Halloween II: The Return of Michael Myers

Halloween edits hold a special place in my heart - one only need look at my own fanediting resume to realise how much I love the series. So, whenever a new edit based on this seasonal franchise is announced, I do get quite excited, particularly if it's released around the appropriate time of year - basically September of October! What's more, when it's coming from Ryantology, it ups the ante even more as he's a massive fan of the series and just happens to be an excellent editor too.

Now, I was already impressed with his take on the mess that is Halloween Kills, when he released his recut version earlier this year. It didn't quite save the film for me, but at least it made it more than watchable for me. With the release of Halloween II: The Return of Michael Myers though, he's taken a huge leap forward and created a very special edit indeed. This is the kind of edit that is to be truly treasured, it's that good.

Combining Halloween 2018 and Kills, to make a digestible feature length slasher movie is not an easy task. I know that originally Ryantology was looking at around 2 hours and 40 minutes, but thankfully he's managed to push the envelope much further, to take some risks, and presents a movie of around 2 hours and 16 minutes. But, could the narrative remain intact... could the important character beats survive, and would the awful dialogue and use of classic OG characters from Kills be improved at all? The answer to all these questions is yes... hell yes.

The biggest improvement with this edit comes with the way Halloween Kills now actually feels like it has a purpose, and believe it or not, some narrative focus. There's a brilliant touch when we are introduced to Tommy Doyle, Marion, Lyndsey and Lonnie during the events of Halloween 2018. It works so well that you would never know that it was never intended that way, and more importantly it makes Tommy and company far more likeable, allowing the characters to be introduced in a well paced manner. They feel like they belong in the story now, not just shoehorned in for the sake of it. True, nothing can save the fact that they don't have enough to do - and that Kills should have been about these characters really, but it's a huge leap forward from what we had. Plus, the stupid mob scenes are basically gone - thank you so much for this!

Halloween 2018 is significantly better too. I loved the way Laurie is introduced, and that the English reporters don't even get to meet her now. It's much more to the point, and surprisingly gives much more believability to Laurie's PTSD and obsession over Michael. Less is more, and Ryantology drives this home so skillfully here. All the awkward Danny McBride humour is more or less gone, and whilst one could argue that there were some opportunities to trim Halloween 2018 even further, that really is down to personal preference, and should not take away the sterling work done here.

I know that Ryantology had some obstacles with sound levels during some of the scenes which had new music added, but these have now been corrected on the version I saw. Talking of which, the new music additions work seamlessly. I was a bit worried when "The Shape Hunts Allyson" was missing during that scene where she comes face to face with Michael for the first time, but I should have known that Ryantology knew what he was doing, and it appeared during the finale in excellent fashion. Also, I never ever thought using music from John Carpenter's "The Fog" would work here - but it really does, and just made me smile big time.

Overall, this is one of the best Halloween edits I've ever seen. Ryantology should be proud of what he's achieved. As faneditors, we don't necessarily set out to "replace" theatrical versions, more to offer alternate takes and granted, if you loved Halloween 2018 and Kills the way they are, that would be the case for you here. Personally speaking, this is a replacement for both films. I seriously can't see myself going back to the theatrical versions, particularly for Kills. An editor at the top of his game - truly inspirational stuff.

Ryantology has knocked this one out of the park. I cannot recommend this edit enough. I thought 2018 Halloween was a great movie, even with a couple of flaws in it. But 2021 Halloween Kills had MANY more flaws. Bad writing at parts, a lot just giving lip service to fans, or filling gaps that didn't need it that seemed like fodder to fill time. What Ryantology does here is make both films tightened up, via pacing, and clean edits. His Removal of the music when Allison discovers her friends body from 2018, putting just as great music in as a substitute, and then repurposing such a great music score to the "end" of 2018 Halloween was genius. Instead of feeling like a triumphant ending, it pushes the story and the images to keep the story going.

There were a lot of flaws, as I said, with Kills. And Ryantology moves the sequence of events in both movies to sharpen the pace, editing out the silly one liners, the dialogue that was just useless, and a couple of moments that absolutely did not need to be in the film. Including the Hospital craziness, the entire red herring 2nd escaped patient portion, and makes the vigilante plot really resonate more with the editing out of the silly parts. THIS EDIT WORKS!

Nothing is missing. No obvious cuts that take you away from the film, it flows very smooth, the audio edits are unnoticeable, and score with dialogue with effects seem like a high quality full release quality. His re-pacing and timing on all of it is fantastic.

I am a HUGE Halloween fan, and saw both 2018 and 2021 in the theater. My wife couldn't go to 2021. And she still hasn't seen it. I am actually going to show her THIS EDIT rather than the other film, because I think it's superior, and clever, and an incredible statement on the skills and art that Ryantology has to make a masterwork like this.

BRAVO!!!!

I was absolutely stunned when I saw how well Kills was narratively interwoven with Halloween 2018. It's impeccable and the narrative doesn't miss a beat. I was similarly floored with how well the climax of 2018 was transformed into an impactful sequence but also one that doesn't feel entirely like the climax of the movie. It's more like how the mid-film sequence in a Mission: Impossible movie is probably the biggest sequence but there's still another half of the movie to go.

Narratively, the edits to Kills works pretty well. There's a few elements that I do miss. Laurie is in this version far less than even in the theatrical cut of Kills and that's this edit's biggest issue. She really falls off and doesn't even show up anywhere in the finale, which makes the moment where she takes the shot of painkillers make even less of a point here because she doesn't do anything after this scene.

The finale is too abrupt. There's not a moment where the audience comes down after a pretty great finale switcharoo where the "Michael Survived" is shown as a twist, which is really effective. Perhaps, in order to give Laurie a little more, using the extended edition finale (the phone call) would've helped both of these elements.

Another slight nitpick: since we remove the podcasters interviewing Laurie, we aren't really given an location overview of Laurie's compound. I don't believe we even have a good establishing shot of her house until much later in the film. I did like turning the podcasters into investigative journalists, though. That element worked quite well.

Wow.

This is my first review of a fanedit, and one of the first fanedits I've seen. I can't forget how disappointed I was watching Halloween Kills in theaters. I also wasn't blown away by Halloween 2018, but I certainly appreciated the nods to the original and overall I found it to be a serviceable addition to the franchise. But Ryantology really picked some great highlights of both films to make for a leaner and ultimately more engaging slasher.

The editing is very clean, I love that it begins with the Kills flashback intro and I think cutting fluff like all of the "Evil Dies Tonight" chanting and some of the lackluster humor made beats really more impactful. Also having the researchers digging up Michael's past in the first half made Karen's calling out Michael at the end more impactful as well. I really like the addition of some classic Carpenter Fog music as well, it really plays better than his newer Halloween score. Very much recommend, and I'm curious to see if Ryantology can salvage Halloween Ends

Ryantology did a phenomenal job creating this edit. I enjoy both Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, and I think that this edit did both films justice. He did a great job combining them to make a single film, and I agree with the cuts and changes that were made. Everything was made very smoothly, I was unable to tell where trims and changes were made. The trims in Halloween Kills were very good-not everyone was a fan of the "Evil Dies Tonight" repeated line and the other mental patient. The movie works without those. Overall, I score this 10/10 on all categories, and recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the Halloween franchise!