Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to Aniween everyone where we’re starting off with Animation Bang. If there’s one hero out there who perfectly captures the essence of Halloween it’s Batman. I mean just look at the guy and his rogue gallery. I’m surprised DC hasn’t started its own dark universe. These would make some great horror/thriller films. As you would imagine there’s been a number of stories featuring the Caped Crusader around Halloween. There’s one where he battled vampires, twice (technically thrice if you count that The Batman cartoon movie). There’s another one where he fought a werewolf and then there’s one where he saved Alfred’s niece from being sacrificed to an actual demon. All of these stories are a good read, but one story that stands above them all is The Long Halloween. Published from 1996-1997 and written by Jeph Lobb with Tim Sale’s illustrations, this was a 13-issue series that saw Batman’s rogue gallery change from standard mob bosses to full on supervillains while also serving as one of many origin stories for one of Batman’s greatest villains. Often considered by many to be one of the best Batman stories ever told. While never ranked number one it’s always named as one of the top 10 Batman stories for its story, characters, and twists that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. In terms of continuity, this series continues the story of Batman: Year One featuring Batman in his early days of crime fighting, still establishing himself, as well as changing the complexity of the series forever. This series was so influential that Christopher Nolan quotes it as being the inspiration for the Dark Knight movie and Matt Reeves says this inspired The Batman movie. On Batman’s anniversary last year they released two movies based off the series as its own stand-alone story. I wanted to review it last year, but with Castlevania, Demon Slayer, and various other things I didn’t get the chance to watch it. Well it’s a year later and I’m going to review these movies. So let’s get ready to hear one of the greatest stories ever told. This is Batman: The Long Halloween.
We begin part 1 with Bruce meeting with Carmine of the Falcone mob family who wants Bruce to be his financial partner but Bruce says no. We then cut to people at an Italian restaurant getting shot up by the mob and then the opening credits which perfectly tells you the style and story you’re about to watch (scenes here: https://youtu.be/21zQViI5Vyk and https://youtu.be/dh_0N_P30SU). Now one thing you’ll quickly notice is that the voice acting is really top notch here. Everybody matches up with their character perfectly and they deliver their lines the way you would imagine these characters saying them (scene here: https://youtu.be/2Ud-AR67Tek, gotta love how Alfred gets the final word in). After the credits, we see a man return home only to get shot and killed in the bath (scene here: https://youtu.be/8kQq-qQCPg4, why didn’t he leave a message like in IT?). This murder was done by the Holiday Killer, a serial killer who’s been going around and killing people on a holiday every month (well give the man credit for sticking to a theme and having a style. Which is more than I can say for some killers out there). The person he killed was a member of the Falcone family who was about to testify against the family (well that’s off the table). Once Harvey the DA who was working the case hears about it he’s pissed but Gordon says they’ll get him. Gordon decides to team up Batman and Harvey to take down Carmine Falcone once and for all. After their talk, Batman chases after Catwoman who was spying on them and she leads him to Falcone’s cash stockpile in a warehouse (who leaves all their money lying around in a warehouse? I thought mobsters were smarter than this). Harvey managed to follow them and they burn all that money to the ground (scene here: https://youtu.be/p0Y2skQd79g). Once Harvey returns home to his wife, Gilda, the house explodes and Harvey gets badly injured. When Thanksgiving rolls around, Batman hunts down a member of the Triad who might have planted the bomb in the first place. We get a good fight scene (it’s Chinatown, of course we get a fight scene) with Catwoman coming in to assist (scene here: https://youtu.be/YPyUOtpAevY) and then Batman chases his suspect into the sewers where we get an unexpected appearance from Grundy (scene here: https://youtu.be/O8i8nMY1w84, I keep forgetting this guy is a part of the rogue gallery). After Batman brings him in he doesn’t talk much and even mocks them for not solving the Halloween murder. Meanwhile, Harvey disappears after receiving flowers from Falcone that were sent by Alberto the son of Carmine (scene here: https://youtu.be/ltoJEQ7bx0w).
Back with the Falcones, Carmine finds out about the flowers Alberto sent and he is not happy about it. Gordon finds Harvey outside of Falcone’s place and stops him from doing something stupid. As everyone gets ready to sit down for a Thanksgiving dinner (even Grundy gets a meal), the Triad receive a visit from the Holiday Killer who takes them out (scene here: https://youtu.be/vj1RXzR8QEI, man the body count in this movie is really going up). Desperate for clues on who the killer is, Gordon and Batman go to the one person obsessed with days more than the killer, Calendar Man (one of the more underrated villains from the comics. Out of all the VAs in this movie, Calendar Man is the best. It’s so unsettling, echoes and matches up perfectly with his character who has this Hannibal-like presence which only enhances his performance). Calendar Man doesn’t give them a straight answer, but he does give them clues and even hints that Harvey is the killer (I actually do like how he knows who the killer is but won’t tell them because he enjoys messing with them in a lowkey way). He also tells them that Joker is on the loose and after Harvey (scene here: https://youtu.be/H4X1ZbwZDOc). Sure enough, Joker sneaks into Harvey’s house and attacks him. Rather than kill him he instead knocks him out (scene here: https://youtu.be/RKLdLnW5lwY, you’re a crazy one. . .Mr. Joker). Joker then makes his way to Carmine to mess with him a little bit and then escapes. Batman arrives onto the scene where he’s too late as the Holiday Killer claims another victim (yeah, if it isn’t obvious by now, Batman is a horrible detective. In fact, this was a big complaint from those who watched the movies but keep in mind this isn’t the Batman we’re used to seeing. This is a younger inexperienced Batman who instead focuses on fighting rather than detective work. His original plan was to scare criminals straight and leave the detective work to the cops. Even Batman admits he never thought he’d have to be a detective, but he had to become one in order to keep up and outmatch his more dangerous villains. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qYwfb-yIFjs). We then fast forward to New Year’s Eve where Bruce is attending a party on Carmine’s yacht (although judging by that size it might pass as a mini cruise ship). While on the yacht Selena breaks up with Bruce (saw that coming. You need a hug, Bruce?). Meanwhile, Joker commandeers a plane so that he can release his Joker venom on the city. Batman arrives to fight where he accuses Joker of being the Holiday Killer (nope. Body count is too low to be him. And it’s already high here), but he says it’s not him. Batman manages to take him down and fly his plane into the water (scene here: https://youtu.be/avZ5U57VFAY, this serves as a good precursor to the smiling fish story). With Joker as the killer being a bust he moves onto his next suspect, Alberto. After swimming back to the yacht, he confronts Alberto with Selena who reveals his identity (how the hell did she know?). Alberto says it’s not him. If anything he wants to get away from the family and live a normal life (in the DC universe that’s impossible). As he continues to rant, he gets shot by the killer just as the fireworks go off (scene here: https://youtu.be/SG5XsdwoTf0. Just like in Payday 2). Batman chases the killer but they escape ending the first part with more questions than answers (scene here: https://youtu.be/85iU2h-YvL4). After the credits, we get to see Alberto’s funeral where Carmine introduces Bruce to a very familiar face (scene here: https://youtu.be/OvCHQs0Beww).
Part 2 begins with a nice opening sequence just like the first one (scene here: https://youtu.be/u5M2hyEYmK8) and then transitions to Bruce who is now dating Poison Ivy while being under her control and laundering money to Carmine and his family (scene here: https://youtu.be/oEXq57J4AKE. Where’s Alfred during all of this? He just sits back and let this happen?). While this is happening, the Holiday Killer is still on the loose and this time they’re targeting the Maroni family, a rival family to the Falcones. Bruce remains under Ivy’s spell until April Fool’s Day when Catwoman frees him from Ivy (in the comics it was St. Patty’s Day, but I guess she was too drunk to help him). Catwoman sneaks into the manor, frees Bruce from her control, and then defeats Ivy in a well done fight scene (scene here: https://youtu.be/MNGR6UN06qw). We fast forward to Mother’s Day where Scarecrow escapes Arkham as well as Batman using his fear gas (scene here: https://youtu.be/7ukxVGR4nh8). We find out later that it was Sofia (that’s a big woman), Carmine’s daughter, who freed Scarecrow at his request. It turns out the Falcones and Maronis are at war and the Falcones are losing. In order to stand his ground, Carmine has recruited the Scarecrow to aid him in his cause and Sofia wants to help but Carmine forbids her to help. Sometime later Gordon and Harvey go to question Bruce about Alberto’s death where we get a good scene by finding out the connection between Bruce and Carmine. It turns out Bruce’s dad saved Carmine’s life when they were both younger and even Bruce interacted with Carmine (this is new, cool, and interesting to see a young Bruce interact with a mobster). Bruce covered his tracks, but Harvey still suspects him.
On Father’s Day the Holdiay Killer kills Sal Maroni’s dad and he decides to work out a deal with Harvey in order to end this war. Sal offers to testify against Carmine in exchange for complete immunity. On the 4th of July Batman captures the Scarecrow as well as the Mad Hatter who were robbing a bank for Carmine (scene here: https://youtu.be/0rAur3nNYJE). Meanwhile, Catwoman saves Harvey from a hitman only for the hitman to get killed by the Holiday Killer and Harvey is on the scene with blood over his hands. Fearing for his life, Harvey begins to hear a voice in his head and runs away (scene here: https://youtu.be/O6c1_GW_i8c). Before long the voice continues to speak to Harvey and in court when Sal goes to testify he flips the script and embarrasses Harvey in front of everyone before throwing acid in his face accusing him of being the Holiday Killer (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ewf6sWVmZog). Harvey gets rushed to the hospital and then escapes where Carmine who also thinks he’s the killer tells his men to kill him, but Harvey manages to kill them instead and escapes into the sewers where he befriends Grundy (well that’s an interesting pairing I thought I would never see). At Carmine’s birthday party, his sister arrives dead meaning the killer is still on the loose. With Labor Day (my birthday) around the corner, Batman goes to Calendar Man once again for help on finding Harvey as he’s starting to believe that he’s the killer after all (scene here: https://youtu.be/BnLTk1mN0Os). When the police are transferring Sal they get attacked by Grundy. Sal escapes only to run into Two-Face who’s about to kill him but Batman and Gordon stop him. Just then the real Holiday Killer arrives and kills Sal in front of everyone (I wonder what trinket they’ll leave behind?). The killer escapes as does Two-Face (scene here: https://youtu.be/x9xCZrE7JWw). Days go by and we’re back to Halloween where Two-Face and Grundy break out all the Arkham inmates (except Calendar Man because he guessed wrong. Scene here: https://youtu.be/t_LDVS1In_k). They invade Carmine’s office with Sofia getting caught in the crossfire (casualty of war) and take him hostage (scene here: https://youtu.be/XcPUyMBHTYg). With his life hanging in the balance by a flip of a coin, Batman and Catwoman save him and defeat the rogue gallery. However, Two-Face has Carmine and kills him with two bullets (that is such a Two-Face thing to do). Sofia comes in and tries to avenge her poppa where she slips over a vine and falls out the window. Catwoman tries to save her only to fail and Sofia falls to her death (scene here: https://youtu.be/5wsXhwtQd4I). With his revenge complete, Two-Face gives himself up and thus the Long Halloween ends. After this scene we finally get to see who the real Holiday Killer was this whole time (or at least in the first movie. Second movie may have been Harvey. It’s up for debate). It was Gilda. She went to Oxford where she met Alberto and they became a couple where she got pregnant and married him. Sadly, Carmine would not accept her into the family. Their marriage was null and void, and the child was aborted. Wanting revenge, Gilda came to Gotham where she married Harvey as he had the best chance of taking them down, but once he started wrestling with his demons she knew she had to take matters into her own hands. So she became the Holiday Killer and took the family down one member at a time. Batman leaves deciding not to turn her in to Gordon (scene here: https://youtu.be/Y1nSVF74Z1g) and returns home where we see that hope is steadily returning to Gotham (scene here: https://youtu.be/Uwg4e29Ti1g) and we end on this funny post credit scene (scene here: https://youtu.be/ggrmGZuYH2o).
Final Thoughts
And that was The Long Halloween. Part 1 is great. It sets up the story perfectly, has an intriguing mystery, does a good job introducing the characters and balancing them out. I like how the first part ends on a cliffhanger with Batman just like us left in the dark. It’s so surreal seeing Batman not have all the answers, unsure of himself, and left in the dark. But at the same time it is interesting and shows us how he would mature and become the world’s greatest detective we all know, love and respect. There’s a good amount of action and mystery here that keeps you entertained and I do like the way all the characters interact with each other. I especially like Carmine. Despite being a ruthless mob boss he’s someone who values his family and can enjoy the simplest things in life such as cooking and preparing a good holiday meal for his family. Seeing Grundy was cool and how Batman interacts with him was wholesome and shows how he understands him. The relationship between Batman and Catwoman was intriguing. I like how these two interacted with each other so well and so early in their careers and how they were unofficial partners. I’m still confused how she knew Bruce was Batman but oh well. I also like how they gave hints to Harvey slowly but surely developing a split personality.
Part 2 was good but not as great as Part 1. Part 2 does change a lot of things from the original story and does present more action than Part 1. It still does a good job telling the story and keeps you guessing on who the killer is until the finale when everything gets unraveled and it all makes sense. Seeing Harvey’s life tragically fall apart and him transform completely into Two-Face where he sacrifices everything to accomplish what he believes to be justice is sad. Not only would his actions open the door for supervillains to take over, but Batman loses a strong ally in his battle to save Gotham and almost makes you believe that the only way to truly win is to sink down to their level and become something much darker than them. Are the changes made to Part 2 better than the original? No. Are they bad? No. It’s still a good mystery and like I said before does lead to an ending that makes sense, is tragic, and shows the faults of everyone involved. While it would have worked out better if they stuck to the original story, this alternate story isn’t bad in my opinion. I also liked the connection between Bruce and Carmine at such a young age and how they hint that Carmine knew Bruce was Batman, but didn’t say anything because he sees Bruce as his family and wanted to protect him.
The animation for these movies is spectacular. I like the character designs and the shading. It really does capture the atmosphere of the original story. This animation style really does help it stand out from the other DC movies I’ve seen. The action scenes are great. Once again it is surreal to see Batman look weak and get beaten by some of his villains, but it does show how he would grow from this experience and get better as time went on. The body count is shocking. This movie may just have the biggest count in any of the DC movies I’ve seen. Music is enjoyable and like I said before the voice acting is top notch. Everybody gives a great performance. Not one character sounded off and they delivered the lines with the right emotion and tone to bring these characters to life.
Final Score
The final score for The Long Halloween is an 8/10. A great movie series that has become one of my top 10 favorite animated Batman movies and one of the best DC movies. I really do encourage you guys to go out and read the comics as well as watch the movies. They’re all enjoyable and each offer a different experience that you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as more Aniween continues. MUHAHAHAHA!
*Nitsuj gets shot by an AI bullet from behind and falls to the ground unconscious. Isis walks over to him holding a gun and placing a jack-o-lantern by his body*
(Isis): It begins again.