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"Halloween: Resurrection"

Directed by Rick Rosenthal.
Written by Larry Brand and Sean Hood.
Starring Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks, Sean Patrick Thomas and Jamie Lee Curtis. 
Release Year:  2002
Review Date:  7/15/02

Gratuitous Internet note:  You need to go to www.tvguide.com and check out the descriptions of the Ten Mediocre Shows that We Had to Watch feature; I found this after reading about the magazine’s 50 worst TV shows of all time, in stores now.  There is a review of one of the shows, “TJ Hooker”, from the mid-80s that had me laughing out loud about star William Shatner’s acting.  Classic!

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Folks-- 

I likes me a good horror movie, but these days, no one releases horror films that are any good!  As such, we are forced to sit through rehashes of the “Friday the 13th” series and now, the eighth installment in the “Halloween” series, “Halloween: Resurrection.”

My buddy Max and I went to catch this on opening day, and I want to say right off the bat that this movie deserved to be a lot worse.  But no one told that to screenwriter Larry Brand, who comes up with some interesting ideas to make this installment better than most of the other films in the long-running series.  He does this by keeping it simple—he (finally) kills off killer Michael Myers’ sister Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the film’s opening sequence, which is a blessing both for the films and for Curtis, who can now put this career hallmark in her past.  Plus, Brand actually makes the film topical by driving the film’s main plot around a “Big Brother”-style TV show called Dangertainment, whose host (Busta Rhymes) sees a financial opportunity in having six college students run around Myers’ old home to discover the roots of the twisted psycho.

As the students get picked off one by one, a friend of one of the kids follows the action on the Internet, and this is where the film really shines—our nation’s sad addiction to online events is what makes “Halloween: Resurrection” so scary.  Who else but teens in college would hang out on the Internet on the night of Halloween to follow something like this?  And, of course, when the students are being knocked off, why wouldn’t they think it was just a big, fat joke?  Sure, there is plenty of blood and some cool kills as Myers makes his way to the end of the film, but it is intriguing to see how the kids watching online will react to the truth that this isn’t just entertainment.

Rhymes is much worse than he usually is as an actor; his strong turns in “Finding Forrester” and the otherwise-disappointing “Shaft” update are nowhere to be found here.  But, he does enough in the role to not totally screw things up.  Bianca Kajlich, as the last-one-standing student Sara, is pretty hot and while she doesn’t make the film worth watching by herself, she makes running around screaming easy enough on the eyes.  Cameos by Tyra Banks, Sean Patrick Thomas (“Save the Last Dance”), and Thomas Ian Nicholas (“American Pie”) make the action livable, and director Rick Rosenthal (who also directed the second “Halloween” film) throws in some genuine scares.

I really thought this was going to be an easy Hard Vice, but “Halloween: Resurrection” really overachieves.

Rating:  Matinee

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  This is the highest rating a movie can receive.  Reserved for movies that exhibit the highest level of acting, plot, character development, setting...or Salma Hayek.  Not necessarily in that order. 

"$X.XX Show":  This price changes each year due to the inflation of movie prices; currently, it is the $9.50 Show.  While not technically perfect, this is a movie that will still entertain you at a very high level.  "Undercover Brother" falls into this category; it's no "Casablanca", but you'll have a great time watching.  The $9.50 Show won't win any Oscars, but you'll be quoting lines from the thing for ages (see "Office Space"). 

"Matinee":  An average movie that merits no more than a $6.50 viewing at your local theater.  Seeing it for less than $9.50 will make you feel a lot better about yourself.  A movie like "Blue Crush" fits this category; you leave the theater saying "That wasn't too bad...man, did you see that Lakers game last night?" 

"Rental":  This rating indicates a movie that you see in the previews and say to your friend, "I'll be sure to miss that one."  Mostly forgettable, you couldn't lose too much by going to Hollywood Video and paying $3 to watch it with your sig other, but you would only do that if the video store was out of copies of "Ronin."  If you can, see this movie for free.  This is what your TV Guide would give "one and a half stars." 

"Hard Vice":  This rating is the bottom of the barrel.  A movie that only six other human beings have witnessed, this is the worst movie I have ever seen.  A Shannon Tweed "thriller," it is so bad as to be funny during almost every one of its 84 minutes, and includes the worst ending ever put into a movie.  Marginally worse than "Cabin Boy", "The Avengers" or "Leonard, Part 6", this rating means that you should avoid this movie at all costs, or no costs, EVEN IF YOU CAN SEE IT FOR FREE!  (Warning:  strong profanity will be used in all reviews of "Hard Vice"-rated movies.)