Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Grade: C
Cast: Bianca Kajlich, Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks, Jamie Lee Curtis, Katee Sackhoff, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Daisy McCrackin, Sean Patrick Thomas
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Rated R for strong violence, language, sexuality, brief drug use


"Halloween" is a horror masterpiece that has inspired many sequels and films that are the opposite of a masterpiece. Its latest sequel, "Halloween: Resurrection", is now in theaters. "Resurrection" tries desperately to be hip and satirical to the whole reality concept littering TV these days (‘Survivor’, ‘The Mole’, ‘Big Brother’, etc.), and it is not. Nope, it isn’t hip, simply because it tries too hard. However, I will not totally dismiss "Halloween: Resurrection". It has some genuinely scary moments and funny lines, yes, but I can’t hate it because it’s too much fun to hate. Maybe this is because I saw it with my friends. I will, however, say that it is miles from reaching the camp brilliance of April’s "Jason X". But then, that’s a hard peak to reach.

The film starts out by returning to Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, now in a mental hospital from the guilt of decapitating the wrong man (yes, we learn, Michael Myers, the series’ killer, put the mask on another guy before we were given the perfect finale for the series). In this one, she plans on saying goodbye to Michael once and for all, and what is initially a good scene ends up being too elaborate for its own good. Does it work? I won’t ruin it, but it tells you something when it is widely publicized that Michael is a character throughout the movie, and Curtis only has a cameo. So much for being discreet.

After this, we meet several wannabe-celebrities who have auditioned for a live webcast from the Meyers home, in which they will try to find clues as to why Michael became a serial killer (the clues that they do find are planted, obviously—violated toys, demented pictures). You get the gold medal if you correctly guess that Michael shows up and has conveniently taken his violent pills on that particular day. The heroine is Sara (Bianca Kajlich), and for being the main character in the film, she’s annoyingly dull. So is everyone else, really, except for Busta Rhymes’s Freddie, who has put the webcast together and is given a real presence to go along with his hilarious one-liners.

The killings are not particularly ingenious or anything, but some of the scares are well done, and I jumped when I was supposed to. I guess as a lumbering BOO!-horror picture, it works, although as an exercise in true terror it doesn’t, and as a great satire it really doesn’t, and as a good motion picture it most definitely, doubtlessly doesn’t.

I am possibly biased against "Halloween: Resurrection" because of its pointlessness. "Halloween: H20" was the perfect end to a series, with Jamie Lee Curtis giving a good performance as the haunted Laurie Strode, and with the film giving us an awesome send-off of the invincible serial killer Michael Myers (nevermind that it butchered the chilling score). Still, I had a pretty decent time at "Halloween: Resurrection" (which is, in the end, ultimately a hit-or-miss affair) for reasons I’m finding hard to describe; all I can seem to do properly is bash the movie, because it doesn’t have many describable redeeming factors. Its satire is stale—while a great reality satire would be great, this film and March’s "Showtime" prove it has yet to be done right. I’ll give it a major compliment, though: its finale is very good. Busta Rhymes, the rapper who here has an undeniable presence, spews one-liner after one-liner while trying to kill Michael. Trick or treat, mothafucka!

And of course there’s a possibility of another sequel. There’s no way Michael could possibly die. The "Friday the 13th" franchise has more sequels under its belt, despite getting started two years later. We can’t let that happen.

Well, as long as the next sequel is a good time, I’ll see it. It’s all pretty tired, but of course I’ll see it. However, if it doesn’t improve upon this one, I may have to do some more yearning for "Jason X".


-Alex, July 2002