Review of Halloween: Resurrection (2002) by Thghost . — 12 Aug 2011

Is it wrong that I actually enjoyed this one?

Don't get me wrong, it's a bad film. But it's by no means as bad as any of the other sequels, with the exception of Halloween III. It acts as a sequel to Halloween H2O, which was a direct sequel to Halloween II, meaning that the Halloween franchise as a whole should be considered a quadrilogy. I still however prefer to think of it as a trilogy because Halloween: Resurrection manages to stand on its own two feet as a standalone film; the plot is pointless but fun and the characters are harmless but entertaining. It also doesn't add all that much to the franchise's narrative.

The film takes place not long after the events of Halloween H2O. We see Laurie Strode committed to a psychiatric care facility where she is being held after witnessing more brutal killings by her brother Michael Myers, the notorious serial killer from Haddonfield. He soon pays her a visit and tries to killer her one last time. After an adequate chase scene and a few decent lines from Laurie threatening and taunting Michael, *MAJOR SPOILERS* he actually succeeds in killing her. Holding onto the side of the facility's roof after being pushed by Laurie, he stabs her through the back with his knife. She reaches up, kisses him on the lips and says "I'll see you in Hell" before plummeting to her death. *END OF MAJOR SPOILERS*.

This opening scene is one of the best in the franchise. Unfortunately, the film that follows it is nothing more than a cheesy teenage slasher film with minimal scares and unoriginal kills. But it is fun thanks to it's somewhat new twist - a group of teenagers (completely unrelated to the Myers murders) win a competition to appear on an Internet reality show hosted by two entrepreneurs played by Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks... I know, just go along with it. The show puts the teenagers inside Michael Myers' childhood home which they are supposed to search for clues as to why he murdered his family. Sound simple? Here's the twist: each teenager is rigged with a camera showing their POV that Internet subscribers can monitor as they search the house. It's not original but when it comes to this franchise, it is. It brings something fresh and new to the table and pulls it off rather well.

They soon discover that the whole thing is a publicity stunt and that Busta Rhymes is dressing up as Michael, pretending to scare them all. But the real Michael then returns home *MAJOR SPOILERS* after finally killing his sister after 20 years of failed attempts *END OF MAJOR SPOILERS* and begins to slowly pick off his unwanted guests one by one. However, that's it as far as the plot goes.

None of the actors/teenagers who enter Michael's house are that interesting but do their job of providing us with a haunted-house-meets-slasher experience fairly well. The only one of them that remotely stands out is Jen played by Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica - expect the same trademark facial expressions, grin and laugh that she does in that show. Sadly, her character is killed off just as quickly as most of the others. They're all just filler it comes down to it.

In the end, one of the teenagers teams up with Busta Rhymes to take Michael down. Rhymes actually puts up a pretty good fight too. They eventually incapacitate him *SPOILERS* by trapping him with some electrical wires before leaving him in a burning room and calling the emergency services. Michael's body is then taken to the morgue where we see his eyes open as his body bag is unzipped. The end credits then begin to roll. *END OF SPOILERS*.

I don't know why, but I rather enjoyed this one. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The fact that it was part of an Internet reality show gave it a small amount of self-awareness which reminded me of the Scream franchise, one of my favourite franchises of all time. It was only a small amount though.

As a standalone film it's quite fun. Silly, but harmless. But as a sequel to Halloween H2O, it fails on every level. If you're like me and believe that the Halloween franchise is a trilogy consisting of John Carpenter's original, Halloween II and Halloween H2O then give this one a miss. But it shall always remain a guilty pleasure of mine.