What the HELL happened to HALLOWEEN Part 7 H20!!!

Part 7 Halloween H20

At some point, you have to ask yourself why. It happens in life, a lot more severely later on. More specifically once you hit your 30’s. But in this case it comes up more so with our hobbies and interest. My ex made herself read more. She’d go through a few books a week and she would generally go through themes. One of the last ones she did before our split was reading through classics of literature and books people generally considered required reading. One of these, I can’t recall the name. But she told me how it was causing pain mentally, trying to get through each page. The story was bad, the writing was unrelatable and she just didn’t dig it what so ever. Every word from her about it. Even asking her the following day how it went reading? Would elicit a deep sigh. I asked her why keep reading it then? If it’s that bad and you hate having to read it, why force yourself? Just find a better book. The answer usually, more times than not was simply “Well I started it I want to finish it, then I’ll get rid of it forever” It’s not even about hoping it will improve, or giving it a chance. It’s just about trying to finish it and getting the thing over with. I related in some respects with her. Because I’ve put myself through movies no one should watch. Let alone a second time. I watched things I absolutely hated myself for giving any time too, but I’d finish them. Because I started this journey, I’m gonna finish it, and then I can hate it with all my heart having finished it. To this day I have only ever turned one movie off after 20 minutes of it. The movie was that insanely bad and I didn’t want to even dignify it with a review, a mention or a fuck you. I just wiped it off my review list and found another because it was just that bad. But I still keep finding, as she kept finding. New things to make you stop what you are doing and doing to yourself to straight up break the inner narrative and ask, why am I doing this?

At some point. We all do that. To varying degrees of depth and internally review ourselves and our live choices.

In this case. It’s knowing. Not even guessing, but knowing that, as we all do this. And much more once we pass our 30’s. That you realize these filmmakers. Had to ask themselves the same thing. With every thing that happened on the last film. Everything that could fail and did fail. Even things that you didn’t imagine would fail. Failed. Why? Why make another one?

Dr. Loomis the torch bearer against Michael was gone, long may he reign. Jamie was dead, no one cared about the fucking cult of thorn or Michael. Not one soul gave a literal fuck about your titular character.

Fans didn’t even have that breakup period we get in, where you realize damn being alone sucks. You think about your ex, you miss ‘moments’, keyword. Moments with them. You think about possibly calling them up, seeing what they’re up too. Maybe it opens up a door, maybe you can try things again. But then you have to tell yourself no, and remind yourself why the breakup happened. No one was having this moment with Halloween and wanting to return to it.

The damage was so severe it damaged the brand. So again. Why? Why make another film? What could they possibly hope to achieve? Reviving the franchise a second time? To what end? You had that and didn’t just fumble the ball, you fucked it in the middle of the field and took a giant liquid shit all over it after.

But here we go. They made an eighth one of these goddamn things.

And under the same premise of Friday the 13th. The last one was an abysmal failure. But this time we will have Jamie Lee Curtist return as Laurie Strode!

Well kick the tires and light the fires that’s brilliant! She started this gangster shit she surely can breath life back into it! An older wiser Laurie forced to face her fears once more. But this time she’ll be ready! Michael against Laurie, let’s go!

That’s all it took. Jamie was in a position she wanted to return to the franchise that got her foot in the door. That itself was worth praising. Not many actors once they hit the big leagues like to remember their little starter films. Especially horror since it’s not looked on so favorably. Kevin Bacon, Johnny Depp, even Marisa Tomei did horror. She appeared in The Toxic Avenger. That I kind of get not wanting to tell people. But still. She loved what horror gave her, and kudos for wanting to go back into it.

Was her return enough to put asses in seats? Yes it was.

Did the film do well? Absolutely. Surprisingly? It was the highest grossing of all the Halloween films at that time.

This was given a serious budget for a change. We’re not talking $5 million or $8 million. This film was made for around $17 million, and it grossed $75 million.

It was a raging success and genuinely brought back the franchise from the death bed it was tossed onto and spit on. It was unheard of at the time and something that wouldn’t happen to any other Franchise. The closest you could compare is when we finally got Jason vs Freddy. But this film managed to do the impossible and given everything we learned the last film went through and did to itself? You absolutely can believe it was impossible.

Does that mean everything went perfectly?
Dear god fuck no.

This thing, much like those before it, and Freddy vs Jason went through a lot of changes. Trying to work with people hit by devastating loss and depression from the last outing was no easy task. But here we are. The movie did what would happen again later with the series. In a lot of eerie similar ways.

And unlike Jason Takes Manhattan this film delivered on its premise. We did indeed get Laurie vs Michael.

To which we should begin by quickly covering this beast

Story

This might sound familiar but. Right off the bat this film erases the previous sequels immediately. As far is this film is concerned, Return, Revenge, and Curse of Michael Myers never happened. The only canon films are the first and second films. 

The movie centers on Laurie many years after the incident with Michael that night and the explosion at the hospital. She has since then changed her name to Keri Tate. She is now the head mistress of a private boarding school. She has severe PTSD, still hallucinating and frightened by her estrange killer brother. To the rest of the world and her, Laurie Strode died in a car crash. Even though the other films were retconned completely, she does have a son, John. Because of her trauma she’s over protective and still believes Michael will find her, and kill her son.

Which absolutely he would do, if he knew about them. Which he learns thanks to finding the long time friend and colleague of the late Dr. Loomis, Marion. He uncovers from files Dr Loomis kept, the new identity of Laurie. Setting up his road trip across states to the secluded school. One by one Michael kills off a new batch of private school kiddos. Does Laurie begin telling everyone to run the fuck home, to get out? No. The film uses her PTSD and hallucinations nicely to cover this. She sees her brother everywhere. So actually seeing him at the school never hits her as being a reality.  On top of that? Even with people dying off, the campus was largely vacant for the time. Only some people stayed behind and it never occurred to her that someone, let alone Michael was going around killing anyone. Until a great moment in the movie where her panicked son and lady friend are fleeing from an unknown to them killer. Laurie’s boyfriend goes into protective mode and the group begin fleeing. Will ends up firing a gun off into the dark thinking it was the killer, only to find he struck the schools security guard. Laurie is in the middle of a panic attack trying to unravel things and in the middle of all this she sees Michael Lowering himself from the ceiling behind her boyfriend. Lifting him and killing him.  That’s when she realizes its not a hallucination-this shit is real and he’s actually there, hunting her and her son. Something years later that stuck with me from this film because it was just so well shot was a scene straight from Jurassic Park where Laurie secures a door and looks up through the glass portal to see her brother staring down at her and that moment of realization and acknowledgement. Just. Man it’s good. It’s made even better that when they BOTH have that look, they recognize one another. She pulls a pistol and looks for him to shoot him. But he’s gone. For her she STILL thought it was in her head until he reappeared later and kills Will. It’s just so good.

So Laurie manages to get her son and friend out the door to their car, time to escape. But Laurie tells them to go on, she’s got unfinished business.

It begins a great sequence where we see her transition from pray to hunter. This sequence leading into the final act of the film is worth watching alone. As the kids leave and Laurie locks the gates. She kicks the glass on an emergency fire axe. Grabs it and heads up to the school. All the while in the background you start hearing the slow build up of Carpenters Halloween theme and it peaks just as she screams out her brothers name.

Laurie faces off against Michael and as the two have their epic battle, eventually she proves the victor. Her son proves to his mother he isn’t a failure as a child and had the ability to get help and get the police out there. In horror this is nearly unheard of. The police always show up after everything is said and done if they do at all. So with Michael now dead and loaded up into the coroners van in a comfy body bag. The movie is ready to end. But Laurie says no, fuck that. I know this bitch. By this time Scream has come out and forever changed how horror has to operate to work for the audience. They know a final jump scare is likely coming. So Laurie gets ahead of the curb. She jumps into the drivers seat of the coroners ride and takes off full throttle. Just as she knew he would, Michael is back with life in his blood and hope in his heart. Rising up in his bag ready for round 2. Laurie is ready for this and slams the breaks sending her brother through the van, yeeting him out the windshield. She rams the van into her brother for a hug and stumbles in a daze out of the car. Axe still in hand to bid her brother farewell.

Now, this could be a not so subtle nod from the filmmakers. It could also be random. But given where this franchise came from up to this point, you gotta imagine they knew what they were doing. But Laurie confronts her brother Michael, who reaches out to her. She in turn reaches for his hand. Mirroring Jamie and Michael in part 4. Only this time Laurie doesn’t touch her brothers hand in a farewell. She says no, your ass is evil. You fucked up my holidays. She takes a swing and off comes his head. Leaving Laurie standing over her brother, finally dead and gone.

That itself is a great closure to the franchise. We know it’s not. But it really is a great way to ride off into the sunset. Jason got taken out by a fucking toxic waste wave and turned from the melting monster into a little boy. Michael got his fucking head taken clear off by the woman he tormented for over 20 years. I imagine my sister would take me out the same way for all the years she put up with me growing up destroying her barbies. I have no doubt if I ever turned zombie she’s take my head off the moment I had even a scratch on my hand.

So if it ended so well, and was an absolute success. Where did things go wrong, or did they even?

Oh there were, complications. We’ll say. Beginning as always and funnily(kind of) with the story.

Given the failure of the last film Miramax had no illusions of releasing another Halloween in theaters. They actually passed a direct-to-video script. That alone is a level of acceptance few will admit too. That script had the basis for what the film would eventually adapt. With a lot of changes. Thankfully.

Most notably is that this sequel would not have Michael in it. They were going to take this in the direction of Friday the 13th A new Beginning, with the fake Jason. This story had someone dressed up as Michael killing teens in a private school.

More specifically it was focused on an all girls school and one of the girls there was, SHOCKINGLY related to Michael. They really love that trope. The movie would copy Scream in creating a mystery among the girls. Who was the killer? Was it Angela who always left dishes in the sink? Was it Jemma who never flushed her turds? Was it old man Jenkins the grounds keeper?! Who knows.

Thankfully Jamie Lee got involved once the anniversary of the franchise was coming up and pitched to the studio returning as Laurie. Desperate for redemption and money. By redemption I mean money. The studio said fuck yes. Ditching the scream like mystery plot and throwing Laurie Strode back into the mix.

So naturally a rewrite was ordered up!

So they kept the private school murder romp idea, and decided interestingly. To not throw out the other films. They actually worked out keeping them canon, cult of thorn and all.

Laurie would be working at the school, dealing with the trauma and PTSD of her encounter with estranged brother and stinky butt Michael, while also dealing with the murder of her daughter Jamie. It’d even work in her daughters son, now cared for and adopted by Tommy Wallace and Kara. Ultimately everything after that stayed close to what we got with H20. She changes her identity, becomes a drunk dealing with trauma and eventually faces off with Michael. Only this time she wouldn’t behead her brother. Instead she’d let the lower class schools private helicopter slice him in half.

They liked the school idea. Jamie Lee pushed hard to keep the trauma in the script. But she hated the idea of the helicopter killing him. She wanted him dead by her hands. It was even in her contract she would get to kill him explicitly her. No one else.

On top of this, the studio decided to drop keeping the other films storyline because it would make it difficult to explain the whole Cult of Thorn, the man in black, What happened to Loomis if he was now the cult leader if they went by the producers cut, or if he died by Michaels hands at the end or old age got him. Pluss you had to explain why Laurie, a caring mother would abandon her daughter Jamie and change her name, faking her death. Leaving her kid in the town Michael always came back too. It made her a shitty parent so it was just easier to forget the whole thing and bring it all back to the first two films.

So it was decided. Laurie Strode the school headmistress would be the course. No kids but her son and no cult.

Then the conflicts began.

First there was the comical attempt at getting Carpenter back. The studio would never do it, and he’d absolutely want nothing to do with them had they approached him. Jamie did though. She approached John about doing the film, reuniting the old band and doing one last hoorah for the fans. He agreed. Surprising everyone given how things went between him, Hill and Akkad. Which over time grew into a resentful feud between the two. Much in the same vein as Lucas with Star Wars seeing what they did to his creation once Disney took over and he was on the outside looking in.

I have no idea what we would’ve gotten with Carpenter returning to direct and Jamie Lee starring. But the rest of the world would never find out. Carpenter agreed to direct but he came to the table with his own list of on set demands. More to the point he had the same moment Laurie and Loomis had. He came to meet with the studio and production heads under the “I’ve got some things to take care of” manner. He approached the studio and demanded 10 million dollars up front as his directing cost. It was absolutely not normal, nor sane. But he did that specifically because he felt stiffed by Akkad and the studio. Not necessarily Miramax, but as a whole with Halloween. As we said he and Debra Hill stepped away. Selling the rights to the franchise and Moustafa paid them off. He received residuals for the first three in the series. But over the years. Akkad became very wealthy. As did the studio. Between the franchise sequels and merchandise. Especially the merchandise. Carpenter sold out too early and felt shafted. He alleged both Akkad and the studio kept things from him, that they weren’t up front and completely honest with his pay outs and he was being shorted. So asking for $10 million felt justified to him. Not as a directors fee but more of an “We’re sorry we cut you out of the million dollar empire you created. Here’s our apology”. It was unfortunate, but also never going to happen. They laughed him out of the room, he shrugged and said farewell.

So Jamie was down a friend but still had hopes of delivering a great sequel. Again as always. What could go wrong after that!

After surviving a clash of the egos. That was only the opening round. The next fight would come in the form of the script. Jamie Lee hated the script. With a passion. She fought hard against it but received massive push back. Initially.

Jamie from the beginning wanted to do this and return to the character, because she wanted to show Laurie in a survivors light. She wanted to dive into her trauma and how she was dealing with it, and for her to find strength and rise up to tare down what kept her scared over the years. It’s ultimately what she got to do fully(again) in the later Green Halloween films. The problem with the script that got greenlit and they began filming, was that for a majority of the film, including up into the final act of the movie. Laurie was spending her time screaming, running, screaming, getting jump scared, screaming and hiding.

Which was the opposite of her plans!

So she began pushing back hard. The studio didn’t do much to help things until she took a lesson from Carpenter. Only unlike him, she actually had leverage in this situation. Even as they moved forward filming with this script. She would battle daily for rewrites but would receive none. Finally she told the studio this script is bullshit. The dialog is horrible and the teens are cookie cutter shit stacks with zero character. Either we change this or I’m walking.

They decided okay, lets see about some rewrites.

Which she did get. Funny enough she contacted the writer of Scream and asked them to fix this shit show of a script. Which put EVERYTHING on hold. The studio shut down for a week or so while a new script was pinned. One in which Laurie would be the survivor who finds her voice and isn’t a scared girl. She got what she wanted. But she also got more problems.

The script could not, and would not be finished in a week. So once again Halloween entered that familiar territory Jason also enjoyed. Shooting without a finished script. Of course that caused issues. Rewrites and reshoots happened on the daily. More fights would break out and she would have to fight what felt like everyone just to get this thing done and over with.

On top of this, was what became a near legendary fight. The battle of mega ego.

Like said earlier. Jamie wanted to kill Michael. She had it written in that she would be the one to do it. That Laurie would see him die by her own hands. She wanted to cut his head off. It’s funny but true. I love the idea of having that in a contract. It’s no different but far less funny that Vin Diesal and Dwayne Johson had it written in their contracts for the Fast and Furious films that neither of them would lose a fight in the films. Soon the rest of that cast mirrored the same. It’s comical but true. I hate it and everyone else does. While laughing at these people.

So what’s the problem bud? Well the problem lies with the same man Carpenter could not stand. Akkad.

Akkad had a stipulation in his contracts as well. Michael could never be killed.

Obviously this would create a small issue.

Initially Jamie signed on to do the film under the clause she would kill Michael. The studio smiled nodded and said okay no problem. No one bothered to tell her about Akkad and his strict Michael survives at the end policy. The two fought constantly over this and Jamie barked back at the studio as well. She felt mislead by them, only agreeing to whatever she wanted just to get her back in the movie and make money. Which isn’t wrong. She just made the mistake of thinking they were human and would make an honorable deal to make a film for the fans. They’re only in it for the money, and she learned that.

In an early draft of the script the ending was left incredibly vague. To the effect Michael was supposed to end up in a car being driven off a cliff. Something he’d easily escape. When she asked the producers what the deal was. That is when she learned Moustafa had a legally binding clause in the franchise rights stating his demands for Michael. Now with a script unfinished and an ending yet to be written. Jamie was fighting for the film full throttle and it went about how you’d expect. The studio played the parent not wanting to take sides. Letting the two kids fight it out. Akkad was never going to change his mind. For him, just like it was with Carpenter and Hill. He new Michael was marketable and he didn’t want to kill the cash cow. Michael was a still lucrative market for Akkad. Forgetting the fact the last film killed any interest in the character and franchise. Forgetting this whole project was going to be a direct to video who cares project.

The man just had that big of an ego. While the studio was ready to roll in the money they dreamed was coming with Jamie at the helm. Moustafa saw it as another Tuesday in Halloween town.

Jamie once again got to the point, not threatening this time but actually at her wits end. She was packing up and ready to walk away from the entire film, The studio would eat a huge loss and both goats butting heads would just walk away unphased and pissed at each other over what could have been.

 So once the two stormed off and the studio found neither would give an inch to the other. They stepped in. Did they make it right? Did they finally settle things?

Absolutely fucking not.

For the success the film was, it was all a farse. There was no way they could make one party happy and the other pissed. So they came up with the great deceit.

They told Jamie, okay. You win. We’re writing your ending. Laurie gets to kill Michael at the end. She gets to take his head, ending once and for all Michaels reign and silencing all the fans screaming Laurie didn’t get the job done. She would be the hero and give closure to her character.

 Meanwhile, they approached Akkad and told him about a separate ending. The laid out plans for a sequel to follow this one. Where Michael would survive, and Jamies beheading was just in her head. That Michael would survive and the one beheaded would be a paramedic. Giving life once again to Michael and Laurie would be out of the picture.

So both parties were happy. Jamie had no idea what the studio had done and planned. They just gave her something to make her happy and get the movie done. So the film got its ending. They managed to finish without any more fighting(that we know of) and the film was ready to be brought in front of the MPAA

Like we said before, the war on horror had reached its peak with the release of the last Halloween. But it would take the release of Scream and Wes Craven’s battles with them to end it. The film passed with flying colors.

I say again. The film passed with flying colors. On its very first submission no less.

The film was well edited, and shot by the director. Who for once didn’t hate horror or the franchise. No edits were needed which given everything that happened during these times. Is still surprising.

It was an age for horror where things felt like they were legitimately returning to a new dawn where they were no longer being punished for being what they were. Scream made horror mainstream again and that meant people accepted it once more. This was the one time I enjoyed being a teenager in High School because we had a slew of horror returning to theaters and I didn’t have to stumble on to new finds at the video store.

In the end the film did what Jason never could, but sorely wanted to. The studio made its money back ten fold. Jamie got her hero’s end and fans loved the movie. People were pleased the Cult of Thorn was tossed out and buried. People were glad they didn’t have more hidden siblings to deal with and even those who wished Jamie had returned or been mentioned. They still loved this movie. It’s rare to unite a fanbase that hurt by the ones keeping it going. But Jamie had her well fought victory. Had the studio had their way this easily could have veered off into forgettable slop. It would have made money with Jamie Lee in it regardless. But nothing like what it did in the end. Had she walked off because of Akkad though? Part of me almost wishes she had, just because it would have exposed him for what Carpenter saw and maybe the franchise could have been put to rest for a few years more until it was time for Michael to rise once more.

Instead the studio had a promise to deliver on Akkad, And he came to collect as soon as possible. Ladies and gentlemen It is time, prepare yourselves to hear me use my favorite word that belongs in the dictionary.

Dangertainment.