Halloween Resurrection (2002) starring Bianca Kajlich, Sean Patrick Thomas, Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Luke Kirby, Katee Sackhoff, Daisy McCrackin, Jamie Lee Curtis directed by Rick Rosenthal Movie Review

Halloween Resurrection (2002)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween Resurrection

Death by Big Brother

Take a bunch of stereotypical teenagers, place them in a creepy abandoned house which just happens to have once been the home of Michael Myers and add a big brother style set up where all the action is broadcast live on the internet. What do you get? "Halloween Resurrection" probably the worst horror movie in the "Halloween" series and a movie so devoid of any originality that it is at it's best laughable.

When a group of students get chosen by "Dangertainment" to spend the night in the childhood home of murderer Michael Myers, they expect a few laughs and frights. With the house rigged with cameras broadcasting live footage over the internet being watched by inquisitive fans, the six students wander around the house in search of clues as to what turned the 6 year old Michael into a murderer. But none of them are prepared for when they discover that Michael is in fact at home and not happy that these intruders are touching his stuff.

Halloween Resurrection (2002) starring Bianca Kajlich, Sean Patrick Thomas, Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Luke Kirby, Katee Sackhoff, Daisy McCrackin, Jamie Lee Curtis directed by Rick Rosenthal Movie Review

The biggest problem with "Halloween Resurrection" is that it is all too obvious, the characters are too stereotypical, the set ups are predictable and the dialogue is far from being either interesting or original. Early on in the movie when two nurses are discussing the next patient, who just happens to be Laurie Strode, it's so obvious that we are about to get a recap to the ending of the last movie. This is shortly followed by a patient eulogising about the killing exploits of Michael Myers. To be honest I would rather they have just done something during the credits to give some back story but I suppose a movie which barely hits the 90 minute mark needs some padding.

Whilst mentioning the intro, they really could have come up with something a bit more feasible to explain how Michael Myers is back rather than decapitated as we saw at the end of "Halloween: H20", in fact they could have taken the movie off in another direction and still have managed to make it much better than it was. This is one of the main issues, everything about "Halloween Resurrection" is unrealistic and far to over the top to be in the slight bit believable. A scene where one of the housemates opens a spice jar to realise that it contents were fresh leads you to laugh because you can't see Michael Myers strolling in to a corner shop to buy it. It's all wrong and anything put in to try and build tension is 9 out of 10 times laughable.

Then of course there is the big brother style element to the movie which I will admit is clever but poorly worked. In fact rather than being developed it seems to be used as an excuse to show low grade footage, supposedly from the head cams which each person wears, to try and heighten the tension. But instead it's off putting and fails to build up the much needed atmosphere. This is the thing "Halloween Resurrection" is not at all tense and not till it's last dying seconds does it manage to get you on the edge of your seat and deliver anything close to a shock. That is another major thing about "Halloween Resurrection" it doesn't once get you scared, doesn't make you jump and never makes you cringe by some visual gore. It's as if all those elements that combine to make horror have been forgotten about.

It also doesn't help matters that "Halloween Resurrection" features a few recognizable faces in very stereotypical characters. Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last Dance) seems to have been cast in that token black man role which many horror movies crassly include and Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie) seems to have been typecast in a "Kevin from American Pie" type role. Add to this Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks and several other faces which are recognizable but not instantly memorable and you get an uneasy feeling that "Halloween Resurrection" is just a combination of characters from other movies. In fact the only decent bit of memorable acting came in the first 5 - 10 minutes and that was from Jamie Lee Curtis briefly reprising her role of Laurie Strode.

What this all boils down to is that "Halloween Resurrection" is a semi decent idea for a movie and basing it around the home of Michael Myers is indeed clever but the whole delivery of the movie is terrible. Stereotypical, unoriginal and predictable are just a few of the words which befit "Halloween Resurrection" and although it is part of the "Halloween" series I feel it would have been better to have lost the connection and made it a standalone move as then it would have not had so much to live up to it.


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