A little known fact about me is that my favorite movie is the 1978 slasher classic John Carpenter's Halloween, which I first watched when I was a seven-year-old. Thanks, Grandma!

Of course, I also like all the sequels (maybe not Resurrection) and I tolerate the Rob Zombie remakes. So, naturally, I was looking forward to watching Halloween (2018), which is the third film in the franchise with that title. Did I watch it in the theatres? Sadly, no, I didn't get a chance to the see it on the big screen. My town only has a one-screen theatre that is run by volunteers and they hardly ever carry rated R movies. Instead, I had to settle on reading the novelization by John Passarella. You can read my review for it here!

Directed by David Gorden Green, the 2018 film ignores the entire Halloween franchise except for the original 1978 film, which basically means that Laurie Strode (played once again by Jamie Lee Curtis) isn't the sister of the masked serial killer Michael Myers.

Confused yet?

3/4 of the film is more or less a rehash of the now-forgotten sequels, where Michael escapes a prison bus transfer, steals back his original mask, and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois to do some trick-or-treating with a butcher's knife. Sounds familiar, right?


On his path of destruction, Michael accidentally runs into Laurie's granddaughter Allyson Nelson (played by Andi Matichak), which leads to a weird situation with his current shrink, Dr. Ranbir Sartain. Seriously, what the hell were the writers thinking with this part? Since they're wanting to do sequels, why kill off the mad doctor?

The last 30-minutes is the so-called "final confrontation" between Laurie and Michael, as well as Allyson and her mother, Karen (played by Judy Greer). Why did the writers rename the daughter? They should have kept the name as Jamie Lloyd and brought back Danielle Harris from Halloween 4 & 5. (Yes, I'm well aware the actress who played Jamie also played a different part in the Rob Zombie films.)

Final Thoughts

Yes, I'm back with another Midnight Horror Review, which I had originally planned to post weekly. However, due to a recent family emergency, I just didn't have time to watch a horror flick last week. Nevertheless, I'm back tonight to review the 1981 slasher film Final Exam.

Written and directed by Jimmy Huston, the film is set in a college campus during "finals" week. The campus nerd Radish (played by Joel S. Rice) has heard tales of students being murdered in nearby colleges and he's now a little paranoid! After witnessing a shooting and kidnapping on campus, Radish calls the authorities. Unfortunately, the whole "event" was faked by a fraternity, leaving the sheriff (played by Sam Kilman) to believe Radish is nothing but a joke. Later, when Radish reports a killer on the campus, nobody wants to believe him.

Meanwhile, Courtney (played by Cecile Bagdadi) is spending most of her free time studying for the "big exam", while her roommate Lisa (played by DeAnna Robbins) is way too busy trying to seduce her professor. Unknowingly to them, there is a real killer loose on the campus, who has targeted them for his next victims.

Final Thoughts

Rated R; 89 minutes; AMAZON

Despite the fact that I have an Amazon Prime subscription, I hardly watch any of the movies or television series included with the service. I didn't realize until tonight that there were so many older horror flicks on there. Not being able to sleep and with nothing else to do, I decided to watch 1972's Season of the Witch.

Directed by the late great George A. Romero, the film is a weird horror drama centering around a bored suburban housewife named Joan Mitchell (played by Jan White). She has an abusive, controlling, workaholic husband, Jack (played by Bill Thunhurs). Their daughter,  Nikki (played by Joedda McClain), is a nineteen-year-old college student, who no longer has any need for Joan, besides for room & board. Joan has strange recurring nightmares that her psychotherapist believes is caused by her husband.

After meeting Marion Hamilton (played by Virginia Greenwald), a new neighbor who claims to be a witch, Joan becomes interested in learning about witchcraft. She buys a book full of spells and casts a spell to make her daughter's lover, Gregg (played Raymond Laine), sleep with her.

As Joan continues to casts spells, she starts having nightmares about being attacked by a man wearing a Satanic mask, which ultimately leads to her fulfilling her own dark destiny.

Final Thoughts