A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 9-10

Within the sea cave, behind the black door

Lays an evil one cannot simply ignore

A lady of the well, both Lucas and Dodge

Have plans laid that are hard to dislodge

The family killer, a tragic regret

And a night that Matheson will not forget

Dodge has more keys, to use in her game

Including the one that sets things aflame

Knowing the consequence, seeing the dread

He put the Omega key inside his head

But ashes to ashes his secret’s revealed

At least the Lockes know to keep it concealed

The keys have their keepers, until they drop dead

Descendants now follow, in footsteps they tread

But another secret is yet to be seen

It will all be revealed on A Strange Halloween.

It’s our final look at Locke and Key, as both sides converge on the Black Door, who will prevail? Let’s find out.

A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 6-8

The family of Locke are in a new town

As long-buried secrets rise from the ground

Their father is dead, his killer roams free

But to fight this advancement, they may have the key

A magical home they’ve come to possess,

Filled with keys with powers they choose to assess,

One allows you to enter your head

Though fear is a monster you may come to dread

Kinsey has buried her fear in the ground,

Now her mind lacks restraint, not logically sound,

The keys keep calling, one gives you control,

But in drawing attention, there will come a toll

The ghost and the mirror, two powerful keys

Now in the hands of the youngest, Bode

As Dodge from her prison, the wellhouse, is free

She can go anywhere with the anywhere key.

Nina enquires to her husband’s old friends

But at every enquiry, she’s finding dead ends.

Like the death of a friend she cannot explain,

She looks at the bottle to relieve her of pain.

Memories haunting are found in some jars

Now Duncan may hold the key to the past.

More keys and answers may yet still be seen

But danger is lurking on A Strange Halloween.

We continue with Locke and Key as the mysteries have been heating up, and some of those lines from the poem are actually from the future? Let’s take a look and find out which

A Strange Halloween Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 3-5

The Lockes’ world is in disarray;

With Rendell’s death, there is dismay

Two face guilt, and drift apart

But the action is about to start

The well is open, Dodge is free

And in her hands, the anywhere key

Through any door, she can now pass

A power not easy to surpass

Into the mirror, a key opens the way

Another takes you inside your brain

For adults, the magic will be unseen

But the doors will open on A Strange Halloween

We’re taking another look at Locke and Key, what does the head key mean for the Locke siblings and their mother, well, let’s take a look.

A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 1-2

A father’s death leaves a family lost;

And grieving is not the only cost;

To start anew in a house their own;

They must face off with forces unknown 

Power lurks within this place;

Locked away without a trace;

But the keys and locks will soon be seen;

In Locke and Key on a Strange Halloween.

I'm gonna be delaying a Stranger Things retrospective until next year owing to it only being released a few weeks back [time of writing], I have something in mind for it, given the ungodly episode lengths. But instead, this Halloween, we’re looking at Locke and Key. Based on the comics written by Joe Hill with art by Gabriel Rodriguez, the series had a pilot developed for Fox, it didn’t make it past a pilot, but after a successful comic-con screening, they announced a feature film trilogy, which also didn’t make it. A pilot was made for Hulu but continuing the string of failures, Hulu also didn’t pick it up for a series. It’s at this point, Netflix came in, and gave the series a season order of 10 episodes. It dropped on February 2^nd 2020. [The Aug 10 date on the poster is for the most recent season] 

A Strange Halloween 4 - The New Mutants

A chance mutation causes you pain,

Eliminating all that you seek to gain,

Starting over becomes a must,

But not all around are folks you can trust

In likeminded people you might find your home,

A crew each with their own sins to atone,

But horrors abound like you wouldn’t believe,

Haunting your nightmares without a reprieve

It’s time to come face-to-face with your fear,

Else you friends won’t make it far from here,

Your nightmares made flesh or try to deceive,

It’s a Strange Halloween on All Hallows Eve

It’s time to look at The New Mutants, the final film from the Fox X-men line. It’s an X-men film that had a pretty troubled production. The idea was initially pitched in 2014, and was filmed in 2017, Professor X was originally going to be in this but was written out alongside various other x-men being slated to make an appearance, though these ideas were ultimately dropped. Fox was expecting for the film to undergo substantial reshoots, getting the film pushed back from its initial 2018 release date. But their efforts were delayed by the Disney-Fox acquisition and by the time Disney had completed their takeover, reshoots were no longer an option as the young cast had aged out of the roles. Still, Disney wasn’t exactly impressed with the product and did some work to increase the horror tone, which was more in-line with the original vision of writer/director Josh Boone.

Still, at this point the film had not been fully edited, and Boone was busy working on a Steven King adaptation, so he brought on editor Andrew Buckland to finish the film. The film was set to be released in March 2020 but a little thing known as COVID-19 saw it delayed yet again to August. Even then, this was Disney knowing this wasn’t going to be successful and cutting their losses.

And they may have been right, the film got a pretty bad 35% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and whilst it may have more outside of a pandemic, it made only $47m on it’s near $80m budget. Don’t think it would’ve been that successful either way, so let’s take a look and see what I thought…

A Strange Halloween - Addams Family Values

A family of quite a disturbing design,

Perturbing, cooky and hardly benign,

But their status quo is about to change,

A baby can make things really deranged

Their family values are put to test

As they show their worst and their best

The Addams’ family film yet to be seen

Will be covered next on a Strange Halloween

This took a trip to a second-hand store to get a copy of, it was Netflix last year but no such luck this year  just the original and the animated one (note: it came back onto Netflix just days after I initially wrote this review - talk about bad timing).

Anyway, Addams Family Values is the sequel to the 1991 film. It released in 1993, I don’t have a lot to say about its production, only that regrettably the signs of Raul Julia’s ill health that would eventually lead to his death had already begun to show at this point. The film had a $47m budget, hoping to capture the same success the first one had but it wasn’t to be, the film floundered making only $48.1m back at the box office. That said, the critical rating was slightly higher than its predecessor. Did the film work for me, well let’s take a look?

A Strange Halloween 4 - Happy Death Day 2U

A birthday is special, a magical time

But the forces of science have their own dark design

One push of a button from those with a brain

And you live this day again and again

A psycho in the shadows is in for the kill

But a slice of temptation will test your will

In many a dimension this day will be seen

As we do now on A Strange Halloween.

A Strange Halloween 4 - The Addams Family (2019)

A family that’s mysterious and cooky to the end

Their antics drive their neighbours round the bend

But change can shake things to the core

You can choose to embrace it or show you abhor

A mansion of misfits, shunned by the light

Does not protect them from internal strife

A perfect reflection is yet to be seen

As we continue A Strange Halloween

After Addams Family Values, which we will be getting to, disappointed at the Box Office, the Addams family franchise was left dormant. In 2010, Illumination entertainment, best known for the blight on humanity otherwise known as the Minions, were working on creating a stop motion Addams family project, certainly an interesting take. Tim Burton was set to direct but for whatever reason it fell through. In 2013, MGM, now owners of Orion pictures, the studio behind the 90's films, announced it would be making an animated take on the cooky family.

Now, MGM has a long history of producing animation, being the studio behind the original Tom and Jerry shorts, among others but their production of late is fairly slim pickings. They’re certainly not on the same level as something like Disney or even Illumination. CG is certainly a relatively new field for them, and they were only given a $23m budget for it. Still, the film was commercially successful, earning back $203m, but it divided critics with only a 44% Rotten Tomatoes rating

So, how does this animated Addams family show up? Let’s take a look.

A Strange Halloween 4: The Addams Family

It’s back, muhahahahahahahahaha

A family of misfits, who embrace the macabre

And all things that are odd, strange and bizarre

Starting in artwork but moved to the screen

It’s an opening chapter of a Strange Halloween

The Addams family was created as a series of single panel comics by artist Charles Addams in 1938. It is no stranger to adaptation, receiving a TV series in the 1960s, with a TV movie loosely attached, an animated series in 1973, and an upcoming Netflix series helmed by the guy who was born to direct this franchise, Tim Burton. But we’re looking at the cinematic releases, starting with the 1991 film. [I won’t be covering the animated sequel, as it’ll only just have released]

The film has a notoriously troubled production, with several rewrites, and directors of photography putting the film $5m over-budget. Orion Pictures, who produced several classics such as Silence of the Lambs were sadly already in financial difficulty, sold the North American distribution rights to Paramount. And for what it’s worth, they and the international distributers MGM (who would go onto buy Orion Pictures) got a good deal out of it, the film made $190m on its $30m budget.

#80 - IT Chapter 2 (A Strange Halloween 3)

Derry Maine is an odd town

Perfect for Pennywise the clown

He feeds on fear, the stories claim

As he pulls your carcass down the drain

A group of kids, resolute and bold

Change the way the story’s told

A losers’ club combats the fear

And vow to fight should IT reappear

Now the second half of the tale

They may be older, but hardly frail

The fight renewed, the club reconvene

It’s IT Chapter 2 on A Strange Halloween

It's been a good few years since IT Chapter 1 graced the cinema, when we didn't have to worry for our lives paying the place a visit

We were teased with a sequel as it began and with it making all the money, the sequel was inevitably greenlit. And it was given a larger budget, $79m, more than double the budget of the original.

But it seems there were some cutbacks when it came to writing, the original had 3 writers, Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman, only Gary Dauberman returned to write the sequel.

The film made $473.1m at the box office, which is profitable but not even close to the $700m chapter 1 made, and the critical reception was more mixed and for good reason. And it’s on Rage4Media so you can guess which side of the divide I fall on. But why? Let’s take a look and find out.

A Strange Halloween 3 - Stranger Things Season 3 Episodes 7-8

Dangers approach as we come to the end

No sign that anything’s on the mend

The gate may be pierced but it’s only ajar

And Russian security got them only so far. 

Hopper’s an outlaw, through corruption and greed

He’s called in a favour to help them succeed

But only half of the tale does he know

As Billy has something deadly in tow 

The Mind Flayer has mind for revenge on El

And his plan is succeeding, the past stories tell

Nothing good can come of this scheme

As it comes to pass on A Strange Halloween

 

We’re about to wrap up this month’s Stranger Things run, and things are looking pretty grim for our heroes with them being squeezed on both fronts, how will they get out of this one? Let’s take a look.

A Strange Halloween 3 - Stranger Things Season 3 Episodes 5-6 (Netflix Retrospective)

It seems that Hawkins will never see rest

As Billy failed the sauna test

The Mind Flayer returns, an army at call

And chemicals, it seems to want them all 

Nancy and Jonathan investigate

But problems they seem to instigate

Fired from their paper, their romance askew

But maybe their boss is not who they knew 

Joyce and Hopper check out the lab

It seems derelict, abandoned and drab

But a knockoff Terminator follows their feet

As a Russian scientist they happen to meet 

Dustin and Steve with Robin in tow

Sneak into a lift, how low will it go?

Erica with them, a green vial found

Only trouble can ensue with that around

The Lab and The Flayer, two threats at the door

Corrupt Mayors and scientists we must not ignore

One could hope that it’s only a dream

But it’s all come to pass on A Strange Halloween

A Strange Halloween 3 - Stranger Things Season 3 Episodes 3-4 (Netflix Retrospective)

Starcourt Mall, shiny and bold

Has shattered relationships, so I am told

Billy was a lifeguard, became a prophet

And Downtown stores aren’t making a profit

Hopper is upset his date didn’t show

As magnets stop, how? We don’t know

A radio message, a code in disguise

An enemy, Russian, one to despise 

But old threats are not out the game

Billy and his army of rats are to blame

The Mind Flayer is back, weak but still mean

We continue this plight on A Strange Halloween 

If that sounded a bit scatter-brained that’s only because that describes the last two episodes perfectly, still, they’ve scattered an entertaining series of clues for us to be engaged by along with some teen relationship drama. Let’s see how things continue…

A Strange Halloween 3 - Stranger Things Season 3 Episodes 1-2 (Netflix Retrospective)

A lot can happen in a small town

When it’s connected to the upside-down

What began as a search for a lost child;

Became a horror show, deadly and wild 

Though the child in end was found

There still was danger around

And through the course of season 2

That threat began to rise anew 

Pushed back by force, its portal gone

A girl adopted; time moves on

But one summer will prove far from serene

For it’s Stranger Things on A Strange Halloween

It’s been a while since we last looked at Stranger Things. Season 3 was released in the summer of 2019. The trailers had bigged up a new shopping mall built in town of Hawkins, Starcourt. But there was very little plot actually teased, only the notion that Will wasn’t going to be put through the mill again this season. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at Stranger Things season 3 and see if lived up to the hype.