Halloween: Resurrection

Halloween: Resurrection

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rick Rosenthal
Produced by Michael Leahy
Paul Freeman
Written by Larry Brand
Sean Hood
Story by Larry Brand
Based on Characters
by John Carpenter
& Debra Hill
Starring Busta Rhymes
Bianca Kajlich
Thomas Ian Nicholas
Ryan Merriman
Sean Patrick Thomas
Tyra Banks
Jamie Lee Curtis
Music by Danny Lux
Cinematography David Geddes
Edited by Robert A. Ferretti
Production
company
Distributed by Dimension Films
Miramax Films
Release dates
  • July 12, 2002 (2002-07-12)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $13 million
Box office $37.6 million

Halloween: Resurrection (previously under working titles of Halloween 8 or Halloween: Homecoming) is a 2002 American horror film and the eighth installment in the Halloween film series. Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who had also directed Halloween II in 1981, the film builds upon the continuity of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. It continues with the masked serial killer Michael Myers (Brad Loree) continuing his murderous rampage in his hometown of Haddonfield. Yet, this time, the killer's old, derelict childhood home is being used for a live internet horror show.

The film came out to widely negative critical reviews, having just a 12% score on Rotten Tomatoes,[1] with many claiming it was an unnecessary sequel to the H20 film. Despite the heavy criticism, Resurrection was somewhat of a box office success, with over $30 million made in the box office. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis returned in her long-running role as Laurie Strode; Larry Brand and Sean Hood devised the screenplay. Resurrection is currently the final installment in the original Halloween film series. Although more sequels were planned to follow Resurrection, the series was eventually rebooted with Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of the original Halloween.

Plot

Three years after the events of the previous film, Laurie Strode is in a psychiatric facility since she beheaded a paramedic instead of her brother Michael Myers, who had switched places with him and escaped. On October 31, 2001, Michael breaches the facility and kills Laurie.

The following year, college students Bill Woodlake, Donna Chang, Jen Danzig, Jim Morgan, Rudy Grimes, and Sara Moyer win a competition to appear on an Internet reality show directed by Freddie Harris and his friend Nora Winston, in which they have to spend a night in Michael's childhood home in order to figure out what led him to kill. On Halloween, each equipped with head-cameras and having other cameras installed throughout the house, they search the house and separate into three groups. Meanwhile, Michael breaks into the house and kills Bill and a cameraman.

As Donna and Jim get intimate in the basement, a wall filled with corpses falls on them. Jim realizes the corpses are fake and the show is a setup, and leaves. At that moment, Donna notices a tunnel behind the fallen wall and ventures inside. Michael finds, chases and impales Donna on a spike on the wall, killing her. At a Halloween party in another location, many attendants, including Sara's friend, Deckard, watches the murder; Deckard realizes it was real, but the others believe it was an act.

Freddie goes through the house dressed as Michael, but is secretly followed by the real Michael. When Rudy, Sara, and Jim find Freddie in the costume, he reveals the scheme to them and unsuccessfully begs them to cooperate. After he leaves, the trio decides to gather up the others and leave, but Jen discovers Bill's body and is decapitated by Michael in front of Rudy, Sara, and Jim. Rudy and Sara flee, but Jim stays to fend off Michael, only to have his skull crushed. Rudy distracts Michael to buy Sara time to lock herself in a bedroom and is killed. Sara then messages Deckard, who has unsuccessfully been trying to convince everyone the murders are real, to help her.

With Deckard messaging her Michael's location, Sara escapes and is found by Freddie. Michael finds and attacks them, injuring Freddie, while Sara makes her way to the tunnels. She finds an exit near Donna's body and emerges in the garage, where Michael finds her and starts an electrical fire in the garage. Before he can kill Sara, Freddie returns and tries to fight Myers. When he is overpowered, Freddie instead electrocutes Myers, tangling him up in electrical wiring before carrying Sara out of the burning garage. The Myers house burns to the ground. Afterwards, the bodies of Michael and his victims are taken to the morgue. As the medical examiner begins to examine Michael's body, he awakens.

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". After learning a lesson with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a movie that had experimented with a different story-line and failed to achieve expected success, Miramax had decided not to develop another sequel without the Myers character. The film's working title was Halloween: The Homecoming, but its producers wanted a title that said Michael Myers is alive, so in February 2002, the film was officially renamed 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. The release date was thus 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.[2]

Halloween: Resurrection's delayed production and reshoots meant at least two alternate versions exist. The first workprint, titled onscreen as Halloween: The Homecoming, contained differences, some of which appeared on the DVD release including an alternate opening, multiple alternate endings, deleted scenes and an 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.

Jamie Lee Curtis was contractually obligated for a 30-second cameo in the film, but reportedly was so interested in the story that she agreed to do a full four-day shoot and appeared in the entire opening sequence.

The film's original director was Whitney Ransick, who was let go right before filming started due to the studio wanting a more experienced director.

Music

For this eighth installment of the series, Danny Lux created a genuine score relying upon 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.[3] The film also features several rap and hip-hop songs.[4]

In direct contrast to general critical reviews of the film, some assessments of its sound and theme music have been praising. For example, critic Steve Newton complimented the film's "creepy" and "unsettling" revival of the original Halloween movie's theme while panning the film itself as well as the rap tracks included.[4]

Potential sequel

Halloween: Resurrection concludes with the potential for another sequel to continue the story, Josh Hartnett was originally planned to reprise his role as John Tate and seek revenge for his mother's death. 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, which was directed by Rob Zombie. A sequel to Zombie's remake was released two years later on August 28, 2009. Talk of some kind of a follow up to Halloween: Resurrection specifically has come up over the years but nothing has yet come of it. In December 2015 It was announced that Dimension films no longer had the rights to the Halloween franchise. It followed in May 2016 that Miramax and Blumhouse Productions were developing a new Halloween film which they will co-finance. John Carpenter is set to produce the project and act as creative consultant. Carpenter said, "Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I'm going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all."

Reception

Box office

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 peaked at #4 on its opening weekend on US screens raking in $12,292,121 behind Reign of Fire, Road to Perdition and Men in Black II. It grossed $30,354,442 domestically and a further $7,310,413 for a moderate $37,664,855 worldwide gross.[5]

Critical response

The film received highly unfavorable reviews from several critics. It has garnered a score of 12% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 59 reviews and a 13% among top critics based on 16 reviews, with the site's consensus being: "The only thing this tired slasher flick may resurrect is nostalgia for when the genre was still fresh and scary."[1] 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."[6] 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."

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Halloween: Resurrection". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  2. ↑ Halloween: Resurrection Behind The Scenes at HalloweenMovies.com.
  3. ↑ Halloween: Resurrection Music Review at Music from the Movies
  4. 1 2 Newton, Steve (February 8, 2014). "Horror Review: Halloween - Resurrection". earofnewt.com. Retrieved February 4, 2015. External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. ↑ Halloween: at Box Office Mojo
  6. ↑ Halloween: Resurrection Movie Review at New York Times

External links

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