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Mike Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis by MATTHEW HAYS
But those who found some comfort in the fiction of H20 will be saddened by this film’s premise. Indeed, Curtis did behead someone at the end of that film—but it was the wrong person! (A not terribly satisfying twist, but anyone looking for realism in this franchise should have their head examined. After all, H20 asked us to pretend that the previous few Halloween movies didn’t even happen.) Soon enough, Myers is back on the prowl and returns to his childhood house (the one made famous in the opening moments of the original film) where, it seems, capitalist forces—in the form of reality TV—have taken hold. Several young college kids (that perfectly photogenic and horny age group) have been hand picked by some sleazy TV producers to spend the night in the Myers household. Their mission is to survive the night and to try and solve the mystery of one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Teen psychoanalytic sleuths stalked by Myers, all of which is simulcast on the Internet—this is The Real World Goes Slasher. The franchise-makers’ stab at pulling Myers into the cyber age doesn’t really work. Their effort at convergence—of movies, the Internet and even a hint of blaxploitation—is about as successful as, well, as the convergence efforts of certain corporations that shall remain nameless. H:R is both bland and predictable. Still, as Clive Barker has argued, audiences flock to horror films precisely because of the comfort of their sheer familiarity, not to have their expectations undermined. If this is so, Resurrection has handed horror buffs a virtual feast of comfort food. : Halloween: Resurrection opens Friday, July 12 >> Movie Listings |
You
can’t keep a good franchise down. Or even a wildly uneven franchise
that’s gone sour, as it turns out. I was naïve enough to
think they might actually have been serious about putting Mike Myers
on ice. Especially after Jamie Lee Curtis, the heroine from the first
two Halloween entries, agreed to return for Halloween: H20, beheading
her nemesis (and brother) Myers, putting an apparent end to the whole
affair.