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1: Perfect for Halloween.

The original NIGHT OF THE DEMONS is a well-acknowledged perennial Halloween-set horror favorite but somehow its nearly equal sequel gets somewhat shafted. NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2 kindly treats viewers to plenty of spooky season eye candy including but not limited to a plethora of costumes and decorations at an All Hallow's Eve bash. Sure the trees are tellingly green but the film's climax features a hefty load of crunchy leaves framing a courtyard fight for life. Beyond the visual array, the film's consistent commitment to mischief, hijinks and mayhem is the perfect fit for a Halloween night.

2: Solid Sequel.

NOTD2 does everything a sequel should do and it does it right. It expands from the original film without stepping on its toes, it takes it in new directions while still being faithful and it winks toward the previous film whilst offering the unexpected and new. It's actually such an airtight, well constructed ship that I'd say it can stand completely on its own and familiarity with its source material is beneficial but certainly not required.

3: The Humor.

Combining humor with horror can be a treacherous affair and the road to hell is paved with failed attempts. As silly and over the top as NOTD2 is willing to go (this is the type of film to shamelessly utilize the old holy water in a super soaker gag) it's able to keep the threat level high enough that the chuckles never sink the ship. A kick-ass nun with Ninja skills may elicit eye rolls on paper but the miraculous way it is pulled off here creates a memorable heroine for the ages. Sick, dark, bawdy and maybe a slash corny this movie is consistent giddy fun.

4: The Special Effects.

NOTD2 may be a mid-nineties horror film but the squishy brazen gore and twisted monster effects may have you convinced it was born a good decade earlier. Perhaps because it avoided theaters and was released straight to video, NOTD2 clearly has no qualms showing the good stuff and there is some real eye-popping artistry on display if you're so inclined. Be prepared for a horrific mouth injury, breasts that transform into grabbing hands, one of the better decapitations I've ever witnessed and a final-boss snake-beast that puts most big studio horror pictures to shame.

5: The Cast.

Returning Amelia Kinkade's demonic Angela is still the star of the show but just as in the original, she's surrounded by many a scene-stealer. Merle Kennedy (MAY) is highly sympathetic as Angela's estranged sister Melissa who is better known as "Mouse", Cristi Harris (NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW) shines as Mouse's only ally, Zoe Trilling (DR. GIGGLES) is the ultimate bad girl and Christine Taylor (THE CRAFT, CAMPFIRE) is her usual brilliant self as snarky but ultimately likable brat Terri. For my money, Jennifer Rhodes performance as Sister Gloria is the jewel on the film's crown. At first, she is presented as the typical nightmare scold but by the end of the movie, her character keenly destroys all cliché expectations. On her Imdb page, Rhodes says she's best known for a horror film she doesn't wish to discuss but since she was in SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 as well, I'm going to assume that's that one she is referring to. Surely, she can only be proud of NOTD2; a fun, frightening foray perfect for Halloween viewing.

Nothing gets me in the mood for the spooky season like popping in my VHS of Halloween 4 and hearing the VCR hum to life. Even just typing that made me want to light some pumpkin spice candles and crawl under a blanket on the couch. Now, there is no doubt that the original Halloween is one of the greatest horror films ever made and—for obvious reasons—the film most closely associated with the holiday that shares its name. But, for me, it's Halloween 4 that really sets the mood for all of October.

And since Halloween (the holiday) is on everyone's mind currently, I thought I'd revisit one of my favorite sequels of the Halloween franchise. Here are my Five Favorite Things about Halloween 4.

THE SETTING/ATMOSPHERE
Mention Halloween 4 to any fan of the film and the first thing they'll bring up are the opening credits. And it's true: they're great. Just a few shots of a barren field and some weathered halloween decorations under an overcast sky—boom, that's all that's needed to set the tone for the entire movie. Simple, but incredibly effective.

But it's not just the opening credits that create that sort of atmosphere; the whole movies feels like it's actually October in a small Midwestern town. The streets are perpetually wet and dappled with fallen leaves. A foggy haze hangs low over the backyards at night. Our protagonist, little Jamie Lloyd, buys her Halloween costume from a local drugstore (employed with teens who all know each other). The town watering hole is a total dive filled with hicks with shotguns. It's just feels so real.

Part of the reason why Halloween 4 got the seasonal look so right was because it was shot in Salt Lake City, Utah at the beginning of April, when it's incredibly wet and dreary, with temperatures barely rising above 60. (Halloween, on the other hand, was shot in and around Los Angeles in May, when temps are already in the high 70s—if not higher.) Pop Halloween 4 in on an overcast fall day and I'm sure you'll agree!

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
When creating a fictional town like Haddonfield, the best way to make it feel real is to fill it with real characters. The original Halloween introduced us to some local teens and the police department. Halloween II did an even better job, inserting other neighborhood residents, news crews, more police, and an entire hospital staff. Halloween 4 raises the bar even higher.

The gruff Dr. Hoffman; the stoic Deputy Logan; the prophetic Rev. Jackson P. Sayer; lame-o Wade; stocky and standoffish Bucky. It's been said "there are no small parts, only small actors", and that feels particularly true with Halloween 4. Every character, no matter how brief their screen-time, fleshes out the world of Haddonfield that much more.

Halloween II did a great job of this when Nurse Janet tells Bud and Jimmy an anecdotal story about Michael Myers, in the breakroom of the hospital: "Julie saw him, you know—you know the Shop and Bag out by the mall? She stopped at the light and saw him walking in that field behind the Lost River Drive-In. Julie said he was so creepy." We never see the drive-in she describes, or the Shop and Bag; we never see or hear anymore about this Julie character. But it builds a world.

Same thing for Halloween 4. At one point, a fired-up group of hillbillies accidentally gun down an innocent local kid (again, mirroring Ben Tramer from Halloween II); "Shit, Earl. It's Ted Hollister." says one of the good ol' boys. Who's Ted Hollister? Doesn't matter. It's just world-building, and it works.

WHAT A GREAT PLOT!
I like when horror sequels are able to find a balance between "paying homage to the original" and "elevating the original idea". You don't gotta send your villain to space to keep me interested. Just find that happy cozy medium between the original and somewhere slightly beyond.

During the climax of Halloween, Laurie strode is running around her post-trick-or-treated neighborhood, desperate to find some help and/or shelter from her pursuant killer, Michael Myers. But no matter where she goes, the porch lights are off and the doors are locked.

How does Halloween 4 elevate that? It knocks out the power in the entire town and kills off the entire police force. It's great! No one is able to call anyone for help—everyone is on their own! In another mirror of the original: Michael was chasing the babysitter in '78, with the kids as collateral. In the '88 sequel, he's chasing the kid with the babysitter as collateral. God, this movie is good.

THE SINGLE LOCATION CLIMAX
Much like almost the entirety of Halloween II, Halloween 4 finds the beginning of its third act taking place in a single location. H2 had the hospital and its labyrinthine bowels, H4 has a two-story Victorian that's been dead-bolted and is inescapable.

"We're trapped in this house," explains Brady to the terrified Rachel and Jamie. Again, upping the ante: imagine being unable to escape the house while Michael Myers is locked inside with you! Adding to the scare factor: Michael is able to snuff people out within the darkened house (remember, he knocked out the power in the entire town) without anyone else in the house even noticing at first.

The scene culminates on top of the house, with Michael slashing at both Rachel and Jamie as they slide down—and eventually fall off—the roof. In the original story, the house was supposed to be on fire while all of this was happening, but budget and time constraints nixed that. While a burning rooftop chase would have been an awesome sight, the whole climax as it stands is incredibly exciting.

MICHAEL MYERS IS SCARY!
Michael Myers is genuinely scary in Halloween 4. Dare I say, maybe the last time he was scary? (Though, I will concede, he had his moments in Halloween 6 and Halloween (2018).)

There's just something very ghostly and ethereal about Michael in H4—it's like he's haunting Haddonfield. From the creepy shots of him appearing (and disappearing) in Jamie's mirror to him being discovered hanging out in the diner kitchen by Dr. Loomis to him loitering in foggy backyards at night, his presence in H4 just feels otherworldly. Halloween 4 employs many of the great things that makes the character so scary, like having his mask just barely visible in certain shots, and including the classic POV shots that the original did so well.

And the mask—the mask gets a lot of criticism from fans, but I always liked it. It has an incredibly blank expression—more so than the original, I think—and it looks kind of sad to me, which actually ups the creep factor. The combo of the forlorn expression while he's murdering people—chilling!

When I think of the later sequels, Michael just doesn't seem that scary. Sure, he's threatening. Sometimes he's big and bulky; other times he's excessively violent. But are those things necessarily scary? As scary as a guy who tracks down his 7-year-old niece to murder her, while bearing a face that says "I don't even know why I'm doing this"? I think not!

Note: Visit Doc at his awesome home joint Camera Viscera HERE!

First, let me preface this by assuring the reader that Full Metal Jacket (which I'll call FMJ from here on out) is one of the greatest horror films of all time. Many people would claim that FMJ is not a horror film but a war film and they would be wrong. FMJ is one of the most realistic horror films ever created that documents, in stark visuals, the transformation of innocents to monstrous killing machines and the consequences of unleashing them upon the world. It relays with an unblinking eye man's inhumanity to man and the historical bloodlust of mankind for unceasing war and conflict. It is the quintessential horror film that relays its message not with symbolism or subtle references but with a rifle butt to the face.

1: R. Lee Ermey

If there was ever a more perfect character in a film than Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, I haven't seen it. R. Lee Ermey was the most potent, over the top encapsulation of the entire film's zeitgeist in one unforgettable character. He was the symbol of war itself: in a polite, genteel society, the populace would be ashamed of something so crude, base and uncivilized but when the inevitability of conflict came and the threat became too personal, society would cry out for such animalistic, brutal men to protect them. He was the devil himself but the necessary devil that society never admits it needs but always turns to in case of danger. The closest character I can compare it to is John Wayne's character Ethan Edwards in John Ford's The Searchers.

2: Quotability

With 99% percent of the greatest lines coming from R. Lee Ermey's character, most improvised by him, you could say this movie was the R. Lee Ermey show and you wouldn't be wrong. But there are plenty of other great lines from the film that my friends and coworkers reference non-stop to this day. It gets to the point that when a new person comes onboard and is driven insane by our constant references to certain movies, they break down and watch them only to start quoting them themselves. Between Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Caddyshack, Full Metal Jacket and The Simpsons, you pretty much have a movie quote for every situation in life.

3: Two act play

Full Metal Jacket is essentially two movies squished somewhat uncomfortably together, but it's that juxtaposition that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The first act is the creation of the monster, a striking success in the case of Joker and a disastrous failure in the case of Private Pyle, but an unblinking portrayal of dehumanization and stripping away of innocence and its replacement with unadulterated savagery. The second act is the monster escaped: a spinning, dizzying dance of the macabre as the monster's creator cackles with delight as his creation is unleashed upon the world. They are like quarreling siblings whose personalities are so polar opposite it leads to constant fighting but, in the end, they are inseparable and imagining one without the other would be intolerable.

4: The Soap Party

While most people would say the most brutal scene in the movie is the bathroom scene where Private Pyle's and Hartman's story lines end, I would say a far more brutal scene is the soap party where Private Pyle's company mates hold him down and beat him mercilessly with bars of soap wrapped in socks. Unlike the bathroom scene, the brutality here was more than just graphic and gory; it was merciless, compassionless, inhumane and was a breaking point where Joker's humanity left him and he became the monster of Hartman's design. The closest analogy I can think of is a puppy with an innate defect that makes him unable to stop peeing on the floor and the owner, who has been concerned and caring up to this point, embraces the darkness and beats the puppy mercilessly out of frustration. This is the image that came to mind as Pyle is lashed to the bed with the sheet, unable to escape and lets out soft whines and whimpers as the blows rain down upon him. He is now totally alone, completely abandoned, his only supporter now his torturer, and he has become eternally trapped "in a world of shit".

5: The sniper scene

This is the scene that sticks with most people and for good reason. It is the climax of the film, the encapsulation of the film's message, and one of those rare scenes that brings the viewer to an uncomfortable place where they start to feel that pull of savagery, that transformation to the base impulses of humanity they just witnessed on screen with horror. A sniper has just tortured and butchered characters we have come to love and sympathize with; when they finally corner the sniper it's a 12 year old girl who was sacrificially left behind to slow their advance. And instead of a little girl, terrified and praying, we see a butcher, a destroyer and our impulse is "Kill her, make her pay for what she just did to our friends". We have become the monster, we have been transformed, we have become what we would never allow ourselves to be. A fake war in a fake story in a fake scene has made us feel things we never thought we could feel and never admit we could contemplate. And the stark contrast between the cold, remote, detached killing wracked by the sniper and the personal, intimate killing of the sniper herself is a masterful juxtaposition that makes the psychic shock even greater.

Bonus trivia: R. Lee Ermey was never supposed to be in the film. He was originally just a hired technical consultant but wanted the role so bad he would dress up in his drill sergeant uniform and literally transform himself into the character on set. Stanley Kubrick swiftly noticed and gave him the part he was born to play. The role of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman was originally given to Tim Colceri who was eventually cast as the insane helicopter door-gunner. Colceri never forgave the betrayal and in a later interview wept bitter tears over losing the role.