Watching the deterioration of a franchise that began so
strong is quite disheartening. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and following
sequel of Halloween II (1981) were films that told a tense but gripping story.
After the flop that was Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), producers
wanted to turn back to the Myers story, thus leading to Halloween IV: The
Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
revolving around Laurie Strode's daughter Jaime. Unfortunately, the attempt
wasn't enough with the last two having a bunch of continuity issues and other
subplots being introduced without exploration. This entry really doesn't
conclude that.
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| Paul Rudd as Tommy Doyle |
It's six years later and viewers see that after the events
of the last film, Jaime Strode (J.C. Brandy) is back but now with a newborn
child. With the same cloaked villain from the last entry on the chase, she
flees to get away from not only them but Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur)
himself. Meanwhile, more Strode relatives such as Kara (Marianne Hagan) and her
son Danny (Devin Gardner) move into the house that belonged to Michael Myers,
however they don't know that. Next door is Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) who ever since
the first film has been studying Michael to understand him better. At the same
time, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is requested from colleague Dr. Wynn
(Mitchell Ryan) to come out of retirement.
Written by Daniel Farrands, the screenplay to this sequel
tries to make sense of the confusion but fails in almost every way. While the
story itself did go through several re-edits, it still suffers from lack of
clarity. The unknown cloaked man is touched upon now as well as the new thorn
tattoo that was featured in the last film. But this doesn't really solve the
haphazard story. Kara's son Danny sees visions of the cloaked figure but the
reason for them influencing him isn't explained. Nor was it really explained as
to why exactly Michael Myers is involved with all this. It's just very muddled
and adds unnecessary complexity to it all. The film was directed by Joe
Chapelle, who has had no experience with the franchise prior to this. Sounds
about right.
Of the characters, the only two to come out seeming somewhat
likable was obviously Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis since he's been at it
since the beginning, and Paul Rudd as Tommy Doyle. Everyone else from Marianne
Hagan, Devin Gardner and even George P. Wilbur don't really don't stand out.
They're just actors playing characters that feel highly remote to the story at
hand. It's actually more surprising Paul Rudd even has a role in this film
considering where he is now being Ant-Man and all. The fact that his and Donald
Pleasence's role have a connection to the beginning is what makes it more
interesting. Yet, that's really all the audience has to go on because
everything else is so remarkably dull.
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| "Hmmm,....it needs a little straightening" |
For a horror film, it too is a bumbling mess. The violence
and gore is fine if weren't chopped up so much by editor Randy Bricker. Having
all kinds of flashing lights and random scene cuts is annoying. Hopefully his
skills improve. The cinematography by Billy Dickson isn't that great either.
Having much more experience filming for TV movies, his camerawork isn't that special
nor does it even try to emulate past DPs from other sequels. Thankfully music
is a slight bit better. While the re-edited score contains guitar rips from
Paul Rabjohns (most likely), Alan Howarth returns once more to score the film.
And while it's not as great as his past scores, it still manages to hold up.
Points Earned --> 4:10
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