First, the bad news: this short film is simply too ambitious for its budget (which was quite scant) and runtime (13 minutes). The good news is that I do recommend GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN, ironically for the same reason I’m criticizing it: not too many films these days, short or otherwise, can be said to be too ambitious.
The UK’s Luther Bhogal-Jones was the creator of GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN, released on YouTube in the Fall of 2020. It follows a handful of short films that include KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK (2018), an impressively wrought tribute to the giallos of the seventies. GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN is likewise a tribute, this time to B-movies of the eighties.
Fourteen years in the making, it’s part of the new webcam thriller trope. This is to say that, like UNFRIENDED and HOST, it takes place almost entirely on a computer screen upon which various characters interact, although it was apparently conceived long before those other films ever made it to production. GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN nonetheless feels very appropriate to 2020 (if also a bit old hat), for reasons that should be pretty obvious.
The time is September 1986, the setting an alternate reality “Mikhigan” where the internet has apparently been in use several years before it turned up in our world. Another peculiarity of this alternate ‘86 is that monsters coexist with humans, although a concerted effort has been made by the US government to wipe them out. This government is led by an authoritarian creep who methodically stokes the nation’s xenophobia and paranoia (recalling a certain real-life individual who figured prominently in 2020), stating “We’re together until this nation of ours is still a land of the free for all men, not a playground for the creatures of the night.”
Konal, a pumpkin-headed creature, skypes with a witch, a vampire and other critters who are understandably alarmed at the monster purge being carried out. All are in hiding, and convinced that one of them has betrayed the others, but who might the culprit be?
As in KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, this film is impeccably visualized, with a strong eye for detail; the computer graphics surrounding the images are an especially pleasing, and thorough, touch. The tacky monster visages are a drawback (with the pumpkin-headed protagonist’s visage patterned on a mask that was apparently purchased on eBay), although they are very much in keeping with the quality of the eighties B-movies that inspired this film.
Further inspirations include the cinema of John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN fans will recognize character names like Laurie Strode, Samuel Loomis and Leigh Brakkett) and Clive Barker (NIGHTBREED in particular). Those guys are of course known for making feature films, and a feature length is something that would have benefitted GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN enormously. Until that feature arrives, though, this well mounted and intriguing tidbit will serve as a potent appetizer.
Vital Statistics
GOODNIGHT, HALLOWEEN
Faster Productions
Director: Luther Bhogal-Jones
Screenplay: Luther Bhogal-Jones, Andrew Calverley
“Kinematography”: Anthony Gurner
Cast: Jean-Daniel Byrne, Natasha Lamper, Christopher Dingle, Stewart Barham, Sunita Shroff, Scott Hanley, Rocco Solato, Jim Faulkner, Mike Stoke, Minda Bhogal-Jones, Terence Drew, Alistair Lock