Starring:
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
Brad Loree as Michael Myers
Busta Rhymes as Freddie Harris
Bianca Kajlich as Sara Moyer
Tyra Banks as Nora Winston
Katee Sackhoff as Jenna ‘Jen’ Danzig
Ryan Merriman as Myles Barton
Sean Patrick Thomas as Rudy Grimes
Thomas Ian Nicholas as Bill Woodlake
Daisy McCrackin as Donna Chang
Luke Kirby as Jim Morgan
Special Features:
Feature Commentary with Director Rick Rosenthal and Editor Robert A. Ferretti
Deleted and Alternate Scenes with Director Commentary
Web Cam Special with Director Commentary
Photo Gallery
Tour Of Set with Production Designer Troy Hansen
On The Set with Jamie Lee Curtis
Head Cam Featurette
Storyboard Comparisons
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1) – Enhanced For 16×9 Televisions
Running Time: 89 Mins.
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
English and French Audio Tracks
Spanish Subtitles
Synopsis:
This is the eighth movie in the Halloween series.
Some time after the last Halloween movie, serial killer Michael Meyers turns up at a sanitarium to take care of some unfinished business with his sister Laurie Strode. The two have a final confrontation that only one walks away from. The running time of the movie gives you a clue who that is, otherwise it would be over in the first 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, a new internet company called “Dangertainment” sets up a new stunt to show on the web. They select six college students to spend Halloween night in the house that the infamous serial killer grew up in. As they walk through the house, they are to wear cameras that record their every action. The show will be broadcast on the internet for the world to see.
Sara Moyer and her friends are some of the people chosen for the stunt. Little do they know that Michael Meyers has returned to his old house and is hiding within. As the inevitable killing begins, Sara turns to her internet buddy Deckard (a high school freshman) to guide her through the house to safety. Who will get out alive?
This film is rated R for strong violence, language, some sexuality and brief drug use.
The Movie:
I generally don’t like horror movies and I’ve only seen one other Halloween movie. That being said, I was not expecting much from “Halloween: Resurrection”. Having a rapper and a supermodel as the stars didn’t help much, either. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. The film was better than I expected and better than it deserves to be. It takes the tired old slasher flick formula and throws in a high-tech twist. While you still have the entire cast being killed off dramatically in the order of the amount they were paid to be in the movie, you also add the elements of the internet, web cameras, and reality TV. While it has been done before (Blair Witch Project), it’s still enough to keep things interesting. I thought it was a fun touch to have the heroine’s internet buddy guiding her through the house of horrors and away from Meyers. It also adds an interesting dimension when you see the characters killed on screen from their own points of view.
It was also a nice touch to have the film take place in Michael Meyer’s home. While I would have liked to learn more about his background, they revealed just enough for you to start to understand why he’s deranged. You also get a creepy peek at where he’s been living all these years. The movie’s prologue featuring series star Laurie Strode also adds an interesting ending to the previous storyline and a unique kickoff to the new one (and there’s sure to be more). Jamie Lee Curtis adds a bit of professionalism to the movie that it might not otherwise have.
While the movie did have some humor, I would have liked to see more. It’s good to have that nervous laughter between screams. One scene in particular added a clever laugh. Busta Rhymes, dressed as Michael Meyers, goes into the house to give the kids a scare not knowing that the real Michael Meyers is in the house with him. When the two encounter each other, the last thing you’d expect happens. The scene was a nice twist and offered a breath-holding moment for audiences.
It takes a lot to scare me these days, but “Halloween: Resurrection” didn’t deliver. Most of the screams simply involved Meyers jumping out at someone or stabbing them. Even when the people are stabbed, they immediately drop dead. The least you could do is have them flop around and suffer a little. That would leave people with nightmares. (Man, that sounds twisted! Sorry.)
In the end, “Halloween: Resurrection” is a good movie to rent with friends and watch for a decent scare. I’m not sure if the DVD experience is any better than seeing it in the theater. I wonder if the web cam scenes would have caused motion sickness as they did for Blair Witch in theaters. There’s no problem with that on the home theater system, though.
The Extras:
The DVD for this film has a fair number of extras. They range in quality, but they’re for the most part worth checking out.
Feature Commentary with Director Rick Rosenthal and Editor Robert A. Ferretti – I listened to a bit of the commentary and I was unimpressed. Throughout all the features, Rick Rosenthal’s commentary is frequently rambling, uninformative, and boring. You can easily skip the commentaries without missing anything.
Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary – While most of the deleted scenes deserve to end up on the cutting room floor, one in particular cracked me up. Michael Meyers is seen driving up in front of his house, getting out of the car, and setting his car alarm. Something about a psychotic serial killer setting his car alarm really cracked me up. I wish they had left it in the film. (Rosenthal’s commentary mentions nothing about the humor of the scene and instead just states the fact that he drove up.)
Alternate Endings with Director Commentary – There are three alternate endings to the film. One features the internet buddy Deckard showing up at the end to save the day. It was better to drop this because it’s more fun to keep Deckard and Sara miles apart through the conflict. The second ending has Michael Meyers jumping out of a body bag and attacking Busta Rhymes only to receive an axe in the head by Sara. This was obviously dropped because it would have put an end to the series. The third ending shows Michael Meyers jumping out of his underground lair to attack a crime scene investigator. This seems to have been dropped because it left a lot of questions unanswered. It did deliver a good scare, though. The commentary for these stinks because Rosenthal never explains why he dropped the scenes. He just talks about what we’re seeing, nothing more.
Web Cam Special with Director Commentary – This film was unique because the six main characters filmed the entire story with their web cams. The movie creators spliced all this film together into a 40-minute recap of the movie from the point of view from the characters. Rosenthal explains that they wanted to take all this footage and put it into a future DVD where you could hit the “angle” button and switch between points of views of the characters. It’s a cool idea and an innovative one. I hope they pull it off. Unfortunately, the 40 minutes of footage on this DVD is spoiled by Rosenthal rambling for 40 minutes about the logistics of pulling this off.
Tour Of Set with Production Designer Troy Hansen – Hansen takes us through the set of the house that is, interestingly, all built in an indoor stage. You can’t tell it in the movie. He also explains the efforts made to have the house match the one seen in previous movies.
On The Set with Jamie Lee Curtis – Curtis adds a touch of class to this production and talks about ending her character’s role in the series. Everyone else is very complimentary of her and you get a behind the scenes look at her filming her scenes.
Head Cam Featurette – The creation and use of the head cams is explored.
Storyboard Comparisons – Three scenes are shown in both storyboard form and final form. You can view them side by side as the scene is played out. Unfortunately the scenes are so dark that it’s hard to tell what’s going on at times.
The Bottom Line:
In the end, “Halloween: Resurrection” is a decent addition to the series and should make a good renter for people looking for an evening scare.
