![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/h/halloweenresurrection.jpg)
Halloween: Resurrection
It seems Michael Myers had a heretofore unknown weakness that the late Dr. Loomis was unable to exploit — Busta "Pass the Courvoisier" Rhymes. Yes, it's Mr. Rhymes who successfully handles the previously unstoppable serial slasher in Halloween: Resurrection in such a manner that it verges on slapstick: He tells Michael off and — by the end of the movie — survives him. In the supplements of the Nightmare on Elm St. box set, director John Landis duly noted that the further a horror franchise carries on, the further it must devolve into self parody, and nowhere is his theory more evident than in 2002's Halloween: Resurrection, a tired genre exercise. But what should one expect from a series that's best sequel didn't bother to include Michael at all? Directed by Rick Rosenthal (who also helmed 1981's Halloween II) this seventh Halloween installment begins by explaining that the end of the last film (when Myers died) was hooey, and then eliminates Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, in a glorified cameo) to concentrate on small businessman Rhymes and his company Dangertainment, whose plan is to launch a show on the Internet featuring a bunch of college students (including such recent triple named teensploitation luminaries such as Thomas Ian Nicholas and Sean Patrick Thomas) exploring the Myers home on Halloween. Somehow, this will become so popular and successful that it will make Busta rich (getting rich on the 'Net — so very 1998). But, of course, Michael shows up for real and teens start dying. The slasher genre has always been marked by creative deaths and gratuitous nudity; here the deaths are quite boring (though, in a small conceit, one girl does take her top off). Perhaps it's hard to generate sympathy for characters when one is earmarked from the beginning to survive while the rest obviously are lambs to the slaughter. Just the same, no movie has a right to be this boring, and this formula is so shopworn that any director could make a sequel like this in his sleep. One wonders if that's what Rosenthal attempted doing. Buena Vista/Dimension's DVD release of Halloween: Resurrection presented the film in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Supplements include a commentary with director Rosenthal and editor Robert E. Ferretti, six deleted scenes and three alternate endings (all with optional commentary) along with an edited together webcam version of the second half of the film (with optional commentary by Rosenthal), three fluffy featurettes ("On the set with Jamie Lee Curtis" "Head Cam," and "Tour of set with production designer Troy Hansen"), a photo gallery, storyboard comparisons, and DVD sneak-peeks. Keep-case.
—DSH
