Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

1989 would see the last of a trilogy of films that Halloween fans now dub The Thorn Trilogy. This would be the last Halloween film to feature the character of Jamie Lloyd (not played by Danielle Harris sadly) and the first sequel to bring back original Halloween kid Tommy Doyle (with Ant Man himself, Paul Rudd, making his feature film debut as the now grown up kid Laurie Strode babysat in the original).

This film befell the misfortune of being tangled in rights issues, with Halloween creator, John Carpenter/New Line Cinema in the red corner and the Akkads/Weinsteins in the blue. The blue corner prevailed, and so began a messy and arduous development to the messy and arduous final product. Halloween Uber fan, Daniel Farrands, managed to get his work noticed by the producers and worked tirelessly to flesh out a bible of Halloween history and construct a story that would move the franchise forward. Some of his work exists in the final film. The notion of the Thorn cult and supernatural nature of Myers was his. But ultimately many writers/directors and the studio itself muscled his work into something else. The fact there are now two complete and quite different cuts of the film included in this package attests to too many cooks spoiling the broth.

Set a few years after Halloween 5, The Curse of Michael Myers sees a teenaged Jamie (J.C. Brandy) giving birth, only to have the dodgy man in black from the previous entry swan on in the delivery room and take the child away. A sympathetic nurse steals the child and aids Jamie to run away (from the friggen delivery room) into a dark and stormy night. Of course, Michael was there with ill intent and pursues and murders (horrifically in the theatrical cut) Jamie. Fortunately for the baby (and the plot) Jamie had hidden the baby in a bus stop before Michael tracked her down. Cut to Michael Myer’s childhood home and a new brood of Strode’s are living there, tormented by their family history. Their eldest daughter, Kara (Marianne Hagan), is a struggling single mom who de-robes in front of an open window and sees, living across the street, like a creepy Jimmy Stewart, is a grown Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd). Then, living on the outskirts of Haddenfield, is a retired Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance in his final role). Both these fellas are acting like gatekeepers, expecting Michael to come back. Through a series of nonsensical coincidences too embarrassing to recount, Tommy finds Jamie’s baby and then just happens to run into Dr. Loomis. Michael, of course, returns to his home and starts reducing his family numbers again. Tommy somehow manages to convince Kara with some fine research on a PC that Michael is controlled by a Druid cult and will return to butcher again this Halloween. What follows is a slapdash, convoluted piece of trash that culminates in nothing.

Do I sound disinterested? This film is a benchmark example for the foibles of a studio (the Weinsteins) thinking just because they pay the bills, they have the capacity to create. Had they left the script and placed a little faith in the actual writer, some of the themes this tripe tries to get across may have had potential. As it is, even the better regarded ‘Producer’s Cut’, it’s a wash. The story is stupid, the characters are useless and stupid, it’s a disservice to Donald Pleasance. It’s just bad.

Is there anything good? Yeah, the cinematography is pretty sweet. Bold uses of shadow at times and shot composition that owes a debt to German expressionism. The music, by Alan Howarth, is decent and uses Carpenter’s themes to great effect. They shot in Salt Lake City, so production doesn’t fit with the previous entries but isn’t terrible … yeah, that’s about it.

This was not an intentional or, at least for me, a welcome conclusion to this particular story thread. It’s very weak storytelling, the product of studio interference and no real singular vision taking point. A messy endurance of a movie and one of the worst of the Halloweens. Not a fan of this one, I’m afraid.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Video

this is where I get to be a bit more positive: this is a great looking picture. It’s a 4K scan of the camera negative that’s pristine. Film grain is fine and detail is crisp. The DOLBY Vision HDR makes the dramatic blacks and rich colours carefully layered throughout truly dimensional. I may not be a fan of the movie but a very big fan of the way it looks. Stellar job on this one.

Audio

You get a DTS HD 5.1 mix that’s packing some serious heft. The score, used copiously, fills the room. Despite not having 7.1, there is some environmental nuance and immersion. Dialogue is crisp. The more hyperbolic line reads, where folk screech, never distort. Can’t complain about this at all. The greed in me yearns for 7.1, but this 5.1 is damn good.

Special Features:

They’re copious, generous and many are very interesting. Kudos to them giving Danielle Harris a 20 minute feature to tell her side of the story of why she didn’t come back. This and all the features are from earlier offerings, already well documented. As aforementioned, you get both versions of the film in both 4K and blu-ray, for a total of 4 discs. You’ll find all of your features on the 4th disc. You get a reversible cover with the original theatrical poster on the insert and sturdy slip cover with new (wonderful) artwork. Apparently this set was the only way Scream Factory could release these films, so, if you want them to complete your run, wait at your wallet’s peril. Scalpers will make this seem cheap, crazy world we live in.

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Halloween: H2O (1998)

There’s amazingly only three years between Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween: H2O. Within this short window, the attitudes of the movie going audiences changed from slasher film fatigue to a post-modern renaissance of the genre. All thanks to a little sleeper hit called Scream. The writer of Scream, Kevin Williamson, although not credited in the final film, is the dude that had the most to do with how this film shaped up.

It was decided, after three films without Laurie Strode (in fact canon up to that point had her dead and buried) to have Michael face off against his sister one more time. Jamie Lee Curtis, the original scream queen, had gone on to great success and variety in many classics after her debut in Halloween. Her lure back to her roots hinged on the idea that this would be a true finale to the series. That Laurie would finally defeat the bogeyman. She actually almost walked from the movie only weeks before principle photography began when she learned that rights holder Moustapha Akkad had a clause that stated Michael Myers couldn’t be killed. Williamson was the one that came up with an idea that retained a definitive victory for Laurie while maintaining a get out of jail free possibility. Both sides were appeased and they were off to the races.

The story went through many permutations, and even constant rewrites as shooting progressed, but the basic story goes like this: Forget Halloween 3-6. Jamie and Tommy’s endurances at the hands of Myers are not even mentioned. This is California 1998. In an exclusive private school, Laurie Strode (Curtis) has taken up the nom de plume of Keri Tate, the principle. She is mother to an 17 year-old son, John (Josh Harnett) and a poster child of PTSD. She’s paranoid, overly protective and she’s got a problem with the drink. Question is, is it justified? Despite twenty years having past, a new life and a son almost grown, the shadow of her psychotic brother looms large over her every moment. Just as she starts to loosen the apron strings, tries to let her son live and go on a camping trip with the rest of their school, Michael finds them on the auspicious All Hallows’ eve. John has fibbed to Laurie, and, along with some chums and his girlfriend (Michelle Williams), stayed back at the school hidden for some teenaged partying and debauchery. Things turn bloody fast. When Laurie literally comes face to face with Michael, she transforms and decides to take her life back, becoming the hunter instead of the hunted.

This was a great friggen idea! Showing a strong middle-aged heroine overcome her traumas and completely shed her young victim persona is transformative, compelling and the best part of this movie. The set-up is also strong: a large complex, rife with many dark halls and rooms all set in the backdrop of a secluded area that adds weight and atmosphere. Unfortunately, that’s where the benefits of this framework end, because, aside from Laurie, you don’t give a shit about the rest of them. This production, not as badly but much like the last film, suffered from too many cooks syndrome. The execution of these virtues almost always falls flat. They constantly and visibly messed with the look of Myer’s (including the god awful CGI embellishments of the mask). The other characters were very thinly drawn and uninteresting. As much as I like LL Cool J and Michelle Williams and Josh Hartnett, who all have gone on to do far more impressive work, their characters are cardboard cutouts with wafer thin personalities who take too much time away from Laurie. The sum total of the end product is a stream of ideas, good, bad and fucking terrible that got thrown against a wall in a hurry to see what stuck. It is a patchwork of competing sensibilities that obliterate what could have been a great picture. Ultimately the rethinking on the fly style of this picture shows it’s seams terribly. The wizard’s curtain is drawn back all the way and he’s got no pants on. It’s messy, terribly messy.

Halloween: H2O (1998)

Video:

On offer is a native 4K 2160p scan of the original camera negative. It’s equipped with a Dolby Vision apparently. It’s a fairly understated picture throughout from a HDR standpoint. Nothing exceptional leapt out on my display. The greens were decent. I also found some of the colour timing leaning too far toward the reds in flesh tones. Detail is beautiful with fine film grain present and no obvious digital scrubbing. It’s strongest element is the blacks, which are rich and detailed without sacrificing the other colours. Not the most impressive of the Halloween restorations but definitely an upgrade from the blu ray.

Audio:

This DTS HD 5.1 mix is a decent surround experience but lacking in environmental elements and is a little too front heavy. Your speakers get the best workout when the score takes centre stage.
Dialogue is crisp and centred. Jump scare moments are serviced well. It ain’t bad, just would have benefited from an Atmos remix that brings the immersion up to current possibilities.

Special Features:

They’re copious but as almost always, they are legacy features from previous releases. Nothing new to see here. You do get, in this exclusive and extortionately priced three pack, the firm slip covers and new artwork unique to each to each film. You get the theatrical artwork on the flip side of the disc case inserts. You get a cheap as shit box container made out of toilet paper thin card stock. Apparently this set was the only way Scream Factory could release these films, so, if you want them to complete your run, wait at your wallet’s peril. Scalpers will make this seem cheap, crazy world we live in.

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Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

It’s shortcomings aside, Halloween H20 had returned the franchise a level of legitimacy with a stellar 75 million at the box office (from a 17 million dollar budget). In a choked new horror pantheon of franchises competing for dominance, Halloween proved unequivocally it still had legs. Of course there was the slight issue of H20 killing off Myers with a decapitation. But never underestimate the financially motivated creativity of those with a thirsty dog in the race.

Halloween: Resurrection then came along… and shot the friggen dog. Riding high on the receipts of H20, the producers decided to embrace the then current trends storming the box office. The likes of Blair Witch and the found footage ilk. Their genius move was to take the best part of that previous movie, Laurie Strode, subvert everything that film achieved for her character’s transformation, lock her away and kill her off pathetically in the first ten minutes. Fucking epic. And all this to entreat us, the movie going audience, to a set of cardboard cut out lambs to the slaughter who stream an internet reality show from Myer’s childhood home.

Set a few years after H20, Laurie Strode is allegedly catatonic in a mental institution after learning she decapitated a first responder, not her brother, at the end of the last flick. Of course this is all a ruse, as Laurie knows Michael will show up again to take her out. He does. She kisses him and dies (poorly). Next Halloween, some young people are chosen to be cast members in a web show filmed in Myer’s childhood home. They have no connection to anything that came before. They have nothing really, save for stunt casting and attitudes to fill in time before their eventual murders at Myer’s hands. Anyhow they enter said arena, Michael shows, they mostly die. Michael is seemingly taken out and awakens on the slab, ready for another movie: fade to black.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, about this film is a Halloween movie. It could have been any horror film of the day. It honours nothing that came before. It provides nothing to replace what came before. Halloween 2 director, Rick Rosenthal, does a paint by numbers attempt of riffing on the found footage trend and fails dismally. The writing is insipidly stupid. The characters are wafer thin and uninteresting. Their lines are like bad sound bytes, not dialogue. There is no emotional investment, no originality, it makes The Curse of Michael Myers seem well thought out.

The cinematography lacks any sense of mood and would suit any TV drama of the day. The music is a patchwork of nonsense that evokes no sense of dread, impending doom, fear or thrill. I wish I could find something positive to say about this train wreck, but there really is nothing. It’s not even worthy of the term misfire; the gun exploded in their hands before they yelled action on day one.

Absolute utter garbage that never should have been made.

 Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Video:

Scream Factory proves you can polish a turd. This native 4K scan of camera negative captures a pristine version of this pile of shit. It handles the muted sets and blacks with aplomb. With it’s web cam pastiche invading often, we’re not looking for eye popping HDR, although a DOLBY Vision transfer does help with reds and detailing clothing. It captures what sadly was intended accurately. No complaints about this transfer.

Audio:

Two words for you: Jump Cuts. This DTS HD 5.1 mix is excellent at capturing them. Also swooshing editing accompaniments and the constant shifting of cinematic sound to tinny low-res web cam sound, all captured accurately. The dialogue in crisp and centred. The surrounds get a verbose workout. Screams never distort. It’s a great mix. No question.

Special Features:

I sure as hell have not sought to add this film to my shelf before, but the back blurb attests the short interviews with back of house crew and actor Sean Patrick Thomas are new. As with the other two films in the set, Resurrection comes in quality thick slipcover with groovy new art and reversible case insert with the theatrical poster. Mediocre offerings for a mediocre movie.

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