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Movie of the Day: Helloween
Today’s movie, the recently released Helloween, had a lot to live up to considering the two movies mentioned in its official trailer. Quotes call Helloween “the British Terrifier” and say it’s “The Purge with clowns.” Though I see why those two quotes were made, neither is really accurate, and they kind of set viewers up for something they’re not going to get.
Helloween is about Dr. Ellen Marks, a psychologist who has spent years involved with the case of Carl Cane. When Cane was ten years old, he murdered his foster parents and three additional people on Halloween night in 1996. He was caught and placed in Morton Downs Psychiatric Hospital where Dr. Marks tried to help him for ten years, and then spent the next ten years making sure he’d never see the outside of a cell. In 2016, Carl Cane escapes, and he has plans to ruin the lives of Dr. Marks and her daughters by forcing the doctor to make an impossible decision.
That’s the main focus of the story, but the movie also includes a big idea which is the main focus of the trailer. A cult of sinister clowns wearing Carl Cane’s signature “lashes and slashes” makeup design has risen, and the clowns have been spotted throughout the United Kingdom. The clowns have threatened violence, but they haven’t actually done anything yet as Halloween day begins in 2016. That year is significant, because it coincides with the widespread reports of scary clown sightings in the real world. It’s an idea with a lot of potential for a horror movie, but, unfortunately, Helloween doesn’t really capitalize on it.
The clown army built around Carl Cane doesn’t play much of a factor in Helloween. Cane is portrayed as a Joker type of character who has an influence over many people, but if there are widespread clown attacks throughout the UK, we don’t see them. Nor do we hear much about them in any specific way other than a brief news broadcast warning of potential danger. The scope of the story is really only about four people—Ellen, her daughters Alice and Leah, and Cane—despite the trailer making it seem like the scale of the violence could be huge. A small scope isn’t a bad thing. Helloween more like the home invasion of The Purge (2013) rather than the chaos-in-the-streets of the rest of the Purge franchise. That could be a good thing, but the drama and social/moral commentary in Helloween is nowhere near the level of the original Purge film. Without that, Helloween is a bit flat.
That really points to the main idea I hope to get across in this review. Helloween is filled with very clear inspirations from many other films, but it doesn’t piece them together into a truly compelling story. It’s a movie full of ideas, but with very little impact. I’ve already mentioned The Purge, but here’s a quick rundown of some other influences. It is represented by Cane and his clowns using a single floating balloon to creep people out, but the balloon is yellow instead of red. There’s some Silence of the Lambs with the way Cane is portrayed as cryptic and charismatic, and with how he’s presented to us while in custody. There’s a tiny bit of Saw towards the end of Helloween in the impossible decision Ellen is forced to make. Also, the beginning of Helloween feels a lot like Halloween (1978) with Cane killing someone as a kid, and Dr. Marks is very much a Dr. Loomis style of character. I also got some Alone in the Dark (1982) vibes with how the home invasion part of the story happens.
Star Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Helloween is shot well, but I would have preferred it if it had been a straightforward slasher like the opening scene seemed to set up. Or if it had been more like the Purge sequels with a barrage of violence. As it is, Helloween is an okay horror movie with relatively little blood (so, not like Terrifier despite what the trailer says), and a focus on a story that is just okay. There’s a ton of potential, and I’d like to see Carl Cane again in a sequel if it were to capitalize on the premise more, but this movie just gets a mild recommendation for curious fans of clown horror. Helloween is currently available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
Birthdays
Jennifer Tilly was born on September 16th, 1958. Her most iconic horror roles have been in the Chucky franchise beginning with Bride of Chucky in which she played Charles Lee Ray’s former girlfriend Tiffany Valentine. She’s been in every Chucky movie since then, and she’s in the TV series. Throughout the franchise, Jennifer has played Tiffany in live-action and in doll form, and she’s even played a fictional version of her real-life self (again, both in live-action and in doll form). Jennifer has been in a few other horror-related projects as well, but her most well-known performance might be co-starring with Gina Gershon in the thriller Bound (1996).
Also celebrating a birthday today is Mickey Rourke. Born September 16th, 1952, Mickey began acting and boxing at a young age. He’s primarily known for action, thrillers, and dramas, but his leading role in the 1987 Southern Gothic neo-noir film Angel Heart is something everyone should see.
More birthdays on September 16th:
- Max Minghella (1985) – Spiral (2021)
- Kíla Lord Cassidy (2009) – The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
Events on This Day
Pearl was released in US theaters on September 16th, 2022. It is a prequel to X, a movie which started playing theatrically just six months prior to Pearl (X was released on March 18th, 2022). Both movies were filmed back to back in New Zealand. There is a significant overlap between the crews of Pearl, X, and Avatar: The Way of Water. This is because all three movies were filmed in New Zealand, and the crew of The Way of Water was on a break from shooting James Cameron’s film during the production of Ti West’s films.
Blair Witch was released in theaters on September 16th, 2016. Though the film was always intended to be a sequel to The Blair Witch Project (1999), prior to release the connections to the 1999 were kept secret, and the film was advertised as The Woods. During the prerelease screening for The Woods at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016, all of the posters in the theater for The Woods were changed to Blair Witch while the audience was watching the movie. The online presence for The Woods was also changed to Blair Witch around the same time.
