Review #478: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
Cast
Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis), Paul Rudd (Tommy Doyle), Marianne Hagan (Kara Strode), Devin Gardner (Danny Strode), J.C. Brandy (Jamie Lloyd), Mitchell Ryan (Dr. Wynn), Kim Darby (Debra Strode), Bradford English (John Strode), and George P. Wilbur (Michael Myers) Directed by Joe Chappelle.
Review
In honor of Halloween, I've decided to close out the second phase of the Halloween franchise with...this film. Six years after the lame cliffhanger that Halloween 5 delivered, a sequel was made, taking a cliche name for a horror film (Or a Pink Panther film), and...not adding a number to the film, presumably to not make the idea of a 6th film in an already stretched beyond belief franchise sound even more ridiculous (However that title of silliness goes to Friday the 13th) then it already is. The first notable aspect is the replacement of Danielle Harris with J.C. Brandy, who while not being a bad replacement, isn't as good, though it is kind of disappointing that Jamie, a character we've rooted for the last two films, dies in the beginning, without much struggle. The film had gone through 6 years of legal rights issues, and then there was one more thing: The extensive re-editing. The original cut of the film (Which is uniquely, but strangely called The Producer's Cut) was massively re-edited, apparently due to negative reaction to the original ending. And I'm not gonna lie, I've at least seen the original ending. Spoiler alert, but...it's a lame one. You wanna know what it is?
So the way to stop Myers in the producer's cut is...put a bunch of stones in a circle, which stops him indefinitely, only the reveal that Myers was actually Dr. Wynn, with Myers as Wynn. And Loomis is selected to be the new cult leader.
Due to middling reaction and Pleasence's death, new scenes would be filmed, which apparently cuts much of the plot line, replacing it with more horror scenes. The film drudges along, introducing characters, later killing most of them off, basically just setting up people to die, which is strange (I know it isn't, but let's pretend), but oh well. Pleasence is back one final time, doing as well as he's done before, this sadly being his final film and all. Paul Rudd (yes, that Paul Rudd) is...okay, even if his performance seems to be to just have one "creepy" look and monotone voice. The film seems to try to connect to the first film, what with Tommy Doyle, Dr. Wynn (You know, that guy with one scene in the first film..Hell, I almost forgot who he was), and...the Myers house. So the Strodes (who adopted Laurie, who was Michael's sister), are now living in the Myers house, all those years later. Why live in a house where death and terror happened to your adopted daughter and numerous others is beyond me. I guess the Strodes got the house at a cheap price, the prices were essentially slashed, an awful pun. Loomis is sadly not much in the final 30 minutes, as the ending of this film seems to imply that Michael can be beat by a lead pipe and corrosive. That and...Loomis screams for what reason after pulling off his mask? This is a film plagued by an extensive behind the scenes editing, mediocre-to-lame acting, story lines like Danny Strode's voices in his head going nowhere, and this...is an awful way to continue the franchise. The scares and blood are okay, but that's not enough to save the film. I'd stick to better films, anything else would probably be better, but oh well. Happy Halloween.
Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.
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