Reviews

Halloween 25 Years of Terror - New to DVD

Director: Stefan Hutchinson
Narrated by P.J. Soles
Back in 1978 John Carpenter and Deborah Hill created a film that would,
for better or worse, help to solidify and usher in the age of the
slasher film.

In no way was the contemporary classic they created an absolute first in
the genre. The list of films that preceded Halloween and left a mark
upon these young filmmakers is as long and varied as the evolution of
the Halloween franchise itself. However, they were able to bring a
fresh, young voice to their film, while maintaining a classic
sensibility; Setting a new standard in horror, which many tried and
failed to imitate with countless other teenie bopper slash and hack
fests.

With the release of Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, director Stefan
Hutchison and co-writer Anthony Masi try to capture both the history and
the appeal of the entire Halloween franchise over the years. This is a
lot of ground to cover in any great detail, but this documentary does a
decent job of covering all of the key bases. While any die hard
Halloween fan may be hard pressed to find any new information about the
series, casual fans will be able to learn a great deal during the films
84 minute run time. The documentary is a combination of new and archived
interviews along with plenty of film footage and stills. The new footage
and interviews are what make this documentary worth viewing. A wonderful
job was done in gathering new footage of various key and minor players
involved throughout the entire run of the series, as well as interviews
with fans of every level. Notable appearances by Clive Barker and Rob
Zombie (who is currently helming a "re-imagining of Halloween") are
included among the 80 plus interviews used in the telling of the
Halloween tale.

Fond memories on both the making of each film and the impact the series
has had on people over the years is well covered. Along with various
levels of praise and criticism of all eight films in the franchise. The
film culminates with coverage of the 25 year anniversary convention
held in South Pasadena (the shooting location for the first film) back
in October of 2003. Overall, the convention footage is well edited into
the film and shows the passion (sometimes to an embarrassing degree)
fans have for the series.

The convention looks as if it were a lot of fun for all who attended and
will make anyone who would be interested in such an event envious if
they were unable to make the trip. There is a "Haddonfield Gone Wild"
moment during this section of the film that may have been better left
out, but I am sure there are those out there that will disagree.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable documentary, but there is something
more to be desired. The main detractor of the film would be lack of new
interview footage with some of the key participants of the first
Halloween. It is unfortunate that for whatever reason, new footage of
John Carpenter and Deborah Hill is absent from this documentary.
Instead, the film uses archive footage cultivated from past
documentaries inserted throughout. It would be hard to fault the
creators of the documentary for this, as I'm sure an effort was made to
include their participation in the project. And the archive footage is
given some new life by being intercut with new footage of the various
other participants involved in the history of the series.

The various extras to be unwrapped on this two-disc set would be enough
to make any Halloween fan excited to discover in their Trick or Treat
bag after an evening of All Hallows entertainment. The extras are mainly
comprised of various panel discussions from the 2003 convention. There
are a total of seven panel discussions included. The discussions include
several interesting tales from the production of the various Halloweens
told by those both in front of and behind the camera. Other extras
include; footage from behind the scenes of Halloween 5, a tour of the
Halloween series filming locations, extended interviews, a montage from
the convention and more fan footage (which includes various props and
memorabilia). There are three galleries which cover current images of
film locations from the series, behind the scenes photos from the
convention and original artwork.

Inside the case for the two disc set is a limited edition mini-comic
Halloween Autopsis.

You do get a lot of bang for your buck, and any fan of Halloween will be
happy to add this two-disc set to their collection. Those who are only
mildly interested in the franchise would be better off renting.
7/10
-J

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