"Halloween" DVD news
 

Was just visiting Best Buy's web site, searching for all things Halloween, and noticed that they have entries for the following:

• the Halloween documentary, 25 Years of Terror
• the rumored, but as yet unannounced, special edition of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
• the rumored, but as yet unannounced, special edition of Halloween 5

All are scheduled for July 25. None has been announced officially, but both Best Buy and Circuit City are listing them, so we should hear about them any day.

--THX

Geez, about time something came out regarding 4&5... these were supposed to come out last Halloween according to Anchor Bay. (IIRC, that is)

These have been up for pre-order on deepdiscountdvd.com for the last week. Went ahead and sold my current versions and hoping they keep the special features. I believe someone at the Halloween forums said these would have new commentaries.

ehh, i'll stick with the tins for 4&5 unless there's some awesome documentary or something.

Same here. But I'm sticking with the tins regardless...they're priceless. :cool:

All of that is coming out this year.

At the recent Weekend of Horrors that Fangoria has they had an Anchor Bay panel that announced all of these as well as a new release of Evil Dead in the form of a boxed set.

Can we get a box set will all of them soon????

Of course not, that would make WAY too much sense.....lol

No box set in R1 will ever happen because too many different companies own the different movies.

Halloween 1, 4 & 5 Anchor Bay own
Halloween 2 & 3 Universal Own
Halloween 6, 7 & 8 Disney Own

I dont own 4 and 5 so ill probably pick them up.

Awesome news, thanks OP!

Long live Michael :)

Wonder how much Anchor Bay would have to shell out to gain the rights to the rest of them. Then we might finally get some solid releases of II, Curse of Michael Myers, and H20. Season of the Witch and Resurrection are fine as they are.

On a related note, a poster in the forums at HalloweenMovies.com wrote Universal regarding a special edition re-release of Halloween II, and was told there are no plans. So the current disc would appear to be the best R1 is going to see for a while. Could be worse: anamorphic, with a trailer and production notes.

--THX

I will definitely pick up the documentary, as well as the 4th film. I bought the tin release of Pt. 5, at a convention, so I don't know if I will double-dip.

Isn't "25 Years of Terror" the same documentary that apperared on the last two-disc set of Halloween?

No. This one is completely different and will focus on all eight films in the series. They interviewed just about everyone involved.

Go to http://www.halloweenmovies.com

Halloween 4 & 5 are Divimax Editions and are supposed to both have documentaries as well as Audio Commentaries. At least that's what was said over a year ago when they were 1st supposed to be released. I was a Moderator at OHMB (Official Halloween Message Board) back then and used to be "in the know". heh.

As much as it interests me, I don't think I could buy that documentary stand alone. Anchor Bay needs to get their shit straight. As much as I enjoy the films, I've already double dipped on both Halloween and Halloween 4. While I do own both two-disc sets of Halloween (as both contain different transfers -- and of course -- different extras), I ditched my stand alone non-anamorphic copy of Halloween 4 for the anamorphic limited tin. I know that the supposed new transfers for 4 and 5 will be done in HD and not SD, but I don't give a shit. They look fine on my Sony HDTV.

Unless they have great transfers and the best extras produced for a DVD to date, I don't know if I can dip one more time.

Now, I'd dip for an ultimate box set with all the flicks (thus far) with new transfers and special features galore, but I am okay with what I have now.

Debra Hill, Halloween's Producer, died last year. I wonder if there will be some kind of tribute to her on these new DVD's.

I hope so.

Moustapha Akkad died as well.

This is one series I could double or even triple dip on. I can't get enough and I am looking forward to the documentary as well as the new releases!

Will we ever see the Producer's Cut of Halloween 6? It is suppose to be MUCH better than the theatrical release.

There is a version of this sixth Halloween film which has many scenes not shown in the theatrical release, as well as a different title/logo, different character developments, and a different ending. This "Producer's Cut"'s most noticeable differences are:


The movie begins with a flashback to 1989 in which Jamie is kidnapped by the Man in Black before the police station explodes.


Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) does the voice-over narration at the beginning of the movie, not Tommy Doyle (Paul Michael Rudd).


Michael Myers does not kill Jaimie Lloyd right away; she lingers in a hospital for half the movie, and is eventually shot by the Man In Black.


There is a very different ending to the movie which replaces everything after the scene in which Kara is captured by the cult members.


In the home video version, when the father is killed by Michael Myers in the basement, the massive dose of electricity his body takes causes his head to explode. In the alternate cut, for some reason, this is not shown.


According to the official Halloween website under the FAQ section, some scenes from the producers cut are shown in the television cut for the UPN network.


The "strobe light/operating room" scene (only seen in the Theatrical version) was originally going to be longer, and feature more blood and gore. Examples include a shot of a nurse being gutted and Dr. Wynn being beheaded. Wynn's death was cut out of the film, so that his character could return in future films.


Producer's Cut also expands on certain scenes in the movie. This includes the following:
There are no "flashes" to previous / upcoming scenes throughout the movie, as with the theatrical release.
More dialogue between Loomis and Wynn when Wynn visits Loomis at his house. Wynn asks Loomis why he is "listening to this jerk" Barry Simms, and Loomis says he's recording it because it's a program about Haddonfield. He then goes on to say that he recently had plastic surgery, to remove some of the scarring on his face and "not frighten little children anymore". Then Wynn announces his plan to retire, thus bringing on the toast to "old friends".
More dialogue playing over the radio during this scene. There are also a number of different callers than in the theatrical release.
Kara performs a "chant" for Danny when he has his nightmare. She warns the "evil spirits" to stay away and reminds them that they "know the rules".
An extra scene of Debra and John watching Kara through the window as she leaves for college. Debra says "it's not about her, John... it's about you", and that she doesn't care what Kara has done in the past because she's their daughter. John replies by saying that Kara is no longer his daughter.
The scene with Dawn (Wynn's secretary) telling Loomis and Wynn that Jamie Lloyd's body has been found is extended. Wynn tells her to put the sanitarium on a "Code Red Lock-down" for 24 hours, and then says to Loomis that if Michael is alive, he plans on "bringing him back to Smith's Grove".
The scene where Loomis and Wynn drive to the farm is also extended. Because Jamie survives Michael's initial attack in this version, she is taken to hospital, and Loomis blames himself for everything as she is wheeled to an ambulance. He also has an encounter with the new Sheriff, who tells him that he and Wynn have "no business in Haddonfield", and to go back to their "loony bin".
There are a few alternate angles during the scene where Debra finds out whose house they are really living in. Loomis goes into more detail about Michael, and when Debra is on the phone to John, there are again some alternate angles. Also, when she drops the phone, the dial tone can be heard, whereas it can't in the theatrical release.
Barry Simms' death is also done slightly different. There a couple of alternate angles, and a scene after he is stabbed with the camera panning away to show another van parked nearby with the words "WKNB Radio" on the hood.
There are more alternate angles when Tommy finds Barry's body. The little girl dancing under the tree also sings "it's raining red" instead of saying it.
The ending credits are also completely different, with a few changes to the cast list as well.



Deleted scenes seen only in the Producer's Cut: Michael is shown impregnating Jamie in a black and white flashback, it shows the man in black forcing Michael to do it. In the finale Kara is tied up to an altar while the Thorn cult performs a ritual, Kara says "The baby is yours isn't it Michael?!" and the man in black turns and yells "Michael!." Originally this was the setup for Michael to kill the members of the Thorn cult.


The theatrical version ends with Loomis re-enterting the asylum, and we see Michael's body is gone and we hear Loomis scream, suggesting Michael killed him. In the producer's cut, we see Loomis come across Michael's body, suddenly the mask is pulled off to reveal it is Wynn, who passes on his curse of being Michael's guardian to Loomis before he dies. As the rune of thorn appears on Loomis' arm he screams, and the final image is of Michael disguised as the man in black leaving the asylum.


Because of the very different ending in the producer's cut, the dialogue between Wynn and Loomis in Smithsgrove is different, Wynn's outfit was also changed. The theatrical version simply uses Loomis's reaction shots and had Mitch Ryan reading new lines.

Why doesn't Nancy Loomis ever contribute in these documentaries? What a shame...such a memorable character; would be nice to hear her talk about it today. Maybe she just isn't proud of it?

Does anyone know what's up with the rights to this series?? with the whole Demension/miramax/Disney/Weinstien Co.

I was under the impression the Weinstien's took all the rights to the Demension films, but maybe I don't understand it all.

In a nutshell:

- Moustapha Akkad owns the rights to Halloween.
- Moustapha Akkad sells the rights to Dino De Laurentiis. Halloween II and Halloween III are produced at Universal. Akkad stays onto the films as an executive producer.
- Dino De Laurentiis sells the rights back to Moustapha Akkad after Halloween III's poor performance.
- Moustapha Akkad, similar to the first film, produces Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 on very limited budgets. As history unfolds, both films do good business.
- In 1995, Moustapha Akkad sells the rights again to the Halloween franchise over to the Weinsteins. Moustapha Akkad still remains on board as executive producer as three more sequels are released. All make profit.
- When the Weinsteins leave Miramax, they take the rights of the franchise with them. The three films they released at Miramax/Dimension stay there.

If there is an ninth film to be produced, Akkad's share of the money will just go to his remaining family members. The Weinstein Company will produce.