Halloween H20: 20 Years Later/Halloween: Resurrection (1998/2002)

 

Director: Steve Miner [Halloween H20]/Rick Rosenthal [Halloween: Resurrection]

Screenplay: Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg [H20]/ Larry Brand and Sean Hood [Resurrection]

Cast:

Halloween H20

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode / Keri Tate, Josh Hartnett as John Tate, Adam Arkin as Will Brennan, Michelle Williams as Molly Cartwell, Adam Hann-Byrd as Charlie Deveraux, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Sarah Wainthrope, Janet Leigh as Norma Watson, LL Cool J as Ronald 'Ronny' Jones, Chris Durand as Michael Myers, Lisa Gay Hamilton as Shirley 'Shirl' Jones (voice)

Halloween: Resurrection

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Brad Loree as Michael Myers, Busta Rhymes as Freddie Harris, Bianca Kajlich as Sara Moyer, Sean Patrick Thomas as Rudy Grimes, Daisy McCrackin as Donna Chang, Katee Sackhoff as Jennifer 'Jen' Danzig, Luke Kirby as Jim Morgan, Thomas Ian Nicholas as Bill Woodlake, Ryan Merriman as Myles 'Deckard' Barton, Tyra Banks as Nora Winston, Gus Lynch as Harold Trumble

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movie)

 

Trick or treat...motherfucker!

It might seem blasphemous to cover both of these films together, as Resurrection is considered a huge drop after H20, what was considered a great sequel/return to the iconic 1978 film, but there was always a sequel planned when H20 was filmed, so this reboot of the Halloween franchise was tragically sealed in having a sequel that undercut whatever H20 accomplished. It is the curse of any film franchise, to always try to sustain it whether it would work or not, as the three part Thorn trilogy beforehand ended as badly as it did, after The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) and its theatrical cut. Also, as much as H20 is rightly viewed as a great way to continue (and supposedly end) the franchise, Resurrection as a result of watching the previous films before, with the Thorn trilogy sadly having some of the least interesting entries, became a guiltless pleasure this time around without the burden that it ruined a great film's conclusion from before. For a film notorious for rap artist Busta Rhymes calling Michael Myers a killer shark, I accepted the absurdity and got (unintentional) joy from the proceedings.

Resetting the world, to the point that parts four to six now became their own alternative dimension, we begin with a prologue that re-establishes that we are following from Halloween II all the way back in 1981, in which Michael Myers one night in a suburb in Haddonfield killed a series of people. That first ever sequel is still canon because one of the survivors from that night, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), was made into his sister as he went for her again in the last moments of that night, and thus H20's prologue follows on from the logical conclusion that, if he cannot be stopped, he will try to find her even under witness protection. There is a sense of glibness from the dialogue provided by Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg, with the screenwriter of Scream (1996) Kevin Williamson in a producer's role on this film. Scream, also helped into existence with its director Wes Craven, was an important film to the slasher genre and its influence here cannot be ignored as for other films from after its release, as this does wink in its plotting of slasher tropes whilst still having an actual story. We can find humour in a young Jason Gordon-Levitt as a teen helping himself to a few beers secretly whilst helping a nurse whose home has been broken into, but notwithstanding someone getting an ice skate blade embedded into their face, there is still a serious story set up.

The calm, almost bloodless tone of the original John Carpenter film was gone by that first ever sequel, but co-producer Williamson, alongside the screenwriters and director Steve Miner, who came from the Friday the 13th franchise, brought back the focus onto a small chamber piece rather than the sprawl out into a higher body count that the films onwards from Carpenter's original did. The Thorn trilogy of three films before is gone, and even the additional cast to off in the 198q sequel are nowhere to be found, instead envisioning Laurie Strode under a new name has a new life, as the headmistress of a school, trying to get on with her life. It is still a brisk horror film in length, focusing on the stalking around the campus by Myers halfway through, but we establish so much characterization with a surprising level of effortlessness. We establish Laurie having nightmares from the attacks of a time before, and all the medication she has even under a new name to cope, with alcoholism to match a teaching career. A loving son played by Josh Hartnett, who is passing his seventeenth birthday, due to her over protectiveness is also starting to be at his tether with her, and only this time viewing the film did I ever consider that we never hear anything about his father. Even if the screenwriters forgot to include details of this by pure accident, the gap of the previous husband as a single mother itself raises so much potential unheard back-story to set up how she has had to deal with so much psychological damage due to her brother trying to murder her decades earlier.

On October 31st, her son rather than at a Yosemite camping trip for the whole school has some friends and his girlfriend together, planning their own secret Halloween at the school, whilst Laurie herself is also there with only a male teacher, one around her age, who she is romantically connected with and starts to opens up about the truth of her life finally to him. LL Cool J, a seminal rap artist known for the likes of Mama Said Knock You Out having started in the early eighties, has a small role too but adds a much needed side character as the school campus' guard, entirely for the detail that he is writing erotic novels in his spare moments even if his beau (Lisa Gay Hamilton, only heard by her voice) criticises his lack of decent metaphors for the female chest let alone getting anything published. Even Will (Adam Arkin), Laurie's fellow teacher and lover, gets as much for a minor character just for the fact he is a likable guy, getting time to become fully aware on this fateful night of Laurie's trauma as much as her concerns with her own protectiveness over her son, all in context of Michael Myers having found her and planning a family reunion.

This was why I appreciated the film the first time, and in context of the films that came before which struggled, this is such a breath of fresh air still to this day. Slasher films are usually fun and over-the-top as a horror subgenre, so there is less chances for moments of introspection, which this however still allows and provides an efficient slasher flick to enjoy. It was also made with clear love, Jamie Lee Curtis clearly making this with interest of the character dynamic, but also in how her real life mother Janet Leigh, of Psycho (1960), is a minor character as one of the minor school staff in a beautiful nod to Alfred Hitchcock's film and its legacy on the slasher genre, as much as one woman who defined horror herself being there in a nice interplay with her daughter, who defined horror as well as cinema in her own career. Even the self aware humour has aged well; one joke, whilst actually subversive because it is the female cast who say it, is very edgy and would not exist in a future slasher film, but the snark does not invade the tension, so actually counts as proper character layering. It is seen in how, whilst he has a tiny role, LL Cool J comes off as one of the highlights due to his easy going charisma. It is noted that, a year later in the shark film Deep Blue Sea (1999), his character with more scenes also became a huge highlight. He has a prolific career in cinema and television, beginning long before the Halloween franchise, but it is a shame we did not get any really prominent horror films beyond these two from him, as he could have been a wonderful shot in the arm for a few from the period I was getting into the genre at that time into the modern day.

H20 even when it become fully of its genre, because of all its build, really succeeds and it is noticeable too, after the film before had more gruesome deaths added in the theatrical release, this has only a tiny cast, only a few deaths, and a lot of its pace as a slow burn entirely based around Laurie Strode being forced to face her past. Barring some post-grunge yarling in the diegetic song, this does not feel as dated next to the film before (or after) even with the fashion and lack of mobile phones. The real issue, not the film's fault, is that there was always going to be a sequel. The ending is extreme, Laurie Strode breaking the law to end the horror once and for all, and there are hints that all is not as it seems where a sequel can happen, but if Halloween ended here, [Spoilers] Laurie decapitating her brother [Spoilers End], it would have ended on a high. However, they had intended the sequel from the get-go, even if it took four years to get to, and had to reverse the ending. Whilst I hinted that it could be done, the result as the back-story is explained in a convoluted way, with a newly created medical staff member involved, which gets things off to a bad start.

The huge spoiler, which cannot be dodged with a [Spoiler Warning] is that Halloween: Resurrection kills off Laurie Strode in the prologue, which is a very controversial thing to do, with her in a mental asylum for a few years waiting for Michael Myers. It feels however like a necessary curtain call to allow the series to continue, as she is allowed to be clever and only caught by her hesitance to not make the same mistakes again, if with the conundrum of how the story continues if a huge catalyst for Michael Myers' motives has vanished. It would have been fascinating to see the aimless epilogue of a horror film killer, Myers feeling emptiness, but realising that sounds like it is full of snark as a comment, what made Resurrection infamous was arguably what happened after the prologue as a whole film. Including the muffled noises Busta Rhymes makes in a pale William Shatner mask, I suspect what most people think about with this film was how the attempt to create a new chapter in a franchise, a new beginning from the grave, accidentally shut the doors so much a reboot was required.

Resurrection is trying itself with the bludgeoning trends of horror films, dealing with the new fad called the internet and also reality TV, the era of Yahoo! Chat and the first examples of Big Brother to Survivor breaking trends in television. The Blair Witch Project (1999) as the abrupt micro budget horror film which came out of nowhere, not as a Hollywood production, has to be mentioned too in having prod people and help cement the found footage genre; the idea as Resurrection has of horror as depicted in cameras found on people recording the world around them definitely feels under the shadow of that film even if not a direct influence. Three friends, including lead Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich), and three others are invited to an internet company named DangerTainment to star in their new reality special screening online on All Hallow's Eve, filming at Michael Myers' family home with the intention by Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks, who run the group, to get the six to investigate his origins over one night. With credit to the film, even explicitly referencing Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) even if by accident, with a death involving a film camera with a spike on the tripod, there is an interesting idea here of Michael Myers in the reality television world. A metatextual prod at how these type of figures are fascinating to culture for their gristly crimes is inherently compelling, even in just imagining a Halloween film where the events transpire over the net including the real deaths, with a person who met Sara watching from afar at a costumed party and there to help her when the DangerTainment broadcast collapses into a real bloodbath.

Attempting to reach a new audience off the back of H20 with the new tech being exploited in the story, casting rapper Busta Rhymes in a major role, and playing out the story without the burden of previous films in a claustrophobic, there is still the issue of how you could sustain Halloween as a franchise after, but I see the logic of all this. Even in this story, there is a justification for Myers to be here if sillier - even serial killers care for their family home, and do not want people tampering with it, especially as DangerTainment are planting items in his home to distort the truth, like a baby chair with chains to lock the nipper to the seat. Where the film goes south into comedic territory, and the infamy, is even before Rhymes martial arts kicks Myers, as there are so many absurd moments between intentional humour and unintentional choices undercutting the seriousness. Once not a fan of Halloween: Resurrection, my realisation that I might fall in love with this goofy sequel began when freshly bought fennel in the Myers' spice rack is an early warning which was hilarious, especially as if Michael Myers has a spice rack, I would presume he would prefer thyme.

After the Thorn trilogy, I think I grew a fondness for this after two films as a viewer I found a drag, and with The Curse of Michael Myers in its theatrical cut, and its entire production cycle, a chaotic mess in a way which did not lead to an unintentional gem of surreal but just compromises. There is something more pleasant, with its early 2000s DNA shown even in the drum and bass music in the score, to something which is this consistency ridiculous, directed by Rick Rosenthal, who made the original 1981 Halloween II where Myers boiled a nurse to death in a Jacuzzi which inexplicably was a) in the basement of a hospital, and b) has the temperature reaching up to the "Scalding" with a gauge to show this. As I said in a paragraph before, slashers tend to be more playful and silly, even if unintentional, and this is a great example of the unintentional camp. From dialogue like "Besides, screwing a music major is tantamount to lesbianism", to Myers' family home having an impromptu sex dungeon which requires a giant key from a MS-Dos point and click video game to access it, Resurrection is a goofy movie, and that was the doom sealing for this ever continuing the franchise. An entire section is dealt with Tyra Banks not even seeing something being clearly killed on a CCTV camera due to her being more busy with the portable cappuccino machine in her broadcast room, which emphasises that at times, whilst a lot of this is unintended, there are intentional moments of humour which also fan the fires of camp to all of this. Literally the haunted house version of the franchise, we had reached a time in American horror I remember where ghoulishness met an open sense of silliness even if there was gore - Dark Castle Entertainment's films like the 1999 House on Haunted Hill remake to the Friday the 13th sequel Jason X (2001) which shot Jason Voorhees into outer space - and Resurrection missed the balance for many if you wanted a film to follow H20's more respectable tone.  

Filled with stereotypes and one dimensional figures, from the sex pest who is thankfully the first character in the main crew to die to one whose character dynamic, as a cook, is believing serial killers exist due to lack of protein and bad diets, Resurrection is just as ridiculous as slasher films before that were made independent in the original waves from the eighties. However by the time Rhymes compares Myers to a killer shark in the aftermath, this was not the film to sell to a wider audience without it coming off as unintentionally camp. I found it entertaining with hindsight to previous films, and more so now that Rob Zombie's two films from afterwards, which I soften to once before, are inconsistent noble failures undercut by their attempts at severity. Because I kept finding absurd moments I missed or forgot before, even if in context to Halloween H20 and how this ruined a new chapter in the franchise, there is so much to make it consistently entertainment to find Halloween: Resurrection utterly charming in its variously dumb ways.