"I knew what he was, but I never knew why."
Six years has passed since Michael and Jamie mysteriously disappeared from the Haddonfield Police Station. Thought dead, Jamie was really kidnapped by The Man in Black and a cult of druids. Since then, Dr. Loomis has retired, Haddonfield has banned Halloween, and relatives of the adopted family of Laurie have moved into the Myers house, of all places. The kids of Haddonfield want to have parties on Halloween again, and protagonist Kara Strode's son Danny is being haunted by images of The Man in Black. Meanwhile, Jamie has given birth to a child and manages to save the its life, but not without the sacrifice of hers. Jamie's baby eventually falls into the hands of Tommy Doyle, one of the two child survivors from the original Halloween massacre. Tommy has spent years planning for Michael's return and plans to stop him once and for all. Tommy's prediction coming true, Michael returns to Haddonfield to find the baby, all the while dealing with the new occupants of his home. The venerable Dr. Loomis returns, and he and Tommy's attempt to save Danny and Kara from Michael leads to the revelation of Michael's evil origin: the curse of an ancient pagan rune named "Thorn", which drives him to kill his family until none remain. It is up to Dr. Loomis and Tommy to stop Michael and The Man in Black before the Curse of Thorn can be passed on to Jamie's baby (whew, a lot of plot!!!).
This was the first Halloween movie that I actually got to see in theatres. The movie was not receiving much fanfare from the critics. Even at the tender age of 12, I wasn't one to adhere to popular opinion, so I begged my mother to take me to see it. In this case, my anti-social behavior paid off, and I viewed my first "favorite" movie in the horror genre. But don't let me lead you into believing this still holds true: at the age of 12, I wasn't yet introduced to the mind-numbing experience that is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the fantastic cinematic achievement that is 2001: A Space Odyssey, or the plain-out awesomeness of Kevin Smith's Clerks. In other words: I wasn't yet the motion picture otaku I am now, and my opinion has changed quite a bit since that cold November night in 1995. But enough of this personal narrative crap, let's get on to the purpose of this piece, and that's what I think of The Curse of Michael Myers now.
One of the first things you notice about the flick is the soundtrack, which I absolutely love. The heavy metal riffs have perfect placement alongside Michael's angst and rage. The next thing that is noticeable is the cinematography, which is obviously very different than that of any Halloween flick before it. I'm not saying that this is a plus, but it definitely doesn't detract from the overall experience.
On the subject of carnage, the death scenes--two of them anyway--are unquestionably the most creative in the entire series. John Strode's death is particularly outstanding, and the Smith's Grove patient's demise is also chic in that Jack the Ripper sort-of-way. But aside from those, there isn't much to speak of in terms of originality. In fact, most of them are of the typical hack-n-slash, or spike-in-the-wall, sort. But, sadist that I am, I'm not complaining. It's blood and guts, right?
There's something I'd like to get off of my chest first and foremost: while it doesn't necessarily detract from the film, a lot of the plot and characters seem too coincidental. Examples: The Strodes move into the Myers house, Tommy just happens to be listening when Jamie is on the radio call-in show, Tommy finds Stephen at the bus station, and so on. But this is just a minor complaint, so I'll move on.
Now, as you may or may not be able to tell from my other reviews, I'm a continuity whore. That said, let me get on to Jamie: the actress who portrays her here (J.C. Brandy) is obviously not the same actress from parts 4 and 5 (Danielle Harris), and it really isn't something I can overlook easily; they are just TOO different to be readily acceptable. The Myers house seems to be back to normal, albeit renovated, after the horrible debacle in continuity that was the part 5 Myers house--see my review of part 5 if you don't know what I'm talking about. The Mrs. Blankenship character, although very creepy, is also part of a big continuity error: she mentions to Kara that she was babysitting Michael the night he killed Judith. Halloween leads you to believe that he was trick-or-treating under the observation of Judith, because Judith tells her boyfriend that Michael "is around here someplace", and Michael is wearing a Halloween costume when he is finally shown.
I'm going to go back to Jamie now that I'm done with the continuity problems. Why did they waste the time to bring her back? She IS just as crucial to the plot of this film as she is to part 4's and part 5's, but this time it is for the birthing of Stephen and not as the role of the main character. I don't really see the logic in spending the first 15-20 minutes of the film on her trying to escape from Michael, only for her to be so easily dispatched when he does get to her. Here's what they should have done with her: birth Stephen, and then kill her. It would have been simple, to the point, and it would have made more room for actual development of the "Thorn" storyarc.
What? Did you think I forgot about the whole "Thorn" thing? Anyway, I like the idea of it, and I understood it quite well. But (and I'm not tooting my own horn here) I just don't think that a normal movie viewer will enjoy it. It IS asking a bit much for the audience of a movie like this (the kind people expect to be buckets o' blood) to actually have to think too much. Also, if they were going to throw this curse thing into the mix, why didn't they do it while the series was young? It would have given them a lot more time to develop the backstory of it, instead of the massive dumping of it upon the viewers, making it seem out of place and really moronic.
And it wouldn't be a Halloween movie review without mention of the phenomenal Donald Pleasance. This film is home to his worst (and last) performance in the series, but it is definitely forgivable as he was ailing throughout the filming of it. But calling it the worst performance of the series should be considered a compliment, seeing as he had been absolutely brilliant in his other portrayals. He died shortly after the film wrapped. He is, without a doubt, missed by this horror fanboy.
Unquestionably, Curse is not as good as it once seemed to me, but that's the way it goes with a lot of movies (sans Kevin Smith's). But it is by no means the complete and utter bomb the box office and critics make it out to be. It is better than part 5 and the next sequel, H20, and it is just below part 4. But no slasher flick can, and doubtedly ever will, top the original Halloween, and it will take a very, very, extremely, high-quality effort in order to do so. Curse had the potential, but came up short in the end. |
