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The Michael Myers Connection
I was nine years old when my father bought me my
“first” horror movie, Halloween. It
was in October, and Blockbuster had released the film under their own brand
label. I remember standing near the registers and seeing the stack of VHS
tapes. He picked one up and asked me if I had seen it and when I said no, he
smiled and said that I was going to love it. It was strange, not only because
my dad was willingly letting me see a horror movie, but he was actually buying
it. My dad didn’t believe in buying movies. I believe that was the first and
last movie he ever bought.
I had seen a few horror movies prior to that night
like Pet Semetery and Popcorn. I wasn’t one of those kids who
scared easily, and my parents were extremely lenient on the films that I
watched. All the violent 80’s action was allowed, I just had to cover my eyes
during sex scenes. But horror movies weren’t watched in my home, so I hadn’t
seen very many of them.
I was exploding with excitement when I got home. I was
armed with my very first horror film, and I wanted to watch it in style. So I
went to my room, turned off the lights, and turned on Halloween. I’m pretty sure I didn’t sleep at all that night.
What I saw was a wonderful yet terrifying film. It had
such a simple plot, and it reeked of the 70’s, but it was still scary. The
presence that Michael Myers had was brilliant, and the fact that he just kept
on coming after Laurie no matter what she did to him was what really sent it
over the top. He was just this emotionless beast of a man who could not be
reasoned with. He wasn’t satisfied until everyone was dead.
So, not only does the film have the amazing character
Michael Myers, the film also has a creepy and memorable score by John Carpenter,
amazing use of space in each scene, and a great supporting cast. It was the
perfect storm to terrify a nine year old boy. Oh yea, did I mention my last
name is Myers?
After I recovered from my initial viewing, I proceeded
to watch the film three or four more times over the course of the month. I
anxiously awaited our next trip to the video store because I wanted to look for
sequels. I wasn’t sure there were any, but I vaguely remember seeing a box with
a pumpkin on it in the horror section before. If there were sequels, I had to
see them all.
I was rewarded on that next trip, since Halloween 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all on the shelf. I rented two and three, and was thrilled to see that Halloween 2 begins just where Halloween ended. I loved the connected story and was really hoping Halloween 3 just kept it all going as one long story.
I sat through an hour of Halloween 3 and it didn’t once mention Michael Myers. I was so upset, I ended up fast forwarding to the end of the tape hoping for a glimpse of the man in the painted white Captain Kirk mask. Sadly, the film had nothing to do with Michael Myers. He wasn’t in it, and it was a completely original story. I was so angry and disappointed, I considered Halloween 3 to be an abomination for over ten years, before I finally sat back down with an open mind and watched it for what it was. It’s actually not that bad of a flick, it’s just horribly mistitled.
On my next trip to the video store I rented Halloween 4 and 5. When I got there I headed straight for the horror section and
actually read the back of the boxes to make sure I wasn’t getting gipped again.
Once I confirmed Michael’s presence in each film, I rented them both. I went
home and had a blast with the new Halloween films, but it wasn’t the same.
Halloween was the scariest, two had some great jumps, but four and five were
just interesting. They weren’t really scary, and weren’t really all about
Michael Myers, but they were still part of the storyline, so I was happy that
it continued.
Halloween was my gateway into horror. First it was Halloween, then Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Sleepaway Camp, etc. Once I got in, my fandom ran wild. Every rental I got was spent on horror movies, good or bad. It took about a year, but I finally exhausted our local video stores of their horror films and moved onto other things.
A couple of years later, I was browsing the movie times in the newspaper when I noticed an advertisement for a midnight showing of Halloween 6. There was no other information, nor show times, so I called the theater to make sure it was Halloween 6, since I didn’t even know another film had come out. The person on the phone told me they only had one showing, because the movie sucked and no one came to see it. That didn’t turn me off, I immediately went into whining pre-teen boy mode and begged my dad to take me. Yeah… it didn’t work.
About a year later, we moved from Orlando, Florida to
Dallas, Texas. It was an exciting move for us because for the first time ever,
my brother and I were getting our own separate bedrooms. That’s a big step in
the life of a child.
We arrived in town early on Tuesday morning, and once
we got the truck unloaded my dad took us out for our moving ritual. Once the
boxes were in the house, we’d get in the car, find the nearest video store,
rent some movies, grab a pizza, and go home and relax. All the unpacking would
wait until the next day.
I scanned the new releases of the Videorama when I
noticed a familiar face staring back at me emotionless. It was the face of
Michael Myers, or I should say, the mask of Michael Myers. It was on the box of
the VHS release of Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. You would have
thought I won the lottery from the squeal I let out, and I went sprinting
across the store with no regard for my safety or others, just to find my dad to
show him.
My dad shrugged, unamused, but he agreed to rent the
film. I fidgeted all over the place during dinner. I just couldn’t wait until
we ate so I could go watch Halloween 6 and my dad could watch whatever boring
film he picked out. Once I finally got excused, my little brother was hot on my
heels wanting to watch the movie too. I was excited at the idea of sharing my
fandom with him, so we turned off the lights and popped the tape in the VCR.
It took me a minute to realize the grown woman was
supposed to be the little girl from Halloween 5 and 6. I tried to explain to my
brother who she was but it was useless. The movie was moving so fast, I wasn’t
even sure what was going on. The next ninety minutes was a blur. There was the
familiar music, the guy from Clueless, some cool deaths, and a confusing storyline
about a cult. The only major thing that I took from the film was that Michael
Myers was destined to kill off his bloodline. He would stop at nothing until he
killed every single Myers out there.
My brother was shaken up after his first experience with
Halloween. He was more confused than I was but he got the jest of what a
killing machine The Shape was. It’s hard not to be scared by Michael Myers the
first time you see him, so being the older brother, I decided to use this to my
advantage.
Once the film was over, I turned the lights on and
walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed and looked concerned at the
floor. My brother was confused and just looked at me. I let a few seconds pass,
then I took a deep breath and said quietly, “Now you know why we move so much.”
He looked up at me startled, so I kept going.
“Military families don’t move every three years. They
move like once every ten years. We have to stay on the move from Michael.”
My brother had a look of both intense fear and
confusion. “You’re just messing with me.”
I managed to keep a straight face, and began “No… I’m
not. Michael Myers is our uncle. No one in the family talks about him, because
of how bad he is. And you saw the movie, he’s out there attempting to kill off
our entire family. He’s coming for us, so Dad keeps moving us so he can’t find
us.”
I could tell he wasn’t buying it completely, but the
moving statement justified his possible existence which was working in my
favor.
“It’s a family secret. When you become ten they’ll
explain it all to you. I just thought you should know about it beforehand in
case he catches up with us sooner rather than later. Cause know this... he will
catch up with us. No one escapes Michael Myers.”
The color left his face with that zinger. He began
stammering, “I’m going to go ask Dad right now.”
“Go, but he won’t tell you the truth. He doesn’t think
you’re old enough. He wants you to be a kid for as long as you can be before
you have to spend every day wondering if that’s the day Michael Myers finds you
and kills you.”
“Whatever Brandon. I’m going to my room. You’re a
jerk.”
He grabbed the sleeping bag off the floor and walked
down the hallway into his room. I heard his TV turn on almost instantly and I
had a good laugh. It was evil. I know that, but it was hilarious at the time.
Little did I know, he would end up getting the last laugh.
I was exhausted. We had moved all the furniture and
boxes inside, spent the day seeing part of the new town, ate some pizza and
watched a movie. It had been a full day, so I cut off my light, and crawled
into bed. It was heaven. I was finally free to move around as I please and
decorate the entire room. I went to bed smiling knowing that tomorrow was going
to be spent decorating.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of snoring.
Since I was hearing it, I knew it wasn’t me. I took a glance around the room
realizing that I was in my room at our new home, while the snoring continued.
As my eyes fully adjusted, I noticed my brother asleep on the floor next to my
bed.
I didn’t say a word about him sleeping in my bedroom
for the first three nights. I figured it was my punishment for scaring him.
After the third night, I sat him down and explained that I really was a jerk
and was just messing with him. Michael Myers is fake, Halloween never happened,
and yes, military families move every three years. The look he gave me wasn’t
too unlike the one he gave when I was first explaining our relation to Michael
Myers. He didn’t know whether to believe me or not, so I kept repeating myself
in a desperate attempt to get him to believe me and begin sleeping in his own
room.
After twenty minutes of my pleading, he finally
accepted that I was a jerk and I had made it all up. He agreed to start
sleeping in his room, and said I would play some board game he loved and I hated.
It was all going great and I was finally getting my room totally to myself,
then just as he was walking out the door he stopped and turned around with a
very serious look on his face.
“If you made this all up, then why do you have that?”
He pointed toward a Michael Jordan poster that hung
right over my bed. It wasn’t the poster that he was pointing to, but instead
the Mark of the Thorn I made out of popsicle sticks the day before and hung
from a push pin.
The Mark of the Thorn was a simple triangle with a
base that extends past the normal dimensions of the triangle. In Halloween 6:
The Curse of Michael Myers, the cult that supports Michael Myers all have the
mark tattooed on them. I thought it looked neat, and when I saw a box of
popsicle sticks, I figured I’d just make one for decoration. What a mistake
that was.
My brother assumed that I had the popsicle Mark of the
Thorn up to protect myself from Michael Myers. Everything I had been telling
him over the past half hour was now bunk in his eyes. He would hear no more of
it, as far as he was concerned, Michael Myers was coming for our family.
Eight months… that’s how long he slept in my room
every single night. I tried to get my dad to intervene, even if it meant I got
in trouble for scaring him. My dad thought it was hilarious and figured the
best punishment for me would be having to deal with the monster I had created.
I don’t recall what finally made my brother begin
sleeping in his own room. I know over time he watched the other Halloween
films, since I had started collecting them, and maybe he realized that they
were works of fiction or it was highly unlikely that Michael Myers would ever
find us. I don’t really know. Just one night he was gone and I finally, after
eight months, got my room to myself.
My brother likes to tell that story to his friends
anytime I meet a new one. He loves making me look like a jerk, but more
importantly, he loves telling the story of how I terrified him into loving
Halloween. He’s a huge Michael Myers fan. He loves the Halloween movies and
binge watches them yearly. I stayed with him a couple months last year, and the
first night alone he pulled out a Halloween DVD for us to watch.
I look back and think, man, I was a jerk and a bully. But there was no real harm done. My brother moved on from his fear and instead embraced it as a passion. I know he has no regrets, and loves the story of how he came to love Michael Myers.
massreality Posted on Oct 15, 2015 at 01:52 AM
Yeah, everyone really hates the whole Mark of Thorn storyline. I actually didn't mind it and liked that they continued it in the comics. It's a shame I don't hate it, because if anyone had a reason to hate it, it would be me.
Hoju Koolander Posted on Oct 12, 2015 at 08:06 PM
I really enjoyed this story. Such a funny and unexpected twist, but the best part is that you introduced your brother to something he now loves. I love that the Mark of the Thorn is what doomed you to sharing your room for 8 months.
pikachulover Posted on Oct 09, 2015 at 06:18 AM
I never had the pleasure of doing that to a sibling since I'm an only child. I did however dream up some pretty scary and silly things by myself.
I do remember my older cousins telling me things like this. Like the time I was like 8 and they told me there were real monsters out in the street hiding among the people in costumes.
Vaporman87 Posted on Oct 08, 2015 at 03:53 PM
What an awesome read! Ha! I loved every bit of this. Talk about having to live with the consequences of your actions... you big bully!
Nah, I'm not innocent of picking on my little brother. I did that quite a bit, and have video evidence of it on VHS tapes. But I don't think I ever frightened him to death like this. That's just cruel man!
But it REALLY works with the last name being Myers. So perfect.
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