Halloween 8: Resurrection (2002)

          Laurie Strode has been institutionalized for the brutal murder of a medic and has been catatonic ever since. Seems it wasn’t Michael Myers who was decapitated, as just before the van went down the hill, it was a medic whom Michael dressed up as himself. The medic’s larynx was broken so the medic couldn’t prove who he was. However, Michael is visiting Laurie 3 years later… and when he’s done with her, he’s gonna go back home and interrupt an online reality show taking place there. It’s gonna be fun!

          Overall: Considering how part 7 really ended this excuse to show Michael as alive is nothing more than cheap writing to get the cash $$ to pay Jamie Lee Curtis one last time. Given the ending to the characters of Laurie & Michael, I’m sure a sequel isn’t completely out of the works. And yet given the ending to part 7, that should have been the end of it. But Hollywood got greedy at the idea of “Jason X” so toss some cash towards the effects for this film. I think the loyalty to the sequels clearly shows an outright cheating of the audience. They do a mini-bio by one of the inmates (which was a nice touch) but then skips parts 3-6. It ignores Laurie’s daughter and that stuff and as this movie goes on, you almost forget that Laurie’s son from part 7 is missing too. Would have been a nice tie-in. I also found it interesting that they named a character “Freddy” and he happened never to quit die, always show up when u most expected it. The online video connection was so atrocious via the web cams that had I viewed this reality show online I’d have requested my money back. What was wrong with simply showing good video feedback? Scared the audience wouldn’t think it was realistic? Hahaha! And this whole rappers into movies phenomena is getting me sick. Busta Rhymes is no better actor than Ice Cube, Ice-T, Eminem, or LL Cool J.

          Ok, let’s go with what I did like about the film. In a sort of an homage to “Scream”, the whole palm pilot idea was very nice. The idea that the audience does get to interact with the victims and let them know what was up was cool. The insane inmate at the beginning give us the brief bios of serial killers was neat too - but better had the script paid attention and added the sequels 3-6, it would have been better. Given the deleted scenes & alternate endings, I actually like the ending as is. The crap with Deckard flying in was lame as well as the EMT worker finding Michael in the sewer drain. The “traditional” ending with Michael never being quite dead is too cliché so that 3rd ending was too cheesy & justifiably deleted.

          As for the deleted scenes, much of that was unnecessary but what was missing is what I found definite a failure of the film. Either eliminate Tyra Banks character or give her more screen time - one second she’s doing her hair then 60 minutes go by before they find her body - no scenes of her death. When Deckard is giving Sarah hints via the palm pilot there is a period where he basically goes into hibernation for about 20 minutes. Gotta keep the momentum going folks. The “electrocution” of Michael hints at the resurrection efforts of “Friday the 13th” and that never worked on Jason. Considering the jabs at “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” this film was having a bit of fun. I think the biggest failure was that it had so many avenues to go and yet took none of them. It had storylines with Freddy & Tyra, the technicians and Tyra, Deckard and Sarah (as the film ended the 2 of them never found out how old Deckard was), why Sarah lived and no one else did, why Freddie lived and no one else did, whether or not Laurie is truly dead, why Michael even went home, why the whole abused child theory was plausible (given how his 2 sisters grew up normal, I can’t imagine they didn’t know their younger brother was being tortured every night by mommy), and how the house looked so little on outside became so gigantic on inside...come on, it looked like a bugs bunny cartoon where he goes into Arabian tents. The film was so full of holes, it can’t stand on its own but I thought it did some new stuff that other films can bank on. Death Count = 10

          Comparison: Urban Legends meets Big Brother

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