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"Halloween (6): The Curse of Michael Meyers"
www.moria.co.nz/horror/halloween6.htm
USA. 1995.
Director - Joe Chappelle, Screenplay - Daniel Farrands, Producer - Paul Freeman, Photography - Billy Dickson, Additional Photography - Tom Calloway, Music - Alan Howarth, Halloween Theme - John Carpenter, Special Effects Supervisor - Larry Fioritto, Makeup Effects - Magical Media Industries Inc (Designer/Supervisor - John Buechler), Additional Makeup Effects - Image Animation (Supervisor - Gary J. Tunicliffe), Production Design - Bryan Ryman. Production Company - Nightfall Productions.
Cast:
Marianne Hagan (Kara Strode), Paul Stephen Rudd (Tommy Doyle), Donald Pleasence (Dr Sam Loomis), George P. Wilbur (The Shape/Michael Myers), J.C. Brandy (Jamie Lloyd), Kim Darby (Debra Strode), Bradford English (John Strode), Mitchell Ryan (Dr Terence Wynn), Devin Gardner (Danny Strode), Keith Bogart (Tim Strode), Mariah O’Brien (Beth), Janice Knickrehm (Mrs Blankenship)
Plot:
Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night where he stalks Laurie Strode's cousin Kara and her family who have moved into the old Myers house. Kara's nerdish neighbour Tommy Doyle discovers an abandoned baby and realizes that is the last surviving inheritor of the Myers name and that Michael is determined to kill it. As he tries to protect the baby, Tommy discovers that Michael Myers is the incarnation of an ancient druidic personification of evil and is being sought by a group of modern druidic cultists.
A strong case could be made that John Carpenter’s cult hit Halloween (1978) was a film that shaped the face of the modern horror film. With Halloween Carpenter set out with no real intent other than to craft a pure rollercoaster ride of jolts and shocks. Halloween’s appeal rested as much in Carpenter’s ability to streamline the horror film into a pure shock machine, as it was to take horror out of the shadows of Hammer Gothic and the melodramatic thriller contrivations of Psycho (1960) and its ilk and make it a wholly modern new form. The film’s influence can be felt through an enormous number of other films from Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and their various sequels and imitators, through to the obvious homages in Scream (1996) and sequels.
After the success of Halloween, Carpenter oversaw the obligatory Halloween II (1981) but then with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) tried to use the Halloween name to kick off an original, unlinked anthology series. That was an idea that promptly went nowhere. Carpenter then sold out interest in the franchise and Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Meyers (1988) made a predictably sequelistic return to The Shape/Michael Myers saga. This was followed by Halloween 5 (1989). By the time of this, the fifth sequel to Halloween, a thorough sense of pointlessness hangs over the series. What stood Halloween above the mostly worthless run of slasher film imitators - the Friday the 13th films being a perfect example - was the seat-edge directorial grip with which it was crafted. Sadly what made Halloween work is a lesson that almost no slasher film succeeded in learning, with almost all substituting potpourris of gory despatches and a lineup of faceless teen victims over the creation of suspense and characters that one could give a damn about. And even more sadly this is a lesson that all of the Halloween sequels have even failed to learn from the source they owe their own name to.
There are occassional moments were director Joe Chappelle seems on the verge of rediscovering some of the style that Carpenter infused the original with - the there again/gone again pop-up tricks and the spooky peripheral shots with The Shape appearing on the edge of the camera frame or behind people’s shoulders. But these occasional moments are ruined by pointlessly gory payoffs that show the film has no real focus above the conveyor belt line of splattery novelty deaths served up in the average Friday the 13th sequel. The exercise is disappointingly hollow.
The film is further shot in by a plot that throws in an absurd spin that turns Michael Myers into some druidic avatar of evil incarnate. The explanation for this is murky and sounds just as silly when offered up on screen as it does in description here. Even more ill-explained are a series of subplots that reveal several of the cast members as belonging to some type of baby-snatching druidic cult that wants Michael Myers and the last surviving Myers baby. (Why, is never made clear). You could almost argue that the film might be trying to establish some type of grand attempt to thematically unite itself up with the druidic witchcraft plot of the unconnected Halloween III. But in truth the film is shabbily, indifferently plotted and a disgracefully poor blackening of the eminent name of its original that it bears.
This was the first film of Joe Chappelle who has since shaped up to a genre director of some promise. He next went onto the excellent Dean R. Koontz adaptation Phantoms (1998) and then Vlad the Impaler/Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000) about the historical tyrant who lent horror the name Dracula.
The subsequent Halloween films are: Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1999) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002).
www.moria.co.nz/horror/halloween6.htm
USA. 1995.
Director - Joe Chappelle, Screenplay - Daniel Farrands, Producer - Paul Freeman, Photography - Billy Dickson, Additional Photography - Tom Calloway, Music - Alan Howarth, Halloween Theme - John Carpenter, Special Effects Supervisor - Larry Fioritto, Makeup Effects - Magical Media Industries Inc (Designer/Supervisor - John Buechler), Additional Makeup Effects - Image Animation (Supervisor - Gary J. Tunicliffe), Production Design - Bryan Ryman. Production Company - Nightfall Productions.
Cast:
Marianne Hagan (Kara Strode), Paul Stephen Rudd (Tommy Doyle), Donald Pleasence (Dr Sam Loomis), George P. Wilbur (The Shape/Michael Myers), J.C. Brandy (Jamie Lloyd), Kim Darby (Debra Strode), Bradford English (John Strode), Mitchell Ryan (Dr Terence Wynn), Devin Gardner (Danny Strode), Keith Bogart (Tim Strode), Mariah O’Brien (Beth), Janice Knickrehm (Mrs Blankenship)
Plot:
Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night where he stalks Laurie Strode's cousin Kara and her family who have moved into the old Myers house. Kara's nerdish neighbour Tommy Doyle discovers an abandoned baby and realizes that is the last surviving inheritor of the Myers name and that Michael is determined to kill it. As he tries to protect the baby, Tommy discovers that Michael Myers is the incarnation of an ancient druidic personification of evil and is being sought by a group of modern druidic cultists.
A strong case could be made that John Carpenter’s cult hit Halloween (1978) was a film that shaped the face of the modern horror film. With Halloween Carpenter set out with no real intent other than to craft a pure rollercoaster ride of jolts and shocks. Halloween’s appeal rested as much in Carpenter’s ability to streamline the horror film into a pure shock machine, as it was to take horror out of the shadows of Hammer Gothic and the melodramatic thriller contrivations of Psycho (1960) and its ilk and make it a wholly modern new form. The film’s influence can be felt through an enormous number of other films from Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and their various sequels and imitators, through to the obvious homages in Scream (1996) and sequels.
After the success of Halloween, Carpenter oversaw the obligatory Halloween II (1981) but then with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) tried to use the Halloween name to kick off an original, unlinked anthology series. That was an idea that promptly went nowhere. Carpenter then sold out interest in the franchise and Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Meyers (1988) made a predictably sequelistic return to The Shape/Michael Myers saga. This was followed by Halloween 5 (1989). By the time of this, the fifth sequel to Halloween, a thorough sense of pointlessness hangs over the series. What stood Halloween above the mostly worthless run of slasher film imitators - the Friday the 13th films being a perfect example - was the seat-edge directorial grip with which it was crafted. Sadly what made Halloween work is a lesson that almost no slasher film succeeded in learning, with almost all substituting potpourris of gory despatches and a lineup of faceless teen victims over the creation of suspense and characters that one could give a damn about. And even more sadly this is a lesson that all of the Halloween sequels have even failed to learn from the source they owe their own name to.
There are occassional moments were director Joe Chappelle seems on the verge of rediscovering some of the style that Carpenter infused the original with - the there again/gone again pop-up tricks and the spooky peripheral shots with The Shape appearing on the edge of the camera frame or behind people’s shoulders. But these occasional moments are ruined by pointlessly gory payoffs that show the film has no real focus above the conveyor belt line of splattery novelty deaths served up in the average Friday the 13th sequel. The exercise is disappointingly hollow.
The film is further shot in by a plot that throws in an absurd spin that turns Michael Myers into some druidic avatar of evil incarnate. The explanation for this is murky and sounds just as silly when offered up on screen as it does in description here. Even more ill-explained are a series of subplots that reveal several of the cast members as belonging to some type of baby-snatching druidic cult that wants Michael Myers and the last surviving Myers baby. (Why, is never made clear). You could almost argue that the film might be trying to establish some type of grand attempt to thematically unite itself up with the druidic witchcraft plot of the unconnected Halloween III. But in truth the film is shabbily, indifferently plotted and a disgracefully poor blackening of the eminent name of its original that it bears.
This was the first film of Joe Chappelle who has since shaped up to a genre director of some promise. He next went onto the excellent Dean R. Koontz adaptation Phantoms (1998) and then Vlad the Impaler/Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000) about the historical tyrant who lent horror the name Dracula.
The subsequent Halloween films are: Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1999) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002).
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Re: Halloween (6): The Curse of Michael Meyers
Thu, August 26, 2004 - 9:45 PMAlthough I enjoy this movie, it - in my opinion - does not and should not be part of the series. It heads off in such a weird and unstable direction and is completely forgotten when "H20" and "Resurrection" were made...of course so were 4 & 5 (which I don't think they should have been). It is sad that the last film starring Donald Pleasance (Halloween wise) didn't have Jamie Lee involved. I would hope - well I would like the next Halloween to somehow involve the son and daughter of Laurie, that way combining the series. Sound like an idiotic idea?
Miche -
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Re: Halloween (6): The Curse of Michael Meyers
Fri, August 27, 2004 - 9:25 PMI agree... But, in some ways, the Halloween movies are a sign of the times, and if viewed from a historical contextual perspective, they make a lot more sense.
Yeah, I wish Donald Pleasance could have been in another movie with Jamie Lee Curtis.
I like the idea of dealing with the son and daughter of Laurie. Although, in Halloween 6 we witness Jamie Lloyd (Laurie's daughter) being killed brutally by Michael Meyers in the barn scene.
I want to see more of Tommy Doyle, Steven Lloyd, and the others who survived Halloween 6. As well, I want to see the survivors from Halloween H20, such as John Strode/Tate (played by Josh Hartnett). -
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Re: Halloween (6): The Curse of Michael Meyers
Fri, August 27, 2004 - 9:59 PMi have oddly grown fond of part 6 (both versions) although the music in the producers cut is so much better and more effective than the redone score they inserted later. My least favorite halloween is resurection. I just dont like rap or rap stars and i did not like the whole on the net people watching thing cuz i just thought it was done so badly. I expect a halloween movie to give me on scare at least and except from the beggining with jamie i was bored. -
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Re: Halloween (6): The Curse of Michael Meyers
Sat, August 28, 2004 - 9:00 AMYes, I've grown fond of part 6, for a few reasons:
(1) We saw the psychological depth of the family living in the old Meyers' house. We see a dysfunctional family dynamic, played out by a domineering physically/verbally abusive tyrant father and a consoling yet submissive and non-challenging of her husband mother. I actually like the mother in this movie a lot. She was a great actress. I was sad when she got killed by Michael Meyers. She was betrayed by her husband and lied to, etc. We witness a scene of physical/verbal abuse by the father toward the daughter. The very hot younger brother defends his sister verbally ("lay off her dad," and "get away from her") and then we see the "bastard" son of the daughter who was just hit in the face by the abusive father put a knife to his grandfather's stomach. That was very interesting. Very well done. Very convincing...
(2) We get to see a political, yet naive, girlfriend figure of the very hot brother. Her politicism of the Michael Meyers issue surrounding Halloween, her fervor to rally the will of the masses to fight against the evil/fear induced by Michael Meyers, is endearing. I was sad when she and the younger brother get killed. But the shower scene when Michael Meyers kills the younger brother while he's naked was very homoerotic.
(3) We get a glimmer of the mystical/mythological forces that are at play in Michael Meyers; we explore some interesting mythology related to the ancient celebrations of Halloween, and the Bogeyman. The old woman in the boarding house that Tommy Doyle lives in is very interesting. She adds to the mystery of the Bogeyman.
(4) We see a connection between the evil in Michael Meyers, and how it is similar to the cult-like group-think of modern times. How people can be motivated to evildoing, perhaps because we are all filled with those primitive bogeyman forces... And, when in a group of people, it's a lot easier to become evil.
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