Halloween - Resurrection DVD
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 Rating: - All the fear of Michael is gone. There isn't anything scary about him anymore
After the lack of Michael in Halloween III, Michael was dead and the attempt at a new franchise failed. But Halloween 4 Michael was back and the movie was a hit. Halloween 5 was the lowest grossing of the series and while Halloween 6 made more money it wasn't well received. With the Halloween series at a crossroad Halloween H20 brought back the series in a big way cashing in on the success of the Scream films. It seemed the series was over after the way H20 ended. I suppose the ending of H20 was due to if the movie fails at least we have an ending, and it was a definitive ending. But in Hollywood money rules and you know Michael some how would be brought back.

Many consider Halloween: Resurrection the worst of the series, while in many ways I agree I also disagree. Resurrection is a very flawed film and overall it's really not a good movie per se, but has some fairly decent moments. To be quite honest H20 is my least favorite of the series. It's nothing more than Scream with Michael Myers as special guest star. While Resurrection does follow that format a bit, I still liked this one more. I found H20 mostly dull with some decent scenes if not for Jamie Lee Curtis I think H20 would be a total waste.

The problem for the series was when H20 came out and ignored 4-6 a lot of possible ideas can now never come to be, and while I found H20 average at best there really wasn't a direction to go after that. And that is the biggest problem here the lack of direction and with the ending of H20 it's gonna be tough to bring Michael back.

The screenplay written by Larry Brand & Sean Hood is quite weak; the characters have no depth and are as thin as the paper they were written on. None really served any real purpose. They try to be smart and witty and by the time Resurrection came out the Scream era was all, but done for. So therefore what may have worked in the past feels like a holdover from another era. The script was weak, but it wasn't really terrible. This is pretty straight forward neither Hood nor Brand really try anything different and in some ways that's good. Despite the flaws of the script it was a simple idea and while it mostly fails it does have some decent moments. They were able however to work out Michael survived the previous movie. An idea was that it was an imposter in H20, which would rule the movie pointless, the idea of Michael switching clothes with a paramedic isn't as silly as it sounds.

The biggest complaint is that Jamie Lee was killed off. But really what direction could this movie have gone with her? It would be a rehash of past installments and the character went as far as she could go. There really wasn't much left to do. But at the same time I do think it was a mistake. How can you kill Laurie Strode? But I do understand why, there really wasn't much to do with her character.

Rick Rosenthal who directed Halloween II returns to the directors' chair and it's very much a mixed bag. The first 15-min of Resurrection was actually fairly solid. It was creepy and suspenseful and was very much on the right track. But it was also very flawed, which is more on the writing. Laurie's death lacked logic. She gets him and has him beat, but he starts to grab at his mask to trick Laurie, but does it matter? The guy just tried to kill you! And also if it wasn't Michael why didn't he speak? Rosenthal handles the scenes well, but they just lacked logic, but Resurrection was off to a good start.

But once we meet the new characters things just start to fall a part. Despite the weak script I think Rosenthal could have still made a scary movie. None of the sequels had a great script, this is one of the weaker ones, but Rosenthal still could have made up for that.

But even the scenes of Michael Myers lurking around fail to spark any real suspense. Despite the flaws of the sequels I do think Halloween 2-5 were fun movies. By no means do they compare to the original, but fun in the 80s sort of way. At least they were horror movies though. Michael was always there even if we don't see him we know he's there. Which brings in some suspense, but does it work? That's a matter of opinion, but at least they tried to build suspense.

Unlike H20, at least the feel of dread is attempted in Resurrection. We know Michael's in the house waiting and watching, but something was just lacking. In the case of most of the franchise they just weren't able to make the transition into the 90s and failed in the post 90s. Sure there might be that one sequel that sort of worked, but not like they used to. Rick Rosenthal does what he can, but it never works his problem was unlike Halloween II he didn't have John Carpenter to bail him out and save his movie it was all on him this time.

Sarah played by Bianca Kajlich was a fairly decent character, but really lacked any depth for the heroine. While Kajlich does bring a little more to the character she's failed by her writers and director and she just might be the weakest heroine of the series. I still liked Sarah and too bad more wasn't done with her. I have to say though Jenna played by Katee Sackhoff should have been the lead. Katee is an actress I'm becoming quite fond of; she's attractive and has such great charisma. She's always a blast to watch and her character was a lot of fun actually.

Busta Rhymes is one of the most despised characters of the series, but if you want my honest opinion as much as his character may have hurt the movie, you take him away you have one hell of a boring movie. Sure the character was a bit much, but he was entertaining. Busta does give a good performance, but he cannot be blamed for the idiotic things that he says.

The biggest problem with Resurrection is really the middle scenes, which can at times lag and Michael lurking around just doesn't seem to work as well as past movies. The attempts at the flashy editing don't really work. The final act is where things get better, but also gets very messy. Rosenthal was building some decent suspense, but than Busta comes in with his one-liners and kung-fu moves or as I call it Busta-fu. Right there the tension was killed and Rosenthal never ever got it back. It wasn't that suspenseful to begin with, but fairly decent.

Having Busta Rhymes do a karate stance and spin kick Michael Myers out of a window is not scary, it's just stupid. Having Busta Rhymes beat the hell out of Michael and always have a comment isn't funny, it isn't suspenseful it's stupid. Michael is the villain and not a punching bag. I like when characters put up a little fight and not just stand their and die, but you don't have your franchise player reduced to getting beat up like that. After so many movies with Michael Myers I think the fear begins to leave and Rick Rosenthal made sure of that. All the fear of Michael is gone. There isn't anything scary about him anymore.

If you are making a horror movie make one! Those scenes serve no point other than to get a laugh from the crowd, which kills all the tension that was just built up. What could have been an excellent final act that might have helped some what make up for the middle is just destroyed. The scenes weren't funny they were idiotic and after that all the tension is gone and there was no way of getting it back. I have no problem with comedy in horror, but if you are making a horror movie with some comedy you have to know when to end the comedy and focus on suspense and clearly Rick Rosenthal didn't understand that.

So is Halloween: Resurrection really that bad? Well yes and no. I do think this is one of the weaker parts and despite 4-6 being ignored I actually prefer those, but Resurrection does have some fairly decent moments and isn't the big waste of time most would make it out to be. As a slasher film it's some what enjoyable, but very forgettable. Dimension films is all about going with what's in. H20 was made in the style of Scream and with Reality TV quite popular at the time and the Internet age getting bigger, Dimension films went down that route.

What helps Resurrection is Brad Loree as Michael Myers; in my opinion he was one of the best actors to play Michael. He made the character some what creepy. Also I really enjoyed Katee Sackhoff in the movie and she elevates any scene she appears in. Also brining it back to Haddonfield is a plus and the score by Danny Lux was far better than anything in H20.

What amazes me is how many people are willing to accept this sequel over the remake. Even those who disliked this part were more in favor of a follow up. I just don't understand that. Do you all really wanna see Michael Myers being reduced to a punching bag again? Resurrection makes me appreciate the original even more as well as the remake. Overall Halloween: Resurrection is flawed movie; while it works decent as a slasher film it's mostly just forgettable. There was potential, but Rick Rosenthal was just clueless. Though I still favor Resurrection over H20, but while no doubt this isn't a good movie it does make for a decent time killer, but just barley.

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