Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers: The Halloween Retrospective

Starring Donald Pleasance, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagan

Directed by Joe Chappelle

Well, here we go again.  After giving myself a little break after suffering through the atrocity that was Halloween 5, I'm back at it to continue the path I set for myself.  Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released in 1995, and takes place six years after the events of Part 5.  Directing this time was done by Joe Chappelle, who later went on to direct in a number of TV shows, including Fringe and CSI NY and Miami.  Does Chappelle have what it takes to put the series back on track?

Well, in Halloween 5, Michael was taken from a Haddonfield jail cell by a mysterious man, who we find out is part of a cult called the Cult of Thorn.  In between then and now Jamie Lloyd has also been abducted by the cult.  Even though it's not outright stated in the theatrical version, Jamie was apparently impregnated by Michael Myers as part of the cult's design.  Some time after giving birth, Jamie manages to escape with the baby and heads to Haddonfield warn people and get help from Dr. Loomis.  Myers gives chase, and eventually catches up with Jamie, but not before catching Loomis' attention over a radio station, and hiding her baby.

"What's a guy gotta do to retire around here?"

Enter Tommy Wallace.  He hasn't been completely right in the head ever since the events of Halloween 1, and deep down has always known Michael would return yet again.  Tommy manages to stumble on the hiding place of Jamie's baby, and after finding Dr. Loomis in  Haddonfield, asks him for help in protecting the baby and dealing with Michael.  As well, a family has moved into the Myers home (the family that adopted Laurie Strode no less), and eventually Tommy befriends the daughter Kara and her son.  But things are only more complicated as not only do our heroes have to deal with Michael Myers, the Cult of Thorn is also imposing its will in Haddonfield.  Whatever will our heroes do?

The Curse of Michael Myers is not the worst sequel of the bunch, but it's far from perfect.  The acting was fine, the deaths were good for the most part.  My issue was mainly with the whole cult thing and Michael's part in it.  It not only was a dumb idea to me, things got so convoluted at times that it seemed to trip over itself with explanations.  I was perfectly ok with Dr. Loomis' explanation of Michael way back in the original Halloween.  It to me was simple and yet explained everything I needed to know.

Who'd have thought a flu shot was all Michael needed to be cured?

What makes it all worse is that after Curse the entire cult plot was just completely forgotten.  In fact, pretty much everything that happened after Halloween 2 and before Halloween H2O was ignored.  Which, to be honest, I'm not horribly torn up about that. The bottom line?  Halloween 6 is pretty forgettable.  I liked it better than the last two that came before it, but overall it's still low in the list to me.  If you haven't done so yet, look into the Producer's Cut of the movie.  The Producer's Cut is a work print of the original film, and it featured just over an hour of alternate, unedited footage. That's all I really have to say about this.  Stay tuned for the next part.  rest in peace.

Macabre Rating: 3 out of 5 tombstones