Tonight's marathon officially kicks the horror season into high gear with a fun yet slick marathon. Every great horror story has an iconic villain that once people experience him, they will never forget their face. That villain for this evening is Michael Myers but here's the catch. Every great villain has a hero or heroine that equals the impact of the villain and makes you ultimately care for and root for them. Our Damsel In Distress and heroine for this evening is Jamie Lee Curtis, legendary scream queen and one of the best actresses of our generation. She is the person we connect with and care for with this evenings films as we watch her journey begin and end with it all coming full circle. For tonight's exciting, intense, and ultimately scary marathon, we have the following films on this glorious menu:
Halloween 1978, Prom Night 1980, Halloween ll 1981, Blue Steel 1989, and Halloween H20 1998
This is essentially the perfect horror movie marathon. Great actress whose beautiful and has a fresh set of lungs. Check. Great iconic villains that are unstoppable and terrorize everything in their path. Check. Brilliant writing and directing from legendary directors such as John Carpenter and Katheryn Bigelow. Check. Great finale that brings it all home to where it started. CHECK. There's so much to appreciate with this marathon and get behind it with the excitement it builds. Jamie Lee Curtis takes every film and brings her A game into each one creating strong willed and intelligent women who will not give in so easily and if pushed into a corner, they will ultimately fight back. From where she begins in Halloween to where the marathon ends her at in H20 is a total progression of both story, character, and a great performers arc. The first movie of the evening is John Carpenter's surprise horror movie classic titled Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. The story begins on Halloween 1963 where a young Michael Myers kills his sister while being babysit by her on Halloween. Fifteen years later, Michael Myers escapes from the sanitarium that's harboring him and begins his journey to Haddonfield with his old psychologist Dr. Loomis hot on his trail. From what the first Halloween movie suggests, Michael returns to the neighborhood he grew up in to stalk three beautiful young women, one in particular who ends up being a babysitter for the evening in the same form as Michaels sister Judith on the night he killed her.
Halloween was an unprecedented success both as an independent film and as a horror movie which many filmmakers in the genre today strive to achieve that level of success that may never be repeated again. The film birthed the careers of both John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis as both went on to expand their careers in both horror, Scfi, and comedy. Carpenters success landed him future projects such as Escape From New York and The Thing while Jamie Lee Curtis became known as the scream queen and did several other horror films post Halloween such as John Carpenter's The Fog, Prom Night, and the much anticipated Halloween ll. Like her mother 18 years prior who played Marion Crane in the iconic psychological thriller and horror movie Psycho, Jamie like her mother Janet Leigh inherited the crown as being the defining female figure in horror.
The second movie of the marathon is the 1980 horror movie classic titled Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen. In this dark and twisted tale with the obvious setting being on an iconic High School event, a masked killer begins to stalk four teenagers who harbor guilt out of being responsible for the accidental death of a little girl six years earlier during their High Schools senior prom. Prom Night never achieved the same kind of box office success nor critical acclaim that Halloween received two years prior but it capitalized on it's lead actress growing career and the slasher genre that was getting increasingly popular at the time. Prom Night used a similar formula that Halloween built it's success upon such as a masked killer stalking a group of young High School kids and is deemed to be mentally unstable in both cases. What Prom Night lacks that made Halloween such a great film is the clever and brilliant buildup of terror and suspense that made Carpenter such a powerful force in the horror genre during the late 70's and 80's.
The third movie of the marathon is the 1981 sequel to the John Carpenter classic Halloween titled Halloween ll. The film sets itself apart from most horror sequels by picking up directly where the first movie left off with both Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance reprising their iconic roles. The sequel puts Michael Myers hiding from the police after being shot a total of six times by his persistant Dr. named Loomis. When Michael learns that Laurie Strode was taken to the Haddonfield hospital for treatment, he begins a reign of terror once again to claim the woman who would soon be revealed to be his sister. Halloween ll was not the box office success the first movie was upon it's release but still had much anticipation behind it and was butchered by critics upon it's release for lacking the suspense and thrills of the first movie. The sequel has gained much higher recognition over time and is generally considered to be one of the better Halloween and horror sequels in general. Carpenter handed over his directing reigns to Rick Rosenthal this time but remained as writer, producer, and film composer. Halloween ll is perhaps the best Halloween sequel because Carpenters presence is still felt even though the film could've greatly benefit from his touch in directing.
The fourth movie of the evening is Kathryn Bigelow's The Blue Steel starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver. From the Oscar winning director behind Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty comes a story about a female rookie cop in the police force struggling to be taken seriously in a heavily male dominated population. She finds herself becoming engaged in a cat and mouse game with a gun wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her, going far beyond infatuation. Bigelow crafts a slick suspense thriller while giving Curtis character a bit of internal struggle dealing with issues such as sexism and having to remain strong-willed as she battles an opponent who may be smarter than she is. One important thing to note is that as the movies progress in the marathon, she gets tougher with each role and begins to realize that she would rather fight than keep running.
The fifth and final movie of the evening is the 1998 box office smash and in many horror fans minds, the concluding chapter to the popular Halloween series titled Halloween H20. Set a total of twenty years after the events of the first two Halloween films, this grand finale places Laurie Strode whose now become the dean of a Northern California private school with a different name. She slowly comes to terms that she must let go of her fears of being found by her brother Michael Myers on Halloween and fight her fears. She ends up battling the shape one last time not just to move on from her past, but for the life of her own son who hangs in the balance. The film was considered a breath of fresh air for the series in many horror fans eyes due to the prior sequels dragging the series into the ground both critically and box office wise. H20 had a marketing that was largely based around the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the role that made her famous, as well as being the first Halloween film in the post Scream era after that film redefined the horror genre for the 90s generation. H20 maintains the same story and characters as Halloween but received a makeover from Screams influence such as utilizing the same music, similar style of characters, and carries the same feeling of energy that Scream 1 and 2 presented to the slasher genre when it almost died out. H20 is the perfect movie to end this marathon because it shows Laurie coming to terms with her worst fears and ending her nightmare for good with such a powerful yet brilliant climax. Jamie Lee Curtis career as a scream queen also comes to a full close here if you don't include Halloween Resurrection.
So what is the message behind this marathon besides the obvious that suggests that you don't mess with Jamie Lee Curtis. The message says to never underestimate evil and your past will never go away unless you confront it and fight. A female cop shouldn't have to experience discrimination or sexism because she has what's considered to be a mans job. She's just as capable of fulfilling the task as a man and could even do it better. And finally, a scream queen like Jamie Lee Curtis is a rarity and should be celebrated and an inspiration for future scream queen actresses and female horror movie characters to be based off of.
Jamie Lee Curtis in all her forms this evening:
Halloween was an unprecedented success both as an independent film and as a horror movie which many filmmakers in the genre today strive to achieve that level of success that may never be repeated again. The film birthed the careers of both John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis as both went on to expand their careers in both horror, Scfi, and comedy. Carpenters success landed him future projects such as Escape From New York and The Thing while Jamie Lee Curtis became known as the scream queen and did several other horror films post Halloween such as John Carpenter's The Fog, Prom Night, and the much anticipated Halloween ll. Like her mother 18 years prior who played Marion Crane in the iconic psychological thriller and horror movie Psycho, Jamie like her mother Janet Leigh inherited the crown as being the defining female figure in horror.
The second movie of the marathon is the 1980 horror movie classic titled Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen. In this dark and twisted tale with the obvious setting being on an iconic High School event, a masked killer begins to stalk four teenagers who harbor guilt out of being responsible for the accidental death of a little girl six years earlier during their High Schools senior prom. Prom Night never achieved the same kind of box office success nor critical acclaim that Halloween received two years prior but it capitalized on it's lead actress growing career and the slasher genre that was getting increasingly popular at the time. Prom Night used a similar formula that Halloween built it's success upon such as a masked killer stalking a group of young High School kids and is deemed to be mentally unstable in both cases. What Prom Night lacks that made Halloween such a great film is the clever and brilliant buildup of terror and suspense that made Carpenter such a powerful force in the horror genre during the late 70's and 80's.
The third movie of the marathon is the 1981 sequel to the John Carpenter classic Halloween titled Halloween ll. The film sets itself apart from most horror sequels by picking up directly where the first movie left off with both Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance reprising their iconic roles. The sequel puts Michael Myers hiding from the police after being shot a total of six times by his persistant Dr. named Loomis. When Michael learns that Laurie Strode was taken to the Haddonfield hospital for treatment, he begins a reign of terror once again to claim the woman who would soon be revealed to be his sister. Halloween ll was not the box office success the first movie was upon it's release but still had much anticipation behind it and was butchered by critics upon it's release for lacking the suspense and thrills of the first movie. The sequel has gained much higher recognition over time and is generally considered to be one of the better Halloween and horror sequels in general. Carpenter handed over his directing reigns to Rick Rosenthal this time but remained as writer, producer, and film composer. Halloween ll is perhaps the best Halloween sequel because Carpenters presence is still felt even though the film could've greatly benefit from his touch in directing.
The fourth movie of the evening is Kathryn Bigelow's The Blue Steel starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver. From the Oscar winning director behind Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty comes a story about a female rookie cop in the police force struggling to be taken seriously in a heavily male dominated population. She finds herself becoming engaged in a cat and mouse game with a gun wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her, going far beyond infatuation. Bigelow crafts a slick suspense thriller while giving Curtis character a bit of internal struggle dealing with issues such as sexism and having to remain strong-willed as she battles an opponent who may be smarter than she is. One important thing to note is that as the movies progress in the marathon, she gets tougher with each role and begins to realize that she would rather fight than keep running.
The fifth and final movie of the evening is the 1998 box office smash and in many horror fans minds, the concluding chapter to the popular Halloween series titled Halloween H20. Set a total of twenty years after the events of the first two Halloween films, this grand finale places Laurie Strode whose now become the dean of a Northern California private school with a different name. She slowly comes to terms that she must let go of her fears of being found by her brother Michael Myers on Halloween and fight her fears. She ends up battling the shape one last time not just to move on from her past, but for the life of her own son who hangs in the balance. The film was considered a breath of fresh air for the series in many horror fans eyes due to the prior sequels dragging the series into the ground both critically and box office wise. H20 had a marketing that was largely based around the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the role that made her famous, as well as being the first Halloween film in the post Scream era after that film redefined the horror genre for the 90s generation. H20 maintains the same story and characters as Halloween but received a makeover from Screams influence such as utilizing the same music, similar style of characters, and carries the same feeling of energy that Scream 1 and 2 presented to the slasher genre when it almost died out. H20 is the perfect movie to end this marathon because it shows Laurie coming to terms with her worst fears and ending her nightmare for good with such a powerful yet brilliant climax. Jamie Lee Curtis career as a scream queen also comes to a full close here if you don't include Halloween Resurrection.
So what is the message behind this marathon besides the obvious that suggests that you don't mess with Jamie Lee Curtis. The message says to never underestimate evil and your past will never go away unless you confront it and fight. A female cop shouldn't have to experience discrimination or sexism because she has what's considered to be a mans job. She's just as capable of fulfilling the task as a man and could even do it better. And finally, a scream queen like Jamie Lee Curtis is a rarity and should be celebrated and an inspiration for future scream queen actresses and female horror movie characters to be based off of.
Jamie Lee Curtis in all her forms this evening:
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