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Halloween: Resurrection

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Halloween: Resurrection
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRick Rosenthal
Written byLarry Brand
Sean Hood
Story byLarry Brand
Produced byMichael Leahy
Paul Freeman
StarringBusta Rhymes
Bianca Kajlich
Thomas Ian Nicholas
Ryan Merriman
Sean Patrick Thomas
Tyra Banks
Jamie Lee Curtis
CinematographyDavid Geddes
Edited byRobert A. Ferretti
Music byDanny Lux
Production
companies
Dimension Films
Nightfall Productions
Trancas International Films
Distributed byDimension Films
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date
  • July 12, 2002 (2002-07-12)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million
Box office$37,664,855

Halloween: Resurrection is a 2002 American horror film and eighth installment in the Halloween film series. Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who had also directed Halloween II, the film builds upon the continuity of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. It continues with the masked serial killer Michael Myers continuing his murderous rampage in his hometown of Haddonfield, but this time, in his old childhood home, now derelict, which is being used for a live internet horror show. Just like its previous installment, Resurrection effectively ignores the storylines established during the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments.

The film is currently the final installment in the original Halloween film series. Although more sequels were planned to follow Resurrection, they were later replaced with a remake of the original Halloween in 2007. A sequel to the remake was released in 2009.

Plot

Three years after the events that happened in California, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) had been sent to a psychiatric hospital after it is revealed that she had beheaded a paramedic instead of Michael; the paramedic had located the body of Myers in the dining hall of Laurie's school, but Myers had attacked the paramedic, crushed his larynx so he wouldn't cry out and forcefully switched clothing and his mask. Myers then goes into hiding for the next three years.

On October 31, 2001, still in captivity, Laurie pretends to be heavily medicated, behaving as though she had extreme dissociative disorder. In fact, she hides her pills and prepares herself for the inevitable confrontation with Michael. Meanwhile a security guard named Willie finds his boss' decapitated skinned head in the washing machine and is then killed when Michael slits his throat. When Michael finally appears, Laurie lures him into a trap, as she attempts to kill Myers, she second guesses herself, to make sure that it is really her brother this time. Myers takes advantage, and stabs her in the back on the roof. She then kisses him and finally says, "I'll see you in hell" and falls to the ground to her death finally freeing her from pain and ending her sorrow. Michael then returns home. His mission is complete after over twenty three years of searching and hunting Laurie down.

The following year on October 30, 2002, Michael is living in a section of tunnels below his childhood house. Six college students - Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Donna Chang (Daisy McCrackin), Jen Danzig (Katee Sackhoff), Jim Morgan (Luke Kirby), Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas), and Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) - win a competition to appear on an Internet reality show directed by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and his assistant, Nora Winston (Tyra Banks), in which they have to spend a night in the childhood home of Michael Myers. Their mission is to find out what led him to kill. Sara's cyber friend Myles "Deckard" Barton (Ryan Merriman) watches the broadcast during a Halloween party. On the day of Halloween, they start to search the entire house for something that can provide a clue to Michael's past, and decide to separate into three groups to cover more areas.

The event goes horribly wrong as Michael returns home, and kills Charley the cameraman by stabbing him in the neck with a camera tripod. Later on, Bill is stabbed in the head, Donna is impaled on a metal spike, Jen is decapitated, Jim's head is crushed, Rudy duels with Michael and is pinned to a door with 3 knives, and off screen, Nora is strangled with a cord and stabbed in the stomach. All these people die, and Myles realizes the deaths are real while the rest of the party claims they are staged. When Sara called Myles for help, the people of the party realized it was real after all. When Myles starts helping Sara get out the house, Freddie runs into her and also helps 'kill' Michael. Michael survives and stabs Freddie. When Sara fights Michael with a chainsaw, she cuts some sparking wires which start a blaze. After this, Freddie arrives and fights with Michael and electrocutes him, then manages to save Sara's life as she is trapped under a tables of heavy wires. Michael's house is burned to the ground as Freddie and Sara flee. Sara thanks Myles for helping her in the TV News. Myles became popular in the party. Freddie tells the everyone that Michael Myers is a monster that should be left alone and better off that Michael is dead.

In the final scene of the movie, Michael's body is sent to the morgue. As a female coroner opens the body bag, Michael's eyes suddenly open showing that he is still alive while making a groaning noise as the film cuts to the credits.

Cast

Production

According to the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documentary DVD, Miramax wanted to take Michael Myers out of the film but Moustapha Akkad and the fans disagreed and insisted that it would be another "Michael Myers piece". But after learning a lesson with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Miramax had decided not to go with a "Myersless sequel". The film's working title was "Halloween: The Homecoming", but producers wanted a title that said Michael Myers is alive, so in February 2002, the film was officially renamed as "Halloween: Resurrection". Also, the release date for the film was originally set as September 21, 2001, but producers at Dimension Films wanted the film to be stronger so re-shoots took place from September to October 2001 and the release date was changed to April 19, 2002 and then again to July 12, 2002. Both Whitney Ransick and Dwight H. Little were approached to direct the film but turned it down. Later Rick Rosenthal, the director of Halloween II, was chosen to direct. During the casting period of the film, producers considered Danielle Harris (who played Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers) for a role in the film. In post production Bianca Kajlich's screams had to be dubbed because of her inability to scream. The film's trailer was delivered on April 26, 2002 with the release of Jason X. Principal photography began in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2001 with the opening scene filmed at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, BC.[1]

Music

For this eighth installment of the series, Danny Lux created a genuine score to the original instead of generating something new. He approaches the score with an electro-acoustic feel that dates back to the synthesizer scores of the '80s.[2]

Rumored sequel

Halloween: Resurrection concludes with the potential for another sequel to continue the story. Although there were plans for a new Halloween movie to continue after Resurrection, no such film has yet been produced to continue the original series. Dimension Films would instead produce a remake of the original Halloween in 2007 directed by Rob Zombie. A sequel to Zombie's remake was released two years later on August 28, 2009.

Halloween: The Homecoming and pre-release workprints

Halloween: Resurrection's delayed production and reshoots meant at least two alternate versions exist. The first workprint, titled onscreen as Halloween: The Homecoming, contains the following differences:

  • Alternate opening (Myers' home video is shown)
  • Alternate ending (CSI)
  • When Donna finds out the rat in the sewer is not fake, the crowd at the party gasp
  • Alternate score

Screencaps from a second workprint featuring deleted and alternate footage have been posted online, but copies are rare. This workprint is rumored to include the following deleted scenes, some of which are viewable on the retail DVD and YouTube:

  • Alternate opening
  • Alternate Laurie death scene (falls onto concrete)
  • Michael steals the Firebird
  • Donna's alternate death (runs into spike)
  • Nora Winston's death scene (strangled)
  • Freddie Harris and Sara Moyer make it outside during Michael's "death"
  • Michael's alternate death

Reception

Halloween: Resurrection was released on July 12, 2002 in the US to moderate reception which did not change in its later international release. The film's opening weekend on US screens raked in $12,292,121, the film grossed $30,354,442 domestically and a further $7,310,413 for a moderate $37,664,855 worldwide gross.[3]

It garnered a rotten review of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post said, "It’s so devoid of joy and energy it makes even ‘Jason X’ look positively Shakespearian by comparison." Dave Kehr of the New York Times said, "Spectators will indeed sit open-mouthed before the screen, not screaming but yawning."[4] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine said, "Every sequel you skip will be two hours gained. Consider this review life-affirming." Joe Leydon of Variety said, "[Seems] even more uselessly redundant and shamelessly money-grubbing than most third-rate horror sequels." Glenn Lovell of the San Jose Mercury News was slightly more positive: "No, it's not as single-minded as John Carpenter's original, but it's sure a lot smarter and more unnerving than the sequels."

References

  1. ^ Halloween: Resurrection Behind The Scenes at HalloweenMovies.com.
  2. ^ Halloween: Resurrection Music Review at Music from the Movies
  3. ^ Halloween: at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ Halloween: Resurrection Movie Review at New York Times
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