| |
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
|
|
| Year: |
1995
|
|
Director: |
Joe Chappelle
|
| Stars: |
Donald Pleasence, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagan, Mitch Ryan, Kim Darby, Bradford English, Keith Bogart, Mariah O'Brien, Leo Geter, J.C. Brandy, Devin Gardner, Susan Swift, George P. Wilbur, Janice Knickrehm, Alan Ecehverria, Hildur Ruriks, Sheri Hicks
|
| Genre: |
Horror |
| Rating: |
  4 (from 3 votes) |
| Review: |
Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy) is having a baby - normally this would be a happy event, but in this case it's something to be feared as she has been kidnapped by a mysterious sect who want the infant for themselves. She gives birth in a location she does not recognise, surrounded by sinister figures, but there is one nurse who she thinks can be someone to rely upon to get her out of this mess. However, complicating matters is the presence of her uncle Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur), who happens to be a serial killer responsible for countless deaths...
Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place, but poor old Jamie, the central character of those previous two Halloween sequels, got a pretty raw deal during this. Danielle Harris, who had played her in those, did not return for financial reasons, but seeing what happens to Jamie early on in the film, relegated to a victim role when she could just as easily been the heroine again, it was perhaps a blessing that we didn't see Danielle lumbered with that thankless part. Then again, there wasn't much to like about this, the sixth instalment in the still-lucrative, but artistically dwindling series, mainly thanks to behind the scenes shenangians.
All who read the original script to The Curse of Michael Myers liked it a lot, tying in as it did with the ending of the previous one which had itself been thought up as an open coda without knowing where the makers of the next could possibly go with it. Unfortunately, such was the difference of opinion between director Joe Chappelle and his producers, and indeed his cast, that the project wound up pulling in different directions and given this was the final film of regular star Donald Pleasence, here reprising his much admired Dr Loomis role, fans of the series would have hoped for a better send-off than what was released to theatres.
He was almost an afterthought here, as apparently Chappelle was not fond of the character, but rendering this murkier Pleasence made a more impressive showing in the other version of Halloween 6, the so-called Producer's Cut which was leaked soon after the theatrical cut and many found themselves preferring. Yet the fact remained there was far too much of the adding to the series' mythology for its own good, and all because of that ending to Part 5, leaving what should have been as simple and streamlined as the John Carpenter original needlessly complicated. The Satanic sect wasn't a bad idea, but it did not really belong in a Halloween movie.
There were elements here to remind you that this was part of the franchise, so not only did Loomis resume his hunt of "The Shape" but you got the action falling on October the 31st, the Strode house featured, and a whole lot of straining to include the new cast members in the basic plotline mapped out by the preceding movies. Paul Rudd debuted here, now known for his comedy but here as the creepy next door neighbour who turns out to be a great asset to the heroine this time around, one Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan) who is related merely by adoption, but has her own young, possibly psychic, son to take care of for by the numbers child in peril business. The big problem is that this was all building up to a climax that never actually happened, so you expect the man in black and the cult to be very important only to see them thrown away for some running about a hospital sequences. Little wonder that they ignored this for Halloween H20. Music by Alan Howarth.
|
| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
|
| |
|
|
Display comments