Halloween: Resurrection (dir. Rick Rosenthal, 2002)
Three years after the events of the last film, Laurie Strode is in a psychiatric facility. As the two exposition spouting nurses and a series of sepia toned flashbacks inform us, Michael Myers swapped clothes with a paramedic, crushed his larynx to prevent him from speaking, threw the mask on him, and let the rest of the movie play out. We will ignore the fact that this paramedic also apparently possess superhuman strength and endurance.
So, Laurie Strode has murdered an innocent man. That’s an interesting starting point for a film. We could delve into the psychological strain this has put on her, the way that her brother continues to destroy every aspect of her life. I suppose that an asylum could be an interesting setting.
Oh, nevermind. Michael Myers murders her less than ten minutes into the film.
This film exists because executive producer Moustapha Akkad did not want to stop making money off of Michael Myers. Halloween H20’s ending that saw Laurie Strode killing her brother was apparently always intended to be a fake-out that would be revealed in the next film that Jamie Lee Curtis was contractually obligated to appear in. Well, they don’t call Hollywood filmmaking “the industry” for nothing. The last film made money, so let’s make another.
But where do they go from here?
We flashforward a year to a psychology class at Haddonfield University where we hear some Jungian nonsense and are introduced to our new protagonist Sarah Moyer (Bianca Kajlich). We learn all we need to know about her because she has dark hair, correctly answers an academic question, and rides a moped. Sarah’s best friend is a blonde woman named Jennifer (Katee Sackhoff) who gently mocks her for IMing a stranger online in 2002, which I think qualified as an archetype at this time in history? This mystery man “Deckard” by the way is a first year nerdlinger named Myles (Ryan Merriman).
Anyway, Jennifer tells Sarah that they along with their mutual friend Rudy (Sean Patrick Thomas) have been selected to appear in an online reality program called Dangertainment. The three of them meet the producer Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes), his co-producer Nora (Tyra Banks), and the other participants who range from true crime creep to that guy from the American Pie movies. No, not that one. The other one (Thomas Ian Nicholas). They are going to spend Halloween night locked in the abandoned childhood home of Michael Myers and stream it all on the internet.
Meanwhile, Myles and his roommate go to a Halloween party above their station dressed as Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction, and it is but by the grace of god that there’s no blackface involved. Myles pulls the unrealistically clear and uninterrupted stream for Dangertainment on a desktop computer, which all the partygoers eventually gather around to watch. The show is supposed to be staged with Freddie dressed as Michael Myers for the climax, but then Haddonfield’s least favorite son arrives and begins killing for real.
You can tell that the writers were trying to say something. Reality shows are fake, people will consume any atrocity presented to them as entertainment, we’re too focused on making one of those fancy espresso drinks to notice someone being killed. It’s all extraordinarily dated in a manner unlike any other film in the series. There’s a thread of intentional comedy that’s better suited to something like Scream than this franchise. I think the general consensus is that Busta Rhymes is terrible here, but I disagree. He’s got a real joie de vivre about him that I like.
The main problem is that Michael Myers only works in opposition to a family member. Without that, he’s just a generic masked killer who may as well be played by a reality television producer. It’s probably for the best that the series was rebooted by Rob Zombie in 2007, because could you imagine how much worse another sequel like this could get?
October 24, 2018
oliveresque 