‘I knew what he was, but I never knew why…’
Halloween 5 is a terrible film. For many reasons. Perhaps the most baffling element of that movie is that they introduce a nameless character dressed all in black who shows up at random intervals and eventually saves Michael from prison at the film’s conclusion. It’s a bizarre choice that is never properly explained. Six years later with new director Joe Chappelle at the helm, The Curse of Michael Myers doubles down on this man in black stuff with the introduction of the cult of Thorn. Every horror franchise has a moment that forces the viewer to ask ‘How did we get here?’. How did we get from Mrs Vorhees killing teenagers at summer camp to Jason marauding around Times Square or showing up in space? How did we get from Freddy being a terrifying child murderer to Breckin Meyer entering into a computer game at Krueger’s behest? And in this case, how did we get from Michael Myers stalking babysitters to ritual sacrifice, shady cults and Paul Rudd? As that great scholar, Sheryl Crow, once observed… every day is a winding road.
Six years after Michael Myers’ (George P. Wilbur) last terrorised Haddonfield he returns again despite everyone believing him to be dead. Jamie Lloyd also returns (albeit played by a different actor in the shape of J.C. Brandy) and she’s about to give birth. Elsewhere, the kid who Laurie was babysitting in Halloween also makes a comeback but now he’s Paul Rudd (making his feature film debut). Finally, Donald Pleasence returns as Loomis, of course, in his final film role, and happily, his last performance here is much more assured than his disjointed work in the previous sequel.
I will begin by saying that for all of its faults, and it has many, The Curse of Michael Myers is a far superior film to both Halloween 5 and Halloween Resurrection. This film isn’t incredibly tedious for a start. It’s preposterous sure. Particularly the third act. And the very end sequence is pretty awful, but on the whole, Curse is a fun Halloween movie. One thing I will say is that watching this film in the knowledge that Scream was about to come out less than a year later really drives home how incredible a film Wes Craven’s masterpiece was and how much it provided a shot in the arm for a subgenre that was as dead as one of Michael’s many victims.
The Curse of Michael Myers marks the end of the second trilogy of Halloween films taking in the worryingly competent Halloween 4 and the unforgivably atrocious Halloween 5 and this beautiful mess. Honestly? You can probably skip all of them and move straight on to Halloween: H20 – for my money the best of all the Halloween sequels.
In terms of this year’s October, that’s me done. 31 horror-related posts in 31 days (more this year actually but who’s counting). Thanks for reading everyone.
Happy Halloween! Or alternatively, Happy Sam Haim for all you Mark of Thorn cult members out there.