9.14.2011

Fans Furious At HALLOWEEN II Blu-ray Alteration

Alteration? I hear you ask. Yes that's right, but it's probably not as extreme a change as you may be thinking. No, they haven't replaced Michael Myers with a CGI model. No, they haven't added or cut any of the scenes.
I'm actually still not 100% sure what's happening here, but since this incident has taken up about a third of my Facebook news feed I thought I'd post something about it.
It seems that horror fans are in an uproar about an alteration made by Universal to the credits on the new HALLOWEEN II Blu-ray release. In the credits where Moustapha Akkad's name would normally appear, it has been replaced with the words "Universal, an MCA Company" and apparently it has been done rather sloppily. The font doesn't even match the rest of the text.
To make things even more confusing, Moustapha's name still appears on the packaging. To replace the name in the credits but not on the case itself seems kind of strange to me, and I honestly have no idea why this has happened. I will do a little more research and see if I can find out why.
If like a lot of other people, you are outraged at this change then you can sign a petition to boycott the film right here. You can also head on over to Facebook and like the Boycott Universal's Halloween II page.

And if you're a little unclear on who Moustapha Akkad is exactly, then let me inform you.
He was basically the person who made the Halloween films possible and kept them going. He was the one who believed in John Carpenter's vision, and financed it to make it a reality. He also gave complete creative control to Carpenter, which just shows how much faith he had in him. Unfortunately Moustapha was killed 6 years ago, and this is probably what is making the incident more volatile. Many fans are angry that Universal has posthumously remove his name when he is not around to defend himself, and in a way diminished his legacy. How do you feel about it?

UPDATE 09/16/11: The Boycott Universal's Halloween II Facebook page seems to be making some headway. This morning they posted the following status:

"Universal promises to "make it right"! We are not sure what that means yet...but you can be sure that everyone's support here played a big part! We won't let up yet, but will say THANK YOU to all the fans who spoke up for the man who gave so much to this series. More details as soon as we get them..."


UPDATE 09/17/11: Another status reads:


"Universal has said that they will fix the situation, and apologized for the error. We believe that no harm was intended and it was a mistake."



2 comments:

  1. That's messed up... makes me wonder if anything else has been changed. It's a small detail, no doubt, but it's kind of a weird one.

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  2. That's what makes it so strange. I can't see any reason why they would do it, but if they have an excuse I'd like to hear it. For now Universal has said that they will "make it right" whatever that means.

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