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Halloween - The Night of the Boogeyman - by Last Survivor

LastSurvivor

LastSurvivor

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Original titles: Halloween (1978), Halloween II (1981)

Fanedit title: Halloween: The Night of the Boogeyman

Studios: Dino De Laurentiis Company, Universal Pictures, Compass International Pictures, Falcon International Productions
Faneditor: Last Survivor
Originally released: 1978, 1981
Fanedit release: October 2022
Original running time: 182 minutes approx
Fanedit running time: 99 minutes approx
Cut time: 83 minutes cut
Started edit: November 2021
Finished edit: October 2022

Synopsis and Purpose of Edit:
There have been many edits of Halloween and Halloween II combined to make one full night of terror from The Shape in its pursuit of Laurie Strode. However, whereas a lot of those edits are quite gentle exercises in basically bridging the two movies together, resulting in a movie almost 3 hours in length, the intent with The Night of The Boogeyman is to take on the challenge of combining both movies to make one night of terror that only lasts around the normal length of a slasher film - in other words, 90 - 100 minutes.

This means ensuring the narrative is manipulated to fully concentrate on Laurie Strode, The Shape and Doctor Loomis. The other characters aren't particularly important, meaning classic scenes from Halloween 1978 needed to go. No more head tilt, no more The Shape stalking Annie, Tommy etc. In fact, there's hardly any on-screen murders in this cut. The name of the game here is to keep things moving - keep it lean, keep it moving forward as much as possible whilst ensuring it all still makes sense. Even some scenes with Laurie would need to go (no more "Everyone's entitled to one good scare")... true, this may not be an edit for everyone, but the brief here was to be brave, be bold, or go home.

On top of this, Halloween (1978) now sounds as it was supposed to sound, with the mono audio track utilised, sourced directly from the Criterion Laser Disc. Happy Halloween everyone!

Cutlist:

  • Pre-credit scene added – The scene where Michael stalks and kills Judith in the house now acts as a pre-credit sequence
  • Halloween II pumpkin used for title sequence (along with the Halloween II version of the main theme), masked so that new titles can be added on the right hand side
  • Trimmed the sequence where Laurie leaves her house and walks to drop keys off at the Myers House. Basically she bumps into Tommy sooner
  • Cut Tommy and friends outside school where he trips and breaks the pumpkin, and is then stalked by Michael
  • Scene where Laurie walks home with Linda and Annie is now quite heavily trimmed, ending as Annie says she has three choices… “watch the kids sleep, listen to Linda screw around, or talk to you”
  • Scene with Doctor Loomis and the graveyard caretake now takes place in-between scene of Laurie going home – also has added music from Halloween II
  • After Laurie has been spooked by seeing Michael in her next door neighbours garden, we cut to her being in the car with Annie, thereby cutting out the shots of her leaving her house and waiting for Annie to pick her up
  • Very slight trim as Michael is watching Annie go in to babysit Lyndsey – just to help speed things up
  • All scenes of Annie being stalked by Michael now cut (i.e. no seeing Annie getting caught in the laundry room, spilling butter on herself etc). Instead we just get to the stage where Annie wants to go and meet Paul, so she drops off Lyndsey at the Doyle house. This also means some scenes with Tommy and Laurie are cut
  • The lead up to Annie’s murder is now trimmed, and the murder itself is not shown
  • Scene where Loomis makes Lonnie and his friends scared at the Myers house is moved so it happens before Annie’s murder
  • Linda and Bob’s scenes are now heavily trimmed. We see them arrive at the Wallace house thinking Annie will be there, but the last we see of them alive is as after they start kissing on the couch and the camera pulls back to reveal Michael is in the house watching. Their murders are not seen
  • Laurie, curious after Tommy has told her he saw the boogeyman outside, now calls the Wallace house after she sees the lights go on and off. With Linda and Bob’s van outside, she is aware they are probably in there, and prompts her to telephone, but as there is no answer she goes over to check – this scene is trimmed so we don’t have to watch Laurie going through the motions of getting her keys and slowly walking over. Different music added.
  • Scene inside the Wallace house when Laurie is looking for Linda, Bob and Annie is slightly trimmed to move things along
  • After discovering the dead bodies and Laurie encounters Michael for the first time, have trimmed scene so that Laurie gets out of the house quicker and immediately starts back towards the Doyle house
  • Finale to Halloween ‘78 now slightly restructured - After Laurie tells Tommy to get upstairs, have heavily trimmed next scene where Laurie originally stabs Michael with a knitting needle. Instead, realising there’s an open window she is aware Michael might be in the house and she immediately goes upstairs. This scene is intercut with Bracket meeting up with Loomis again and being told that Loomis has found the car Michael was driving
  • Transition to Halloween II footage – Loomis does not look out over the balcony. I use the footage from Halloween II as he comes down the stairs and notices Michael has gone. Added music from Halloween III: Season of the Witch for this scene
  • Cut scenes of Michael killing the elderly woman and the teenage girl from next door
  • Trimmed scene of the paramedics taking Laurie to hospital… as they’re not important characters, their lines of dialogue when picking up Laurie are cut to a bare minimum
  • Cut scene of the boy with the razor blade in his mouth being taken to hospital. We briefly see him and his mother now at reception as Laurie Strode is brought in, but that’s it
  • All scenes with Jimmy and Bud after dropping Laurie off are cut
  • Cut majority of scenes with other personal at the hospital. Only necessary scenes with Laurie are kept, to keep momentum centred on Michael’s pursuit of Laurie
  • All kills with people at the hospital, except for Nurse Jill Franco, are removed
  • Film now ends on the shot of Michael’s burning mask/face
  • Mr Sandman song replaced with a version of the Halloween theme from Halloween The Curse of Michael Myers
  • New end titles

Special Features:

Audio Commentary

Technical Details:

16:9 Anamorphic. MP4
AAC Mono.
Software used: Vegas Pro 16, Vocal Remover, iZotope RX-7 Audio Editor, DVD Fab.
Poster artwork: Sophie Welch


Special Thanks:

Sophie Welch, Ryantology, BionicBob, Toodles and anyone who followed the "in the works" thread on this site.
 
Watched Last Survivor's latest Halloween reimagining last night, and I can say with confidence, this is the DEFINITIVE 2 in 1 combination.

Why?

Because this is the FIRST ONE EVER that has a proper THREE ACT MOVIE STRUCTURE.

There have been many, many, MANY 1978 Halloween and 1980 Halloween II fan edit combos over the years, all of which had their own strengths and their own entertainment factor, but at the end of the day, they all mostly still played like fan edits, like two movies glued together. And that is fine. Nothing wrong with that. But if you wanted to watch one that genuinely played out like a horror movie of the period, then none quite cracked the needed Three Act Story Code.

Until now.

This fan edit is bold and radical. And may not be to every hardcore Halloween fans' taste.

Most of the legendary kills are gone. This movie is laser focused on following the point of views of Laurie and Loomis. The audience discovers the bloody devastation of Michael only when Loomis or Laurie do. We experience the terror of Michael coming home through their eyes. This creates a much more intimate and mature film. In fact, I would dare say, this is no longer a Slasher Movie but is now a Suspense Mystery Thriller.

The onscreen kills now only occur in the the Third Act, only after the mystery unravels and the tension has masterfully escalated over the first Two Acts. This, for me, makes the final kills less about thrills but more about genuine horror. In other words, the final kills are narratively earned and thus have more impact. As I said before, this is structurally and tonally, a VERY DIFFERENT movie from the originals.

Along with massive cut work (more than an hour of material is gone), the tone of the originals has been extensively altered by Last Survivor's signature music replacement. New variations of classic Halloween music themes have been used in most of the iconic scenes we all know so well, giving the scenes new life and energy. And for me, the best music replacement is the joining scene of Halloween and Halloween II. Instead of using the recognizable franchise theme like most fan edits, LS goes with something completely different and now it no longer plays like one movie ending and another beginning, but as just a single scene seamlessly transitioning from Act Two into Act Three. It is for me, a brilliant piece of editing.

I will say again, this is not the Halloween you remember.
Last Survivor has crafted something new, something different.
Less Kill-centric and more character focused.

A very refreshing Halloween fan edit.
Thumbs Up for me.
🎃🎃🎃😊
 
Last edited:
@bionicbob thank you so much for your review. You know it's funny, despite being a faneditor for 12 years now, I still get quite nervous about whether the edit I've just finished will work for others as well. This really is one such case, because as you're review points out, it really does change the feeling of the film from a slasher to more of a mystery/thriiller. Very kind words, and thanks as always for your wisdom and kind support during the making of the edit ;)
 
I don't know about other faneditors, but I always get nervous watching my own fanedits in the company of other people. Well, this Halloween we have a friend staying over, and we will be watching this edit. I'm looking forward to it, and my friend is a massive Halloween fan and says she's looking forward to watching this to take away the bad taste Halloween Ends left in her mouth - hopefully it will do the trick !

Btw, the edit should be listed on IFDB come Monday ;)
 
Many thanks to @Charlie Abs for the generous review! Glad you got the suspense mystery thriller vibe this edit lends the movies. Happy Halloween!!
 
@bionicbob thanks for the flattering review. I would never have pushed or challenged myself so much were it not for your encouragement, so thank you so much for that! Glad you enjoyed it mate.
 
I finally got a chance to listen to Last Survivor's Boogeyman commentary, and as always, it was very enjoyable and informative.
It is always fun to take a peak behind the curtain to understand the creative process that goes into a project such a this.
Well worth the listen!
Recommended. 👍
 
I am currently looking for this and cannot find it anywhere. How am I able to view the film? Thanks.
 
@Ryantology thanks from one Halloween fanatic to another for your in-depth review. Really appreciate it and so glad you enjoyed it.
 
This looks really cool, even for one of the people who didn't really jel with the brother sister dynamic. The effort it took to bridge the two films in a proper pace and plenty of editing tricks is awesome, and that isn't an overstatement. (y)
 
Just rewatched this again today as I was feeling the Halloween blues.

Stellar job, absolutely stellar. The combination of the two movies is nothing new to faneditors, but it's done with such panache here that I cannot praise it enough.

When I first read the changelog, I couldn't wrap my head around death scenes being cut for time. I'll be honest though - LastSurvivor managed to pull this off. I don't miss the kills! In this edit, everything flows very well.

The only thing that isn't quite for me is the music from other movies, but even then it can work really well. For example, the transition between movies as Michael escapes from Loomis is done brilliantly with the new soundtrack.

So much effort has gone into this and it shows. Fantastic fanedit, one that may even replace watching both movies individually on my yearly rewatch of the series!
 
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