The Past, Present and Future of Michael Myers: Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Halloween Resurrection

There’s a pattern in the Halloween franchise. After one successful sequel, there follows one or two that don’t quite hit their mark. Halloween: Resurrection continues said pattern. This film is filled with references that would undoubtedly make fanboys and fangirls remember the 1981 sequel, also directed by Rick Rosenthal.

With throwaway dialogue, we’re given this practically intricate explanation about the ending of H20: Laurie killed a paramedic who, for some reason, couldn’t take the damn mask off. Although Lorena Gale’s delivery of his dialogue is convincing, the script penned by Larry Brand and Sean Hood is mediocre at best. The film opens in a psychiatric facility, wherein Laurie dwells. She seems sagacious enough to comprehend her situation, having even planned for Michael’s visit.

A security guard bumps into Harold; a corpulent guy in a clown mask. He’s obsessed with serial killers yet gets the date of Gacy’s execution wrong. He messes up Michael’s history quite a bit, too. The security guard takes him back to his room and meets up with his equally stupid coworker to watch the monitors. They see Michael wandering around, almost reminiscent of Halloween 2. Brad Loree’s Michael Myers is thin and lean, yet they believe it’s Harold.

Both guards are quickly murdered, leaving no one else to pose a threat to Michael. Knowing Laurie watched him from her window, he foolishly believes she’d take a nap. He smashes through her door and hovers over her bed. After hitting him with a lamp and running down the corridors, she lures Michael to the roof, where he then thinks she jumped off. He happened to be standing right where she anticipated he would. That’s really all her plan is, to have him hung up over the edge and drop him on his head.

He’s been shot and stabbed multiple times and set on fire, but surely this will kill Michael Myers. Just as she’s about to cut the rope, Michael presses his hands to his mask; calling to Laurie’s mind the paramedic.

She approaches him to make sure it’s really him. The last time she saw his face was in a dark hallway in 1978. He was burnt shortly thereafter, so how could she confirm it’s him? Regardless if it’s Michael or not, he was chasing after her, so why does it matter?

She’s then flung over the building and stabbed in the back, only to fall off, hitting every branch on the way down. It’s an iniquitous ending for Curtis’s character. Cheap in every sense. Michael waited about twenty-three years to kill Laurie, longer if you were to count his fifteen years in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. Wouldn’t he have checked to make sure she died? There’s no mention of her murder, which you’d expect Freddie to use as marketing for his shit show.

Alongside Busta Rhymes’ Freddie is America’s Next Top Victim, Tyra Banks as Nora. They seek out college students to explore the Myers house for their show. A show so professional they wait until the last minute to set everything up and meet its cast just one night before shooting is set to commence. Nora sucks at paying attention to her job this entire film, even missing the death of cameraman Charley. After which, she compliments the angle at which the camera fell, even though the tripod is still in the shot.

The characters are obnoxious, low-rent versions of characters we’ve seen before. Katee Sackhoff’s Jennifer is Lynda, Daisy McCrackin’s Donna is Annie and Bianca Kajlich’s Sara is a pale imitation of Laurie Strode. Bianca actually cannot scream, though. Most audio of the screams and even “Oh My God” are utilized several times throughout this film. Thomas Ian Nicholas phones in his performance as Bill, who is practically the same as his American Pie character, only slightly hornier, if possible. Sean Patrick Thomas’s character Rudy spends most of his time talking about food. Luke Kirby’s Jim is wickedly annoying. A lot of time is spent with otiose characters like Billy Kay’s Scott and the spectators at the party.

Kyle Labine’s character is a great example as to why this film’s editing sucks. He’s shown telling Myles to turn down the volume after Jen scares Sara. The next you see of him, he’s walking into the room wondering what they’re watching. Ryan Merriman’s Myles is likable, however he’s not given enough to do.

The Myers house is almost similar to that of that original, just built on a sound stage. Danny Lux’s take on the theme is good, but the rest of the soundtrack is unappealing. Overall, the film’s execution is curiously pedestrian in ways I never thought a film could be. The film’s lighting tries to capture the quintessence of Cundey’s work and fails as David Geddes’s cinematography is almost obnoxiously bright and inspires virtually nothing from its audience. There are a lot of audio and editing flaws with this movie, some terrible continuity errors and it’s lazily written. There’s not one person in particular to blame for Resurrection’s inferiority.

With a budget of $13 million and the movie overall making somewhere around $37 million, the film is considered a success in terms of revenue; however, critically, the film received massive hate and continues to.

Resurrection is the last in the original series. A follow-up was planned, however unfortunately, Halloween royalty Moustapha Akkad, along with his daughter, were killed in the Amman Bombings in November of 2005. He died two days later, due to injuries.

The film works as mindless entertainment, nothing more, nothing less. Its unsuccessful attempts to desperately keep Myers relevant in a then-technologically advanced world are only worthy of eyes rolls and heavy breaths. Halloween: Resurrection, filled with terrible, uninteresting characters, a bad sense of humor, and karate chops, has to be the weakest film in the series.

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