Halloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006)

Too much of everything

Just perfect...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Recently I binge watched all of the Friday 13th movies I hadn't seen (Which was most) followed by the documentaries. I always found them underwhelming but watchable.Halloween however I've never liked, not a single one of the entries did anything for me at all so what chance did a documentary stand? Crystal Lake Memories was the pinnacle of Friday 13th documentaries standing at 5hrs and was a fantastic piece of work. 25 Years Of Terror emulates that but on a smaller scale.It covers the first 8 movies, gives you a small background on each before moving onto the next so it might not enlighten you as much as you'd hope.With backstage footage, horror-con access and more there is certainly plenty of material for fans but nothing as ground breaking as they did for Friday 13th.Essentially viewing for fans? Not really, but it's harmless enough if only for the Danielle Harris interviews.The Good: Danielle Harris Some interesting background on each film The Bad: PJ Soles narration is awful Some of the fan videos are cringe inducing Things I Learnt From This Documentary: Halloween fans are lunaticsMichael Myers was a lot funnier as Austin Powers

Decent documentary on the Halloween franchise up until right before Rob Zombie's two contributions to the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. It doesn't quite cover each film thematically in elaborate detail like the later Jason and Freddy docs would ultimately do, but it has a lot to say about Myers in pop culture, and what the groundwork for Myers accomplished thanks to Carpenter and company back in '78. It acknowledges what the films in the franchise did or didn't do right according to fan and critic reaction. Truthfully, this is one of those docs where it covers the films yet doesn't quite hit each of them in the kind of enlightening detail that others would later do. Seeing various actors/actresses from the films showing up like Nancy Kyes and Tom Atkins along with makeup artists like Nicoterro and Buechler, and directors like Rosenthal and Tommy Lee Wallace does lend to some cool tidbits. Like the debate of the Myers mask in H20, the production dysfunction of Part 6, how Harris decided Part 6 wasn't respectful (and right she was) to her character, Clive Barker (much to my personal astonishment) rather open (maybe he was being sarcastic) to writing a film directed by John regarding Myers vs. Pinhead, reactions to the slasher themes set in motion (what happens if you are promiscuous), what elaborating on The Shape does to the enigma he once had in Carpenter's film (rather obliterated years later by the Thorne storyline), Pamela Stroop's reveal about having a closed set with a few people when she does shows her breasts and how members of the crew were supposed to strip too, and why men get it quick and rather less elaborate while women die in a lengthy and rather cruel way.Kudos, though, to addressing the lingering bad taste regarding Busta Rhymes' karate chop to Myers, the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the franchise because a lot of money was thrown at her, how the franchise often teetered in regards to what the emphasis should be on (violence or suspense), how the character of Myers should be treated over the long term (humanizing him or providing "too much" back story), and letting us see behind the scenes and how popular Halloween is.

This Is An Awesome Documentary About The Halloween Film Series Including Halloween (1978) Halloween 2 The Nightmare Isn't Over (1981) Halloween 3 Season Of The Witch (1982) (The Dumb Sequel) Halloween 4 The Return Of Michael Myers (1988) Halloween 5 The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989) Halloween 6 The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995) Halloween 7 H20 20 Years Later (1998) And Halloween 8 Resurrection (2002) And It Stars Donald Pleasence John Carpenter Jamie Lee Curtis Debra Hill Moustapha Akkad Etc. And Of Course Also Stars Will Sandin Erik Preston A. Michael Lerner Brad Loree Chris Durand Don Shanks Dick Warlock Tony Moran Nick Castle And George P. Wilbur So Great Documentary A Must See And If You Miss It Well You Better Find A Way To Get It Because I Loved It From Brandon DeVore

As many horror fans now, a new sub-genre (if you will) has started in the horror genre.The retrospective documentary on famous horror franchises.There's been one for Friday The 13th,A Nightmare on Elm Street,Psycho and there's even one in production for Hellraiser.But it all started with Halloween:25 Years of Terror.Production for this documentary started back in October 2003 when the H25 convention was happening.It's great to have footage from the convention to go along with the documentary.P.J. Soles does a great job of narrating.She has a natural speaking voice that is nice to listen to.With this documentary you get tons of interviews with cast and crew from all 8 films.Even all the actors who played Michael Myers!! It's an entertaining and informative documentary that every Halloween fan should see.Even the hard core fans will find something new.As great as this documentary was, I think it should been way longer than 84 minutes.I also felt that they could have spent a little bit more time on Halloween 3 and 4.But besides that it's a fantastic documentary that lets you explore 25 years of Michael Myers and the Halloween movies!!