THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The comeback season may have felt late for the Halloween franchise, but that ain’t gonna stop Hollywood from milking the cow.
PLOT
The Revenge of Michael Myers takes place an exact year after the infamous slasher tried to murder his only niece, Jamie Lloyd. He was originally trapped in a mine shaft at the time thanks to Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr), but has now escaped to finish his personal goal. Jamie’s been admitted to a Children’s Clinic after attacking her foster mother Darlene Carruthers. All the trauma she’s been through has caused her to render herself mute and exhibit signs of a telepathic link with the Shape himself. When Samuel Loomis hears of this, he hopes to use it against Myers to defeat him for good. Shortly after getting a visit from her sister Rachel, the child starts to have a sense that she’ll be in danger which is proven true when the boogeyman himself invades her home and kills her, unbeknownst to her friend Tina who plans to go out with fellow friend Samantha Thomas (Tamara Glynn) and their boyfriends Mike (Jonathan Chipin) and Spitz (Matthew Walker). Loomis later scouts the old Myers home with a little bit of hope to catch his mortal enemy, but little does he know a man in black is watching him. Michael begins his killing spree by killing Mike with a garden rake and drives to Rachel’s home to pick up Tina, while wearing another mask as her disguise. By night, the children’s clinic has a costume contest but Jamie starts to regain her voice and suspect her fellow friend to be in danger as well. Despite being picked up by the police, Tina goes to a party as planned and doesn’t take Jamie’s pleas serious. Wanting to protect her, the child escapes with another patient her age that suffers from stuttering, Billy Hill (Jeffrey Landman), to protect her. Michael continues his killing spree by killing Sam & Spitz, as well as two policeman. He chases Tina & the kids with a car and despite crashing into a tree, he recovers in time to kill Tina with a knife. Loomis finds Jamie & Billy with assist of the cops, which encourages the idea to use the girl as bait to lure the Shape at his childhood home. However, most of Meeker’s reinforcements leave when a report goes out of the clinic being broken into. This becomes the distraction for the boogeyman to isolate Loomis, which works when he throws him over the stair banister. He then hangs Deputy Charlie (Troy Evans) alive before continuing to pursue his niece. The child tries to hide in a laundry chute until going for the attic where she finds a shrine made by Michael, surrounded with the corpses of Mike, Rachel and the new house dog Max. She addresses him as her uncle for the first time and convinces him to remove his mask. For less than a minute, he sheds a brief tear before putting it back on. He fails to kill her when Loomis recovers to shoot him with a tranquilizer gun and pummel him with a wooden plank before collapsing on top of him. Just when he’s taken into custody, the film ends in a cliffhanger where Meeker and the remaining cops at the police station get shot down by the same man in black from earlier who helps Myers escape, leaving Jamie to sob in despair.
THOUGHTS
Considering how wild the fourth film was, I had a feeling this one could get wilder but not in a good way. It is one thing to make something immediately to keep the money flowing a year apart from the previous film. This is the first time where I felt like there wasn’t any faith and creativity they were trying to develop. Director Dominique Othenin-Girard had the pressure to focus on entertainment and forget the need of a logical story. Actor Don Shanks still makes Michael imposing enough to be intimidated of each kill that occurs, since it ain’t everyday you see a scythe and a pitchfork get used as weapons the way they are here, but the mask is so sloppy it looks like an alien and it’s pretty embarrassing. I am surprised of the 180 that goes for Donald Pleasence as Loomis because he’s so erratic due to the fear he has over Myers that he’s willing to use the innocent Jamie as bait to end the nightmare once and for all. You can say it was the point for him to go against his morals, but I don’t think the execution paid off. In all honesty, I think it would’ve been better for him to have died after he collapsed instead of having his final appearance in The Curse of Michael Myers, because it represents he’s done enough to prove his point, but then again it shows he’s got his own determination to destroy evil incarnate. Again, Jamie is still the biggest victim here since Danielle Harris shows her to be worn out as well that she lost her voice for a year after what happened. She has such a big heart worrying about everyone she cares about which only cripples her more in an emotional sense because being alone is the worst feeling on her end. I don’t have anything against Wendy Kaplan as Tina since she seems like a nice girl, but my problem with her is how she just fills the shoes of Ellie Cornell’s Rachel without even knowing she got killed before her. If she was introduced in the preceding film, I would’ve cared much more. Since both characters ignored Jamie’s pleas, you knew they were doomed. The only one that was valid to be absent for the holidays were Rachel’s parents because the trauma from last year was too much for them in comparison. All these characters make so many illogical decisions that it drives me nuts way more than seeing the man in black who connects everything from the very first film to the following sequel. That may be an attempt to say how evil always a way to regain strength, but it’s so forced at this point. Moving on, I don’t see the reason for Michael to not kill the hermit a year sooner. The guy wasn’t nurturing him, so there’s no motive to wait it out. And was he ever really outside the clinic before he went to kill Mike? If so, it’s crazy to know Loomis didn’t spot him. And how did he get away with hiding Mike’s body? He must have put it in the car, but when exactly did he put it in the attic? I gotta ask because Tina was there for the most part which would’ve been harder. While I can vent about how she ignores the broken picture frame or doesn’t give Max water like she said she would, It’s even weird how even here he stil doesn’t get spotted in broad daylight when he goes after Rachel. That even makes me wonder how nobody senses him from the smell alone since we all know this guy did not shower for a year due to his comatose. Meeker was smart to send cops to pick up Tina and later watch her for her protection, but how come they didn’t stop Michael in the car as they picked her up? Every masked man should be a red flag which they proved when Sam & Spitz tried pranking them with Myers’ mask. If I was a cop, I would’ve shot first and ask questions later because you can’t joke about a local serial killer. The dumbest thing that Loomis does here compared to not shooting Michael sooner was being allowed to watch over Jamie at the clinic. And the fact no one of the main cast fights hard enough to keep him away from her is absurd. Loomis also makes his continuity error by saying his memory goes back 12 years of Michael’s violence as an adult when it’s only been 11, as well as say Rachel is only 9 years old when she was in fact 7 in the last movie. That irritated me more than not hearing the man in black following him in the old Myers home. Lastly, the only mistake Jamie makes is leaving the clinic to warn Tina. I know she means well but besides her own well being, she put Ben at risk and I know she wouldn’t want to bare with that. I’m so confused with that decision that I can’t even fathom how she left the place undetected. Thankfully, the kid doesn’t get harmed. To get this over with, Halloween: The Revenge of Michael Myers is the franchise’s first weak link for losing all the spirit that was present from the start. If you’re a fan of this franchise, good luck with this.
Comentarios