The Halloween Franchise
Halloween (1978) Dir: John Carpenter $320k Box Office: $60m Worldwide, $47m US
Halloween II (1981) Dir: Rick Rosenthal $2.5m Box Office: $25m Worldwide, $20m US
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Dir: Tommy Lee Wallace $2.5m Box Office: $12m US
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) Dir: Dwight H. Little $5m Box Office: $17m US
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) Dir: Dominique Othenin-Girard $5m Box Office: $11m US
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Dir: Joe Chappelle $5m Box Office: $15m US
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) Dir: Steve Miner $17m Box Office: $55m US
Halloween: Resurrection (2002) Dir: Rick Rosenthal $15m Box Office: $37m Worldwide, $30m US
Halloween (2007) Dir: Rob Zombie $15m Box Office: $80m Worldwide, $58m US
Halloween II (2009) Dir: Rob Zombie $15m Box Office: $33m US
The franchise has consistently remained low budget in US terms, although the budget for each film has mostly increased as the series progresses. This is largely due to the guaranteed high box office figures, as people come to know what to expect from the franchise; as a result almost every film has made a profit.
There has been longer gaps between later films in the series, 'Halloween H20' was made as if the previous four films had not been made and therefore links more directly to the first two films, which could be viewed as one long film, the first leading directly into the second.
The latest pair of films are remakes of the original 'Halloween' and a sequel, and are therefore completely out of continuity with the rest of the franchise. Both of these recent films have performed fairly well at the box office. Trends among remakes are increased levels of gore and sexual explicitness.
The original 'Halloween' is often regarded as one of the most influential in the slasher genre, as well as being one of the earliest films in it. Notably it has an extremely small budget and an almost unknown cast (with the notable exception of Donald Sutherland). In terms of the genre, it was one of the first films, if not the first, to present the killer as an indestructible 'other', as opposed to a human menace. This theme has continued in subsequent, more fantasy orientated slasher films.
Specifically, the killer in the franchise, Michael Myers, is introduced as killing his sister as a little boy, and remaining in a mental institute for the next decade or so. This makes him fairly unique as a slasher film killer, having no real motive for carrying out his attacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment