Ever feel like you just need a nudge to give your students time for low-stakes writing? Here you go!
Let Them Write — TWO WRITING TEACHERS
Let Them Write — TWO WRITING TEACHERS
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Writing with Burnout — Sol Vera’s Blog
My personal experience about writing with Burnout.
Writing with Burnout — Sol Vera’s Blog
HALLOWEEN 2. (1981) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
STARRING JAMIE LEE CURTIS, DONALD PLEASENCE, NANCY LOOMIS, CHARLES CYPHERS, NANCY STEPHENS, LEO ROSSI, ANA ALICIA, DANA CARVEY AND DICK WARLOCK.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
Although no film can ever be as good as the original HALLOWEEN, the daddy of all the slasher movies that came afterwards, HALLOWEEN 2 actually has a pretty damn good ‘stab’ at it. (See what I did there…?)
When I saw it first, I was thrilled to bits to find that it continues directly on from the first film, so anyone who wants to know what happened after Michael Myers’s fateful return to his home town of Haddonfield one Halloween night is going to want to see this.
The action mostly takes place in the deliciously spooky setting of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Jamie Lee Curtis as teenager Laurie Strode is whisked off to HMH after being attacked and stabbed by The Man in the White Mask towards the end of the first film.
The sequel sees her trying to recover from her non-life-threatening injuries while being stalked once more by Michael Myers, who has naturally tracked her down to the hospital. Well, he would, wouldn’t he? We don’t know how he does it, but he seems to just have a natural kind of instinct-slash-radar for this kind of thing. Heh-heh-heh, I said ‘slash…’
Michael Myers is at his ghoulishly murderous best in this terrific horror flick. Having been shot a whopping six times by Dr. Loomis at the end of HALLOWEEN, he is apparently now in better shape than ever as he cuts a deadly swathe through the staff of HMH in his attempts to get to Laurie.
He kills pretty young nurses, doctors, orderlies and the hospital’s one security guard in increasingly inventive ways. You could actually say that he’s the worst thing to happen to the health service since the Bubonic plague.
He even kills Ana Alicia at one point, the brunette beauty who shot to fame as Melissa Agretti in glitzy soap opera FALCON CREST. God, I loved that show. Angela Channing, Chase and Maggie Gioberti, Richard Channing, Lance and Melissa… the glamour, the bitching, the intrigue! And that was just Jane Wyman as manipulative old Angela Channing…
(Dana Carvey from WAYNE’S WORLD is in the movie too as someone called Barry McNichol, but I don’t know who that is. Leo Rossi, who plays the sexually harassing male nurse called Budd Scarlotti in HALLOWEEN 2, also plays a man who eggs on the rapists in THE ACCUSED (1988).
He can say in all sincerity on his resume that he’s played a sexual pervert to near perfection at least twice in his career… I never forgot the nasty, chilling way he said ‘you’re next’ to the scared little waitress in THE ACCUSED who’s only just realising that a gang-rape is taking place.)
Some of the nurses look like porn stars, no kidding, the kind you can imagine being paid to give an ailing Mafia boss a lap-dance and a hand-job under the hospital bedcovers in full nurse’s regalia.
But Michael, sadly, is immune to the charms of the female sex. He’s very much an equal opportunities murderer. He’ll kill anyone, regardless of gender, age, profession or social status, God bless his evil heart.
One ball-breaking staff nurse is strapped to an operating table and has her life’s blood drained out of her drop by drop. Very ingenious, very Holmes and Moriarty in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON from 1943. Although how Michael would have the medical knowledge to do this, I’m not sure.
A dopey young orderly slips in the nurse’s life’s-blood and brains himself. Michael Myers doesn’t even have to lift a finger to disable that dozy chappie.
Another orderly, a bit of a pervy sleazebag (the afore-mentioned Leo Rossi as Budd Scarlotti), is garrotted while his naked nurse girlfriend waits for him in the hydrotherapy hot tub presumably intended for patients’ use only. Oh well. What do you expect if you break the rules?
The girlfriend’s death is particularly inventive. Michael Myers silently comes up behind her and caresses her bare shoulder in a curiously sensual scene. Of course, she thinks it’s her boyfriend, the orderly, who’s touching her goodies, so she gets one hell of a shock when she looks up and sees Michael’s impassively masked face staring down at her.
He grabs her and dunks her face in the water, which is by now boiling hot as he’s sneakily turned up the thermostat himself. She drowns in the hot tub, but not before she’s lost a good few layers of her facial skin… Eeuw!
We never really, in any of the films, see Michael engage in sexual activity or become romantically involved. I suppose some fans would feel that he’d lose a lot of his mysticism that way. I for one, though, would like to see him gettin’ jiggy with it with someone, but that’s probably because I’m enormously sexually attracted to the guy, psychopathic misfit that he is. I’m just saying, is all…
The film ends with a climactic showdown in a deserted corner of the hospital between Michael Myers, Laurie Strode and Donald Pleasence, who has reprised his role as the brown-overcoated Englishman, Dr. Loomis. (And, speaking of the good doctor, who’s gonna take responsibility for what happens to poor Ben Tramer, might I ask? Oh, no-one? Fair enough. Sorry I spoke. Do please carry on…)
He’s all up in a heap because he’s just discovered that Michael and Laurie are actually… well, let’s just say that he’s found out a deep dark secret that connects Laurie to the man who just can’t stop killing folks, a secret that might have ‘grave’ consequences for poor Laurie, lol.
I won’t tell you who, if anyone, escapes the fiery dénouement of the film. You’ll have to watch it for yourself to find out. HALLOWEEN 2 is a worthy sequel to one of the most iconic horror movies of all time, although I know some critics feel that it’s just one crude kill after another and lacks the finesse of the original film, but I still dig it.
Haddonfield Memorial Hospital is fantastically eerie- and curiously short on patients- as Michael Myers stalks its halls in the dead of night. (That hospital sure needs to put in a request for some more money. And staff. It really could use some more staff. And a hot tub re-filling. And, while we’re about it, a push-broom re-bristling. Better safe than sorry.) All three of the main protagonists play their parts to perfection. There’s nothing much left to say. Long live Michael Myers. Good evening…
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, poet, short story writer and film and book blogger. She has studied Creative Writing and Vampirology. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, women’s fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra’s books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
Her debut romantic fiction novel, ‘THIRTEEN STOPS,’ is out now from Poolbeg Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Stops-Sandra-Harris-ebook/dp/B089DJMH64
The sequel, ‘THIRTEEN STOPS LATER,’ is out now from Poolbeg Books:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781994234
Rambling Thoughts on Writers and Mental Health — Mark Stay Writes
I recorded a few rambling thoughts about writers and their mental health on World Mental Health Day… TRANSCRIPT Hello folks, I’m recording this on World Mental Health Day, and this is something we talk a lot about on the Bestseller Experiment podcast, which is writers’ mental health, which is fragile at the best of times. […]
Rambling Thoughts on Writers and Mental Health — Mark Stay Writes
October update, and Open Submissions — Richard Strachan
Yet again, as expected, it has taken me far too long between entries on this blog. I’m determined to get better and make this a more regular thing though, even if the majority of my posts will just be brief and cryptic updates about current writing projects. But it’s a useful place to collate information […]
October update, and Open Submissions — Richard Strachan
Staying in with Rosemary Johnston
Source
It’s a real pleasure to welcome Rosemary Johnston to Linda’s Book Bag today as the book Rosemary has brought along to discuss as we stay in together sounds exactly my kind of read. Let’s find out more:
Staying in with Rosemary Johnston
Welcome toLinda’s Book Bag Rosemary and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
I have brought along my debut novella Source. It is about a woman, Kate, who returns to the west of Ireland with her teenage daughter Lavinia. She has come to clear out the family farm after the death of her parents. She isn’t really interested in anything that has been left behind at the farm except her father’s dictionary. The next day, she bumps into an old boyfriend, Brian, and…
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Reading and Writing Romantic Fiction: never too old to read it, write it, or to be the main character. Plus – Books of the Month for June 2021 #reading #writing #romanticfiction @1chriswebber @KileyDunbar @Isabelle_Broom @SnowProse — Put it in Writing
Age should be no barrier to living and loving – in real life and in fiction Regular readers of this blog will know that when it comes to both reading and writing my genre of choice is romantic fiction. It’s a wide-ranging genre and includes various sub genres such as romantic suspense, historical romance and […]
Reading and Writing Romantic Fiction: never too old to read it, write it, or to be the main character. Plus – Books of the Month for June 2021 #reading #writing #romanticfiction @1chriswebber @KileyDunbar @Isabelle_Broom @SnowProse — Put it in Writing
Book Disclaimers: Everything You Need to Know – by Helen Sedwick… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog
on The Book Designer: Many authors assume that their book disclaimers are supposed to be boring. They presume some pricey lawyers devised standard legalese, and they dare not depart from the norm. Not so. The law does not require a book disclaimer to be boring. In fact, just the opposite is true. The more interesting […]
Book Disclaimers: Everything You Need to Know – by Helen Sedwick… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog
Have You Heard About… The Reading and Writing Podcast — JC Murray Books
The R&W Podcast feels like a guest speaker at a college seminar.
Have You Heard About… The Reading and Writing Podcast — JC Murray Books
Does an Author Really Need a Social Media Platform?
Ask the Editor Series, Q16
Q: I’ve heard authors should always have a platform. Is that really necessary for success?
A1: It can certainly make you look taller, and many tall people appear more commanding and therefore successful. Go, shawty!
A2: Ohh . . . a social media platform. Well, that’s different.
Think of your favorite author of fiction or nonfiction. Whoever it is, they’re probably readily found on the internet. All it takes is a handful of keystrokes and you can read about them or read their work.
Whether you’re a self-published (indie) author, published with a small press, or signed up with one of the bigger publishing houses, you’ve probably heard about the importance of having an author platform. Do you have one? Do you know what an author platform is? Let’s talk about it.
What’s a platform, anyway?
Having a platform is a general way of…
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