Halloween: Compass International Pictures/Anchor Bay Home Video
Rating: USA: R
Today, instead of simply reviewing a film, we're going to take a look at a newly released version of an enduring classic.
Twenty-one years after it exploded onto the horror scene, John Carpenter's seminal slasher flick, Halloween, still stands as one of the most vital and terrifying films ever made. Forget the lame sequels that came later, forget the weak and imitative Friday The 13th films that tried to copy the formula in the most graceless fashion possible--this film is what all slasher movies should aspire to be: Taut, suspenseful, smart, and scary.
I would imagine that everyone knows the film's plot, but here's a brief overview just in case (and if you haven't seen the film, quit reading this and go rent it!). Broken down into its most basic components, Halloween is a simple tale about a group of babysitters terrorized by a masked madman on All Hallows Eve. Jamie Lee Curtis (HALLOWEEN 2, HALLOWEEN H20) plays Laurie Strode, the virginal young heroine who would become the standard survivor in the slasher formula. Laurie and her friends (played by Nancy Loomis and PJ Soles) are stalked by The Shape, a masked, grown up version of murderer Michael Myers. The Shape returns to his hometown, Haddonfield Illinois, 15 years to the day after he killed his teenaged sister. Myers is in turn chased by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance: PHENOMENA, HALLOWEEN 2, 4, 5, and 6). Loomis knows Myers is evil incarnate and that he must be stopped at any cost. What ensues is a race against time as Loomis tries to find and stop what appears to be a supernatural madman.
What Carpenter and producer Debra Hill have done here is demonstrate that the best horror films are the simplest ones. There's no in-depth, highly convoluted plot--the story's essentially a campfire tale caught on film. There's no elaborate special FX sequences, no CGI, not even a high body count or much gore. Instead, there's loads of atmosphere, a creepy looking masked killer, an incredible score, and some convincing and likable female characters that are unaware of the menace looming around them. Using those four elements, Carpenter manages to create a film that's filled with an unrelenting sense of dread and keeps the audience in suspense throughout.
Ok, now that we've said all that, let's talk about the newest release of this classic film.
Since the dawn of the video age, Halloween has been available for home audiences to rent, first in the standard VHS/Beta formats, then laserdisc, and finally DVD. Until recently, the Criterion laserdisc was the premier version of the film. Loaded with extras (including an audio commentary track with director Carpenter, producer Hill, and actress Curtis); this was the Holy Grail for diehard fans of the film...well, not anymore.
Anchor Bay has just released a new, THX remastered, limited edition on DVD. The film has been completely restored from a nearly pristine negative print, but on top of that, Anchor Bay has also color corrected the whole film and manually removed film artifacts that were visible on the print. The end result is a version of the film that looks completely new. Watching the old Anchor Bay version in comparison is like watching the movie with a layer of gauze over the screen. The picture on the new version is incredible. Also included is your choice between the anamorphic widescreen version or the standard pan & scan (like that's a choice...if you watch this in pan & scan you're nuts).
But, not only does the film look great, it sounds great too. Anchor Bay has remixed the original mono soundtrack into a new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The effect is amazing. In the opening scenes, where Loomis and the nurse go to the sanitarium, you can actually hear the individual raindrops. They've also added some recently discovered effects tracks; note the booming thunder in the aforementioned scene.
The high quality picture and sound alone are enough to make this disc a must own, but Anchor Bay doesn't stop there. Also included are numerous extras including radio spots, trailers, an extensive photo gallery, and the Halloween television version. This is the network approved cut of the film that Carpenter created for NBC when they wanted to show Halloween back in the early 80's. It features over 12 minutes of footage shot solely for this version.
The real bonus is the thirty-minute documentary, Halloween Unmasked 2000, which features interviews with just about everyone involved with the film talking about the process of making it and how it affected their careers. It's fun to watch, although it doesn't quite replace the commentary track on the Criterion laser (which isn't included on this release) and I'd have liked to see some old interview footage with Pleasence. He's a vital part of the Halloween universe, and I imagine that he probably had something to say worth hearing regarding the film before his passing in 1995.
With this release, Anchor Bay has certainly atoned for their past DVD sins (including their abominable first version of Halloween). The Halloween Restored Limited Edition is a fantastic effort, produced by a company who clearly loves this classic film. If you have a DVD player, this is a must have title. If you don't have a DVD player, this title alone makes purchasing one worth considering.
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