"Halloween" Franchise Rewind Marathon: 'Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers'

Interesting visuals and a cool soundtrack can't save this sixth installment from being a misfire.

By: Josh McCormack

For the next few days I will be taking a quick look back at the long-running "Halloween" franchise leading up to the release of David Gordon Green's latest entry. Since the newest film is wiping the slate clean of all the sequels and remakes, I thought we could turn back the clock and talk about all of the films in reverse order. 

Happy Halloween!

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'Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers' is another step in overcomplicating the mythology of one of cinema's most iconic serial killers. It takes the simple idea of a relentless masked man stalking you without explanation and throws it out the window for some demonic cult-based nonsense. 

I know a lot of fans enjoy this conclusion to the fan named "Thorn trilogy" and although it does feature some striking images and a pulsating score from Alan Howarth, I can't help but feel like this was the moment when people began to take notice that the series was officially in decline after the disappointment of 'Halloween V'. 

The story this time around deals with Michael trying to murder his niece's baby in order to eliminate another member of his bloodline.

The first fifteen minutes are pretty fun with the grown-up version of Jamie from the past two sequels on the run from Michael and the film's central cult with her newborn baby in hand. The setup is really neat with interesting lighting and an synth mixed with electric guitar musical sound provided by Alan Howarth. 

I also really like the idea of Halloween being outlawed in Haddonfield after the events of the last movie, although the movie doesn't do enough with it. There's also this Howard Stern type radio personality who likes to exploit the Myers murders and his show is a running narration over the first few minutes of the film and leads to some of my favorite moments early on in the film.

Also, while we're focused on the positive sides of things, director Joe Chappelle does a good job of keeping Michael scary, even as the movie tries to destroy the sense of mystery that made him such an icon in the first place. Michael sticks to the shadows and Chappelle knows when to use him effectively and gets some legitimately solid jump scares from the way he stages his set pieces.

However, as I mentioned before, 'Curse' overcomplicates the entire series to levels of near lunacy. Michael Myers is no longer a force of nature with no rhyme or reason. He's the muscle of a cult that is built around killing the Strode/Myers bloodline. There's also some crap about how whenever the stars align and make the form of a "thorn" on Halloween night, that's when Michael is supposed to kill someone.

It makes no sense and the actors in the film don't do a good job selling any of this nonsense. In 1995, this was Paul Rudd's first lead role in any movie and boy does he bomb it. I'm a huge fan of the comedic actor now, but if you were to judge his abilities on this movie alone, you'd think he's incredibly one note. His line delivery is so bland and the only way he seems to be able to convey his character's isolation is by looking just past the camera, completely dead eyed and breathing through his mouth. The other actors are all pretty lousy too, spanning from too over the top to completely boring. 

Perhaps the most significant element of 'Curse' is the fact that this is the last time we would ever see Donald Pleasance reprise his role of Dr. Samuel Loomis since he passed only a few months after shooting and before the movie's theatrical release. While the script goes all over the place, Pleasance was able to bring conviction and dignity to his fifth portrayal of Dr. Loomis, even though signs of his age and decreasing health are obviously apparent. While the theatrical release doesn't seem to give him as much to do as the infamous "Producer's Cut" (which still sucks, by the way), the film still ends with him as the focus and provides a sweet sendoff to this series' Captain Ahab.

'The Curse of Michael Myers' isn't terrible, but it's borderline incoherent and even with brief glimpses of a creative force behind the scenes, the movie can't help but wind up feeling just like another misguided sequel in the franchise.