Review Detail
9.7 6 10
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This edit honestly squeezes blood from a stone trying to take the fullest advantage of both movies different pacing styles. What you get is a tight, very very well structured horror movie with a breathless buildup to its midpoint climax followed by the entire hospital storyline as a sort of third act, which appropriately feels like a finale rather than an epilogue.
I tend to be turned off by the mono soundtrack which many Halloween fans champion (it just feels somewhat too speech heavy for me? kind of uncanny to listen to at times), but I also recognize that that's a matter of personal preference. The mixing doesn't feel jarring at all when you transition from one film to the next which I thought was a minor feat.
The whole first couple acts of Halloween II are repurposed as the valley in between the two major peaks of this film's intensity. It's very well put together. And the buildup towards the reveal of Laurie's dead friends is much, much eerier without seeing the kills. Certain shots like Myers princess-carrying the body to the front door now play as inexplicable, mysterious, disquieting foreshadowing. And then it all goes to hell in a hand basket when Laurie ventures to the house across the street.
The third act somewhat struggles to bear the weight of the sloppier elements of Halloween II, like Samhain and Laurie Myers, but this was unavoidable and the third act still moves along at an urgent pace. My biggest gripe is the lead-in to Laurie's fakeout/getaway with the pillows under the blanket. It seems a bit inexplicable in this cut, but it's a bit hard to reconcile even in the source material. Kind of a cheap fakeout which is exacerbated by this very lean cut (basically 40 minutes) of Halloween II.
The music and SFX changes are also very welcome. The experience is fresh the whole way through.
Overall this is a major feat and highly recommended viewing. It's a creepier experience than the original, with very few onscreen kills and a lot of anticipation. It rearranges the source material to delicately form the stakes and manages to pull the whole thing off basically seamlessly
I tend to be turned off by the mono soundtrack which many Halloween fans champion (it just feels somewhat too speech heavy for me? kind of uncanny to listen to at times), but I also recognize that that's a matter of personal preference. The mixing doesn't feel jarring at all when you transition from one film to the next which I thought was a minor feat.
The whole first couple acts of Halloween II are repurposed as the valley in between the two major peaks of this film's intensity. It's very well put together. And the buildup towards the reveal of Laurie's dead friends is much, much eerier without seeing the kills. Certain shots like Myers princess-carrying the body to the front door now play as inexplicable, mysterious, disquieting foreshadowing. And then it all goes to hell in a hand basket when Laurie ventures to the house across the street.
The third act somewhat struggles to bear the weight of the sloppier elements of Halloween II, like Samhain and Laurie Myers, but this was unavoidable and the third act still moves along at an urgent pace. My biggest gripe is the lead-in to Laurie's fakeout/getaway with the pillows under the blanket. It seems a bit inexplicable in this cut, but it's a bit hard to reconcile even in the source material. Kind of a cheap fakeout which is exacerbated by this very lean cut (basically 40 minutes) of Halloween II.
The music and SFX changes are also very welcome. The experience is fresh the whole way through.
Overall this is a major feat and highly recommended viewing. It's a creepier experience than the original, with very few onscreen kills and a lot of anticipation. It rearranges the source material to delicately form the stakes and manages to pull the whole thing off basically seamlessly
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
E