Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
by Cheeto
Posted on 8 October 2021
Rating -
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is a 1995 American slasher film directed by Joe Chappelle and written by Daniel Farrands. The film stars Donald Pleasence in his final film appearance, Paul Stephen Rudd, and Marianne Hagan. It is the sixth installment in the Halloween film series, and concludes the “Thorn Trilogy” story arc established in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. Set six years after the events of Halloween 5, the plot follows Michael Myers as he stalks the Strode family, cousins of Laurie Strode, in order to kill his last surviving relatives, while Dr. Sam Loomis pursues him once more. The film also reveals the source of Michael’s immortality and his drive to kill.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is almost the forgotten child of the Halloween franchise, in the fact that it seems like the most removed sequel from John Carpenter’s original. The first film under Miramax, you can tell that this film has a heightened budget, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a better film in the traditional sense. Let’s get into the positives.
I think this film gets Michael right, George P. Wilbur (who portrayed The Shape in Halloween 4) is a huge upgrade compared to Don Shanks (who portrayed The Shape in Halloween 5). George just gets it right, and is certainly one of the best Michael Myers’ since Nick Castle’s legendary original. They also get the mask right, it looks like the original; with some subtle differences unique to this film.
I think that Donald Pleasence puts in a respectable performance as Dr. Sam Loomis, in the last one, he was an unlikeable person, almost as crazy as Myers himself. In this one, he is sort of in the background as a supporting character who is just sort of there. Also, a massive RIP to Donald Pleasence; who sadly passed away during the production of this film.
The third act of this film is actually really good, I was hugely surprised due to the first two acts being dull and boring. Even though it’s not exactly groundbreakingly original, it is very much welcomed. I also think we see Michael at his disastrous best, I’m talking about the scene in which he slaughters like 6 doctors in a single room in about 2 minutes.
Now unfortunately, that’s about it for the positives. My main gripe with this film is our main cast. To be fair, mostly all of the Halloween films (apart from the original, and maybe 4 and 7), the casts are terrible. I think they almost try too hard in giving selected characters some sort of transparency, that they fall short in other characters. Paul Rudd gives a weird feature film debut as Tommy Doyle, I know it’s probably not his fault, that he was told what direction to take the character; it still doesn’t make it any better.
I hate hate hate the thorn elements of these films, they give Michael a full on motive for why he kills, in my opinion, this takes away from the character of Michael Myers. In John Carpenter’s original, he killed because he is the embodiment of evil. When you start to give motives for Michael, it makes him seem less evil, and in turn, less scary. They go full on thorn in this film, even to the point that they have druids and rituals, I mean how did we go from the barebones grounded original, to this?!
I don’t like how they treat Jamie Lloyd in this film, they kind of just chuck her aside with no care. I hate when films almost change how a certain storyline or character is. In previous films, she was strong, and held her own, even at her young age, in this one, she just runs away until she is brutally killed.
Overall, I think the best thing about this film is the fact that it is so bad, that it drove the next one to ignore all of the sequels all together. It shows glimpses of promise, but it sadly never transpires. Probably avoid this one guys.
Leave a Reply