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Post #1498869

Author
ArtisDead
Parent topic
FanEdit Reviews - Post Your Reviews Here
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1498869/action/topic#1498869
Date created
9-Aug-2022, 3:45 AM

Halloween: The Doctor’s Cut a fanedit by JNisch

Halloween has always held a special place in my movie lover’s heart. It was the first movie that really scared me. I saw others later that did, as well, like Alien and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original).

I never really got into the Friday The 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street movies (sorry ray). I was unable to suspend logical disbelief long enough to enjoy them.

There is something special about the idea that Michael could be superhuman just by the power of his own will. Several effervescent self help gurus have proclaimed that you can do almost anything if you put your mind to it. This very ideology puts Michael on a different level.

We get to see Michael’s madness intimately and it looks a little different than a mindless serial slasher like Jason or Freddy. Michael seems to be called by a power greater than himself. That’s extremely chilling.

JNisch travels a much different path than the editors before him with this edit. The idea of focusing on the dichotomy of Michael and his relationship with Dr. Loomis instead of Michael slash, slash, slashing his way to Laurie Strode is genius. There is a tumultuous relationship there. You can’t help but think that Dr. Loomis almost admires the purity of Michael’s single-minded murderous rampage. That is brought out magnificently by JNisch in this edit.

JNisch only excised what was necessary to drive his intended narrative. The segue from the first movie to the second was so well disguised that we had to watch it several times to determine where it was. And it works perfectly.

Using Don’t Fear The Reaper in the beginning segment which is a black & white memory of Michael’s first kill was downright unnerving. I kept restarting it so that we could feel the chill run up our backs and watch the hair on our arms stand up. It sets the perfect tone for what’s to come. Right out the gate we experienced how intensely Dr. Loomis recognizes the evil that is Michael Myers.

The edit fired on all cylinders from that moment on literally leaving us breathless. By the time we got to the end and that very haunting cover of Don’t Fear The Reaper by Keep Shelly in Athens, we felt like some sort of transcendent moment took place. And we were sober. This is our definitive replacement for the first two Halloween movies.

I’ve seen so many edits of the many iterations of Halloween. Some were very well done. One was absolutely chilling. None were quite like this one. I have watched it over and over again trying to figure out why this one had such an effect on me. I may never know. I do know that this feeling is the very reason that I love fanedits and put so much time into helping faneditors.

It’s not a perfect edit and it won’t be for everyone. Those of you who are like us are in for a rare treat.

I will let others pick it apart technically. I loved it too much to even consider doing it myself. I gave it an arbitrary 9 in both categories for that reason.

Two very very enthusiastic thumbs up!