Halloween: Resurrection

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is catatonic locked in an asylum after the last encounter with Michael Myers. She is faking it and he is still after her. He stabs her in the back and sends her off the roof. Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich), Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas) and Jen Danzig (Katee Sackhoff) are friends studying in Haddonfield University. Jen signs them up for a reality show at the Myers house. They are joined by Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Donna Chang, and Jim Morgan in the show run by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and Nora Winston (Tyra Banks). Myles Barton is in a chatroom relationship with Sara. Unknown to them, the six reality TV guests are locked in the house with Michael Myers.

Despite any possible retcon, the first fifteen minutes are still the best part of this movie. Jamie Lee Curtis is Halloween every bit as much as Michael Myers. The rest is something else. Whatever it is, it's not Halloween. The reality TV idea is annoying and it gets worst with the intermittent reality TV camera work. I like a few of the actors, but Tyra Banks and Busta Rhymes really lower the likability factor. It's so bad that I am more interested in everybody getting killed. I don't care if any of them survive.

I want to start by saying Halloween H20 is my favorite movie in the franchise... That being said, it is only NATURAL for me to not like this one. It retcons the ending and all the characters are bland. If you are thinking "How bad can it be?", my answer is "I'd rather have Myers stab me than watch this movie again".

Halloween: Resurrection starts off on the wrong foot and it's all downhill from there. Sure they found a clever way to undo the closure of Halloween H2O and make it possible to bring Mike up to his old shenanigans, unfortunately that whole segment is hasty and the rest of the movie's garbage. The "what really happened" explanation is just a loophole for making a movie that's neither necessary nor any good, and so I present to you Halloween: Resurrection.

I'm not going to write any spoilers about what happens to Laurie, but I think anyone who loves the original Halloween and its characters will think what they did with her in this movie is crap and only put her in here for the sake of having Laurie in it.

The characters are plastic. Even by the end of the movie when you get to know all of them a little bit, you don't care enough about them to want to see them escape the wrath of Mike Myers. In fact, you'll probably look forward to their demise at his hands. That's how flat and/or despicable these characters are. Even the lead role doesn't have much personality. She's nice and smart and decent, just like Laurie was in fact, but somehow she doesn't have much personality. I don't think her character was developed enough, otherwise she could have made a good heroine. The rest of the characters are people you pretty much hope get killed off, especially the tech lady played by Tyra Banks and most of the kids that tour the haunted house. Obnoxious people, hastily made characters. And Busta Rhymes plays the typical black dude with a boisterous personality. Not a bad acting job, but what a typical cliché character.

The technology is another factor. Another case of fusing horror with the fancy gimmick of modern technology (or what was modern in 2002 anyways). Just because we have things like reality shows and phone-texting nowadays does not mean it will make a horror movie any scarier, or realistic, or better at all. Having people emailing and playing on their phones and all in the movie takes away from the good old-fashioned terror you get from something as simple as a lurking shadow or the gleam of a butcher knife.

There's a couple of notably cool things in the movie, like when Freddy dresses up like Mike Myers while Mike is there in the flesh and you see two Mikes walking one behind the other. Well that was more funny than anything. The scene with the bong was funny too. And the murder scenes are alright and in typical Mike Myers fashion, but otherwise Resurrection bombs as a horror film and leaves you yet again with no closure, except this time you wouldn't really want to see another sequel.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now in an asylum, where she awaits the inevitable return of Michael Myers. Myers, after visiting her, returns to his childhood home and makes a nightmare for a group of kids who have decided to film a reality show inside the house.

First of all, this film pretends that Halloween 4 through 6 never happened, creating the possibility that the Myers house has been abandoned for decades, rather than lived in by other families. This reboot is a result of the writing on H20, but it was still a bad idea no matter who started it.

Second, one would think that bringing in Rick Rosenthal would be a good idea. He made "Halloween 2", which was probably the last solid part of the franchise. But Rosenthal is clearly not the horror directing master we might have thought, as he approaches this film with a weak vision and sense of style, more emulating MTV than his own work. A quick glance at his credits will explain this: he has spent the last twenty years making teenager-based television rather than horror films.

Next, add Busta Rhymes. Like its previous installment with LL Cool J, this is the point in the series where a rapper is added to the mix. Much like how many horror franchises ultimately ended up in space, many started adding rappers to the cast. Why? I do not know. But it does nothing to help the credibility of the picture. Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks do not have the appeal for horror fans that other actors would have.

The POV camera thing is a mess. It looks bad and is more or less a bad idea. Yes, it has worked in such films as "The Blair Witch Project" and more recent excursions. It does not work here. Had they cut that aspect out entirely, this film would have been a bit better instantly.

No horror franchise took as big of a nosedive as "Halloween", with this being the final crash landing. Reviews of this film were so poor, and viewer appreciation so weak, it's very unlikely they will ever make another one in the series. Yes, they made the two Rob Zombie films after this, but I just like to pretend that never happened.

The people behind this film tried to give audiences what they wanted, slasher movies had been big news, and the Halloween franchise seemed to fit well for that genre. The opening scenes I really liked, indeed they're the best part of the movie, slick, menacing, and that music is just incredible. Reality TV was still very popular, and you can see why they came up with this plot.

Sadly that's the end of the good news, from there on it's downhill, I personally disliked the story, they had no qualms about cheapening the legacy of the great Halloween. It's tacky, the production, plot, characters lack any sense of quality, only the music stands out well. The behaviours of all characters are nonsensical, you keep saying to yourself 'would they really do that?'

They tried, but failed. 4/10