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Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition)

Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Halloweener? No, a Hollow Weiner.
Review: This movie is not good. ... Past mindless complaints, this movie is fairly plotless, and riddled with idiocy. For instance, why does the killer spend three-fourths of the movie standing around as scary music plays? The horrors of men standing in silly masks, save me! Save your laughter for the scene in which his standing theme resembles the sound of a jet propulsion system. Also, pass the time wondering why Jamie Lee Curtis does not figure out that the killer is probably not dead when she stabs him in the thigh. While this might kill some, he has already survived a coathanger in the eye and a long needle driven into his ear, so you might not want to turn your back. She does, so he can try to kill her again. Also, the killer is generally more impotent than pre-Viagra Bob Dole. Real killers hang in movies like "Welcome to Spring Break." ...Skip Banacheck is a better hero than Jamie Lee any day.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Horror flick!
Review: On Halloween night,1963, Michael Myers had brutuly and savagely murdered his older sister, Judith, and now, 15 years later, Myers has escaped, and Dr. Samuel Loomis, Myers' doctor, must capture him before he goes on a killing rampage. Myers returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he meets Laurie Strode, a young teenager. Myers gets obsessed with Laurie, and unknowable to her, Myers has only one thing on his mind...Pure Evil. Great suspense with well-fitted music, good screenplay, and great acting. Though I think Laurie could've been a bit more smarter then how she is =0 (Leaving that knife in the floor was the stupidest thing you could've done, no offense.)...other than that, she's a great heroine. This movie is probably one of the best and most famous horror movies ever made. It has the popularity and publicity a horror movie like this so highly deserves. And since Halloween is almost around the corner, it's a good thing to plan to watch this movie with popcorn, soda, and candy this Halloween night with your friends and family-I guarantee it'll be a blast!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a must-have for any fan of the Halloween series
Review: i recently recieved my copy of this video, and I love it. It is a must-have for any Halloween fan. We only get the movie on television 2 times a year, so it is not that often I get to see the television add-ins. So once again, I love this film, especially in its newly rendered screening (higher quality). I own the old version and it is really nothing compared ot this one. Its great!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Film That Started It All....
Review: John Carpenter's Halloween is the horror film that started it all. The film picks up on Halloween night of 1963, where a cute little six-year-old boy, Michael Audry Myers, grabs a kitchen knife, puts on a clown mask, and bruttaly stabs his sister, Judith Margaret Myers, to death. Just minutes after the brutal massacre, Michael is caught by his two parents, who have just arrived home. The film then jumps to Halloween's eve, October 30th, 1978. Dr. Sam Lommis (a brilliant Doneld Pleasance) and his nurse, Marion Chambers (Nancy Stevens)are driving to the Smith's Grove Mental Institution to transport Myers (Nick Castle) to a Maximum Security Ward. However, Michael attacks Nurse Chambers and steals the car, escaping from the Institution before Loomis can say "The Evil Is Gone From Here". The film goes, then, to Haddonfield, on Halloween morning, where we meet babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first role) who has no boyfriend, and who's friends tease her about it every day. Laurie is planning to babysit 8 year old Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) while her friend, Lynda (P.J. Soles) is planning to hang out with her boyfriend, Bob (Johnathon-Michael-Graham), and her other friend, Annie (Nancy Kyes/Loomis) is babysitting accross the street, little Linsay Wallace (Kyle Richards). Laurie notices there seems to be someone following her around. She looks out the window of her classroom and sees a strange person standing, and staring at her, and when she looks away, and then turns back, he's gone. There's a strange car going fast down the streets, and stopping the moment he sees her and her friends. She is seeing someone behind the bushes. Annie thinks she's going "Wacko" because she needs a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis, after a debate with Dr. Wynn, heads to Haddonfield to catch the madman. He asks for help from Sherrif Leigh Bracket (Charles Cyphers) who also happens to be Annie's father. That night, when it gets dark, and the trick-or-treaters are out, the evil killer begins stalking the three young girls, the three naive girls, the three unsuspecting girls............

I, myself, love John Carpenter's Halloween. It is a masterpiece. It is a classic. It scared the living daylights out of me the first time, and it still succeeds at sending shivers down my spine. The killer, Michael Myers, was one of the first, copied many times by others like Jason Vorhees (Created by Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham), or Freddy Krueger (Created by Wes Craven) but Myers has not been matched. John Carpenter made Halloween what it is..... a scarefest. Carpenter knows the camera. He knows how to use it, and he knows how to succeed in making the camera scare the audience. Some of the scenes in this movie are all done in one long camera take, and ALL the scenes are only good in their original aspect ratio, 2:35:1 Widescreen. Each scene requires widescreen so you can actually SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAPPOSED TO SEE!!!! The ghostley killer, around the corner, integrating slowly in the shadows. That is why this film is only good in widescreen, even if you hate the bars on top of the screen, all of the most frightening scenes in this film are not seen in standard, cropped format.

As for this DVD, well, AMAZING. This picture has never been better!!! Digitally remastered by Lucasfilm, the film could almost pass for a 90's film!!! But, there are a few flaws.

#1. When you watch this movie, the beggining gives you a choice of whether you want to watch this in standard, or widescreen. With this choice, some people may view this film in standard, and miss all the frightening things about this movie. So, I think the film should only be presented in Widescreen, the way it was meant to be.

#2. You have a choice of sound. Dolby Digital, Dolby 2.0 and the Original Mono Soundtrack. In both Dolby versions, the music highley overwhelms the actor's voices, thus you can barely hear what they're saying!!!! So, view the film in Original Mono for the best sound.

#3. This is my biggest complaint. There was a limited two-pack edition of Halloween released complete with twelve minutes of extra footage. When Halloween was such a succes, John Carpenter and Debra Hill started filming a Halloween 2, which reunited Doneld Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Stevens, and Charles Cyphers. At the same time, Hallween aired on television. However, the film was edited for television and cut out many things. So, John Carpenter gathered up some of the returning cast and shot several new scenes to have on TV. Another scene, where Laurie and Lynda have some "Girl Talk" was actually cut from the film, and was restored into it on television. So, when Halloween is on TV, these scenes are there too. But, in the limited edition two-pack, both versions of the movie existed in it, and the deleted scenes were even in widescreen!!!! But, that was a LIMITED EDITION and went out of stores before I could reach it. What a cheat!!! And now a one-pack disk is coming with deleted scenes, but they're in STANDARD. Why can't they just put the Limited Edition back out? In widescreen? Is that to much to ask?

Well, those are my complaints, but here are the good things. There's a very insightful documentary, that includes interviews with John Carpenter, Debra Hill, Brian Andrews, Dean Cundey, P.J. Soles, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, and more!!!!!

There are also trailers, TV spots and Radio Spots!!!

A good DVD, but that Limited Edition needs to be re-released!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Carpenter's Masterpiece
Review: After brutally massacering his sister fifteen years ago Michael Myers has escaped from the mental hospital. Donald Pleasence tracks Michael back to his home town of Haddonfield. Here on Halloween night Michael will terrorize the small town on his rampage.

This is one of my favorite horror films of all time. The music is just chilling and is probably the creepiest part of the film. Halloween is the original that spawned many clones in the 80's and 90's, but none surpassed it. It was made on only $320,000 ($20,000 was for Donald Pleasence's five days of shooting) but racked in over $50 million. This was also Jamie Lee Curtis first staring role and launched here career as the scream queen. Halloween has never looked better and has been remastered in THX. The picture is still some bit grainy but you have to remember its from 1978. As far as horror films go this film has a great plot and proves films can be scarry without having to be gory.

The dvd is presented in both wide and full screen and DD 5.1 surround. It contains the Halloween Unmasked 2000 documentary which was real informative and had plenty of interviews with the cast. Also several radio and tv trailers were thrown in. This is a classic horror film that will always have a spot in my collection. If you are a fan of some more recent horror films I suggest you check this one out.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: I'd been told lots about this movie, and I was anticipating something more. I can see how it must have been great when it came out, but I was constantly rolling my eyes at the predictability of it.
Also, the sound track. Why the same music, over and over?
Jamie Lee Curtis was excellent , but all the other characters seemed very scripted and monotonous.
It also seemed to me that the movie ended to soon and I wanted to know more, but didn't get enough out of the first movie to rent the second.

I enjoyed the movie and some parts made me close my eyes, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite. I guess I'm a special effects kind of a person.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Truth About this DVD .......it's the best!
Review: I have read the reviews for this 25th Anniversary DVD and I have to say the ones criticing it are wrong and customers shouldn't value their opinion. First off, most of you are familiar with the plot of this movie, back in 1978 John Carpenter directed a independent film with a budget slightly over $300,000 about a psychotic maniac named Michael Myers aka The Shape who terrorizes a group of baby-sitters in his childhood town. Seven sequals and twenty five years later Halloween has went on to be the probably the best horror film ever because it is so much more than a horror movie. Like most, I was a bit suprised by Anchor Bay deciding to release another version of Halloween on DVD, but hey I knew I was gonna buy it anyway. For the 25th anniversary, they decided to impliment the Divimax mastering format onto this DVD. For those who are complaining about the quality of the picture or colors, they are near perfect. The day shots in Halloween seem to leap out of your screen as everything is more clear and crisp, everything has more texture to it. Their is a slight mis cue in the opening credits with the tints of the oranges but unless you seen this movie in the theatres 25 years ago, who is to say whether or not that is the way it is supposed to look or not, but the pumpkin is cleared up more as you can see the texture on it better and the scrapes also. The night shots are also much, much better. Everthing is much more clear and in constrast. One prime example is the scene where Tommy notices the bogeyman across the street, The Shape is much more clear in this version. Alot of the nightshots in the older versions were a bit blurry. The sounds is in a word; phenemonial. The Smith's Grove scene where Michael breaks free is incredible in sound (although I did rush home to watch this DVD on a $10,000 plus home entertainment system) the rain and thunder come across so real. Halloween is now able to complement your home entertainment system because of what Divimax has done for it. The widescreen ratio is also terrific as we get to as close a theatric view as possible, seeing every angle of the orignal shot, every tree or part of Michael as he is stalking. I have also noticed people slamming this DVD because it lacks the extra scenes. Mind you, this is a 25th anniveresary celebration of the film, not a celebration of how corporate empire NBC made Carpenter film those new scenes in 1980 for the tv airing of Halloween. Though I do like thess scenes, I do not think they are essential, and I feel including them is in a way disrespectful to the orignal film and the maker's vision. The special features are great, espicially the 89 minute documentary (which is fascinating) and of course; trailers, tv spots and stills. All in all, this is about as good as Halloween gets, but the fun in it is seeing what Anchor Bay and friends can do for the 30th anniversary and so on!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant piece of suspense
Review: "Halloween" is by far the best horror film I have ever seen and is also my personal favorite. The story is so simple: 6 year-old Michael Myers stabs his sister to death on October 31, 1963 in Haddonfield. He is locked up but 15 years later, he escapes and returns to his hometown, where he sets his sights on Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends, Annie (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P.J. Soles). His psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), is hot on Myers' trail before he kills again. This movie is so scary and suspensful, easily the best of the bunch. For Jamie Lee Curtis' first movie, she did an excellent job of acting. Veteran actor Donald Pleasence is also terrific, he is performance is convincing, you actually KNOW that Michael Myers is pure evil when he talks about him. What adds to the suspense and horror of the film is that Michael is hardly seen, he is always in the shadows, waiting to kill. The music is also fantastic. The main piano theme is one of the most famous to ever grace the screen. All in all, this is a terrific film, watch this with the lights off and guarantee you'll be scared!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What Else Can I Say About A True Classic
Review: Halloween was the very first horror movie I saw as a kid, at age 4.Ever since then, no Halloween or anytime of the year is complete for me without Dr.Loomis, Laurie Strode, Sheriff Brackett, and of course the man himself, Michael Myers. This movie epitomizes everything that Halloween is..the bogeyman laying in the dark shadow of the room , waiting for the perfect moment to strike..It's got everything..From the typical American small town, horror movies in the city just don't work..The great horror flicks of all time:Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror, Last House on the Left, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, and Scream, they all took place in small towns or in the middles of nowhere..
Plus Halloween films for me have always somehow managed to get the intangible down:Atmosphere.They nail the Halloween , late fall atmsophere perfectly..I loved the whole bunch of them..I'm a sucker for horror though. I also love all the Friday the 13ths, Texas Chainsaws, Screams, and Nightmares.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A horror classic from the director of Assault on Precinct 13
Review: Violent death can stalk us anywhere, even in our own quiet little town. That's the message John Carpenter sent to the filmgoing public when he released Halloween upon the world back in 1978. Using suspense and atmosphere rather then blood and guts for it's scares, Halloween can be called a 'purists horror film'. It was shot on a shoestring budget with little to no special effects. It's just a guy in a mask stalking a babysitter. So Why is it so powerful? For the same reason HP Lovecraft stories are so frightening... it's setting and characters. It could easily be you or me in this situation. Carpenter and his co-writer Debra Hill do a good job keeping one foot in reality throughout most of the movie and Carpenter's direction is still the most inventive and unnerving piece of art in all of horror. This is a movie you don't watch so much as FEEL. Carpenter's electronic score, the natural performances by Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, and the late Donald Pleasence, and the brilliant cinemotography of Dean Cundy all make Halloween what it is: the best horror film ever to grace the screen since Psycho.


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