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Halloween: Resurrection
*1/2
Cinema Releases - October 25, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. USA.
89 minutes. Directed by Rich Rosenthal. Written by Larry Brand, Sean Hood;
from a story by Larry Brand; based on characters created by John Carpenter,
Debra Hill. Starring Busta Rhymes, Brad Loree, Bianca Kajlich, Tyra Banks,
Katee Sachoff, Ryan Merriman, Sean Patrick Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Daisy
McCrackin, Luke Kirby, Jamie Lee Curtis.
It has been said, in a theory attributed to Jean-Luc
Godard, that the best way to criticise one movie is to make another. Perhaps
"Halloween: Resurrection" can serve as an unintentional mocking
of "My Little Eye", the very silly horror movie from a few weeks ago that
was praised by some critics as ingenious because it showed people being cut
to bits through the device of a live internet broadcast. This movie does
the same thing, and if a crappy "Halloween" sequel can come up with the idea,
it really ain't that hot.
More about that later. The film begins in a mental
asylum, where Jamie Lee Curtis appears, sitting in a cell looking raggedy
and acting mute. We learn that she didn't really kill Michael Myers at the
end of "Halloween: H20". The man whose head she cut off was an innocent bystander
who somehow wound up wearing the killer's mask, and now Curtis has gone all
crazy from the guilt, and Myers is still out there...
somewhere...
Only a few minutes elapse before the daddy of
all slashers arrives, still with the boiler suit and white mask, which look
remarkably clean for a guy who has been mass-murdering since 1978 but has
never been seen doing laundry. He kills Curtis, which has nothing to do with
the rest of the plot, but at least releases the poor actress from her
contract.
Then we move to Haddonfield, Illinois, the location
of the famous Myers house. A pair of entrepreneurs, played by Busta Rhymes
and Tyra Banks, has taken over the place for the purpose of a Halloween-night
haunted-house webcast, the stars of which will be a bunch of college students.
Bianca Kajlich plays the girl who gets some background scenes, signalling
that she will be the one to survive after Myers 'unexpectedly' shows up.
Her companions are the slutty blonde (Katee Sachoff), the puny kid (Thomas
Ian Nicholas), the leather jacket-wearing rocker (Luke Kirby), a black guy
obsessed with cooking (Sean Patrick Thomas) and a supposedly intellectual
redhead with definitely nice legs (Daisy McCrackin).
So anyway, Myers shows up and the kids serve as
meat for his dicing, and everyone runs around and freaks out before the
invincible killer just gets 'em anyway. Apart from the internet gimmick,
this is the same deal as usual, except more depressingly lazy. The director,
Rick Rosenthal, who also made "Halloween 2", cares so little about creating
atmosphere that he just points his camera and shoots, without the slightest
respect for tradition. Myers is no longer a solemn, invincible force lurking
in the shadows; he's just a villain in a suit we've seen too many times before.
He is photographed in shots that are too bright and fluid, and he is given
movements that look plain stupid. Not only do we get clear views of his eyes,
but we see him get so gauche as to headbutt a guy, and in the asylum scene
there is a ridiculous shot whereby he gets strung up by his ankle and has
to dangle off a roof-edge with arms a-flailing. Tut, tut, tut.
The actors are okay, I guess. Rhymes has a nice
level of energy as a silly but savvy businessman who likes the sound of his
own voice and congratulates himself on everything; he's fun to watch, even
though most of his dialogue has been written for the gimmick of seeing a
famous black man say the MF-word a lot. Nicholas seems too teenage to be
here, and should for the time being stick to "American Pie" movies, but Kajlich,
Sachoff, Kirby and McCrackin all look interesting, and might impress us if
they ever get their hands on a real script. Sean Patrick Thomas is a proven
performer, and has been in good films; the only decent explanations for him
being here might be that he has a lot of debt or wound up on the set of the
wrong film and couldn't be bothered to leave.
But what am I doing? You don't analyse performances
in a movie like this -- hell, if you stay awake for the entire running time,
you're taking it too seriously already. What sick impulse inspired me to
see "Halloween: Resurrection"? Why does the evolution of this series still
interest anyone? Was there any possibility that the movie might be any good
at all?
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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