Halloween is my second favorite movie of all time and I think the sequels ruin the first movie's thrills and supernatural subtext (IMHO). Thoughts on the sequels.
Halloween 2 - One slime - For years John Carpenter and Debra Hill refused to do a sequel, feeling the first movie was fine and any more would push their luck. Irwin Yablans and Moutsapha Akkad eventually sued Carpenter (who owned a significant part of the sequel rights) for unfair business practices and the result was this, a poorly thought out continuation of the Halloween tale. It picks right up at the ending of the first, with Loomis again chasing after Michael and Laurie getting carted off to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Director Rick (Halloween: Resurrection) Rosenthal, with help from returning DP Dean Cundy, recreates the visual tone of the first movie but, as Carpenter himself said, there is no story left to tell. So the movie is packed with grisly murders of meaningless characters and little suspense can be found. As was the case with Carpenter's The Fog, Rosenthal's first cut was a disaster, so Carpenter shot some additional material to 'punch it up'. Chas. Balun calls this a cinematic eye sore, I agree.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch. 3 slimes. This was the last Halloween movie produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and the only one to not feature Michael Myers (although John Carpenter's Halloween is playing on television during the movie's final reel). Quartermass creator Nigel Kneale reportedly helped created this science fiction/horror hybrid about a Halloween mask manufacturer with a sinister prank on his samhain festival agenda. Carpenter and Hill had wanted to move away from the storyline of two previous movies (the ending of Halloween 2 should be where the Myers saga ends, as it was ended that way) and produce a series of Halloween movies based on the idea and/or tone of the festival. Sadly writer/director Tommy Lee Wallce, while handling himself fairly well in the director's chair, cannot write an intelligent story to tell. Still, I like this movie for at least trying some different. My review at scifilm can be found here...
http://www.scifilm.org/reviews2/halloween3.html.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - 2 slimes - Although she had nothing to do with the movie, Debra Hill was given several scripts to look over for a new Myers on the loose Halloween sequel. She liked this one the best, I can see why. Alan McElroy's story is a solid base hit (sadly some dialogue needs tweaking, but the writer's strike prevented rewrites) that has a comatose Myers awakening and a scarred Loomis again in hot pursuits. Director Dwight H. Little creates a nice creepy atmosphere and the Alan Howarth score has a great dark tone to it. Of the Myers sequels, this is my favorite.
Halloween 5 (The Revenge of Michael Myers) - 1 slime - As with the first sequel, part 5 starts with the ending of 4, but then jumps ahead a year with a truly sanity snapping segue. Originally Moutsapha Akkad intended to have the sequels be serial, a new chapter getting released every year, but this box office stumble put and end to it. Director Dominique Orthin Gerard attempts to ape Carpenter's patented "They are creeping up behind you" shots, but builds zero suspense. The movie also attempts to tie up the plot threads left by 4 and string out some more for 6, but the results are uninteresting. This was the last Halloween sequel I bothered watching.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers - This movie is the most reviled of the series and I have never seen it, but the title made me wonder if they would use other Pink Panter titles for Halloween entries (Loomis was more and more like a psychotic Inspector Clouseau when you think about it). But Trail of..., Strikes Again, and Son of... never came to be.
Halloween H2O - The term H2O means WATER, so a watered down sequel that ignores the 4-6 storyline and was directed by Steve (Friday the 13th Part 2, 3, and Lake Placid) Miner. Easy pass on this one.
Halloween: Resurrection - Halloween 2 director Rich Rosenthal returns for this blending of Blair Witch camera play and Slasher movie plot. A bunch of dimwits agree to play Big Brother in the Myers house. Michael shows up to crash the party. Jamie Lee Curtis shows up long enough to get herself removed from the series (she agreed to appear in this ONLY if her character was killed off early in the movie, which it was)
A Halloween 9 is being planned...
