Halloween & its Sequels

28 years ago a man named Myers walked our dark neighborhoods and stalked our babysitters and thus a legend was born. The decade that brought us Leatherface and his chainsaw, also gave us Michael Myers and his weapon of choice, a common kitchen knife.

Teenage slashes flicks have come a long way since Michael and Leatherface but the same formula still applies. Take a handful of good looking teenager, and some not so good looking, and put them in a scenario that they’re not suppose to be in. From house parties to road trips, these misguided individuals are all hacked off left and right till one decides to make it through the night.

The eighties gave us Freddy, Jason, and Pinhead and some unmemorable characters, chucky and pumpkin head. The nineties gave us ghostface and Ben Willis, you know the guy with the hook, thanks Kevin Williamson, come to think of it that’s even more unmemorable characters. And lately we have had Samara, the evil bean from the grudge, and Jigsaw.

The formula still intact but only this time just trying to take the stakes a bit higher.

Nightmare on Elm Street just got a two disc treatment and Leatherface just got a back story. Michael Myers is about to get one and Pumpkin Head is about to come back from the ashes. There will always be room for these horror film slasher flicks but I happen to think Michael Myers is king when it comes to these villains.

The first Halloween launched both Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenters careers and lets’ not forget that tone. The movies that followed, while some were not so good, some were just half way decent, overall they kept the story going. Halloween four introduced us to Danielle Harris and H20 gave us Josh Harnett. I can’t say much for Harris but Mr. Harnett is doing a’ okay.

The truth is sequels suck. How many times have they killed Jason and Freddy and send them straight to hell only to have them resurrected to duke it out once more. Sequels suck. Leatherface has never been killed and Chucky just had a son, sequels suck. Even when it’s a human behind the mask, “Scream” or “I know…”, they still manage to pass on the vendetta or become superhuman, sequels suck. Michael was also resurrected and nobody seems to know what to do with Pinhead, have you seen the sequels that came after part three, even still they made more then three, sequels suck.

The term milk the cow comes to mind when it comes to these sequels. As long as there’s a cord audience for these movies, people are going to show up. I don’t mind showing up but at least make the stories half way decent, watch able.

Halloween II was okay and I thought H20 worked but that should have been the end of it. Freddy is up to eight rounds and he’s been to hell and back. Jason is up to eleven rounds and he’s been to space and back. Even the leprechaun has had a couple of rounds and he’s been to the hood, twice, and back. I know but you get the point.

The back story ideas are the next step, with Leather face and Michael Myers already getting ready to make their big premieres it won’t be long before the rumored Freddy Kruger back story takes shape. I’m not sure what else is left to tell about this man because of what we saw in “Freddy’s Dead, The Final Nightmare” but whatever.

What I would like to see more of is the duke it out scenario like Freddy versus Jason. Perhaps have Michael against Leather Face, Chucky against Leprechaun, Pinhead against, well you get the picture. It can be a kill or be kill blood bash. Winner kills all. We can have Jigsaw, Ghost face, and Ben Willis do the commentary. Samara can probably show up in the middle of Chucky’s and Leprechauns fight and show them how a girl gets it done. This can go either way, who cares I’ll pay to see this. It can be a caged match; it should be in a cage match. Can you imagine all these villains in one room? Ash should be there to keep some sort of order. I can already see him comparing chainsaws with Leatherface.

The bottom line is sequels suck lets just end it all with one hell of a fight. W.W.E. can get in on the action and call it Slasherfest 3000, and have it premiere on pay per view. I’ll line up for that; “Get your tickets cause they’re selling fast, the sequel that will kill them all; Slasherfest 3000. It’s a kill and stay kill kind a fight."

Is There an Answer for Everything?

This Amish incident has sure got me questioning my sanity. Actually it was the kid that raised the question how can someone do that? Simple logical answer is of course the obvious choice of words “it’s Gods plan.” Sure because as adults we know that everything we do leads us back to the grand master plan of the almighty. I really don’t have a problem with this answer just the logical sense that comes behind it. If Gods’ plan was to kill five little girls that day, then why in such a scenario? I blame chaos.

In this sick world that we live in, chaos seems to be the one thing that can’t be stop. Perhaps because it’s beyond our own control or maybe its just part of us that we don’t want to control? Do I believe in good and evil, better still do I believe in the essence of evil, of course I do. People have the tendency of over reacting from time to time but when do you cross the line.

Charles Carl Roberts IV, the gunmen of this Amish incident, wrote that he felt compiled to do this heinous act because of some molestation acts he had committed twenty years ago and blamed God for the death of his premature infant daughter that died twenty minutes after birth. Maybe that’s why he waited twenty years, who knows. If Gods intentions for her death were to teach him a lesson about life and karma then that was just a bad way of going about it. Then again I can always say it was God’s plan but that just sounds silly to me. This man was on a road to self destruction and nobody could stop him, not even almighty himself. It’s like a stubborn kid, no matter what you do, he just won’t give.

Another heinous act that also got me all worked up was the incident in East St. Louis, Illinois. This woman apparently killed another woman and her fetus as well as her three young children. Authorities had discovered Jimella Tunstalls body in a vacant lot and where curious as to how it got there. A woman named Tiffany Hall came forward and after a run around with authorities finally confessed to her slaying. The case came together rather odd.

Tiffany Hall first led authorities to believe that she had given birth to a stillborn baby. It was during the funeral services that she confessed to her boyfriend that the baby wasn’t hers and that she had killed the baby’s mother, Tunstalls, to get it. After her boyfriend turned her in, suspicion grew about what had happen to Tunstalls other three children and they went to Hall’s apartment in search of them. While in custody Hall confessed to their murders and the bodies were retrieved from the washer and dryer where she had placed them. Hall confessed that she had killed them else where and hauled them home and hid their bodies there.

These are just two footnotes to the monstrosities mankind can do to one another. Debra Kenton, a woman attending the funeral services for the slaying of the Tunstall family, had this statement to make “This is an opportunity to turn to God. Who else can explain things like this?” Yeah that’s it, God has all the answers. You ever thought that just maybe God can’t make reason of some of our actions.
Centuries ago a man walked this earth trying to make some logical sense of what this was about and he to die in our hands. To make sense of unjustified acts is just bullshit to me. It’s like that old saying “Evil is proof that God exist.” And that’s pretty much the logical explanation.

We as human beings have a choice, a path one can say, and it can either led us one way or another. Do I go this way or do I go that way, should I do this or should I not do this? The paths are not set in stone but the actions that come from it are. Maybe I’m coming off a bit preachy here but this makes sense to me. We’re not born good or evil but we can lead ourselves toward these directions. God isn’t the answer but more of a reason to seek for a greater good, to do the right thing, to rise up for a cause.

Now getting back to the question at hand; is there an answer for everything? Is there a simple and logical explanation as to why we do what we do, yeah there is. We do what we do because we’re human and just like anything else we have flaws. Some of us seek attention, while some of us are attention getters. Overall we all seek one thing, attention. Weather it is from one another or from the people that we love or perhaps from a greater being. It’s all about being heard and making sense of what’s being said or happening around us. The question isn’t; is there an answer for everything, the question is, does everything have an answer and the answer is NO.