Oct 16 2008
HALLOWEEN: 25 YEARS OF TERROR
I’m honestly surprised at just how many people have never heard of this DVD. A few years ago when I spotted it on the shelves, I assumed it was just another special edition of Halloween. Since that’s my favorite horror series, I grabbed it without carrying exactly what it was.
Halloween 25 Years of Terror is actually a documentary on the Halloween franchise. The first disc contains a far too short documentary with interviews from actors, producers and directors of the movies. The only real problem is that Jamie Lee Curtis and anyone else even partially famous kept themselves out of the doc. Danielle Harris appears as does Jodi Lynne O’Keefe, but even Josh Hartnett ducked away from the film.
The second disc contains a number of longer features relating to the series. For the 25th anniversary of Halloween, an anniversary convention was held in California. They had a few panels and all of those panels are on the second disc.
One of my favorites is a nearly 30 minute long conversation with every actor to play Michael Meyers appearing on the same panel. The guys from H20 and Resurrection stay fairly quiet, while the guys from II and 4/6 are pretty upfront about their memories. Oddly enough, it also gives you insight into how much the stuntman profession has changed over the years.
The other panels are a little lacking at times. The only people to show up from Halloween II for example were those characters killed in the first 20 minutes. Danielle Harris went to the convention and did an autograph session, but didn’t go to her panel. Plus it’s a little sad to see PJ Soles and the other actors from the first Halloween movie. When asked about specific things, they all play the “gee let me think” game and then confess that they don’t really remember anything.
If you like the Halloween movies and haven’t yet seen this documentary, you’re really missing out.
