Tags:
Film: Halloween: Resurrection
Year: 2002
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Writer: Larry Brand and Sean Hood
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Busta Rhymes and Brad Loree
Review:
This film begins with showing us what happened since the previous film that Jamie Lee Curtis has been kept in a mental hospital. To us she appears to be cationic. We hear some nurses talking about her and her brother, Michael Myers. They go to give her a pill and see her spit it out and put it into the back of her doll. She then gets up and looks out the window. She sees Michael Myers, played by Brad Loree. We then see that he might not be real.
Another patient gets out and has to be taken back to his room by a security guard. This patient is really interested in serial killers. We then see that Loree is watching from the shadows. He then gets in and the security guards go to check on him. They are killed by him. He then visits his sister who hits him with a lamp. She leads him to the roof where she sets a trap for him. It works, but she goes to make sure who he is, because last time it wasn’t. He ends up taking advantage and killing her.
The film then shifts to Haddonfield, Illinois. There is now a university there. We meet a student played by Bianca Kajlich. Her best friend is played by Katee Sackhoff. She reveals to her that they both have won something. They go to meet their other friend, played by Sean Patrick Thomas, who is a culinary student. They have been chosen for a reality show that will investigate the Myers House.
This comes with a scholarship and Kajlich is not so sure she wants to do it. The production is run by Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks. They are interviewing all those selected. There is a smart red head played by Daisy McCrackin, who gets hit on by a music student who thinks he is something special, played by Luke Kirby. We have Thomas Ian Nicholas, who hits on Sackhoff.
Kajlich also messages with a freshman who helped her over the internet, played by Ryan Merriman. His friend thinks he is stupid and Sackhoff thinks he could be a creepy old guy. She does get him to promise that he will watch the show.
Rhymes has a guy go to set up cameras in the house with the help of Banks. She goes to make a cup of coffee and he runs into Loree, who kills him with a camera tripod.
The group comes to the house to begin their investigation. Thomas starts to notice early on that there are things that are out of place, like fresh herbs and spices as well as children coloring pages. Kirby and McCrackin find a false wall that reveals a prosthetic arm. They learn that things have been planted to up the scare value.
Merriman goes to the party with his roommate and he sneaks off to find a computer. Others from the party join him as well, interested in what he is watching and his ability to use the computer and give the best entertainment.
The problem though is that Loree is in the house of the show. Nicholas sulks off when he is shot down by Sackhoff and he is stabbed in the head. Loree starts to kill others and those watching don’t think it is real. To make matters worse, Rhymes comes in dressed as him as well to scare the group. Will they realize this is really happening before it is too late or will everyone become Loree’s victim?
The biggest thing that I liked about this was that they are poking fun at the phenomena that was reality television. I know that I got sucked in it and it actually got much more popular after this film was made. What also is great is the fact that a lot of it was staged as well and this shows that Rhymes was trying to make the show better by doing things and setting them up. The death scenes aren’t bad in this one, even though most of them are killed with a knife. Myers by this time is supernatural and we do see that. My thing though is that I felt that at least Kajlich could have gotten away in my opinion before she did, but the film kept her in the house to get more running time. I do like thought that they included Curtis, who was in the previous film as well. Even though they kill her off early, I like to keep up with continuity.
I did have quite a few issues with this film. The first being that the acting was subpar across the board, including Curtis who was great in the original and even the two sequels she was in. The women were pretty good looking as well, but their acting was not impressive to me at all. I also felt the story was a little bit cheesy. Like the fake wall that was set up, how did they not see the room that Myers was sleeping in? The film was also kind of boring to me. McCrackin was not interested in Kirby at all, until she gets to a room where she doesn’t think there are cameras, yet both are wearing a camera and her breasts are exposed for the internet world immediately after. Just some unrealistic things that I had issue with.
Now with that said, I wouldn’t recommend this film unless you are out to watch all of the films in the Halloween series. If you are going to just pick one, then definitely do not choose this one unless you want to watch a bad one as this might be the worst in the series. This film does have a good allegory to society and reality television, but the acting is lacking as well as the story. If you are looking for a good slasher film, there are much better ones out there that are worth your time.
My Rating: 4 out of 10