Halloween (Anchor Bay) (US)

Halloween is without a shadow of a doubt the finest horror movie of all-time. I can remember watching this for the first time and I have never been so scared in my entire life.

Michael Myers brutally kills his older sister when he is a kid and after fifteen years in a mental hospital decides to return home to carry on his killing spree.

The movie is a masterpiece and deserves a solid DVD release and Anchor Bay do not disappoint. The movie has never looked better and you would never guess that the film is 22 years old.

The movie is the grandaddy of the slasher flick and really puts other recent movies in the genre to shame. John Carpenter builds the tension upto breaking point with Michael stalking the baby sitters like an unstoppable force.

The extras aren`t bad, the usual suspects are rounded up; TV and radio spots, trailers, photo galleries, talent bios and a pretty bog standard doc named Halloween Unmasked 2000.

To sum up the new THX mastered version of Halloween is an absolute must for all horror movie fans and movie fans in general. Halloween has never looked or sounded better.

If you have the original VCR version, you may as well bin it after watching this.

The original fuzziness is gone (don`t worry puritans, this doesn`t detract from the mood in any way), the sound has been cleaned up to perfection (I could swear that Donald P`s voice is different during the "Hey boy! Get away from there" bitty, and as you watch it you will be continually saying "I never noticed Michael standing in that doorway/behind that hedge/through that window before.

The extra few minutes (the dog being killed, his unmasking) don`t really add or detract from the story, but they do help to prolong what can only be called the ultimate slasher film of all time - and now even better!

FILM: What can I say? Halloween is the daddy of all slasher movies. Forget `I Know What You Did Last Summer` and `Scream`... this is a well made, 22 year old master movie. Halloween is excellently directed by the low budget king John Carpenter, and probably the best film he has made to date. This film well and truly proves that the original of a genre is the best. Just check out the claustrophobic camerawork and eerie sound effects; Halloween is definately an audio/visual treat. It is also the movie that made `scream queen` Jamie Lee curtis a big hollywood name.
PICTURE: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1.
If you saw the original release of Halloween, then you`ll not believe your eyes with this new transfer. The barebones release of 1997 was non-anamorphic, or more appropriately non-watchable, and looked even worse than the VHS edition! It had the most compression artefacts ever and was grain city. This new THX certified print is a 500% improvement and is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The odd scene looks a bit soft, but generally things are sharp and the print is extremely clean. Colours are richer and all the effort put in really shows. Congratulations Anchor Bay!
SOUND: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Stereo 2.0 and Dolby 1.0 Mono.
The 5.1 audio is very loud and well remastered, but the surrounds are used a bit sparingly. The 2.0 audio is great as well, sounding almost as good as the 5.1 track. The mono sound from the original release is a bit hollow sounding, but is still essential for Halloween fans. The simple but effective eerie music comes through with great clarity, and the screams of Jamie Lee Curtis almost bust your speakers. Great stuff!
EXTRAS: An impressive line up of extras here includes a very informative documentary, some TV spots, biogs and trailers to name but a few. For an old movie, there is a great deal of extra stuff, but not as much as that seen on the T2: Ultimate Editon disc or the Abyss: Special Edition. Prepare to be surprised by what you see!
OVERALL: If you`re a horror fan, then chuffin` buy it- Halloween will never look or sound better than this!

I`ll skip the whole movie plot review, if you havent seen Halloween at least once then your missing out on 1 of the most terrifying movie experiences ever. This movie put in simple terms is `Horror Classic` and one that will have you shaking in your boots long after the end credits have rolled.

So lets get to the the good stuff, surely the 1st question your all asking is "has this John Carpenter classic been given the DVD justice it deserves???". Well "yes" it has, THX has provided us with a excellent rematsered picture and Chance Audio have remixed the audio to a brilliant 5.1. However its not all good news as in some parts of the movie there is a notable ammount of grain and although the brilliantly terrifying soundtrack (also from carpenter) sounds fantastic in 5.1, due to the quiet nature of the movie it would sound just as good in Stereo. These are all minor flaws as Halloween has never needed fantastic picture and sound to get its point accross.

So on to the extras. We have the usual trailers and talent bios etc etc but the real bonus is the Featurette `Halloween Unmasked 2000`. This has up to date cast and crew interviews and goes into lots of detail about the making and opening of the movie. Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter give us Halloween fans lots to chew on and the whole feature feels like a nice compliment to the DVD. Its also noteable that the animated menu`s are pretty cool too :)

The real 2 bonus selling points of this DVD, arent extra features or THX sound and vision. The 1st come in the form of an extra disc which provides us with a `Television Version` of the menu. This basically is a version of the movie with 12 minutes of extra scenes that were orignally cut out of the cinema release. This extra disc is nothing to get excited about as the extra scenes dont really add much extra depth to the movie but once again the extra disc is a nice compliment to the set. The REAL bonus is that this special 2 disc set was released as Limited Edition only! and if like me you have a copy of this disc then you may know that its
become somthing of a DVD collectors item.

So in summary you get quality movie, audio, picture, extras and an investment and essential addition to your DVD collection.