AKA Halloween : Homecoming

Tag Line : Evil finds it's way home.

After the financial success of H20 another sequel was inevitable, low and behold in 2002, despite several false starts and numerous re-writes, Halloween 8 finally hit cinema screens. Set 3 years after the events of "Halloween H20", college student Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) and a group of teens from her University campus win a competition to appear in a live webcast on Halloween night from the old Myers house in Haddonfield.

The 6 students have a simple task, all they have to do is spend the night checking out the house with their clip-on cameras for the people watching at home. Of course, none of them take things too seriously. Particularly after they catch the organiser, Freddie Harris (played by rapper Busta Rhymes), stirring things up by planting fake body parts around the place and leaping out at them from the shadows wearing a Halloween mask.

What they don't know of course is that one of the houses former occupants has come back home for Halloween, and is none too receptive towards these unwanted visitors. Yes Mikey Myers is back in town, through a few twists in plot it turns out that he wasn't killed at the end of the last movie (now there's a surprise), and so proceeds to go around hacking, stabbing and slashing throats of all in his house.

Of course, the people watching the events over the internet think it's all a joke that's been put on for the cameras. The remaining people in the house think that their missing friends are simply part of another one of Freddie's practical jokes. Only Sara realises that something is genuinely wrong, but with the doors all locked, the windows boarded and a killer hiding in the shadows, getting out is going to be no easy task.

Whilst the film isn't as good as "Halloween H20", it's still very enjoyable even though its somewhat clichéd. Jamie Lee Curtis makes a guest appearance as Laurie Strode for the films intro, and rapper Busta Rhymes is hilarious as the wise cracking, kung-fu fighting, production company boss Freddie Harris. A good film, but a bit of a comedown from H20.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Other Information.

• Alternate tag lines "Evil Never Dies. You can burn it, you can shoot it, you can lock it up forever, but evil never dies", "The shape is back in action", "Everyone can see you. Everyone can hear you. But on July 12th, no one can help you", "Michael's work in Haddonfield is not done yet", "Brother vs. Sister... for one last time", "Evil comes home", "Michael Myers is back...and he's ready to clean house", "On July 12th, Michael comes home, and this time, there will be NO escape", "The night HE came back".

• The films budget was $15million.

• Jamie Lee Curtis was only contractually obliged to make a 30 second cameo appearance, but she liked the script so much she asked for her role to be increased.

• Brad Loree, who played Myers this time round, also performed the stunts for the films "6th Day" and "Mission to Mars".

• A bootleg screener copy of the film circulating in the US in early 2002, under the title "Halloween Homecoming", had an alternate beginning and ending. Instead of intro credits, the film starts with footage of an old super-8 film of the Myers kids, one of which being Michael, accompanied to an old 60's song. This then cuts to the scene with Jamie Lee Curtis doing the intro narration in the asylum as in the theatrical version. Also, the film doesn't end with Myers in the morgue. Instead we see a female detective surveying the Myers house, and as she goes to look down the manhole cover in the kitchen, Myers leaps out at her. In addition the deaths are not quite so graphic in this version, and in several of the death scenes the killers music from "Deep Red" can be heard playing in the background.

• Director Rick Rosenthal, who's probably better known for his TV work on "Witchblade" and "Law and order", also directed "Halloween 2" some 21 years previously. He actually makes an cameo appearance as Sara's university lecturer, Dr Mixer, at the beginning of the film (Dr Mixer was named after one of the doctors in Halloween 2).

Cast & Crew.

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