Out of all the sequels and even the original this is the only one that perfectly captures the look and vibe of October. That intro alone is just pure October and creepiness. It just feels more like Halloween whenever i have this movie on in the background around October.
I actually live here in the Avenues neighborhood in Salt Lake City and several of the houses, the scene with the kids running around in the park, and the site of Ted Hollister's death are all within just a few blocks of my apartment. In fact, I only watched this movie because it had been shot here, and I was shocked to learn how close the production got to where I live.
BTW, it looks like several of the pictures on your blog page there aren't working anymore. I refreshed a few times and they just came up as broken images.
That's awesome you live close by. I used to live in LA and would visit the locations from the original all the time.
I just checked a few pages and the pics loaded fine for me. Maybe it was the browser? I use Safari. Was it just the Halloween 4 page or others you recall?
Wow that's great. You must be a huge fan of this movie to have been able to scout all of those locations. I remember years ago some did the same thing with the movie Over The Edge. I don't think that website exists anymore.
Agreed on it doing a very good job of capturing the look and vibe of October. I just watched this for the first time a few nights ago. I really enjoyed the opening. In fact, I'd say it was so well done that frankly it set me up to expect a better movie than I ultimately got.
In the original, the “spirit” of Halloween is somehow more palpable to me. But I agree, I always thought H4 managed to capture the look and feel of October/Halloween better than all the other movies. I think the much less appreciated “Curse of Michael Myers” did a respectable job with this as well, but the setting, tone and basic look of H4 really makes it feel like it was shot during this season. It’s perfect.
Yeah, it helps that they added stuff like the kids teepeeing the trees, the kids going door to door, the guys all dressing up as Michael as a prank, it really felt like Halloween night. They made sure to show all the stuff that goes on during Halloween.
A glaring problem with the original movie was that the story takes place on Halloween in Illinois, but it was obvious that it wasn't the end of October.
I agree that 6 feels the most like the Halloween holiday as well. The fall leaves and decorations on all the houses create a Halloween atmosphere. The Halloween festival in that movie definitely adds to the Halloween feel.