10/31: Part III (2022)

Director and writer Michael Ballif’s anthology series “10/31” has been a mixed bag of mostly treats that’s done well in celebrating the Halloween season. It’s been way too overlooked in a barrage of indie horror films out on the market, and that’s a shame. “10/31” as a whole is a movie series that deserves a bigger audience, in spite of “Part III” never quite sticking the landing. I’d say it has a lot of good ideas, but never manages to be as good as the first two films, when all is said and done.

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The Paloni Show! Halloween Special! (2022)

It’s too bad that we may never get a “The Paloni Show!” series off the ground as it seems to currently be one of the many interesting pilots that never quite took off. Justin Roiland, Zach Hadel, creators of “Rick and Morty” really opt for something completely bizarre and insane here, which is always a great thing. “The Paloni Show! Halloween Special” not only introduces us to foul mouth kids Leroy, Reggie, and their sister Cheruce, but they set the stage for a Halloween anthology that’s a lot of fun, even if it’s ultimately a mixed bag of treats. Siblings Leroy, Reggie, and Cheruce Paloni are hosting a Halloween Special featuring various shorts. They are shooting for their own Hulu show after hosting this variety show from their suburban home.

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Trick or Treat 2! (2022)

You have to give it to Wesley Mellott. He brings his A game to what has been a pretty fun set up for a potential series of films or even a feature. While I’m always a Sam devotee, I could see The Magician becoming one of the many Halloween horror icons. He’s just such a great character. Donning a top hat and tuxedo, he also dons a great skull visage that may or may not be a well detailed mask. Either way, The Magician takes Halloween deathly serious and doesn’t mind offing anyone that doesn’t respect the rituals of the holiday.

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Trick or Treat! (2021)

One of the best elements of Halloween is that you can really pull a lot out of horror material from it, and “Trick or Treat!” is no exception. One of the things I love about “Trick or Treat!” is how inexplicable everything that goes down here is. There are a ton of events that amount to merely hapless people falling victim to the Halloween rituals that many people and beings hold sacred. Continue reading

At 25 “Halloween: H20” is Still a Horror Milestone

I can still remember sitting in the theater among the crowds watching as the audience sat expecting Michael to get away. Then Laurie took the swipe with her axe lopping his head off clean. I can still remember hearing the audience offer an audible gasp in sheer shock. This was it. It was done. Michael was dead. Laurie had beaten her demons. But then there came “Resurrection,” and then “Halloween (2018).” Jamie Lee Curtis wanted nothing to do with Halloween for a long time, and then she took on the role of Laurie one last time, but then killed her off in “Resurrection.” One last time. But then she re-emerges years later for “Halloween” in 2018 to reprise Laurie Strode yet again.

I wish Jamie Lee Curtis would make up her mind already. I digress.

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Halloween Ends (2022)

For a long time, “Halloween” has been a lot about the inexplicable evil that arose in Haddonfield. But what Danny McBride and director David Gordon Green attempt to do is explain that Michael Myers is only symptomatic of what resides at Haddonfield. Like everywhere in humanity, there always has to be a scapegoat for to pit hatred and fear on to something, and Michael Myers was for a long time the epicenter of it in Haddonfield. “Halloween Ends” explores more the idea of evil as an amorphous entity rather than a maniac in a mask. While Michael Myers was every bit as evil and a force of darkness as we saw in “Halloween,” the final film in the new trilogy takes a step back to look deeper in to the darkness.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special (1977)

“Bugs Bunny’s Howl-Oween Special” is that kind of TV movie you watch when there’s really no other access to the Looney Tunes shorts that are presented here. That’s not to say “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special” is terrible, it’s just in line with a ton of the other Bugs Bunny holiday shorts. It’s about two minutes of original story with the nine shorts all cut, spliced, and redubbed to give what is an illusion of a story. One of the most jarring aspects of these specials is that it’s easy to discern what is the contemporary animated segments’ and what are the classic animated segments. This is made very easy in “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-Oween Special” as a majority of the animation is pretty terrible.

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Don’t Panic (1987)

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall where Rubèn Galindo Jr., director of “Don’t Panic,” actually watched as someone from the wardrobe department went out, bought dinosaur pajamas in a man’s size, and decided to make it the primary outfit for his film’s protagonist. Dinosaur pajamas with red and blue dinosaurs that you’d find on a seven year old unironically became the motif for the central hero of a horror movie. And that’s not all that “Don’t Panic” has in store for its audience. Rubèn Galindo Jr.’s “Don’t Panic” is a mélange of plot devices that rip wholesale from the likes of Wes Craven, and Sam Raimi.

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