it was the only film in my life to give me terrifying nightmares to the point where I’d wake up in the middle of the night in terror and run to my parents’ room. This happened 3 times before I avoided the franchise forever.
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Monsters, ghosts and psychos…




Ben Moore – Creepshow

Creepshow The Crate Monster Fluffy
George Romero and Stephen King’s 1982 anthology horror film Creepshow is a mostly good film with more than a passing resemblance to the old Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear comic books of yore. There are five stories altogether, not counting the book-ends, but the only segment that legitimately “creeped” me out was number four: The Crate.
I was in junior high the first time I watched it, so perhaps that has something to do with why I was so adversely affected. Basically, the gist of the story is – a college professor (Fritz Weaver) finds a wooden crate from a 1834 arctic expedition beneath the basement stairs. With the help of the janitor, he opens the crate, only to find an arctic werewolf monkey inside that subsequently (and ferociously!) murders and consumes the janitor. The dead bodies begin to pile up, especially when the professor tells a colleague (Hal Holbrook) about the monster and he uses it as an opportunity to murder his controlling, alcoholic wife (Adrienne Barbeau).
There’s just something about Tom Savini’s creepy, yeti-inspired creature – dubbed “Fluffy” by George Romero – that never fails to disturb the hell out of me. Partly because of Savini’s truly bizarre creature effects, partly because of the incredibly visceral and unnerving nature of the murder scenes – but mostly because monkeys that kill people are my second greatest fear.
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Roth Cornet – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Leatherface in the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre
As a little girl, I had a deep affection for both mischief and horror films. And so it was that I found myself watching a forbidden (and deeply horrific) movie one, oh yes, dark and stormy night with my best friend, out in a cabin tucked into the woods of South Carolina. As a New York City girl, “the forest,” by all accounts, was filled with nothing but Jason Voorhees and the creature from the black lagoon. Why we chose to watch a film about the quintessential dangers of back-woods inbreeding in this environment, I’ll never know. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre features  kills that are stark, viscous, relentlessly depraved and dehumanizing. No film has more vividly captured the sense that the victim is little more than a thing to the killer.
The moment in the film that remains branded in my memory is the final confrontation between Sally and Leatherface, when she, in an act of desperation, jumps out of the 2nd-story window. The pure unadulterated fear and hysteria that she expresses, remains one of the most realistic responses I have ever seen in a horror film. One gets the sense that Sally will never again recover the girl she was – that some part of her will be forever chained to that dinner table.
When my brother turned on the blender in the kitchen just as the credits were starting to roll, I did Leatherface a solid and jumped out of my own skin, saving him the trouble.
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Sandy Schaefer – The Orphanage


I remember when I first saw Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Orphanage – and while it was a pretty effective ghost story on its own, what really made it all the less comforting to watch was that I saw it in a relatively dilapidated theater, which closed just a week after that. And there were maybe two other people in the theater with me. And both looked like retired lawyers.
But I digress.
There’s a scene partway through the film where an already creepy character appears to have died a gruesome death (it involves face smashing) and briefly, but unexpectedly, spasms back to life for a moment. Was it a cheap scare trick? Definitely. Did I totally fall for it? Yeah…
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Mike Eisenberg – Phone Booth

colin farrell in phone booth
I don’t tend to get too scared at the movie theater, but I’ll never forget watching Phone Booth at home in 2003. I was a high school student and home alone in a living room full of windows. During the film I became increasingly paranoid that a red dot was on my head from a sniper in the distance outside. I’ve been like this ever since. I get paranoid and suspicious when it is too dark outside and I am sitting by a window. Additionally, I used to run past doors to get to the stairwell. Luckily, I grew out of that phase. While Phone Booth was a relatively weak movie, it got me good and I’ve been looking over my shoulder and sinking into couches ever since.
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Demons, kids, and fangs…



Rob Frappier – The Exorcist

The Exorcist
When I was a kid my parents let me watch pretty much anything regardless of its rating. For the most part, this was awesome. For instance, it helped kickstart my lifelong love affair with the movie Die Hard. Sometimes, though, it backfired. Once when I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10, I remember watching The Exorcist on TV with my parents. I’m in my 20s and The Exorcist still scares me, so it goes without saying that I was pretty freaked out.
We were watching the part of the movie where Regan is in full-on demonic possession mode: vomiting split pea soup, speaking in tongues, and twisting her head completely around. That last part is what got me. As I tucked my head from the horror on the screen, my mom decided it would be funny to mess with me, so she creepily turned her head 180-degrees and hit me with a spooky demonic smile. I practically jumped off the couch in fear before my mom caught me and settled me down. I think she felt bad about it, but, looking back, I appreciate the scare. She really got me good.
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Paul Young – Children of the Corn

diner scene in children of the corn
I admit it – I am a huge wuss when it comes to horror films. Any movie with demons, ghosts, maniacal killers, haunted houses or alien abductions will always give me nightmares and make me change my sheets for weeks after I watch it. I added children to that list soon after watching Stephen King’s classic movie Children of the Corn.
The one scene that, to this day, I close my eyes and mute the sound during, is near the beginning when the diner owner has his hand shoved in a meat slicer by the demon-worshipping kids. It makes me shudder to even write about it! Just like Jaws is the reason I won’t swim in the ocean or Friday the 13th is the reason I won’t go to summer camp,Children of the Corn is the reason I won’t visit the midwest and walk aimlessly through a cornfield.
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Niall Browne – Dracula Prince of Darkness

Christopher lee in Dracula prince of darkness
As a child I had the fantastic opportunity to see films or artistic or cultural merit that many “stricter parents” may have had issue with. This brings me to Dracula: Prince of Darkness; a film which terrified me as a kid and left an indelible mark on my memory.
The film sees a group of travellers staying in the deceased Count Dracula’s castle (he was killed by Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing in the previous film).  The castle is now maintained by the Count’s loyal servant Klove, who offers to put the group up for the night, supplying his master with some fresh blood which will bring him back to life. What affected me most was when one of the characters was killed behind a giant wall hanging which covered a hidden chamber containing Dracula’s tomb.
At the time (I must have been around ten years old) my family lived in quite an old, three-floored house. My brother and I slept in the top attic rooms, and on the landing below we had a large wall hanging. The wee hours of the morning arrived and I had to visit the bathroom – on the floor below. My mind went to the wall hanging (was Dracula lurking behind it?); I wasn’t brave enough to make the trip alone in the dark. I spent the rest of the night terrified and desperately in need for the toilet – waiting for first light. I made the trip in the nick of time, but it’s a cinematic association that I’ll never forget.
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Kevin Yeoman – Jaws

shark attack in jaws
You will believe a fish can fly!
The entirety of Jaws plays on the fear all people have (or should have) of being ushered into the food chain. But it’s when the titular shark breaks the most sacred of all human vs. fish rules of engagement – by hurling itself aboard the Orca, seemingly to spite Quint and prove the salty fisherman’s fate was sealed with the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis – that fills me with dread. In the aftermath, the viewer (by way of Brody) is granted time to contemplate how, at any second, a terrifying (and very real) creature can make a dip in the ocean end with a tour of a fish’s digestive track.
Although Brody emerged victorious, those “dead eyes” and voracious, gaping maw forged in me an everlasting fear of sharks, and, by extension, bodies of water – from a reasonable fear of the ocean, to an irrational one of lakes, swimming pools and even bath tubs.
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Now that you know some of the movie moments that terrified us, how about sharing some of the moments that terrified you in the comment section below. All things being equal…
Happy Halloween from us here at Screen Rant!






EVOLUTION OF HORROR LEGEND; MICHAEL MYERS

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Greetings horror freaks, its time to continue our series with the Halloween horror icon, Michael Myers. In our previous articles we discussed Chucky and Freddy Krueger, two extremely vocal and charismatic killers. In contrast, Michael Myers has always been the strong, silent, homicidal type. Truthfully, we here at Weird Worm prefer our maniacs that way.
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Less talking – more murdering!
Anyway, let’s see if we can have some blood-soaked fun delving into the thirty-two year development of this horror legend.
1.
The Birth of a Shatner-Faced Horror Icon
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THE FILMS: Halloween, 1978 and Halloween II, 1981

Before we get into the evolution of this movie monster let’s start at the beginning. The original Halloween was directed, produced and scored by John Carpenter. Yup, back then Carpenter did it all. Our guess is he probably catered the film too by making sandwiches for the crew everyday. The flick starred veteran actor Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis and Jamie Lee Curtis in her “scream queen” film debut as Laurie Strode.
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Here she appears during one of the rare moments in the film where she wasn’t screaming hysterically.
The first actor to play Michael Myers or “The Shape” was Nick Castle, who can be seen here ruining movie magic and enjoying a Dr. Pepper.
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After Halloween, Castle became a director and gave us films such as Dennis the Menace and Major Payne, which terrified audiences considerably more than Michael Myers.
The first Halloween movie, and eventually most of the series, was set in the fictional Midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois. The back-story for Michael’s character was simple yet disturbing. Early in the first film, we witness Michael Myers (as a child) brutally murder his older sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Why? We never really know for sure and the film is all the more frightening due to that uncanny mystery. Naturally they completely ruined the ambiguity in the sequels… but we’ll get to that later.
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On a cool side note, this pint-sized maniac is now a collectable action figure!
Several years later, Michael escapes from the mental hospital, stalks his (other) teenage sister and kills countless people as required by the laws of slasher movies. The character of Myers (specifically in the first two movies) embodied the notion of an unstoppable evil. In fact, he was probably best described by Dr. Loomis as “the boogeyman”. One of the key ingredients to the success of the first two films was the intense level of suspense. Myers lurking behind some bushes or in the shadows created an eerie sense of impending doom. To add to the creep-factor, Michael was also mute and you barely saw his face.
According to the film’s original writers, John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the inspiration behind Michaels’ character came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Hill has stated that; “We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that’s what made Halloween work.”
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Not only did evil come back…it also hid in the darkness and stabbed you in the face.
After two awesome horror flicks, (Halloween II, being the bloodier of the pair), Michael Myers was finally killed off, never to be seen again.
We’re shocked we were even able to type that last sentence with a straight face.
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Can anyone possibly survive this? Depends on ticket sales!
Despite years of sequels, Myer’s story was essentially complete after the first two Halloween films. As many hardcore fans are aware, Carpenter had no intention of Michael ever becoming a reoccurring villain throughout the series. Moving ahead, Carpenter’s plan was to turn the franchise into a Halloween themed anthology of singular horror stories. Each new film was meant to be helmed by a different director. The studio attempted just that in 1982 with Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
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Maybe the less said about this movie, the better.
The problem with the third installment wasn’t so much that it was a weird and awful film. Perhaps if the movie was a stand-alone piece, untied to the Halloween namesake, it would have faired better. However, the film was such a radical (Michael Myers-less) departure that it baffled the hell out of pre-internet movie audiences. Thanks to Season of the Witch, Hollywood learned a valuable lesson. NEVER try anything new ever again.
2.
The Franchise Resumes With Myers
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THE FILMS: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, 1988 and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, 1989

Due to the piss-poor reaction of the third movie, studio writers hastily reintroduced Michael Myers and hoped that we’d all forgotten about whatever the f*** this was…
With John Carpenter absent from the series and Jamie Lee-Curtis moving on, the only returning player to the franchise was Donald Pleasence. Despite the welcome return of the heroic doctor, continuity really started to go to hell in the fourth and fifth installments. For example, how Dr. Loomis survived a hellish explosion at the end ofHalloween II with simple scarring is baffling.
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Meanwhile in Alien 3, Newt and Hicks couldn’t even survive a short while in space while protected in cryonic stasis.
So how different was Michael Myers in the fourth and fifth installments of the franchise? Basically he was the same character almost to a fault. In fact, both films were criticized by fans for not bringing much originality or progression to the series. Much of that had to do with Michael still being the same non-stop evil he always was. Unfortunately, by the late 80’s, the concept of an indestructible killer was growing into a cliché thanks to Freddy and Jason hacking apart teens in sequel after sequel.
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On the plus side, we did get some cool posters.
Thankfully, in Michael’s case, the dynamic changed somewhat when they introduced Jamie Lloyd, Michael’s young niece and new stalking victim. In the fourth film it was hinted that Jamie had become possessed by Michael’s dark spirit, potentially taking the series in a new direction with a killer clown girl. But by the time the next installment came around the producers decided to play it safe and stick with Michael as the main threat. In their defense, the last time something “new” was attempted with the franchise the result was, Season of the Witch.
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Um…so this was all “a dream”, yeah that’s it!
3.
The Shocking Twist Nobody Really Wanted
really wanted

THE FILM: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, 1995

One could claim the writers did what they could to keep Michael interesting. However, some fans felt they pushed the envelope a bit far in Curse of Michael Myers. Most fans think they snapped the envelope clean off and sent the series into a tailspin. How far did they go you ask? As the movie unfolds we learned that the character of Jamie (who was previously kidnapped) was actually impregnated by the “Cult of Thorn”, a satanic sect led by Dr. Terence Wynn, Dr. Loomis’ colleague (a.k.a. the man in black).
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If you can’t trust creepy old “man in black” who can you trust?
Later, the mysterious character of Wynn was revealed to have been manipulating Michael Myers evil deeds all along, sort of like Chancellor Palpatine. Apparently the “Curse of Thorn” was the cause of Myer’s murderous obsession with his family. The curse was also implied as an explanation behind Michael’s inhuman strength and near invulnerability. In essence the curse was the answer to all the stuff you may have wondered about for two seconds… but probably never cared for it to be actually explained. Like algebra.
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Even the sarcastic powers of a young Paul Rudd couldn’t save the film.
4.
Myers Inevitable Downfall
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THE FILMS: Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, 1998 and Halloween: Resurrection, 2002

It’s no wonder the following two films ignored everything from the previous movies. Sadly, by then, even the return of Jamie Lee Curtis couldn’t save the series. For starters, the previously mentioned continuity issues which crept up in the previous movies were taken to a whole new levels of confusing. For example, H20 indicated that Michael Myers had not been seen since the fatal night depicted in the first two movies. Also, everything about Jamie’s existence, including her infant was forgotten about. So we’re talking Star Trek-ish, alternate time-line stuff here. By default the moronic reality-tv infested sequel which featured Busta Rhymes was also part of the new alternate Halloween time-line. That film was also the nail in the coffin for the original series.
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Whoo-Hah! M. Myers got ya all in check!
By the time the series was nearing its inevitable end, Michael’s character had grown into a dull, predictable, over-powered monster. His supernatural abilities approached Incredible Hulk levels of ridiculousness. It became increasingly comical how unstoppable he was and how easily he disposed of victims.
Little did we know things were somehow about to get worse…
5.
The Zombie Reboot
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THE FILMS: Halloween, 2007 and Halloween II, 2009

You have no idea how much we even hate the idea of discussing these two films. We’ll preface this section by at least stating that we understand the vibe Rob Zombie was going for and appreciate the effort he made to take the rebooted series into a different direction. However, the movies simply failed on too many levels. The plots were jumbled and dreary. The acting was inconsistent with performances ranging from decent to over the top. The hallucinations and imagery of Michael’s mom and an ethereal white horse were insane. And to make matters worse, Dr. Loomis was all kinds of wrong, particularly in the second film where his egocentricity made him completely unlikable. It’s hard to root for a complete d**k in any situation.
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Yeah, feel free to kill off that guy. He looks like a douche.
Back to our main point, the evolution of Michael Myers character. If there’s one thing that Rob’s movies accomplished (aside from pissing us off) it was expanding upon the lead character. For starters Michael’s entire back-story and childhood was no longer presented as a brief flashback but as a fully fleshed out subplot which took up way too much screen-time. You’d think seeing young Michael get crapped on and abused would enable viewers to sympathize with the humanized character. Nope, not really… and we’re not even sure we were really meant to. In which case, why put us through the drawn out back-story which led directly to a predictable retelling of the events in the original?
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Wait, is that a tiger mask or…um… What the f**k are we watching?
Zombie’s version of Michael was completely different than Carpenter’s in many ways. Physically speaking, the adult Michael was an ultra-violent behemoth played by Tyler Mane, the dude who played Sabertooth in X-Men. In the first movie Michael at least maintained his classic look (mask and outfit), though significantly darker and grittier. In the sequel though Rob went off the deep end with Michael’s appearance. Zombie’s second take on Myers was essentially a crazy, MASKLESS, bearded hobo, far removed from any traces of the classic character. While a new interpretation is one thing, a completely different looking character may as well be a completely different f***ing character.
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Yup, if there’s one thing this filthy bearded giant reminds us of… it’s Michael Myers.
For now that’s the end of the Michael Myers story. Here’s hoping one of these days we can actually end one of these Horror Legends entries on a positive note.