Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

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Halloween Reviews

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If one decides to carry things on past 'Halloween 2' and delve into the "Thorn" storyline, this is where all of that officially ends. So for those keeping track, so far, we have "option #1" (the first two films, making up the original concept) and "option #2" (the first six films, telling the "Thorn" story). Anyway, I don't know what it was about the time, but it seemed like every major 80s horror franchise had to end with some explanation leaning toward the occult and/or demonic possession. This is no exception.

To make matters so much worse for this film, it essentially follows the formula of 'Jason Goes to Hell,' in which ultimately it boils down to a newborn baby who represents some kind of "final kill" for the killer in question. In Michael's case, it's the last of his bloodline, and as we can understand at this point in the game, Michael likes to keep it all in the family (even though his body count outside his family is much more). And to be perfectly honest, that is the gist of the plot here, except we replace demonic possession with an old Druid curse, and that's what drives Michael to hunt down his family members on Halloween.

Just for a bit of a recap, however, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis of the first two films) has had a daughter named Jamie (Danielle Harris in the following two films), who goes under the foster name of Lloyd. In the fourth film, Laurie initially meets her fate off-screen in a car accident, and Jamie takes up the mantle as the final family member Michael wants to get to. Jamie was protected for the past two films, but the confusing ending of 'Halloween 5' also seals her fate, although we don't know what that fate is until the first chunk of this film.

The film opens with Jamie (now played by J.C. Brandy) having a baby, surrounded by cult members who have evidently had her in their possession for six years. This would provide Michael with his next target. Helped by a midwife, Jamie flees the cult with her baby and hides it from Michael, knowing she's still not safe. But before doing so, she calls into a local radio station to get an SOS over the airwaves, heard by both Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence in his final 'Halloween' appearance) and a grown-up Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) - the kid Laurie babysat in the first film.

Both Loomis and Tommy manage to trace the call back to the train station, and there Tommy finds the baby stashed away. The film becomes one big escort mission for Tommy, as he also knows that the new family who have moved into the Myers' house (who just so happen to be another bunch of Strodes- relatives of Laurie's adoptive family) aren't safe. This mainly includes Kara (Marianne Hagan) and her son, Danny (Devin Gardner), who I guess we're supposed to see as the next potential Michael Myers with this "Man in Black" who tells him to kill. Eventually, we learn that this apparently fuelled Michael in the first place.

If there was ever a 'Halloween' movie I definitely did not like, it was this one. For starters, it's just the whole concept behind it. Back then, they seemed to have some rule that none of these killers could just be something supernatural. They all suddenly needed an explanation but never needed one with the original and arguably best films of their respective franchises. But on top of that, the film is also terribly acted, terribly cut and feels incredibly rushed. I would probably argue that the saving grace of this film is actually Paul Rudd in his debut film role, but it's for all the wrong reasons. He wasn't quite the charmer he is now.

For me, 'Halloween' has its hits and its misses, but sometimes those misses are too rough even to be considered a guilty pleasure. Three particular titles come to mind, and this marks the first of them. I'm sincerely hard-pressed to find much I enjoy about this chapter and might rank it at the bottom of the 'Halloween' barrel. It's not without a decent kill or two, but that's about the extent of it. Otherwise, the film just copied how the 'Friday the 13th' franchise initially ended. But I suppose that's fair since 'Friday the 13th' was an admitted ripoff of 'Halloween.' Either way, this provides an altogether disappointing end to things.


​1/5

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