What would the month of...er, July be...without a Halloween movie? Michael Myers is back and there's good news and bad news.The good news first: director Rick Rosenthal takes the helm again and he's got the experience. He guided the classic HALLOWEEN II and did an excellent job with it. So if you like Michael Myers, you're in luck. The mask is well-photographed and in the movie quite a bit. There's also an EXTREME amount of gore (for a Hollywood slasher movie) this time around. There's a graphic head decapitation, brutal stabbings, hangings, and when victims are impaled, the blood flows.Now the bad news: the story is sort of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets Michael Myers. A group of teens are spending the night in Myers' old house, armed with tons of video cameras for a 'live' Internet broadcast. Of course Michael comes home and wastes most of them.Here's where the biggest problem lies: the reality TV thing has been done to death (and much better with camera toting victims in ALIENS). Also, what's the point of spending the night in the Myers house? Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but 'searching the place to find out why Michael is so evil' is just ridiculous. Doctor Loomis already told everyone the lowdown on this way back in 1978, did he not?Another complaint is the house itself. Every HALLOWEEN fan knows the Myers place was just a little two-story suburban house with 3 bedrooms...and here we have a large group of people stumbling around the joint and actually 'getting lost' in the dank basement (with another cellar room below it) etc. I had a hard time NOT thinking about how silly that whole concept was. Somehow, they get 'stuck' in the house even though there's windows everywhere and one of the main characters leaves the backdoor unlocked so a 'fake' Meyers can come in and scare the kids. There's zillions of other plot holes and silliness, but what would a slasher sequel be without them?Jamie Lee Curtis makes a guest appearance as Lori Strode in the beginning. It was kewl to see her and Mike battle it out again, but the explanation for how her brother lived through the decapitation at the end of H20 is preposterous. As MISERY'S Annie Wilkes would scream: 'CHEATERS! You CHEATED! That WAS NOT in the 'cliffhanger' reel of the last film!'Additionally, the casting of rap stars (I guess that's what these lame black dudes are that can barely act) and models in major roles further insults the franchise. They make complete fools out of themselves with 'hard hitting' dialogue that's merely an excuse to swear at Myers. It got a chuckle from two Beavis and Butthead types (the only other people in the theater)as they gorged down popcorn, ringdings, and soda. The mess they left in the chairs was scarier than anything this movie had to offer...The Shape's mask is cool and some of the video scenes are slightly inspired, but all in all, this movie is not. The HALLOWEEN franchise sadly looks and feels tired, and I think they should have quit on the high note of H20.
What would the month of...er, July be...without a Halloween movie? Michael Myers is back and there's good news and bad news.The good news first: director Rick Rosenthal takes the helm again and he's got the experience. He guided the classic HALLOWEEN II and did an excellent job with it. So if you like Michael Myers, you're in luck. The mask is well-photographed and in the movie quite a bit. There's also an EXTREME amount of gore (for a Hollywood slasher movie) this time around. There's a graphic head decapitation, brutal stabbings, hangings, and when victims are impaled, the blood flows.Now the bad news: the story is sort of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets Michael Myers. A group of teens are spending the night in Myers' old house, armed with tons of video cameras for a 'live' Internet broadcast. Of course Michael comes home and wastes most of them.Here's where the biggest problem lies: the reality TV thing has been done to death (and much better with camera toting victims in ALIENS). Also, what's the point of spending the night in the Myers house? Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but 'searching the place to find out why Michael is so evil' is just ridiculous. Doctor Loomis already told everyone the lowdown on this way back in 1978, did he not?Another complaint is the house itself. Every HALLOWEEN fan knows the Myers place was just a little two-story suburban house with 3 bedrooms...and here we have a large group of people stumbling around the joint and actually 'getting lost' in the dank basement (with another cellar room below it) etc. I had a hard time NOT thinking about how silly that whole concept was. Somehow, they get 'stuck' in the house even though there's windows everywhere and one of the main characters leaves the backdoor unlocked so a 'fake' Meyers can come in and scare the kids. There's zillions of other plot holes and silliness, but what would a slasher sequel be without them?Jamie Lee Curtis makes a guest appearance as Lori Strode in the beginning. It was kewl to see her and Mike battle it out again, but the explanation for how her brother lived through the decapitation at the end of H20 is preposterous. As MISERY'S Annie Wilkes would scream: 'CHEATERS! You CHEATED! That WAS NOT in the 'cliffhanger' reel of the last film!'Additionally, the casting of rap stars (I guess that's what these lame black dudes are that can barely act) and models in major roles further insults the franchise. They make complete fools out of themselves with 'hard hitting' dialogue that's merely an excuse to swear at Myers. It got a chuckle from two Beavis and Butthead types (the only other people in the theater)as they gorged down popcorn, ringdings, and soda. The mess they left in the chairs was scarier than anything this movie had to offer...The Shape's mask is cool and some of the video scenes are slightly inspired, but all in all, this movie is not. The HALLOWEEN franchise sadly looks and feels tired, and I think they should have quit on the high note of H20.
