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| The Scream Factory: By: Matt Russell |
| When you think about it, the thought of a HALLOWEEN book series for young adults isn't very appealing. But, when you've seen the films a million times each and you're desperately awaiting the next installment in the series, it's really all you got to satisfy your crave for something new with Michael Myers and Haddonfield. Two girls are asked by the mayor to turn the basement of Haddonfield City Hall into a haunted maze for a big Halloween party. So they ask their boyfriends to help them, but what they don't know is that Michael Myers is back! Well, my advice when reading this book is, not to take it too seriously. The first question that everyone will ask is, "Is this a good book?" Well, here's my answer: As a HALLOWEEN story, the book is horrible! We get Michael calling up two girls from a payphone across the street and growling at them, we get him leaving a jack-o'-lantern in a girl's locker at school with a threatening note saying, "This Halloween will be your last," and we get him bringing weapons out of his hat, or umm... his mask. I mean he must be a magician here! One moment he has a gleaming butcher knife, another he has an axe, and the next moment he has a shovel! We also have him trying to kill two kids riding on a motorcycle by cutting down an oak tree causing it to fall on the street right in front of them. He also tries to kill everyone at the party, by pouring gasoline all over the City Hall lobby while all the kids stand around and watch him, and he ignites it by smashing a jack-o'-lantern. The character of Michael Myers is REALLY poorly written. Also, the continuity of the series is very bad. All that is mentioned is that Michael's body has never been found after the murders of 1978, so this book goes the H20 way. This may be where the writers of H20 got the idea to disregard the sequels! And I never noticed that the Myers house was on Ripley Road! I thought it was on Lampkin Lane, but hey, what's the difference? I also never noticed that Haddonfield had so much forest! There's a stretch of woods around the Myers house, woods around City Hall, Woods around all of the kids' houses. Hmmm. Now, is this book awful? No, in fact. Not if you look at it from a normal slasher standpoint. When reading this book, I tried to forget that I was reading a HALLOWEEN book and tried to think that this was just a normal slasher flick with a human killer going after these kids. And I must say, that while many of the things that happen with these teenagers are a bit unbelievable, the characters are pretty likable and the relationship between one girl and boy is pretty interesting if you can get past some of the poor dialogue. Two other problems with this book is that the way they defeat Michael is very lame, and the book ends a little too abruptly, not giving you enough time to absorb the kids' reactions to the night's events. So, would this book make a good HALLOWEEN sequel? No! Michael is really written out of character and there is no reason why he's going after these characters. He keeps leaving notes that say "Revenge!" Revenge against whom? For what? Would this book make a good slasher flick? Yes! If you made a few minor changes with the story and the dialogue I think so! Like I said before, don't take this book too seriously, and if you get a little fed up while reading it with how out of character Michael is, just do what I did and try to think of it as a normal slasher book. If you're really tight about the HALLOWEEN story and characters, I wouldn't suggest this book, but if you absolutely can't wait for the next HALLOWEEN film and you really want something new with Michael, give this one a shot, but remember what I said: Don't take this book too seriously. |
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