Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Movie poster.
Directed by	Joe Chappelle
Written by	Daniel Farrands
Produced by	Moustapha Akkad Malek Akkad Paul Freeman
Starring	Donald Pleasence Paul Rudd Marianne Hagan
Cinematography	Billy Dickson
Edited by	Randolph K. Bricker
Music by	Alan Howarth
Distributed by	Dimension Films
Release dates	September 29, 1995
Running time	Theatrical cut 88 min. Producer's cut 131 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$15,116,634

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is a 1995 horror film and the sixth installment in the Halloween series. Directed by Joe Chappelle from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands, the plot involves the "Curse of Thorn", a mystical symbol first shown in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and revealed in the film to be the source of Michael Myers' evil. The cast includes Paul Rudd as Tommy Dolye, a returning character from the original Hallowen film, and Donald Pleasence reprising his role as protagonist Dr. Sam Loomis.

Opening to a respectable 7.3 million dollars on September 29, 1995, coming in second to New Line's seminal serial killer thriller Seven , Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and the Thorn plotline would be ignored in succeeding installments, 1998's later installment and 2000's Halloween: Resurrection. However, the 2001 Halloween comic book series published by Chaos Comics - and based on Daniel Farrands' concept for the eight Halloween film - attempts to bridge the continuity between The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween H20.

The sixth installement is known for its controversial behind-the-scenes history, suffering from re-shoots in production and the editing room; the workprint of the film, with 43 minutes of alternate footage including a different ending, was eventually discovered by fans. This version, dubbed "The Producer's Cut", developed a strong cult following, with bootleg DVD copies sold on eBay.

Plot

Michael Myers, his niece Jamie Lloyd, and the mysterious Man in Black have all been in hiding for six years. It is revealed that the Man in Black is the leader of a Druid-like cult, and that after the fiery climax of Halloween 5, the Man in Black kidnapped Jamie and had her impregnated. The baby is born on Halloween Eve and is carried away by the Man in Black. Later that night, however, a nurse helps Jamie and her baby escape. Michael Myers, in pursuit of Jamie and her newborn, kills the nurse by impaling the back of her head to a metal spike in the wall. Jamie, meanwhile, steals the truck of an angry motorist (who quickly becomes Michael's next victim) and flees to a dark and empty bus station where she calls in to a radio show that happens to be doing a broadcast about the Haddonfield murders. Jamie gets on the air, begging for help and warning of Michael's imminent return. Trapped, she proceeds to hide in the bathroom where Michael nearly catches her. She narrowly makes it out alive and again drives away. Jamie is still not safe, as she is forced off the road by a presumably stolen van driven by Michael Myers. Beaten and exhausted, she makes her way inside of an old barn where Michael is waiting for her. He kills Jamie by pushing her into a corn thresher, only to find that Jamie does not have the baby. Meanwhile, Tommy Doyle (the child Laurie Strode babysat in the first film) has his eye on a family who's moved into the old Myers house across the street from the boarding house where he lives. The boarding house is run by a mysterious old woman named Minnie Blankenship.

For seventeen years, Tommy has been obsessed with finding the truth behind the murderous motives of Michael Myers. After hearing Jamie begging for help on a local radio show, Tommy finds her baby at the bus station and takes him into hiding. The people living in the Myers house are relatives of the Strode family (Laurie Strode's adoptive parents), and among the current residents are Kara Strode and her son Danny, Kara's teenage brother Tim, and her parents, the doting mother Debra and her abusive husband and Kara's father John. One by one, Michael stalks each of the Strodes, trying to get to Jamie's baby. Across the street, Tommy reveals to Kara that Michael has been marked with Thorn (or Thurisaz), a runic symbol that druid astronomers claimed was originated from a constellation of stars that appear on Halloween night from time to time (whenever it appears, Michael appears, explaining why Michael appears a few number of years after he's been in a near-death-experience). It is an ancient Druid curse that represented a demon that spread sickness and caused mad destruction on druid tribes. In order to prevent the tribes from dying, each tribe had to inflict the curse on one child from each tribe, so each child can offer the blood sacrifice of its next of kin on the night of Samhain (A.K.A. Halloween), because the sacrifice of one family meant sparing the lives of an entire tribe, which is the reason why Michael is trying to kill Stephen. If Michael did succeed in killing his entire family, the curse would be passed on to another child. While Tommy is out looking for Dr. Loomis, Mrs. Blankenship reveals to Kara (after talking to Danny) that she was babysitting Michael Myers when he killed his sister 32 years ago, and Danny hears the "voice", just like Michael Myers heard when she was babysitting him (implying that Danny is the next "child" to be cursed with Thorn).

The plot takes a turn when the "Man in Black" finally reveals himself as Dr. Wynn from the original Halloween. After a terrifying showdown between Kara and Michael Myers, Tommy and Dr. Loomis follow Wynn to Smith's Grove Warren County Sanitarium. Loomis tells Tommy to go get Kara and the children and get out while he confronts Dr. Wynn, who knocks him out shortly after. Tommy finds Kara locked in a room in the maxium security ward, and they continue to find the children, who are found in an operating room. In the other room, through a two-way mirror, they can see Dr. Wynn and the cultists performing some sort of an operation on someone. But Michael interrupts the procedure, walking in with a surgical machete in hand and promptly slaughtering them all (with the possible exception of Dr. Wynn). Tommy, Kara and the kids run with Michael in hot pursuit until they come to a locked gate. With nowhere to go, the group hides in another room. Inside the room, Kara finds some tanks with what looks like to be baby fetus' inside each one of them, with a chart with numbers and runes sticking onto it. Michael breaks into the room and out of nowhere Tommy injects him with tranquilizers of corrosive chemicals and beats him in the head with a lead pipe. As Dr. Loomis, Tommy, Kara, Danny, and the baby Stephen are about to escape, Loomis tells them to go on without him because he has "unfinished business" to do. The film cuts back inside the building, where Michael's mask is shown on the floor, and we hear Dr. Loomis's fateful, final scream.

Production

Development

In 1990, screenwriter, and long-time Halloween fan, Daniel Farrands had set out to write the sixth sequel in the Halloween series. Farrands gave his horror movie scripts to the producer of Halloween 5, Ramsey Thomas; impressed by his writing, Thomas set a meeting for Farrands with executive producer Moustapha Akkad. Farrands described the meeting:

I spent weeks preparing for the meeting and came in with a huge notebook filled with HALLOWEEN research – I had the entire series laid out in a timeline, a bio of every character, a “family tree” of the Myers and Strode clans, as well as all of the research I had compiled about the runic symbol (Thorn) that was briefly shown in “Halloween 5.” I then laid out how I thought all of this might be explored in HALLOWEEN 6.

Although the producers at the time had already sought to make a sixth Halloween film, a series of complicated legal battles ensued which delayed plans for a sequel; eventually Miramax Films (via its Dimension Films division) bought the rights to the Halloween franchise.

Writing

In 1994, Akkad called Daniel Farrands for him to write the sixth Halloween film, after several screenplays from writers were deemed insufficent. Farrands has said his inital intent for Halloween 6 was to "bridge the later films (4-5) in the series to the earlier films (1-2) while at the same time taking the story into new territory so that the series could expand for future installments." Daniel Farrands had written several drafts to the film. His final draft, originally titled Halloween 666, went through eleven different drafts.

Casting

Donald Pleasence returned as Dr. Loomis, in his last performance; according to Farrands, Pleasance "loved the script for 6, however, and told me that he felt it was the best story since the original." Danielle Harris was asked to reprise her role as Jamie Lloyd, but she and Dimension could not come to an agreement over did not want to pay Danielle more than she received in Halloween 4; and J. C. Brandy got the role instead. The producers wanted Brian Andrews to reprise his role as Tommy Doyle. However, without an agent, they could not get in contact with Andrews.

For the role of Dr. Terence Wynn, Mitch Ryan was cast; Farrands originally urged the producers to cast Christoper Lee, having had the veteran horror actor in mind when writing the character. Denise Richards also auditioned for the part of Beth, but the studio passed on her.

Stunt performer George P. Wilbur, who portrayed Michael Myers in the fourth installment, reprises his role as the silent unstoppable killer in the film.

Filming

Fred Walton (When a Stranger Calls and April Fools Day) was originally attached to direct Halloween 6 but dropped out.

Filming started in October, 1994 and was shot mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah; the city was experiencing an early winter at the time which proved troublesome for the production company. Producer Paul Freeman and director Chappelle reportedly rewrote the ending on-set, even from shot to shot as production deadlines loomed large. Producer Paul Freeman also sent the crew home when crucial scenes needed to be shot; deleting scripted scenes indiscriminately, rewrote dialogue and action sequences; and took it upon himself to direct second-unit shot as well supervised the post-production phase of the original cut and made a series of blunders that resulted in Miramax taking control of the film, ordering reshoots.

In early 1995, after filming and editing was completed, Halloween 6 was given a test screening which, as described by actress Marianne Hagan, "consisted primarily of 14-year-old boys." During the Q & A afterward, one of them expressed great displeasure at the ending of the film. As a result, the movie was rushed back into production, this time without Donald Pleasence, who passed away suddenly on February 2, 1995.

Music

The original music score is composed by long-time Halloween contributor Alan Howarth, his work in the series dating back to his collaboration with John Carpenter on Halloween II. However, Howarth's score was redone when the film went through reshoots. A soundtrack album was released by Varese Sarabande Records, and is an unusual combination of the music featured in the original cut of the film, as well as that of the final theatrical cut.

Release

An earlier teaser trailer of the film employed the title Halloween 666: The Origin of Michael Myers, which accordingly to Daniel Farrands, came before an official title had been decided, and that the trailer title was a combination of an earlier script titled The Origin of Michael Myers by an other writer, and Farrand's original script titled Halloween 666. At one point, executive producer Moustapha Akkad asked Farrands for a title, who suggested The Curse of Michael Myers due to the troubled production. Although Farrands was half-joking, Akkad took the name to heart and decided upon it. Farrands also adds that this coincidentally made the subtitles similar to those in The Pink Panther films, which also used Return, Revenge, and Curse subtitles.

Reception

Halloween 6 was released on September 29 1995, and brought in a $7,308,529 opening weekend gross, being the first film in the series to beat Halloween II's opening weekend gross. The film went on to gross a total of $15,116,634 at the U.S. box office.

Screenwriter Daniel Farrands generally dislikes the film, due to its devations from his original script. Although Farrands thinks both versions are poor, he considers the Producer's Cut to be the superior version.

The Producer's Cut

Copies of the original version of the film (known as the "Producer's Cut"), without the changed ending, have long been floating around in bootleg/collectors' circles. While featuring a different ending which was intended to keep Donald Pleasence's character in the films, it also features longer scenes in several parts of the movie, as well as different music at times. Major plot points differ between the two cuts. For example, in the Producer's Cut, Jamie Lloyd is not killed by Michael's attack in the barn; she is wounded only to be killed later on in the film by the "Man in Black" after having a dream about how she was imprisoned in Smith's Grove and impregnated with Michael's child.

Several scenes from the Producer's Cut can be seen on the television version of the film, seen in the U.S. on AMC's MonsterFest. The scenes were re-inserted to increase the running time of the film (originally a scant 88 minutes).

On the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD, it was stated that Dimension was trying to plan an official release of the Producer's Cut Fangoria reported that the Producer's Cut may get an official release, and on the Halloween 30th Anniversary convention they said that Anchor Bay Entertainment is in talks with Buena Vista Home Entertainment to release the Unrated Producer's Cut, and also Unrated and Extended versions of Halloween H20 and Halloween: Resurrection.

External links

• Official site
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers at IMDb
• Template:Amg title
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers at Box Office Mojo