A 300 Film Challenge: Film #5

 Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) 88mins

NEW TO ME COUNT: 5

SEEN IT COUNT: 0

Another franchise I'm jumping into right in the middle of with these reviews, I've been working through the Halloween series as I'd only ever seen the original masterpiece. This is the sixth installment, and whilst there have been some definite highs within the Halloween sequels I think it's fair to say that this is the lowest of the lows so far.

Ostensibly made to follow up and deliver on plot threads vaguely teased in the previous two films (even though Halloween V had been released SIX YEARS beforehand) and relate them back to the original, this actually feels so disconnected to anything that has come before that you genuinely find it difficult to accept the killer here as the same Michael Myers we know and love. An attempt to explain Michael's annual killing sprees introduces the Cult of Thorn, who have supposedly cursed Michael since childhood to sacrifice his next of kin every year on the night of the traditional Gaelic festival of Samhain, which coincides with the modern Halloween. It's an uneeded step in my opinion, and makes the whole scenario less scary than if you just present Michael as an unhinged killer.

There are a few redeeming elements to the film, namely the series now signature glimpses of Michael watching events from the background, which is very artfully done in some instances and is rather creepy on occasion. The performance of Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis, the only actor to remain with the series since the original, is excellent and is notable as the final performance before his sad death. The presentation of the film as a whole though is sorely lacking, with a confused story that panders to continuity in some instances whilst trying to reinvent it at the same time. The series has lost its identity, becoming more bloody and gory than it ever was under John Carpenter, and to think this came just one year before the genre revolutionising release of Scream beggars belief. Tellingly, the series as a whole would get rebooted with the next film, and I'm sure we will see the results of that here on the blog soon enough...

3/10