After the mediocre sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 original, which continued the story of Michael Myers, treading over similar ground, like so many of it's imitators at the time, Carpenter and writing/producing partner Debra Hill would only get involved with a second sequel if it could be a separate story to the already tired Myers slasher. Originally, they had the idea to continue with a feature approach to the Twilight Zone formula of anthology narratives, and these would be set around the themes of the holiday season of its title. The original screenplay was written by British writer, and creator of Quatermass (as well as the haunting The Stone Tape (1973) and the BBC adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) amongst others), but Dino De Laurentiis (one of the films producers) felt that the film required more horrific, contemporary gore scenes. Subsequently, after many alterations, Kneale removed his name from the project.
As it is, the film is incredibly flawed, but has some very interesting notions within it. It was a brave choice to use the Halloween name for something completely different; as I have stated before, the commercial horror fan is a fickle species, and the habit of formula is expected. The third Halloween brings a nefarious plot to destroy the people who celebrate the corporate, consumerist aspects of the holiday; "...the strange custom of having your children wear masks and go out begging for candy," is the indictment of a society that has lost spiritual meaning, forgetting the ritualistic foundations of hallows eve, focusing only on consumption and dressing in costumes. In the opening scene, an old man runs in horror grasping a Halloween mask. Being admitted to a hospital, a suited man (nondescript and corporate) enters and kills him, then burns himself alive in the car park. The mystery is set up, and Dr. Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) - daughter of the old man), trace the movements of the father, leading them to the Silver Shamrock factory, manufacturer of popular masks.
Set in remote, small town Santa Mira, California (a reference to 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers), the ludicrous conspiracy to kill all who watch a television signal that triggers a gruesome death for the wearers of the masks, raises many fundamental contradictions and inconsistencies to the film. It throws in elements from others films, particularly with its allusions to ...Body Snatchers, such as the pointless plot about replacing people with robots - Cochran is a master magician, creating mechanical drones. The evil plan is ultimately unbalanced and ridiculous - what is the purpose of killing the general public, and what purpose would there be in replacing them with robots? Tom Atkins basically reprises his role from The Fog (1980), with Nelkin replacing Jaime Leigh Curtis, and O'Herlihy plays the standard bond-like villain, always happy to tell the protagonist the details of the plan, for the purpose of exposition.
Although the film has it many issues, I have fond memories of the film growing up. A brave attempt to move away from the franchise formula, and an interesting attempt to create a mystical story, and a criticism of modern America's obsession with consumerism, and which also manages to stereotype the Irish. The music, from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, brings the film into the same atmosphere as the previous films, and also signal a relationship to Carpenter's other projects of the time, and adds to the overall menace that is there in the film. With some advanced gore scenes, the film is in context to the time of production, but whilst I do have affection for the film, I would have preferred to see Kneales version, a script that he himself has said was "one of the best I've ever written." And remember, like it goes incessantly in the Silver Shamrock television commercials, I ad lib: "nineteen more days to Halloween..."
In theory, and from it's ridiculous title, Robocop is an incredibly silly film. The crime ridden streets of Detroit in the not-too-distant future, get a futuristic superhero, a knight in shining armour, from an omnipotent corporation OPC, to protect them from the criminals. However, what we actually get is a very emotional human story, along with some incredibly sharp satire.
Murphy (Peter Weller), a police officer, is killed whilst on a mission with his new partner, Lewis (Nancy Allen). OCP (after a failed attempt at a robot-police programme) commissioned the Robocop program, and Murphy becomes the candidate. His memory is supposed to have been erased by the corporation however, he is reminded by Lewis of his identity. He pieces together the criminals that gunned him down after an incident with Emil (Paul McCrane), and uncovers the criminal machinations of corrupt, corporate business.
As all good science fiction should, Robocop is partially allegorical of the times it was made in. In business, greed, power and wealth dominated (as highlighted in more explicit terms in another film of the same year, Oliver Stones Wall Street, where "greed is good"). Here, violence and deceit are the tactics used to make it in the cut-throat business world. Miguel Ferrer's young, ambitious Bob Morton, and the older rival, Ronny Cox's Dick Jones, battle with each other to get their individual police-robot project's into production. Corruption was also an all pervading element of '80's business (something that was not new of course, we can go back in American history and find many corrupt governments and institutions, Tammany in New York is one example), and we see here the corporate elite working with the criminal underworld.
The excesses of the 1980's greed is permeated within the excesses on screen. Violence is strong, yet comical at times. but it is always over the top. In an early scene, Dick Jones presents his product robot police officer, ED-209, a hulking, malevolent monster. In demonstration, ED-209 malfunctions and shoots an executive hundreds of times, to the point of joke. When Murphy is gunned down, we see his hand explode. Of course this reveals a corporate paranoia underneath some of the movies of the 80's. Each decades science fiction needs paranoia: In the 1950's and 60's it was communism and the nuclear bomb: in the 1970's and 80's it was political and corporate.
The film is injected with some spot-on satirical humour. Adverts are seen throughout, further exacerbating the excesses of American culture at the time. We see commercials selling over-sized, gas guzzling automobiles (6000 SUX), replacement hearts (this clearly to alleviate the excesses on the body caused in the 80's), and a board game of the Battleship-kind (Nuke-Em). These along with the narrative create an almost perfect package. Directed by European Paul Verhoeven who epitomises the concept that the best way for America to hold a mirror up to itself, is to get outsiders to produce something that reflects the madness that was 1980's, Reagan-era, excess and greed. Not only does it offer a commentary, the humanistic, philosophical nature of the soul, is a strong (if often used) theme.
Quite horrifically however, the film manifested into something terrible. I'm not talking about the sequels. The film was to be marketed for children, in the form of a cartoon series, and the inevitable action figures et al. So, like Gremlins (1984), this more "adult" fantasy, marketeers still had the moral sense (sic) to market violence to children - how lovely!
