Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - What Was Once Old Is Slashing Anew Once More Part I


An additional, brand new L.E. Horror bonus offering! A two parter. The direct sequel to an iconic horror classic, "Halloween"...



The motion picture opened on October 19th, 2018. It was made with a budget of $10,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over $159 million during its U.S. theatrical run. The film opened number one at the box office, the following week it remained at number one.

The DVD and BD both had embossed slipcovers which mirrored the wraparound. Both came with a single insert, instructions for the Digital Copy from Movies Anywhere. Sorry don't know the expiration. Didn't buy this.

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There were two exclusives - separated by years; lets do this chronologically.



The movie streeted on both formats on home video on January 15th, 2019. Best Buy had an exclusive steelbook, 4k BD/BD combo for $29.99.

I didn't buy the movie then. The hope was waiting for the DVD to become ten bucks or less with slipcover. That didn't happen. Something else happened.

The movie was later re-released on DVD as another exclusive.



On September 6th, 2020 for their 2020 Halloween movie selection, Wal-Mart offered the feature with an exclusive green glow-in-the-dark slipcover. It sold for $9.96. Well... there was another exclusive. Sure. The same title has a new Digital Copy from Vudu; expires on February 1st, 2021.

Not an insert, but rather printed on the store receipt - link and code; sorry don't know when that code expired.

There was another, but I'll get into that in a few.

Didn't know about this until mid October and all the stores near me had nearly empty holiday shelves. The easy answer is many folks like myself bought their offerings. But that's not the truth. I've spoken to a few in the media areas. Corporate dropped the ball hard. They had the rack ready to go with tags - but no inventory. So September and October had vacant spots, this happened.

Which means the exclusive is rare. How many actually reached stores?

I have no answer other than to say, not many. In the end, bought my copy off eBay for fifteen bucks (free shipping). Excellent and mint. I'm satisfied. By the way, Wal-Mart had the same problem last year, but '20 is a whole new level of incompetence. You have dedicated space with no merchandise, it's not like they're having money issues. They're not. So what gives?

Let me give you examples.



The above, far left is the 2016 exclusive selections. The middle is 2017. And the far right is 2020. What happened? The difference is drastic and weak; "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken" (1966), really? The Don Knotts flick, that's what you're offering?

Last Tuesday (10/20), one of the stores near me had the paper index, taped on the rack - to indicate which titles go where. Two weeks from Halloween, that's when you put out the inventory??? I did bother going back so I can't say if they actually followed through and stocked them.



You may have noticed that movie is titled, "Halloween" (above), but the Wal-Mart exclusive has it as "Halloween: 40 Years Later", probably done to avoid confusion. One more bit, I could find the 2018 movie easy, but nobody had the slip where I live.

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Rant.

This movie wipes the slate clean, ignoring all the sequels - as written above, this is a direct sequels to the original 1978 feature. Not the first time that has happened.



"Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" (1998) treated itself as the sequel to the second film (Halloween II [1981]), discarding the four other movies; "Halloween III: Season Of The Witch" (1982), "Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers" (1988), "Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers" (1989) and "Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers" (1995). The last being the final performance of actor Donald Pleasence as Dr. Samuel Loomis. He died after the movie came out. That soft reboot spawned one sequel, "Halloween: Resurrection" (2002). A movie with a craptacular story incorporating the internet, live cams. It was stupid and not in a good way.

This what bugs me, "Halloween II" happens less than an hour (cinema time; Laurie Strode is taken to the hospital because of her various injuries) after the events of the last film. Both films could be edited together into a single movie. And tells a good story that is grim and an excellent thriller with just enough opening for a possible sequel. So why the hell did the filmmakers of '18 jettison "II"? Even "H20" kept the first two movies. This makes no sense.

How can I say this?

The making-of featurette has an interview with one of the screenwriters Danny McBride, flat out says - it's a direct sequel to the '78 movie. Joy.

The second soft reboot? I liked it. It felt quite true to the original, slow and deliberate in places to emphasize dread. Sh!t is about to hit the fan.



Plus the evolution of Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role). She's so messed up by what she experienced. And knows Michael will be coming back one day for her and her family. Like Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has to rise up or get snuffed out. Become the push back not the victim in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991). The same here. Laurie has spent the decades preparing for a single night. Her obsession causing a rift between her and her now estranged daughter, Karen (Judy Greer).

Her only family contact is with her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak) - who entertains the idea of Myers, but doesn't consider him a threat. It's been thirty years, three decades that 'The Shape' has been behind bars at a sanitarium. That masked killer is sixty-one years old. We get a treat with a Pleasence impersonator, Colin Mahan who gave an archive recording of Dr. Loomis urging the court NEVER to release the killer. 'There is no person, no soul - just darkness waiting to kill once more'.

I'm glad this was rated R and not PG-13. AND no one is safe from his hands. Not even a kid whom he murdered by snapping his neck. That's brutal as well as the kill in the gas station restroom. No mercy, like Myers is a force of nature. The film rating notes 'brief nudity'. But not current. That was a genuine surprise; the topless scene was from 1978 - where little Mike murdered his sister who was changing her clothes.

The saddest death was Allyson's friend Vicky (Virginia Gardner), it will linger afterwards. The good kind.

John Carpenter was an executive producer here and also did the soundtrack with family. John did the score with his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies. That's the stuff that makes tight memories. Working with your dad on something that is iconic, no joke. Carpenter wanted to do a slasher movie, he made a classic. The same unintentional doings as George A. Romero received with "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968).

Before you asked since you saw the stats above. Yes, it's been green lit for a sequel. Two of them to be filmed back to back with the cast coming back to reprise their characters. But because of the current situation, it hasn't been lensed. Will it still happen? Don't know.

Didn't Michael die in the end? Did he? There's an easter egg at the very end of the end credits, not a scene, but audio. You can hear a familiar heavy breathing... through a mask. I welcome another film by the same filmmakers.

Currently "Halloween Kills" has a 2021 release; written by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Scott Teems who did the '18 feature and Green directing it. Same deal for the next.

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Update...

"Corporate dropped the ball hard." Can now confirm. Yesterday (November 8th) was watching one of the WM staff stocking their movie area. Saw this exclusive and asked. Just yesterday did the Halloween titles reach the store - after the holiday.