10/5/2007 - Michael Myers vs Jason Voorhees

October is probably my favorite month of the year. Mostly because the last day is Halloween and that means all the horror movies are shown this month. I'm a fan of all kinds of horror movies and slasher films in particular. The slasher characters are of particular interest because they are clearly evil and do evil acts, and yet you root for them somehow. Why is that? I'm not sure... It may be because they are shown as unstoppable killing machines and their "superhuman" abilities to take damage and come back for more elevates them to idol status.

Which slasher do I like the best? That would have to be Michael Myers of the Halloween movies. And that's simply do to the fact that I think his mask is the coolest of them all. Even though Jason Vorhees and I share the same first name, I never identified with him. The hockey mask is only a little scary and it's hardly unique. However, Michael Myers' mask is one that is really creepy, especially when you consider the fact that it's a William Shatner mask painted white. Freddy Kruger only has a burnt face and is too manic to be considered scary for me, and Leatherface is just plain grotesque (although the fact that he can RUN after his victims is pretty scary).

The original Halloween movie is definitely one of my favorite horror movies and is something that I must put on DVD ever year on the 31st. It's not scary or gory by today's standards, but it still has a great suspenseful atmosphere to it that you don't have in today's horror movies. Also, I just love the character of Dr. Loomis. Yes, it's a takeoff of the Van Helsing character of the Dracula novel, but it's still rather unique... especially for a slasher movie. While I loved the original movie, I was rather indifferent to the remake that came out this year. In fact, the only things I liked in the remake were the elements that were lifted from the original! I mean, they did get the mask right... all the other ones after Halloween 2 were pale imitations (no pun intended).

While Freddy vs. Jason was a decent movie in that it tried to present a gory showdown between two iconic slashers, I would have preferred that they make a Michael vs. Jason movie. Jason may be the stronger of the two (and he has a freakin' machete!), I think Michael would outlast Jason. After all, Michael was shot in both eyes in Halloween 2 and still kept on swinging that kitchen knife. Well, if they ever made that movie, here is what it would look like as a wrestling match: