31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 10 Halloween 2 remake

Halloween 2 director's cut
Source-Unrated Director's cut DVD

I skipped this one when it hit theaters. At the time my local theater hadn't remodeled and was horrible. Bad projection,bad sound and they charged way too much for a ticket. Then everyone I talked to that saw it hated it. I haven't seen the horror community throw out this much hate since the backlash about 2 months after Blair Witch came out.

Then one night I was in town looking for something to watch. The DVD of this film had been marked down to $5 so I grabbed it.

First off it should be known that I do not like the original Halloween 2. To me the first Halloween film was as close as we got to an American giallo film. Then Halloween 2 was pretty much a paint by numbers 80s slasher.

I sat down to watch this,thinking well if everyone hates it I am sure it has to be horrible. After the film was over I wondered why it was so hated. I even asked quite a few people why they hated it and it was always tiny nitpicky things like "Why did Zombie have to cast his wife in this one too? ","Michael barely wears the mask in it!" and other whiny fanboy reasons.

Now as for me. I enjoy the movie. I like seeing how what happened in the first film has effected Annie and Laurie. I like how Dr Loomis has used his new fame to become a money hungry media whore. And yes I even like the Sherri Moon Zombie and White Horse dream sequences.

The DVD like the first films is loaded with fun extras. The commentary being the best of the extras. But the others are worth a look.

Halloween 2 remake gets a C.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 088 Adventure Heroes by Jeff Rovin

TITLE-Adventure Heroes Legendary characters from Odysseus to James Bond
AUTHOR-Jeff Rovin
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-25 cents plus shipping

Months back I was watching one of James Rolfe's videos. Where he was talking about his reference book collection. One book he talked about,Encyclopedia of Monsters,sounded really good. So I looked on various used booksites to get a price range. Saw that the same author had written and bunch of other encyclopedia style books.Along with a bunch of 80s era Nintendo game tip books.

Over the past 8 years I have been getting more and more into the pulp hero genre of fiction. So I thought a book about adventure heroes would be a fun read.

Once I got the book in it took the top spot in my bathroom. Yes I am one of those folks that reads while using the toilet. So for months now this has sat in my bathroom. And I slowly read my way thru the entire book.

Rovin covers all the usual suspects when you think of adventure heroes,like say Doc Savage,Tarzan,Lone Ranger. But it is the oddball ones he talks about that make me love this book so much. When I first got it I was flipping thru it and noticed there is an entry for Star Comics,Marvel's kids line,short lived Planet Terry comic. I collect the Star Comics and I barely remember Planet Terry.

From what I know most of the entries in this book are accurate as of when the book was written. And sure now books like this have been replaced with websites. But there is something about a nice hardback reference book that I like.

When I ordered the book,which cost me a quarter plus IIRC 2 bucks for shipping,and it was listed as used I figured it would be complete but a bit beat up. What I got was an ex library copy. And since it is classified as a reference book that means it wasn't allowed to be checked out. The book is in amazing shape. I would like to have a poster of the cover image.

Adventure Heroes by Jeff Rovin gets a 4.55 out of 5.