Pros: decent t and a (oh like there's some other reason to watch slasher sequels)
Cons: death scenes pretty uncreative, not especially gory. (oh like you watch for premise or something)
The Bottom Line: directing acting yada yada. Photography yada yada. Girls are very decent to highly beautiful looking, the deaths stiflingly uncreative. Screams not that great.
How easy it is to be a Penrose J. Filmsnob regarding such fare as Halloween Resurrection. Sure Halloween Resurrection isn't a Bergman film, it's not even a decent substitute for a couple of Happy Meals. At least those give you the pleasure of a lingering feeling, even though it's indigestion.
This time around the young nubile college teenagers are aspiring reporters/actors/showbiz wannabes spending a live-webcast night at the original Michael Myers home. In another part of town, teenagers are watching while partying. Those who are veterans of this film series or slasher films in general can step back for a paragraph or two while I catch up the rest.
Michael Myers is something of a cultural fixture, dependable like a Swiss clock. Where horny teens go, Michael will be there to slash, cut, squeeze, burn. And the teens all act with zero common sense. But we the audience do not want them to have common sense. Not "checking the cellar" and "callling the cops" would reduce these films to about 10 minutes. But it's not like the cops would believe them anyway. It's the ones who aren't gettin their freak on that get killed, but the virgins barely make it out with skin intact.
Remember also this film features people watching a webcast within the film. This is the part of the film that makes you feel superior because you know the slashing is real while the watching party-goers don't. You get to feel all smart and metaphysical. Its a pureed, softened version of questioning the media's, the public's role, and the private role played out in a culture of violence. For a few seconds you get to feel all hip and you have a brain. Scream series did this ad nauseum, but the king of such questioning remains Hitchcock's Rear Window.
But I promise, from here on out, Penrose Filmsnob will shut up.
(Veterans can come back now) When it comes tgo sequels after the second, rest assured the series coasts on formula. Horny teens + knife wielding maniac can mean lots of dollar signs. Allow me to let the newbies in on another brief secret. One major reason these films still make back their production costs each time -- t and a making out. I could froth on and on about camera angles and cinematography, captivating imagery, acting skills, film's influences etc. etc. This film sinks far beneath such expectations, and in some sense its not really right to grade a film based on what it never tries in the first place.
For reasons of appearance and decorum I have to give a rating of * because of those factors. What slasher vets really want to know are three things: 1)How hot are the girls, 2) How about the screams, and 3) Creativity of the deaths.
The girls are kind of Charlie's Angels-like (both the immortal tv series and the fine film)The Brunette is The Sensible One. The Blonde is giddy, has a terrific scream (9 out of 10. Though she has a nice and perky rack, she's too bleached for me and her scream isn't good at all. She embodies avarice.
The long flowing loosely curled locks of the redhead with the lusty lips obviously personify taking the Lord's name in vain (just kidding, Lord). SHe has one decent makeout scene where I think you can see a nipple, and the blonde does reveal a nice black lacy bra (while a transfixed Michael Myers watches, Howard Stern-like, in the shadows).
Tyra "Yummy" (that's my nickname for her) Banks appears as an assistant director who's hitched her star to the director/producer of the show. No flashing or sex, but the most recent Victoria's Secret catalog costs less than the ticket price. The girl's are at least medium hot, the sex is probably not bad for new ones, but nothing vets haven't seen before or better.
I have to give extra points to the redhead for just being hot. I love long red hair. The murder scenes aren't especially creative or gory, but we're dealing with popular entertainment here. I wouldn't mind a bit of bleach to the eye and mouth, but that's probably too graphic for a mass audience who prefer simple knives to the stomach thank you very much. The films featuring very creative gore, gorgeous ladies, great screams -- Dario Argento's Suspiria (not a slasher film) the Evil Dead series, and Sorority House Massacre 1 and 2. I gave this Halloween * for all the wrong reasons, but even for the right reasons it still only amounts to a **.
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