I let a holiday tradition slide this year -- I didn't watch John Carpenter's original Halloween tonight, even though I've done so for many years running. Maybe it's because I was a little underwhelmed the last time I saw it. Or maybe it's because the recent remake was quite disappointing. Whatever the reason, what was basically my last way of observing Halloween slipped away this year. Kinda sad, perhaps.
Though I did still decide the evening called for some kind of scary movie. So I went for Scream, a movie I've not seen in quite some time. And one somewhat related to Halloween as well, since they watch it on video in the movie. (Paradoxically, the characters in Halloween H2O actually watch Scream on video at one point. And their entire fictional universe is subsequently sucked into a black hole. Or should have been... it would have been way better than Halloween: Resurrection.)
Scream is still fairly amusing on a second viewing. The silly love relationship between Courtney Cox and David Arquette is funny (independent of the fact they got together in real life over it). Henry Winkler's couple of scenes are humorously over the top. Matthew Lillard's line delivery in the final act makes you almost bust a gut; you wonder why director Wes Craven didn't reign him in.
But as far as plot, the movie is kind of lacking on a second viewing. Now, I figure 11 years later is enough that I can freely talk about the ending. I remember how cool the revelation of there being two killers seemed at the time. But unlike other movies with clever twists, this one just doesn't work well on a repeat viewing. Oh sure, the logic of what's happening and when and by who is intact. But it feels to me like there's just not much to the movie other than fooling you -- which it can never do a second time. (Or a first time, for any of you who just read this without having seen it. Ha!) All that's left is a fairly amusing movie.
And I have to say, "amusing" isn't really quite what I was looking for on Halloween night.
Maybe next year I'll be ready to go back to the old Halloween (the movie) tradition. Or maybe I'll try some other film. I'm open to suggestions.
3 comments:
Try the Saw movies next year. I wish I had them with me last night, but I gave them to a friend who hadn't seen them.
the whole point of a tradition is to bring back the "warm fuzzies" of familiarity. next year try doing it Christmas Story-style and run the Halloween DVD continuosly all day long. just in the background so while you are doing other things it will still be there...?
the mole
How about "Dead Clowns" I am sure thats a shocker!!!!
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