X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

08/28/2006: August Megaparty #28: New Halloween DVD!

Wow. Just like that, the Halloween season has begun. It wasn’t more than a week ago that I was out gallivanting, sadly gallivanting crying because stores hadn’t put out more than a few pumpkin-shaped cookie cutters. Tonight, it was everywhere. There’s a Halloween store in the mall — a whole Halloween store, up and active before September even had a chance to roll in. The department stores around here haven’t finished up their ghoulish gimmes, but they’re getting close. I’m trying to hold off on the immersion for as long as I can; I like knowing that Halloween is out there, but I want to let myself enjoy it in October, too. So, instead of stuffing myself at the mall’s Halloween store, I slipped into Best Buy and BIT somebody and DRANK their BLOOD.

Actually, I just got a DVD, but it’s a really, really good one. Halloween: 25 Years of Terror is a double-disc set that doesn’t nearly advertise enough that it isn’t just a re-released Halloween with a few extra features. THERE IS NO MOVIE HERE, FOLKS. NO MOVIE. What you’ll get is a gigantic documentary on the Halloween franchise, with everything from interviews to convention footage, tours of filming locations and so forth. I’ve only watched a couple of minutes so far, but it’s boss, and “boss” is not a term I use loosely. Or, you know, ever.

What I really dig about the set is this: I realize that, to some degree, I’m a big franchise whore when it comes to horror, loving the Friday the 13th, Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises with all of my heart and soul, and in that order of prominence. This is mostly illustrated when I’m at a DVD store. I’ll stare at the sections for those three franchises for ten minutes each, even though I already own all of the movies singularly on VHS and DVD, and in DVD box set form. It’s a defeatist habit, and I was so stoked to see a DVD that fell under one of those categories that I didn’t already own. It was like God spread some clouds, shoved his head in my face and whispered, “Boo.”

I’ll have more to say about the DVD when I, uh, watch it, but I felt it was my duty to inform the uninformed that it’s out there, waiting to make your next lonely Saturday night worth more than Coke and a Sicilian pizza.

X-E’s Halloween Articles: Michael Myers Costume — Halloween Atari Game.

You better not run out of stuff on the countdown or this might come back to haunt you..

It was 14.99. 84 minutes long in all, which isn’t too terrible. Comes with a free comic book, too.

Remember kids, when they re-release the Nightmare on Elm st. DVD’s for a special edition run, they’re gonna re-release it in select theatres also, including a 20 min. Best Freddy Kills film at the beginning of the movie. Slated for release on sept 20th I believe.

How IS that comic, Matt? It’s not like those terrible Chaos! comics from back in the day, is it?

Rocky — A lot of people share that opinion, which I’ve never really understood, but then, I’m a latecomer when it comes to Halloween. I liken the second film to a F13 flick with Myers in place of Jason; it’s nowhere near as good as the original on an artistic level, but being what it is, who cares about art? Halloween III rocks in its own little way, even though it’s pretty much hated by all. The rest are ups and downs, but they’re perfectly passable if not exactly legendary. Really, with this genre, I’m more into movies I can watch lazily than movies I can watch and erect statues to.

Also tonight: I almost picked up this DVD three-pack with movies about Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein, because I wanted to learn more about Gein — that’s the guy who inspired (somewhat) Psycho and Leatherface from TCM. I was shopping alone, though, and thought better of approaching a register with that particular set. I suck.

Ah, another 15 bucks Iâ€™ll have to eventually spend. I was expecting you to say a gazillion dollars for something that awesome but nope, best price ever!

If you like Halloween do yourself a favor and watch Black Christmas. It’s a great movie, and a much better slasher than Halloween in my opinion. Also, “director Bob Clark, in the On Screen documentary, claims that he came up with the basic idea of Halloween (including its title) as a hypothetical sequel to Black Christmas; he later gave the idea to John Carpenter.” So you can pretend that it’s just Halloween 0 if you need one more reason.

I can see I’m going to have to break the chain of just going from Home to School to GameStop. Gonna have to throw a change-up and hunt down a Halloween/Party store. I need a wig, a hat, and some cloth to make a cape. I’d worry about knives, but they’d probably heighten us to an orange alert or something.

“You’ve got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.”

“No, what you’ve have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I will no longer be standing, because if I am you will all be dead before you’ve reloaded……………………MY TURN”

Matt, has the idea of a large X-E party of some sort ever come across your mind? If there was ever such a thing I would definitely want to get involved, and I am quite sure others would too.

My favourite part of a DVD is always the “making of ” bonus features. If that’s all this DVD is, that’s kinda cool.

Matt-Again, you need to learn to shop without shame. For example, if I wanted to buy movies about real serial killers along with one about a ficticious one. I’d also (just as a joke) buy a big knife and a catcher’s mask. If I got a weird look, I’d just shrug and ask “what?”.

Hi! I’ve been coming to this site since 2003, and all I can say is it’s really excellent! Keep up the good work! Anyway, this like my third or fourth post, so I’d like introduce myself. I can’t wait for more Halloween stuff, love it that the holidays are on the way!

So the August Mega-Party is winding down. I wonder how Matt’s going to end it? Looking back, there were some pretty cool posts. I mean, how can he POSSIBLY top Star Wars Puffs? I sure hope it’s not something like “I’m tired, so here’s the last post.”

I suppose we won’t head straight into the Halloween countdown, but I’m already looking forward to it.

Actually, this line of thought made me realize part of why I like X-E. It’s not just that the blog posters are cool and not at all snobbish or mean. It’s not just that I occasionally (though much less, lately) see posts on my favorite toys of yesteryear. It’s that there’s always something good just over the horizon. There’s a certain joy in anticipating something, anything. Whether it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, whatever, there’s always that feeling that a happy day is coming soon.

That, and I like hearing about obscure candy and “limited time only” flavors of pop.

With Matt’s permission (he can pull my post if he doesn’t like it) here’s a survey topic, if anyone is interested. I’ve got a four day weeked coming up, and I’m really excited about it. I’ve been working tons of overtime, so I haven’t had any time off or time to spend any money. Even though I don’t get paid much for OT (I’m salary) the cash still adds up. Also, I thought I’d have to work, so I didn’t make any plans. I don’t know where to go or what to do. So what would YOU do with 4 days off and $1000?

Thats not a bad suggestion, would give me reason to go somewhere other than, well here.

An X-E convention would be pretty sweet. I can’t think of a clever name using the word “con” though.

It would definitely have to include a screening of the “The Worst Witch.” Also, it would need something like a swap meet so X-E folken could trade Kool-Aid flavors and He-Man figures. Finally, it would need a coloring contest.

Tetsu, that’s an interesting choice. It’s not MY choice, but I guess my question was supposed to be about what everyone else would do. If I’m lucky I’ll find inspiration.

Still, I thought about it and I don’t know if I could even FIND that much quality manga in here in Idaho Falls. Most people around here are redneck hick Mormons (sorry to any Mormons here). There’s just not much of a market for manga in a town where people are mostly concerned about the size of their guns for hunting elk and moose, and where 99% of the townies can’t pronounce “Hyundai” without saying “Hi-you-un-die.” I envy those of you in real cities with real entertainment options.

I’m interested to see this set. It’s 84 minutes spread across the two dvds? Or is that just the first dvd?

I’ve heard that Rob Zombie is interested in doing a remake/reimagining of the first movie, cutting out the sibling angle. I’ve never seen any of Rob Zombie’s movies, but I’m kinda curious to see what he does with it.

Welcome to the blog Donata

Matt, you must not be watching Most Evil (Thursdays, Discovery). They just did Ed Gein AND Dahmer. For anyone that’s never seen it, it’s about ranking infamous killers on a scale from 1 to 22 based on their crimes and psychology. The reenactments are genuinely creepy and they have some pretty amazing interviews. It’s really good, and the checkout girl never has to know.

The costume/makeup/magic store I used to work at opens a HUGE halloween store every year. They are already open. I can’t belive it, but I am rigid with excitement. So many spooky cd’s from last year I didn’t have the money to get that I can get this year. I collect ‘em and this is the first new batch (not re cover art-ed previous cd’s, of which I own a few of anyway). But it also seems to have come so fast. But then I remember thinking my severly hot summer was never gonna end. And It’s been raining pretty thouroughly of and on for days. And I smelled the halloweeny autumn sent. and leaves… trees changing already here and there…

Oh, and thanks for the heads up on the halloween thing. we had that at meijer’s next to new relases of Halloween 4 & 5 and I htought it was one. I’ll still get it, but now I wont be mad that the movie is not on it.

I got Nightmare box set some years ago, and the Friday set just this christmas, so I decided this year I would start making my Halloween “set”. As they don’t have a set, I was putting it off, but here is the “extras disc” that those sets always have, so it actually works out pretty great.

Now I have to find the Halloween dvd that had the “Made for tv” scenes Carpenter and his cast shot to fill in the stuff they were going to have to cut to air it on tv. I don’t think I ever saw those scenes and I’ve looked forward to having them.

Spaz, this is just a thought, and an obvious one coming from me. I’m going to keep my grand, and buy a brand spanking new PS3, first day. That’s my suggestion for you. Wait and buy a PS3.

On the other hand, you could blow it right now and snag yourself a 360, if you don’t have one already. That way you could actually do something this weekend, besides praying that the PS3 won’t be the next Neo-Geo.

And even that isn’t all bad. It would just make those of us who can afford it feel that much more special.

Apologies go out to Poop on the last thread. I read your post and then, for whatever reason, forgot about it 2 seconds later when I posted mine regarding the G. Lucas directing stuff.

I saw that DVD awhile back. I can’t believe the movie isn’t included.
I like HALLOWEEN III, it’s different, love the main title sequence, “3 more days til Halloween”, and what of the great failed experiments of trying to use a familiar moniker and turn it into a different franchise. Also, love that movie poster. Yeah.

Playstation 3,er excuse me,PLAYSTATION 3,has no hope of ever being supported for over a decade,and no hope of having anything remotely as good and well crafted as Metal Slug or King of Fighters,so I can’t see it ending up as the next Neo Geo.

I didn’t really get to comment on the Star Wars prequel question,so I’ll comment here. I’m 26,so I wasn’t alive for Episode 4,but I was for 5 and 6.
As much as I’d love to say episodes 1-3 are all time classics,they just aren’t. 1 is tolerable only to die hards,and 2 and 3 are good movies,but they in no way come near the real Star Wars trilogy. I guess what killed it for me the most,besides Jar Jar,and besides Anakin speaking like Mr. Sbaisto in eps.2 and 3,is Corusucant in Episode 2. It’s just a complete and blatant rip off of L.A. in Blade Runner,right down to the flames that shoot up (oil refineries?). Star Wars used to be the be-all end-all of SciFi-ish movies,and then episode 2 resorted to just stealing stuff from another,better movie. Not to mention,the setting makes sense in Blade Runner since that movie is set in America in the future. Our cities allready have loud,garish advertising signs everwhere,have big skyscrapers,and are filthy and grimy,so of course the makers of Blade Runner just extrapolated those things a couple decades into the future. But in the world of Star Wars,it makes no sense. We’ve never seen evidence of advertising in this world,so why would it be so abundant here? We’ve never seen skyscrapers in this world,so why would they be here? Why would kids in another time,in another galaxy,dress so much like the ravers of today? Because Lucas has no more ideas.

“You ever seen a Wookie with a dozen space-balloons of space-blow exploding in his stomach? Not good.”

spaz307: I’m not sure I can help you out here. I guess I just don’t know what I’d do if I had a thousand dollars. If I had a million dollars, obviously, I’d buy a green dress. (But not a real green dress, that’s cruel.)

Will someone knock me out and then wake me up at 3pm Central? That’d be great. Thanks!

As I just mentioned this past weekend when we started talking about scary/horror films, I’m just not into them anymore. My horror film phase is over. A moment of silence…

I forgot to say anything about Halloween!
I like Halloween 3 and I really like the idea of making it something totally different from the first two,but I’m not surprised a lot of people felt gypped when it wasn’t about Micheal Myers.

I can’t wait to catch Nightmare on Elm Street on the big screen. Tell me that you’re going to see this, Matt. You have to. Actually, I can’t believe it’s even playing anywhere near my area, but luck has dealt me a good hand.

Also, I walked into the local Dollar Store the other day and they had a whole aisle dedicated to Christmas. I’m talking everything; artificial trees, wrapping paper, candy, etc. It was nuts. Then they had a little sign that looked like it had been made by a fourth-grader which read: “shop early! :)”

First off, to LemonWitch, see the Rob Zombie movies. They’re horribly violent and disturbing, yet humorous and entertaining at the same time. Seriously. I felt like I was joining forces with Satan the first time I watched one, but now I love ‘em. He has an artist’s eye for evil.

Second, two snaps to Matt for mentioning Jeffrey Dahmer. The discovery in his grandma’s house was kind of the highlight of my 16th birthday. Not that I condone killing people, but it seemed kind of exciting and cool that it all happened 40 miles from home. I have a scrapbook. I was actually at the hospital in Madison where he was brought when he finally got the mop handle, and saw the other guy who was beat (and eventually died) in the room next to where I was. And seriously, I think THAT guy deserved a beating to death more than Dahmer. (He stabbed his pregnant wife to death in a restaurant parking lot after taking her out to dinner. Then tried to blame it on “a group of Mexicans.”) Not sure why I think that’s worse, but it just is. Fucker.

Doh, I was wrong — the DVD isn’t “84 minutes,” it’s actually got four hours worth of stuff, total. The main feature is 84 mins.

I concur, Rob Zombie’s films are just majestic. Captain Spaulding is god, and Otis is just as good, if not better, especially in Rejects. House is also a great place to see a pre-Office Rainn Wilson.

So irrelevant to the rest of the movie, but my favorite quote is still in The Devil’s Rejects when Spaulding says “WE ain’t goin’ nowhere, bitch.” Say it too often, and the only one that gets it is my fiance.

I can definitely feel autumn coming outside today. The temp has dropped about 15 degrees in the last two days. I’m wearing real pants and real shoes today.

It took me a while to decide but I definitely have to go with House for my favorite of the two. The beginning is just note perfect.

That’s a much better deal for $14.99 than 84 minutes.
Compared to David Parker Ray, Dahmer doesn’t seem so awful. Gein seems downright quaint.
Arrested Development on DVD today!

Hmmm, 4 days off and a thousand bucks? Nice! I would jump in my car for a road trip, since that is what I have been doing all summer, with my 2 months off and PAYCHECKS rolling in (being a teacher is amazing sometimes)…I recommend going out with some friends for good food and drinks, then to see ‘Snakes on a Plane’. The next day, head to the mall and buy some guilty pleasures- stupid movies only YOU like, comics, toys, whatever. Then spend that day enjoying them. The next day, have people over and get drunk on GOOD liquor- the stuff you never buy. The last day, sleep it off, and watch your new movies!! Sounds great to me…

That Halloween dvd has intrigued me. I remember the night in my dormitory when we booked the lounge and watched every single Halloween movie in a ROW- we didnt leave. Meals were delivered, bathroom breaks were scheduled, and by the end, about 20 other people had joined us for the whole thing. Good times.

I dont really like horror movies anymore. I mean…I TRIED to get into them when somem of my friends were babbling about Nightmare on Elm St and so forth in high school but they just dont do it for me. I dont like chick flicks either so I guess Im just weird.

If I had 1,000 dollars? I would save enough to get Okami, Valkyrie Profile 2 and FF XII… buy some anime DVD sets (Hack//Sign, Divergence Eve, chance Pop Sessions). Id also buy clothes cos I dropped several sizes and my jeans literally fell off me yesterday when i went in foor bloodwork. blegh

Which reminds me, I still haven’t paid off XII. I need to get on that, I suppose.

Halloween (the original) is my all time favorite horror flick. It’s not as scary for me now as it used to be (I guess that happens when you watch a movie 100 times or so), but it’s still fun to watch. I’m scared of the Halloween “reimagining”, but I liked Rob Zombie’s first two movies, so I’ll give it a chance.

Halloween III is my second favorite Halloween movie. I’m shocked that it has as many fans on this board as it does. But it’s X-E. I should know better.

And I remember waaaaay back, former X-E writer Robert Berry putting together an X-E party at GameWorks in like Ohio or something. Am I imagining that happened?

Unfortunately, everybody seems to live on the East Coast. Us West Coasters would miss out.

I still think that the first Halloween is the scariest movie ever made. It freaked me out the first time I watched it, and movies generally don’t do that to me.

I always liked Halloween II a lot. If for nothing else, I get to see a guy slip in a puddle of blood. Possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a serious horror movie. Still cracks me up to this day. Oh, and the part where he passes out in his car.

As far as Rob Zombie movies go, House was funny, but the end got a little too weird for me. I really liked The Devil’s Rejects.

I absolutely love Halloween III and watch it every year. I put that “3 more days ’til Halloween” song on a Halloween music compilation CD last year and it does give you the willies when mixed with the likes of other movie themes like The Fog and such.
If you have the old Good Times version of the Halloween II DVD, you catually listen to almost the entire score by navigating the menus and letting it play.

I’m starting my Halloween movie marathon early this year since I’m mixing movies in with finishing up the Buffy & Angel shows. I’m watching Wisconsin Death trip tonight, I heard it was pretty creepy.

Are you???!!!! You’ll have to let me know what it’s like. I used to get the book it’s based on from the library all the time when I was little.

I’m surprised that today hasn’t been declared some sort of XE holiday. After all, Darkwing Duck and Talespin came out on DVD today!

$40 for the pair at Best Buy, and once I get downtown to finish buying my textbooks, I’m free to spend the night with Drake Mallard and Baloo :Â¬)

One of the few areas in which I had a deprived childhood was horror movies. My mom didn’t like the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, or the Friday the 13th series, so until I could talk my friends into renting horror movies, we were only “allowed” to watch the Halloween series, as mom found them a bit more artful than the rest. She’s still freaked out by Freddy.

Its pretty cool that you decvided to review this Matt. I picked this up a couple weeks ago and It is really great. There is also a comic book inside.
Being a big Halloween fan, im on the message board alot, so most of the people involved with this project I talk to alot there. They put alot of work into it and they would appreciate knowing that their work is being enjoyed.

PS. Be sure to check out teh section entitled “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds”. It is a tour of all the old filming locations. It rocks.

Actually, if I had a 1K windfall upcoming, I would hope it would come right around The Great State Fair of Oklahoma next month. Gas, admission, then the rest on cheap crap and greasy food. Three Indian Tacos, a big green slush, then it’s Tilt-a-Whirl time! On the way home, stop at Wal-Mart and buy some Hallowe’en stuff. Or skip the fair and get all We’en-y with my bad self.

Wisconsin Death Trip? Wasn’t that the first Static-X album? Yeah, it was, I sooo just checked. All their songs sounded the same to me*

*yes, I am aware that being an outsider to a genre makes everything within said genre sound the same. I’m not dissing the band, I’m stating my opinion.

Regarding the an X-E party, get together, I always thought that would be really awesome, but of course we are so wide spread that it would be really hard. If there were enough Canadian’s in the Southern Ontario area that had an interest in a get together, I would be willing to organize something.

If there is ever another X-E gathering, you can 100% count on me to not show up. Sorry guys.

Knegative you are correct. The album name came from the book. I think they just thought it was a bizarre title and took it from there… I do listen to that kind of music but don’t know any songs by title. Can’t listen b/c I’m at work, but you’re probably right to say they all sound the same anyway. Although if you like that sound, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Now that I think of it, have you (or anyone for that matter) ever heard of Dir En Grey? I never had, but I saw them on the Family Values tour this past weekend. Apparently they are popular with the Hot Topic set (please take no offense at the reference)and little girls that like Japanese culture.

MaryJane, that was an awesome way to present a very vivid description in just a few words.

dude, 25 years of terror rules! they also rereleased halloween 4 & 5 with new commentatries and stuff. rob zombie’s halloween will be out next october, hopefully it will be a classic!

Aww, why not Doho? I feel confident in the fact that none of us are dangerous. Just odd in our own unique ways. I’ll be wearing my Knegative shirt for easy identification, because yes I do have one.

I, on the other hand, am very dangerous and would probably cut everyone up to bits and make stew.

MaryJane, that was an awesome way to present a very vivid description in just a few words.

An x-e party sounds fun, in theory, but think of the social anxiety it might cause. Some people might be here because they feel comfortable with the format, but if we were all in a bar somewhere…not so much. (Not me). Then again some people might not come because they are slightly over thirty, though cute and quite immature most of the time.

I am indeed over 30, cute (per my wife) and immature (per my wife). But I would show up…as long as there were door prizes.

1. I’ve been so amped and ready for some reason this year, but I’m really really trying to hold off until later so I won’t burn out. My wife and I also have to hold each other back from Christmas stuff until after Halloween, we tend to jump the gun on the hollidays. But this is my favorite time of year, when there’s nothing but anticipation. Come January it’s like, what now?

2. spaz307 go to the beach or do something you’ve never done, maybe rock climbing or white water rafting.

3. I’d go to an X-E party, but my guess is NC probably isn’t going to be the hot spot to make it convienent for me

MaryJane, thanks for the head’s up! I’ve been curious to see House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, but no one I know has seen ‘em so I didn’t have any real feedback on them.

The Silver Shamrock theme is a surefire way to make my roommate scream. She and I watched Halloween 3 one year as part of a bad movie marathon to ring in the new year, and that song gets stuck in both our heads like it was glued there.

Has anyone seen the original cut of Halloween 6? I’ve seen it on ebay for a while, but never quite took the plunge.

House Of 1000 Corpses is pretty good. Sort of in the same vein as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but weirder.

The Devil’s Rejects is vastly superior. Tense and disturbing with the best use of Free Bird in film history. But it is sick stuff.

It took them three years to release it. I guess a lot of the content is from the 25th anniversary convention that they had.

I don’t know what they were thinking with Halloween 3. If they honestly wanted to take the series in a new direction, I can’t believe that they didn’t realize they might need something a little better than Season Of The Witch to pull it off.

Got the Halloween Directors cut on torrents, Makes the movie much easier to follow. The story line fleshes itself out better.

It took them three years to release it. I guess a lot of the content is from the 25th anniversary convention that they had.

Someone gave me the original cut of Halloween 6 a couple years ago. It’s full of extended footage and the final third is completely different, but I personally I don’t think it’s overall any less goofy than what ended up getting relased to theaters. It is, however, a fascinating look into the world of troubled filmmaking, if you’re into that sort of stuff. And if you’re OK with an awful video image, of course.

I’ve read a little bit about Halloween 666 (The Producer’s Cut). I really wasn’t a big fan of 4-6. H20 was okay, but Resurrection was another misfire for me.

Anyone seen this synopsis for Halloween 9 (from Netflix)? I’m pretty sure plans for 9 are scrapped with Rob Zombie doing the reimaging. Which is probably a really, really good thing.

Since his psychiatrist father’s death, David Loomis has been working at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. David inherited all his father’s files, except for those of serial killer Michael A. Myers, which are nowhere to be found. But when a horribly mutilated body is found, rumors fly that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Eager to fulfill his father’s obsessive quest, David travels to Haddonfield to wait for Michael. Like father, like son!

About 3 hours South of where I live there is an Official Texas Chainsaw Massacre Haunted House! It’s just North of Waco, if anyone ever wants to venture there. The actual movies was filmed closer to Austin for the most part. It’s a cool building that has a giant fiberglass skull on the front.

Regarding the Halloween franchise, this is what I’ve heard was the original plan (so take this with a grain of salt). Each movie was supposed to be unrelated to the others. Season of the Witch was supposed to be part II, but the popularity of Michael Myers caused the studio to hurry up and make another starring him as a sequel. This caused Season to bomb and they went back to Myers for subsequent releases. That’s what I heard. I’ve already signed a waiver absolving me from any legal action.

Anyone in the NJ area remember a traveling Halloween pumpkin patch? You went and seen this guy dressed like a farmer and singing songs playing a piano, and you sit on bales of hay…then you watch this little show of pumpkins dressed like people and they talk and tell stories, the cheesey thing is, the people doing the voices are under the stage…its pretty funny….then you would go pick a pumpkin. I think it was mostly a Middletown, Monmouth county area based thing.
I also wanna find a GOOD haunted house thing to go to this year. something to make me piss myself with fright.

For the person that asked about teh original copy of part 6, I own it and it is superior to what was released in theatures. Most of the scenes are extended and alot of stuff with Loomis was put back in.
I am a big fan of the 4-6 era. (I think 4 was the best one). If you are too, I suggest buying this.
6 isnt that bad of a movie (especially compared to the last 2 that came out). I think teh problem with it is it goes back to the old saying “too many chefs spoil the soup”. Everyone came to that project with very diffrent ideas that alone would make an ok film, but bundled together come off as a mess. Daniel Farrands who wrote the script came up with some great ideas that really shine through in the alternate cut. Donald PLeasence remarked that this was his favorite sequel in teh franchise.
If ther is one person to blame for its problems, it is Joe Chapelle. He felt that Loomis was too boring so he remocved half of his content. He also is reponsible for the quick, MTV cuts, and the screwed up ending.

I work for a bank and I actually had to call Lodgenet (I just read yet again you’re bored in atlantic city article) as part of my job one day. I’ll tell you something. The guy that I spoke to who works at Lodgenet was a real jerk who slammed the phone down no joke 4 seconds into the conversation. I feel better now.

You’ll all have to excuse me for not having posted in awhile. Today i bought some DVD sets i watched as a kid: Goof Troop vol. 1, Tale Spin vol. 1,, and (apparently a new release) TMNT vol. 5. I pre-ordered Darkwing Duck vol. 1 on Amazon, because i didn’t think Target would have it on the day of its release. It did, so now i have to wait another day to see it while it’s just sitting there on the shelf, waiting to be bought. I played it safe and ended up losing big time.

Heh heh. Well, I don’t typically have Coke with my pizza (beer is more like it), but lonely Saturday nights are incomplete without some sort of vid to watch.

Regarding the PS3: I can buy an XBox 360 AND a Wii for the same price as a PS3. There’s just no contest, especially since I haven’t seen any exclusive PS3 titles that I especially want. The games I want to play are thankfully on the cheaper systems. And Blu-Ray? Bleh. I’ll wait until the players have come down to a decent price and just buy a player seperately.

I’ve got a 360, but I’m kinda’ bored with it right now. I told myself I wouldn’t buy any new games for it until I finished Oblivion. Since I chose to do ALL the side quests first (yes, EVERY SINGLE ONE) I’ve been playing that game for months straight. The fetch quests have gotten a little old. Still, after 140 hours of play time, I recently finished all the side quests. When I get some free time I’ll do the main quest. After that, I’m looking forward to Chrome Hounds and Street Fighter.

Kid Nicky- I don’t like the prequel trilogy as much as the originals. However, I respectfully disagree with your rant on Coruscant when it complains about advertising and urban sprawl. Eps 4-6 were all set on remote worlds at the edge of the galaxy, and the “cities” we saw were all either small outposts (Mos Eisley) or tightly regulated and rigidly planned (Cloud City). Urban sprawl and advertising make sense for a planet that is one giant city. I still agree the look was very similar to Blade Runner’s, but I think the reasoning behind stealing that look was sound.

Oh, and I wanted to light up right there in the theater when the space drug dealer tried to sell Obi-Wan space cigarrettes. Thinly veiled anti-smoking ads just make me want to smoke in defiance.

So are you happy with 360 or not? You’re kinda bored with it but got a 140 hours out of a single game without touching the main quest.

I think Bludge’s post is probably accurate. Evidence to prove that theory correct may lie in the fact that Michael is referred to as THE SHAPE in the original, therefore, he was not seen as a big deal until afterwards.

Well consider yourself lucky then Spaz because as you know my fav series is exclusive to the PS3. So, until it jumps ship, I’ll be the last, most pnumonia-ridden rat on that ship. The captain will leave before I will.

I anticipate standing in line with probably 2 ten year-olds with their loaded parents. A good time will be had for all, especially when I blow their minds by not buying any of the launch titles. I’m playing Kingdom Hearts II on that bad-boy, who you kidding?

I love my 360, and this is from a guy that got PS when it first came out, and camped out for a PS2 back in 2000. I never owned an Xbox, but my brother did, then my roommate had an awesome one that hooked me. I think the 360 could use way more games, and I can’t wait for Halo 3 and a GTA or Prince of Persia. Right now it keeps my attention really well and is a great central entertainment hub, works great with my ipod, movies, old arcade games, and the new games pretty much rock.

Dead Rising, the zombie game, is awesome. I’ll buy a Wii just for the old NES and SNES games, plus the new Mario will be sweet.

doho- Overall, I am happy with the 360. I’m just kinda’ bored with THIS game, I guess. I’m one of those guys who has to get every item and unlockable in an RPG. Overall, Oblivion is a stellar game- after all I HAVE played it for 140 hours.

The only other 360 game I own so far is Call of Duty. It was a good single player game, but I’m just too far down on the learning curve to enjoy the multi-player.

I’m really looking forward to Gears of War, Halo 3, and Mass Effect for the 360. For the Wii, I’m just hoping the controller won’t be a gimmick. Lots of game genres should be fun again with a more immersive control scheme.

VMAs in 2 days! Yeah, they suck, but Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco are up for more than a few awards. I know MTV.com is the hub of HELL, but hey it’s worth 15 minutes of agony (even with a cable modem!) to show them some love. Go do that now. Like right now.

Is Jack Black Hosting? or was that the movie awards. My husband is going to make me watch who wants to be a superhero for the finale, so i can’t see the awards… hope fat mama wins on superhero though.

I’m like that with a lot of games. I have to actually force myself to agree that I won’t attempt 100% completion on some games before I’ll pick them up, like animal crossing. But anytime I get a new GTA, I’m not quitting till I see that number in my records. I played both Kotors several times to the point that I saw all the ways the dialog could go. I have to get all the time ranks and unlockables in Resident Evil games too. Before I sent in my DS I just got all 3 stars on New Super Mario Bros on my file 1 and when I get it back I’ll start working on the other 2 save files, like I did with super mario world and the 96 goals on all 3 saves (normal version) and another 4 saves (all stars version).

Mandy: Yes, Jack is hosting. I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna watch it though.

While you guys may not agree with my choice in next-gen consoles, you at least share my life-crushing OCD. Can you say Sun Sigl?

Speaking of halloween, I used to get a catalogue full of gross halloween party favors. This thing had an entire page just for different kinds of eyeballs… I miss it. Does anyone else get this and could they point me to a website or something? If so email me werebass(at)yahoo(dot)com thanks!

for the most part I don’t mind the Compulsiveness, like with super mario world. There’s no way I would’ve got all 96 goals that many times (actually more times than I mentioned) if I didn’t love the game. But sometimes it gets bad. Like in GTA, getting all golds in all of the schools. Even though you didn’t have to do that for what the game said was 100%, I couldn’t stand the thought of having everything done but that, so I spent like 6 hours straight on one of the stupid driving test.

Also to be fair, although the PS3 is making a lot of mistakes in it’s approach, doing the very opposite of things that made Playstation name what it is, I’m still open that to the possibility something will come along to justify it for me. Wii’s a shoe in, 360 looks more attractive every day (exclusive episodic content for gta4, YES more driving schools) and the PS3 is on a thread.

Well at least you aren’t trying to do things like jump rope a 1000 times. Sometimes the stuff I have to do is just embarrassing even for ME to brag about. But I completely agree, the games I love the most are the ones that I have done EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING FOR. For the rest, I’m okay with a percentage (in my head of course) of around 97-99% complete.

Bludge is right, sort of, regarding the idea to make each Halloween movie different from the last. Though, from everything I read, it was more a case of the Myers thing being beaten to the ground by Part II, with Carpenter then deciding that it’d be interesting to have a new Halloween movie every year, unrelated to the last, with a different director and set of actors. Carpenter would serve as the continuing producer. I’ve never read whether he had the idea before or after Part II, though.

Halloween III was a flawed movie, yes. It should never have made it to production with a script so loony, yes. But it’s still pretty decent and creepy even despite itself. It served an even bigger purpose, too. By the time Myers returned, the people behind him had enough time to really consider his story and create a lasting arc that only felt like a rehash in that it featured Michael Myers killing innocents.

I’ve yet to see the special cut of Part 6 mentioned in some of the comments above, but have heard great things about it. Sucks if it’s true that the original got chopped because somebody didn’t like Loomis, mainly because it just makes me feel really bad. Loomis was showing his age a lot by Part 6; it was obviously his swansong, and for someone who really meant as much to those movies as the star character himself, I hope he didn’t get booted with a bad taste in his mouth.

spaz307: I don’t really live in a big city. I actually live in a small hick town like you. I just lucked out in that I live in a small hick town with access to some decent book and comic stores.

Considering he died before it was decided that the film would be changed, I doubt it bothered him a whole lot.

Halloween 1 and 2 were so good. Besides a killer story they were really well made. They had alot of athmosphere. It’s hard to believe they were not made at the same time.

Part 4 was great. Part 5 was pretty boring. I liked how Haddonfield banned celebrating Halloween in part 6 but the rest of the movie was pretty bad. I think part 5 and 6 nearly killed the series.

H20 was good but I really wanted Josh Hartnett to get killed. Resurrection killed the series.

Now Rob Zombie is going to make a remake…oh I’m sorry I mean a “re-imaging”.

FYI Halloween Fans - I came across this bit of exciting news on another website I frequent daily. “Don May Jr. of Synapse Films gave Fango the exclusive news of an amazing discovery regarding John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN: What we’ve got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from John Carpenter’s original HALLOWEEN,”

Catching up after being off line of a couple of days. If I had 4 days and $1000, I’d make it to the X-Epalooza, and buy everyone a round of drinks.

But, I’ve finally gotten around to reading the comic book that came free with the DVD, and it’s pretty great. Though the pages are small, it’s a full-length comic and a pretty balls-out gritty one at that, apparently setting up a longer string of comics, or a graphic novel, about Dr. Loomis. I’d say it’s worth 4-5 bucks easy, and with that train of thought, the DVD only costs 10 dollars.

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