Halloween Marathon on AMC

I watched Halloween 4 earlier today. One of my favorites.

Was it ever explained who in the hell Laurie is, and how she is related to Michael?

Is she Laurie Myers?

How did she become Laurie Strode? It's not like her parents died.

Also, her relationship to Michael Myers was never, ever mentioned in the original movie.

It's so weird seeing Kyle Richards in this movie.

She really lucked out, in that she is able to appear in the Halloween franchise, forever and ever.

I hate October, for that very reason.

Ugly, violent, horrific movies the entire fucking month.

Now ask me when my birthday is 🤨😡

I checked what's on AMC this week, R4.

Friday the 13th, Jeepers Creepers, Trick-R-Treat, Fright Night, Orphan, Creepshow, Ghost Ship, Candyman, The Haunting, House of Wax, Cabin Fever, Dawn of the Dead, Final Destination, Pet Sematary, Carrie, and lots more.

And that's just for this upcoming week!

I love October, too, OP. I love AMC"s Fear Fest. Their movies are edited to bits but somehow I still love watching them. Nothing like coming home at 4 pm to watch Carrie burn her entire class or Jason taking another victim.

I find horror movies on AMC comforting!!

I just watched Fright Night from 1985, and it was a really sexy movie.

William Ragsdale was super cute, and Chris Sarandon was handsome as the vampire.

It was a very homoerotic movie, too.

Not sure why, but Stephen Geoffreys from Fright Night, started doing gay porn.

[quote]Nothing like coming home at 4 pm to watch Carrie burn her entire class or Jason taking another victim.

Me too! This was discussed at length on another thread, but the scene where Sue arrives at the prom & begins to piece together what's going on is so well done. Even though I've watched it a million times, you still watch it with the sense that Sue is going to alert everyone to John Travolta & Chris under the stairs. Though while the scene with the doors slamming shut is still riveting, I can't watch it without thinking about school shootings

[quote] Stephen Geoffreys from Fright Night, started doing gay porn.

Stephen was a cute twink in this movie.

He also played one of "the boys" in the movie People Under the Stairs.

The guy had a legitimate acting career, so I'm not sure why he decided to do gay porn.

Roddy McDowell, Amanda Bearse, and Stephen Geoffreys were all the 1985 version of Fright Night, and all are/were gay.

Not sure about Chris Sarandon and William Ragsdale. They both seemed questionable.

The homoeroticism in Fright Night between Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark was hot.

What was Jonathan's character supposed to be? They were like lovers/boyfriends, but then again, they were also like master and servant.

As a horror fan, I love that AMC shows horror movies every October. I just wish they aired uncut. Editing out the sex, nudity and violence is frustrating as a fan.

True, R13.

I was watching Halloween H2O yesterday, and there was dialogue between Joseph Gordon Levitt and Nancy Stephens, which was supposed to be "My house was broken into. No shit??? No shit!"

Instead, they changed it to "My house was broken into. No way!! No kidding."

It was silly.

Especially this day and age when TV shows still show women being slapped around, kidnapped, etc. Look at all those crime shows like Criminal Minds or FBI, always some poor woman getting kidnapped and gagged.

In some of these older horror movies, it's far less bad. And the swearing, as if it's that big of a deal.

Not sure what you're talking about R15, but Lori Strode is actually a female heroine, when you consider her in the Halloween movies.

Probably the first of her kind in the genre.

Before that, men were always the heroes.

[quote]I love October, too, OP. I love AMC"s Fear Fest. Their movies are edited to bits but somehow I still love watching them. Nothing like coming home at 4 pm to watch Carrie burn her entire class or Jason taking another victim.

[quote] I find horror movies on AMC comforting!!

My job moved to remote status when the pandemic hit. There are some days where I'm in video meetings or phone meetings half of the day and other days where I'm not so much in meetings. If I'm not in meetings, I mostly listen to music or podcasts. I have a friend a who has worked remotely since 2016, she mentioned to me how she some days if she's not going to be in meetings, she would look around on basic cable channels to find movies she has seen before, but likes enough to have on to listen to while she works. I started doing the same thing some days and during October 2020, I left my TV on AMC quite a bit and it was fun. You know what's going to happen in the movies, but it's fun to listen to some of memorable lines that aren't edited, and sometimes the film scores are just fun to listen to. I will never get tired of Carpenter's Halloween theme. Last October, I did the same thing. FX, FXX, and a few other basic cable channels were airing horror movies and I would search around for them.

[quote] You know what's going to happen in the movies, but it's fun to listen to some of memorable lines that aren't edited, and sometimes the film scores are just fun to listen to.

That's so true!

I've seen these movies so many times that I actually stop paying attention, and my mind wanders. I already know everything that's going to happen! But I keep watching anyway, just because.

[quote] I will never get tired of Carpenter's Halloween theme

Same here.

Ghost Ship is pretty much a clunker, but that opening scene with the cable? Yikes! Trick-R-Treat is a fun contemporary horror film too. I'd rather watch horror films on AMC all year long than watch those sappy Hallmark Christmas movies.

One of my favorite movies is Blood Fest.

It's a cool mash up of all the "tropes" of the horror genre.

Plus, the lead actor was very cute.

I also love the Carpenter Halloween theme.

The new Halloween movies are meh to be me, but I love Carpenter's variations on his own theme. I think the Halloween Ends trailer uses violins.

Even though the movie is cheesy & hasn't really aged well, Carpenter's Prince of Darkness has great horror movie music & mood. And of course, the wildly overacting Donald Pleasance!

There are so damned many versions of Halloween, that I don't know which one to watch.

Besides the originals + sequels, they have the re-makes, and then the re-makes of the re-makes.

It's crazy!

The "Halloween" marathons on AMC give me great nostalgia for my teenage years. I owned these movies on DVD already (was a big horror nerd from a young age), but it was always fun to tune into them on a Friday or Saturday night when I was in high school. I always made sure to watch some of them on Halloween night as well. I'm glad AMC still plays them. There is something mildly special about watching them on-air and communally tuning in that you no longer get in the era of streaming.

Why haven't people taken to the Friday the 13th movies, the way they have to Halloween?

[quote]There is something mildly special about watching them on-air and communally tuning in that you no longer get in the era of streaming.

I agree; I never watch these movies via streaming, which I can do anytime, but I love tuning in on a Saturday afternoon to watch Michael Myers, who never seems to suffer from bad knees or a sore back, terrorize Haddonfield

[quote] Why haven't people taken to the Friday the 13th movies, the way they have to Halloween?

I think they have. It's a huge part of pop culture for Gen X. Only 1983 and 1987 didn't have a Friday the 13th movie. I think it's lost a bit on Millenials and Gen Z because there hasn't been a new movie since 2009. Though there was that video game a few years back.

Looking at today's schedule, there's an airing of Jeepers Creepers. I'm still surprised that manages to get airings on TV since there have been some horror films who refuse to support Victor Salva movies.

[quote] I'm still surprised that manages to get airings on TV since there have been some horror films who refuse to support Victor Salva movies.

Huh?

I think R29 is referring to the "Jeepers Creepers" movies and sequels, R29.

They're shown regularly on SyFy, even though Salva is a total creep.

Funny thing is that in both JC1 and JC2, females are the smartest and strongest characters in those movies.

I remember when Powder came out in the '90s, there was a huge backlash towards the film because of Salva. Yet when Jeepers Creepers came out, it was very muted, and the film did very well.

Powder was a very weird movie, R31.

I can't describe why. It just was.

Jeepers Creepers was more mainstream and a true horror movie.

Powder seemed more like voyeurism on Salva's part.

Interestingly, Jeepers Creepers 2 was a return to voyeurism on Salva's part, and critics noticed it.

He really seemed to have a thing for Al Santos in that movie, showing him mostly shirtless and focusing on Al's "treasure trail."

To be fair though, I don't blame him. Al was HOT.

I'm surprised that AMC leaves Urban Legend off their Fear Fest list.

Urban Legend is a classic!

Drag Me To Hell is the worst movie ever made.

It's really fucking awful.

I loved Drag Me to Hell. It was fun!

Are there any gay horror movies?

I'd like to watch one of those.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2

I appreciate what AMC is doing and I try to do what others here do, which is put it on and have it in the background but even then I cannot stand the commercials. I don’t know how you guys do it.

[quote] I cannot stand the commercials. I don’t know how you guys do it.

That's when I use the bathroom, make a snack, get a drink, etc.

I can always find something to do during the breaks.

Watching Halloween now.

Annie and Linda were WHORES!!!!

Not very respectable young ladies who danced too close to the fire wth their slutty ways!!!

[quote] Annie and Linda were WHORES!!!!

Now you know why I knifed them!

[quote] Annie and Linda were WHORES!!!!

Little Lindsay grew up to be the biggest whore of all!

Too bad Lindsay wasn't killed off in Halloween Ends.

Fuck those neighbours who didn't help Laurie when she screamed for help.

Serious Questions about Michael in Halloween: Why does Michael kill his older sister when Michael is just 5 years old? Why does he stab her to death? Was it just because he saw her big boobs??? Also, why does he come back to kill others as a grown man? The movies are so light on motivation. I know some of the later movies in the series try to cover that, but they are terrible. It makes little sense that a little kid would stab his teenager sister to death. Why?

[quote] That's when I use the bathroom, make a snack, get a drink, etc. I can always find something to do during the breaks.

Every 8 minutes?

[quote] Serious Questions about Michael in Halloween: Why does Michael kill his older sister when Michael is just 5 years old? Why does he stab her to death? Was it just because he saw her big boobs??? Also, why does he come back to kill others as a grown man? The movies are so light on motivation. I know some of the later movies in the series try to cover that, but they are terrible. It makes little sense that a little kid would stab his teenager sister to death. Why?

Because the original movie wasn't supposed to spawn a series. It was supposed to be a one-and-done scary movie where the killer's motivation isn't spelled out.

[quote]Why does he stab her to death?

Because she's a whore too; if she hadn't been screwing around with her boyfriend, Michael wouldn't have killed her.

If Michael existed today, he'd be some Fox News hero (like Kyle "Pizza Face" Rittenhouse), a pint sized incel that killed loose women (a pre-abortion action, if you will), starting with his sister. He'd kill black people too, but none of them lived in Hadonfield.

[quote]Lori Strode is actually a female heroine, when you consider her in the Halloween movies. Probably the first of her kind in the genre. Before that, men were always the heroes.

Not to take anything away from Halloween or JLC's Laurie Strode, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas both did the "final girl" trope a few years earlier.

Why was Lori never identified as Michael's sister in the original movie?

And why did she change her name?

And why was she living with some other family?

We can assume this, because she's is not Lori Myers, but Lori Strode.

None of this is explained in the original movie, including why Michael comes after Lori specifically.

[quote] Why does Michael kill his older sister when Michael is just 5 years old? Why does he stab her to death? Was it just because he saw her big boobs??? Also, why does he come back to kill others as a grown man? The movies are so light on motivation.

Actually Dr. Loomis spells it out quite succinctly, when he describes Michael to the Sheriff:

“I met him, 15 years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this… six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and… the blackest eyes – the Devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realised that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.”

His motivation is evil.

Donald Pleasance is a large reason this movie is still a good watch today. His manic, slightly bonkers Loomis makes it seems somewhat plausible that LE would not take this guy seriously until shit starts to go down.

Aside from it's many other flaws, the Loomis played by Malcom McDowell seems like a patsy & a fool rather this desperate guy that's been warped by years of trying to treat a pint sized psycho

I find Pleasence pretty subdued and dignified in the first film. He brought a touch of class and gravitas to it. Then he got more bonkers and over the top with each sequel, and by 5 he's pure ham sandwich. I know it's possible to account for it as a good actor's response to changes the character has gone through (he's older, he's been burned badly, the body count keeps getting higher and higher, and he's losing his shit), but I also think Pleasence was caring less as the scripts got worse and the directors got hackier.

In 6, he actually improves has a softer touch, but I don't know if that's because Joe Chappelle is a better director of actors than the last couple guys (probably the case) or because Pleasence's declining health limited his energy/decibel level.

McDowell did okay with what he had to work with. It was on brand for Rob Zombie to make Loomis an opportunistic media-whoring sleaze. I didn't like that Loomis as well as I had liked Pleasance's (the 1978 and 1981 versions, at least), but I don't know if anyone else would have got more out of it.

I really want to settle in this weekend, and binge-watch some scary movies!!

I wish I had time to do that. But I'm a mother.

It's all Friday the 13th today (10/22).

I'll be watching Friday the 13th (2009).

The one with Jared Padalecki.

He's so hot in that movie!

I'm watching the Final Destination marathon on AMC today!

Bobby Campo on "The Final Destination" and Devon Sawa on "Final Destination."

Yum.

Have we ever gotten an official reason for why AMC edits some of these films but Walking Dead can show people getting their intestines eaten?

Only one more week of Fear Fest.

BOO!

Good point, R59.

R58 Bobby Campo is sex on a stick! There's a scene where he's shirtless with either boxers or sweat pants on and he sports a nice bulge. Tried to find a screen cap but no luck. He's aging like fine wine too.

Totally, R62.

Bobby has a hot little body. He's always been fit.

Nice chest and arm definition too.

I'd love to see Bobby play gay.

It's the final weekend of AMC's Fear Fest.

Tonight, Halloween and Halloween H20 are on the schedule.

Is it me or has their selection gone downhill? Last year I remember catching some better stuff.

They keep airing Thirteen Ghosts which is shit. I haven't watched as much this year.

I thought TCM had better selections this year and they're not even showing scary movies every night - The Haunting of Julia, Alice Sweet Alice, He Knows You're Alone, Alligator, Deadly Friend...

R67, Deadly Friend in on TCM right now!

Josh Hartnett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were so hot in this movie.

I can't believe it was 24 years ago, and they're both now in their 40's.

Hartnett's acting in H20 sometimes gets criticism from Halloween fans, but I thought he and Curtis did make a convincing mother/son pair. When they argue in the movie, they manage to get something underneath it. It seems as if he really does love her (he's running to the medicine cabinet for her as if it's a well-practiced routine, after all), but he's just frustrated with her hovering and doesn't understand.

H20 has its problems, but I do think it has one of the best casts of the series.

Same here, R70.

Jamie Lee and Josh definitely had good chemistry. And he was only 18 at the time, up against a season acting veteran.

I wonder why he wasn't invited back for the sequels?

[quote]They keep airing Thirteen Ghosts which is shit. I haven't watched as much this year.

Yes, that's a terrible movie. "Sleepy Hollow" was one of my favorite Halloween fall movies, but I guess since Depp's been cancelled, it's out of the rotation

R72 I haven't seen Sleepy Hollow on AMC, but I have seen it quite a bit on SyFy and Freeform.