Asylum’s “Halloween Night” is a film cashing in on a popular horror flick in the same vein, and they won’t admit it. Heaven forbid we should notice the similarities. Pumpkin inter-spliced with knife in hand, and the words “Halloween” and “Night” plastered on the cover. As much as I revel in bashing Asylum for their blatant horrible rip-offs, they’ve become just like every other film company. They chose to unofficially remake big budget films and they’re no better in the fact that they basically remake “Halloween” before Rob Zombie, and say, in a press release, that this film is better than both “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” combined. For shame. Now, let’s get to the meat of the situation, I’m roasting the big pig known as “Halloween Night.”
It’s a blatant rip-off of “Halloween,” that’s obvious, but what’s inside is a stock slasher flick that’s terrible on its own merits. After watching two men in masks that look suspiciously like Michael Myers attack and kill his mom, Christopher Vale is burned severely from a steam pipe in his living room (?!), after they shoot it with him in front of it. Why anyone puts a large steam pipe in their living room, is beyond me, but it manages to burn his skin off leaving him to resemble a poor man’s haunted house actor with an obvious mask that is supposed to be the charred remains of the boy we see at the opening.
Going insane, and left alive (which is weird considering the men kill his mother without a thought) he breaks out from his asylum (hardy har har) and goes on a killing spree at a Halloween party (obvious choice, eh?). Immediately the desperation from the director and writer to keep the audiences attention is shown, as they feature a lesbian sex scene not ten minutes in for no reason whatsoever. But with Asylum this is basically par for the course. Even in a “serious” film like “9/11 Commission Report,” they featured an obligatory sex scene.
But that’s only one problem with “Halloween Night.” Invariably, you’ll be left with a plethora of questions that will never really be answered. Why is Christopher on a killing spree? Why did he escape and where was he going? Why would he kill if he saw his mom brutally murdered? “Duh… he’s insane.” Nah, I don’t buy it. When Christopher kills Todd and takes his car, how does he know to get to his house for the party without directions? Why does the plot progression or lack thereof cease to explain Christopher’s story to add a sense of sloppy exposition? How do you kill someone standing at the doorway of a wild party without anyone noticing?
Regardless, even for a D Grade movie, “Halloween Night” just doesn’t work because the villain has no mystique. He’s not creepy, he comes off like a pussy, and his costume is awful. Not to mention Gingold rips elements from previous slashers. Christopher doesn’t kill a girl because she reminds him of his mom, his mask looks similar to Jason’s, and the whole mental patient angle is very derivative of a certain film that drops on the same holiday. Gingold pads the film with plodding characterization, terrible dialogue, especially from the lead actor who performs the worst ad-libbing I’ve ever seen anywhere, and characters that I could give two shits about.
It’s as hard to list the endless flaws as it was to sit through this, but in the end “Halloween Night” is the result of monkeys on a typewriter who finished off “Halloween” hours before. Boo. As a “Halloween” wannabe, it’s horrible, but as a slasher film on its own merits it’s horrible, and in spite of my best attempted enthusiasm, I just couldn’t muster the excitement in watching what I can safely consider one of the worst slasher movies ever made. Only from Asylum could that be accomplished.