HMAD Screening: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

UPDATE! Not only will screenwriter Dan Farrands be joining us for a Q&A, but he will be bringing a very special treat - a 35mm print of the legendary "Producer's Cut"! To hell with blurry bootlegs! BE THERE!!!

Keeping tradition (I co-hosted Halloween III in 2011 and did Halloween II last year), this October's HMAD show at the New Beverly will be an entry in my favorite franchise, and this year we're going with Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, which was the last in the series to be released in the fall instead of the summer, and also the last in the original timeline. H20 would of course reboot the series and retcon 4-6 out of existence (H3 of course is in its own world anyway), and then Rob Zombie came along to remake it all together.

It's also, sadly, the last appearance of Donald Pleasence, who died shortly after the film had its principal production, but BEFORE it had some reshoots and re-edits. As a result, he's unfortunately not in the film as much as the previous entries, making those moments all the more special - the actor originally said he'd do 19 of the films before quitting, but these would be the last nutty lines we'd ever hear out of the true Dr. Sam Loomis. Luckily, in his absence we have a very young Paul Rudd (only his second or third film, in fact) and the lovely Marianne Hagan as the film's leads, and great character actor Mitchell Ryan as Dr. Wynn, a colleague of Loomis' who plays a major role (I'm gonna pretend some folks haven't seen it yet).

Also, and this is the reason I chose the film over H20*, it's got a TON of Halloween atmosphere, perhaps even more than the original offered. The streets of Haddonfield are completely drenched in decorations and trick r treaters (even in the daytime), and the big party has terrific seasonal production design as well. Plus, it's the best mask of any of the sequels, in my opinion, another thing elevating it above its more financially successful followup. The high body count should also make for a fun midnight show - I want a big cheer when that asshole John Strode gets his! And who doesn't love the Brother Cane song from the credits?

As always, the show will be at the New Beverly Cinema, located at 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, 90036 (two blocks west of La Brea). Street parking is easy to find (just check the signs as there are some permit zones) and tickets are a mere 8 bucks at the door or in advance via BrownPaperTickets. The screening will be on Saturday, October 26th at 11:59 pm, and yes I'll have some DVDs to give away for easy trivia questions. Working on special guests, but since a couple folks have already asked: Mr. Rudd is a no-go - we DID ask him, and he replied within like 30 minutes, but alas it's his kid's birthday that weekend and thus he will be celebrating (he lives in New York so it wasn't really likely anyway, but the fact that he replied so quickly proves it wasn't a waste of time to try!). Also, if you want to make a full night of it, on a separate bill the Bev is having a fine double feature of He Knows You're Alone and (previous HMAD show) Psycho II that night, also 8 bucks for the pair. For less than 20 bucks you can see three fun horror flicks on glorious 35mm in one evening! Not bad at all.

Finally, enjoy the poster from Jacopo Tenani, who did this in the midst of putting together a Suspiria-themed gallery! Very cool of him, and once again it makes me sad I can't find a place to print small runs of these for a price that would make sense, as I'd love to have them for myself and a few folks have asked. This is one I would definitely love to have as it's more striking than any key art ever created by Dimension for the film. Oh well. But at least we can enjoy it on our monitors, and I'll see you at the movie!

*I was hoping to do H4 for its 25th anniversary, but 1, 4, and 5 are tied up due to the Screenvision screenings, sadly.

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