User reviews

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is catatonic locked in an asylum after the last encounter with Michael Myers. She is faking it and he is still after her. He stabs her in the back and sends her off the roof. Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich), Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas) and Jen Danzig (Katee Sackhoff) are friends studying in Haddonfield University. Jen signs them up for a reality show at the Myers house. They are joined by Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Donna Chang, and Jim Morgan in the show run by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and Nora Winston (Tyra Banks). Myles Barton is in a chatroom relationship with Sara. Unknown to them, the six reality TV guests are locked in the house with Michael Myers.

Despite any possible retcon, the first fifteen minutes are still the best part of this movie. Jamie Lee Curtis is Halloween every bit as much as Michael Myers. The rest is something else. Whatever it is, it's not Halloween. The reality TV idea is annoying and it gets worst with the intermittent reality TV camera work. I like a few of the actors, but Tyra Banks and Busta Rhymes really lower the likability factor. It's so bad that I am more interested in everybody getting killed. I don't care if any of them survive.

Halloween: Resurrection starts off on the wrong foot and it's all downhill from there. Sure they found a clever way to undo the closure of Halloween H2O and make it possible to bring Mike up to his old shenanigans, unfortunately that whole segment is hasty and the rest of the movie's garbage. The "what really happened" explanation is just a loophole for making a movie that's neither necessary nor any good, and so I present to you Halloween: Resurrection.

I'm not going to write any spoilers about what happens to Laurie, but I think anyone who loves the original Halloween and its characters will think what they did with her in this movie is crap and only put her in here for the sake of having Laurie in it.

The characters are plastic. Even by the end of the movie when you get to know all of them a little bit, you don't care enough about them to want to see them escape the wrath of Mike Myers. In fact, you'll probably look forward to their demise at his hands. That's how flat and/or despicable these characters are. Even the lead role doesn't have much personality. She's nice and smart and decent, just like Laurie was in fact, but somehow she doesn't have much personality. I don't think her character was developed enough, otherwise she could have made a good heroine. The rest of the characters are people you pretty much hope get killed off, especially the tech lady played by Tyra Banks and most of the kids that tour the haunted house. Obnoxious people, hastily made characters. And Busta Rhymes plays the typical black dude with a boisterous personality. Not a bad acting job, but what a typical cliché character.

The technology is another factor. Another case of fusing horror with the fancy gimmick of modern technology (or what was modern in 2002 anyways). Just because we have things like reality shows and phone-texting nowadays does not mean it will make a horror movie any scarier, or realistic, or better at all. Having people emailing and playing on their phones and all in the movie takes away from the good old-fashioned terror you get from something as simple as a lurking shadow or the gleam of a butcher knife.

There's a couple of notably cool things in the movie, like when Freddy dresses up like Mike Myers while Mike is there in the flesh and you see two Mikes walking one behind the other. Well that was more funny than anything. The scene with the bong was funny too. And the murder scenes are alright and in typical Mike Myers fashion, but otherwise Resurrection bombs as a horror film and leaves you yet again with no closure, except this time you wouldn't really want to see another sequel.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now in an asylum, where she awaits the inevitable return of Michael Myers. Myers, after visiting her, returns to his childhood home and makes a nightmare for a group of kids who have decided to film a reality show inside the house.

First of all, this film pretends that Halloween 4 through 6 never happened, creating the possibility that the Myers house has been abandoned for decades, rather than lived in by other families. This reboot is a result of the writing on H20, but it was still a bad idea no matter who started it.

Second, one would think that bringing in Rick Rosenthal would be a good idea. He made "Halloween 2", which was probably the last solid part of the franchise. But Rosenthal is clearly not the horror directing master we might have thought, as he approaches this film with a weak vision and sense of style, more emulating MTV than his own work. A quick glance at his credits will explain this: he has spent the last twenty years making teenager-based television rather than horror films.

Next, add Busta Rhymes. Like its previous installment with LL Cool J, this is the point in the series where a rapper is added to the mix. Much like how many horror franchises ultimately ended up in space, many started adding rappers to the cast. Why? I do not know. But it does nothing to help the credibility of the picture. Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks do not have the appeal for horror fans that other actors would have.

The POV camera thing is a mess. It looks bad and is more or less a bad idea. Yes, it has worked in such films as "The Blair Witch Project" and more recent excursions. It does not work here. Had they cut that aspect out entirely, this film would have been a bit better instantly.

No horror franchise took as big of a nosedive as "Halloween", with this being the final crash landing. Reviews of this film were so poor, and viewer appreciation so weak, it's very unlikely they will ever make another one in the series. Yes, they made the two Rob Zombie films after this, but I just like to pretend that never happened.

What can I say? If I've seen a film worse than this, it certainly doesn't spring to mind right now. I managed to get to the first screening in the local area and, even though the audience was fairly small, I still counted eleven people who walked out at various points in the movie and never came back. Now either Michael Myers slashed them up on their way to the lavatories or, like me, they were bored stiff by this absolute CLUNKER of a flick.

The plot, or what little semblance there is of one, is simple yet completely ludicrous. An organisation called Dangertainment, headed by the entrepreneurial Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes), gets together a group of six students (!) to spend the night in serial killer Michael Myers' childhood home, in the hope that they will "find clues" as to what drove Myers to kill and kill again. Quite why, 25 years on from the murders, they think they will achieve anything by sending a group of teenagers into a house that, in the real world, would probably have long been demolished, is beyond me. Surely it is the job of police psychologists to dissect the minds of serial killers anyway? The film conveniently forgets the previous five sequels (with the exception of "H20"; this gets an irrelevant reference in the gratuitous opening scenes which serve merely as an excuse to waste Jamie Lee Curtis' talents in some customary 'running around' antics) and throws us almost immediately into the environment of the house, where each of the six kids are given a little handy-cam to strap to their heads and told to go searching for clues... You with me so far? Well, that's pretty much all there is to it. Needless to say, Myers himself shows up at the house about 10 minutes into the movie (how? why?) and decides he wants to kill everybody one by one, in the style we've now become accustomed to.

This paper-thin tale is told so badly, it's almost hard to believe what you're seeing on screen and that anyone was dumb enough to spend time and money filming it. I suppose you could almost see it like a series of noisy soundbites strung together randomly. It keeps things simplistic to the point of being nonsensical, presumably to avoid confusing its target audience of dribbling inbreds. I think I could've written a better, more entertaining and reasonable script myself on the back of a beermat. Nothing is ever explained or justified, no matter how implausible and ridiculous things get, and yet, bogglingly, the film still seems to take itself fairly seriously. It tries desperately to shock with a series of boring but bloody knife murders (nothing we haven't seen ad nauseam in any of the previous films) and innumerable 'false' scares with flashlights and toys falling out of cupboards. It's all so by-the-books and done-to-death that you'd have to have never seen a single horror film in your life to find it even remotely tense or scary.

I think what bugs me the most about the film is just how terribly made it is. Even forgetting the GAPING plot holes, there are loads of obvious continuity errors and a sad, desperate style of direction that seems to drag every scene to the point of agony in a desperate attempt to pad out the already-short running time of the film. The cast do nothing to help things - all the characters are cardboard stereotypes and the ugly, plastic teens seem to be having a battle to see who can be the most skin-crawlingly irritating. I think it ends up as a tie between Katee Sachoff's hyperactive, squeaky airhead and Bianca Kajlich's jitterbug 'heroine', who spends the entire movie simpering and screaming loudly every time someone drops a pin. Oh, for the record, Busta Rhymes is absolutely ATROCIOUS in this. His entire purpose in this movie seems to be to deliver the worst examples of wisecrack-by-numbers dialogue I've ever heard (ie: "Trick or treat, motherf**ker?") and he plays his role as a cross between Eddie Murphy and Vin Diesel, but without the charm or charisma of either.

I'd like to say John Carpenter would be ASHAMED to see such a horrible mess made out of his characters, but when you consider the maestro himself is making films almost as bad as this these days, he probably couldn't give a toss so long as the money keeps rolling in. I think this fact in itself proves just how much horror movies have changed since the first "Halloween" was made and, to its credit, "Halloween Resurrection" would be a perfect example of an "of its time" product you could stick in an 'early 21st century' time capsule for future generations to balk at. It is every bit as throwaway and pointless as the culture that spawned it. It is loud, crass and in-your-face constantly, despite having absolutely nothing to say when it gets there - it's like the movie equivalent of an annoying little brat screaming at you, desperate for attention. "Look at me! Look at me! I'm being noisy and irritating!"... I would highly advise, for your sanity's sake, that you don't look since, like that annoying child, you'll only encourage it and I, for one, don't think I could cope with another sequel this bad... This film is utter garbage and I fail to think of a single way in which they could've made it any worse. A resounding 0 out of 10.

Nothing about this movie made any sense, from the lame attempt to connect to the series in the beginning, to the mock Blair witch shaky cam horror show, with people watching at texting?! The dialogue and storyline were poorly written, the acting was terrible, and the leading lady totally useless.

John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Which is why it is such a shame that not only are all of the sequels nowhere near as good but that the decline in quality is so drastic. Ok, the original 'Halloween' is very difficult to follow on from, but most of the sequels could at least looked like effort was made into them. 'Halloween H20' is the one exception and the fourth film is also watchable. 'Halloween: Resurrection' is the worst offender. One of the worst sequels ever, of the genre and any genre, and one of the most pointless.

'Halloween H20' was a perfect place to stop the series, to have it resurrected so badly and in a way that disgraces the 'Halloween' name to intelligence insulting degrees is enough to make the blood boil. The only halfway good thing is Jamie Lee Curtis and she and her iconic character are written out in such a slap in the face way in a scene that is anything but creepy or suspenseful. Sadly that is the one scene that actually feels like it belongs in a 'Halloween' film.

Curtis aside, the acting is absolutely dreadful. By far the worst acted of the sequels, yes worse than the 'Revenge...' and 'Curse...', with the embarrassment that is Busta Rhymes being the biggest offender. The entire cast of characters are far more annoying than Tina in 'Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers' which is quite a feat.

Laughably awful dialogue, in a script that shouldn't have been approved beyond first draft if even that, can also be found. The film is even more ineptly directed than Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers' and the non-horror scenes in 'Season of the Witch'. Visually, it is far too gimmicky that it severely gets in the way of the atmosphere.

The music, after improving drastically in 'H20', is even bigger a drawback than in the fifth and sixth films, no it is no longer one of the best assets like it was in the first four films. Here it sounds cheap, goofy and just doesn't fit in placement or in tone. There is nothing remotely creepy, tense, suspenseful or even entertaining here, the deaths cause unintentional laughs, nothing creative or shocking.

The atmosphere is just ruined by that, gimmicky filming, a paper thin, confusing and ridiculous story that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, terrible dialogue and acting, intelligence insulting stupidity (Rhymes versus Michael, the nadir of the entire series bar none) and erratic pacing (mostly dull).

In summary, should never have been made, an unforgivably poor quality and pointless excuse of a sequel and a film. 1/10 (a rare rating for me these days but this deserves it). Bethany Cox

Halloween 8 Resurrection should really entitled Halloween 8 destruction of a franchise or how to kill a franchise in 90 minutes. Halloween 8 is an awful movie that is devoided of any orginality or redeeming qualties (Trya Banks is smoking hot, but is little more than an extra with a line or two). Halloween 8 spits on everything that previous movies have worked hard to preserve since John Carpenters genre inventing original, the worst Halloween 8 actually think's it has the goods.

H8 had an impressive budget (due to the healthy box office of the last film) but squanders it on actors that add nothing to the movie but prolong their own dismial carrers. Busta Rhymes actually proves a good leading man until becoming undone by his own ego, most of the other actors have tongue firmly pressed in their check and most phone it in. Jamie Lee Curtis deserves special mention as she almost displays hate for her iconic cult character and cant wait to put to the whole franchise in the past.

As a fan of the franchise the biggest problem I had was an arrogance to acknowledge previous movies in the series and tries to forge it's own path that leaves Michael Myers holding his dick in his hand. Halloween 8 Resurrection come across as a scream hybrid that wont satisfy casual fans or die hards and as the final reel fades out everyone will be thinking "That would never happen".

It's a complete disgrace to the franchise. It didn't even attempt to be scary. It's like a 2 hour long running joke and they only one that is amused is Busta. Skip it altogether.

"They don't make 'em like that anymore," friends of the horror genre often remark on their web sites in reference to killer films from the late 1970s and 1980s era. They are right.

It's not just that sentiments of nostalgia have turned those films into little treasures in our memories. It's because current horror films stink. Not all of them, but plenty or more anyway.

Ever since Dwight H. Little last captured the right Halloween spirit and atmosphere in 1988's Halloween 4, the series deteriorated into a ridiculous, messy and pathetic show. I don't care how many fans of the series curse part 3, it was a pleasant watch compared to what came after part 4. Halloween 5 was a complete prank and lacked any sense of storytelling (compliments to Danielle Harris, who managed to perform extremely well under the circumstances). Part 6, well, let's not waste any words on that one. H20 had its moments and decent acting by Jamie Lee Curtis, but a Southern California private school seemed like a poor replacement for Haddonfield. The producers dedicated it to Donald Pleasance, ignoring the fact that his last name was Pleasence (with an E) and had been spelled correctly on all earlier installments that involved his acting. So much for Moustapha Akkad's commitment to the project!

Halloween Resurrection had a nice opening scene. A 1960s home movie at the Myers house, with the sounds of Johnny Angel performed by Shelley Fabares. It was cut. Of course, the Akkads in their infinite wisdom must have thought, why bother young people with an old song from someone they have never even heard of! Let's keep the film simple (and let's take a popular hip hop artist as the lead actor).

But, thank God, Rick Rosenthal filmed one other decent scene. It involves Jamie Lee Curtis's character hospitalized in a mental institution. This actually is quite a nice scene, with the actress performing wonderfully. It provides a satisfactory and surprisingly original bridge between the events at the end of H20 and the current state of affairs in "Resurrection", with Laurie Strode at the end of her wits and a killer still on the loose.

And after this? We might as well have left. After the promising Jamie Lee Curtis opening scene there seemed no budget, and more important: no inspiration left to come up with something, anything. It's a bore. It's a drag. The prospect of a replica of the original Myers house showing up is a joke. We're allowed one glimpse, and even on that one occasion it is very unsatisfactory: a big car is parked in front and taking the view, as the camera briefly glances up from a low, moving position. It beats me why they even bothered rebuilding it. The interior scenes can be ignored in this sense: it may have been any old house that Busta Rhymes's character Freddie Harris decided to do his online reality show in. And about these characters: have they ever been this flat in ANY Halloween sequel? NO! The characters in Halloween 5 or 6 were drawn brilliantly compared to what is presented to us here! Okay I realize this is actually pretty much of an achievement. Credit to Larry Brand and Sean Hood. It's amazing. The unimpressive cast (I'm not counting Curtis) is highlighted by 'stars' Busta Rhymes (pop artist who is kindly given the chance to act) and Tyra Banks (model who is kindly given the chance to act). Let's suffice by saying that in this case the actors have been given the roles they deserve.

Enough said. Or... We often are told one should not apply the same criteria to a horror film as the ones that apply to drama or classics. But why on earth not? I admire more than one horror movie, but that does not mean I feel I should appreciate the crappy ones by the grace of the good ones. I can see when a film is made with no heart, no spirit and Resurrection is the key example of that. Furthermore, if these films -as we are told so often by people like Moustapha Akkad- are made for entertainment (read: cashing in) purposes only and not for quality acting, complex storytelling or great photography then why, why, why do they so vigorously renounce that one basic goal, the goal of being entertaining???

Whoever wrote this must really hate John Carpenter and all the Halloween fans why would someone like Busta Rhymes be in this film and why why one earth have him kung-fu fight Michael Myers. I fell bad for Jamie Lee for being in this film and had to actually die. Have Busta Rhymes die not Laurie Strode. My God if the next movie hadn't been a remake we might have ended up seeing Mr. T and Hulk Hogan Boxing a Wrestling Michael Myers. I am disgusted with Rick Rosenthal and still hate him for letting a rapper Kung-fu fight Michael Myers. Dimension Films Should be Ashamed of themselves for making this movie. Halloween movies are supposed to be good!!!

There are just some times when a good movie franchise is abused and milked for all it's worth. The first of the series is great and sets the mark ,the 2 occasionally 3 sequels that follow are mediocre and anything after that is just trying to make money of an audience that has no other place to spend their money. I, unfortuantely was a member of that audience, as I paid money to watch HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, the 8th installment of the once classic HALLOWEEN franchise.

I don't even no where to start; bad cast, bad acting, boring death scenes (not to sound wierd, but why else do you go see a movie like this), need I go on.

If you noticed that this movie is mostly made up of celebrities, it is no mistake. This is all the movie has going for it, and yet it fails in that department. The biggest mistake a horror movie can make is when it spends most of its time setting up the big death scenes and then knocks off its characters one right after another. That is exactly what happens in RESSURECTION. Every character w/the exception of 2 die in a consecutive chain that takes up about 20 minutes of the movie and the other hour is spent trying to gather of what little plot exists.

The horror doesn't stop there. This HALLOWEEN installment doesn't have the style that made the first two so good. With the exception of a somewhat unexpected opening, the movie is poorly put together.

Clearly an attempt to make some fast cash off a dying series, HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION hopefully is the last time Micheal Myers takes the screen. Yet, I am sure there will find some way to bring back the masked killer. There always is a chance that the executives in charge of this franchise will make a good decision and hang up the white mask and throw away the knife. HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION rates as just a 2/10.

AAWWFFUULLLL doesn't even begin to describe it. I went in expecting something else. But in the Big Brother era, sooner or later there would come a movie about it.

Listing all thte things that bothered me would be too boring, but the main thing is the predicability. The movie's end is known beforehand halfway in the movie. You could guess thousands of things before they happened.

The casting is really, really, really bad. The only ones that emerge are Luke Kirby, Tyra Banks and the eternal Jamie Lee Curtis. The scary scenes aren't scary; the setting is ridiculous and the screenplay: tedious. The only scenes that had potential were Jamie Lee Curtis's cameo and the girls death chase in the basement, not for director's talent, but for John Carpenter's. For his truly fantastic and everlasting Halloween theme.

Keep out.

I want to start by saying Halloween H20 is my favorite movie in the franchise... That being said, it is only NATURAL for me to not like this one. It retcons the ending and all the characters are bland. If you are thinking "How bad can it be?", my answer is "I'd rather have Myers stab me than watch this movie again".

well i wasn't expecting anything special from this movie, but i was actually surprised, the story seemed somewhat thrown together but still half-ways interesting, the acting was good for saying that the only actors i recognized were Jamie Lee Curtis, Busta Rhymes, and Ryan Merriman.. the music was still good, and the whole idea though not a great one, was fun, i also thoroughly enjoyed the way they did the cameras, that was a genius idea.. i recommend this movie to anyone, and i don't understand why so many people don't like this movie, because its loads of fun to watch.. the movie may not have a great story or award winning actors, but its still surprising and fun, thus concludes my review of Halloween Resurrection

this was one of the best halloween movies i've seen in a long time. the ones before this one were all right but didn't really say much about why michael myers became the way he is. the fact that they were trapped in the house was cool. the killing scenes were good all except one but hey the movie itself and the rest of the killing scenes makes up for it. the ending was kinda trippy and for some reason i sense another halloween movie coming out, but we'll see what happens. by the way, ever notice how the hottest chic always lives at the end? take it easy y'all.

Where do I begin with 'Halloween: Resurrection'? Well, I honestly can say that it was a rather enjoyable experience.It's also the most underrated sequel in the series.It really does deserve more than a 3.9.Some people may not agree with me, but since I'm a fan of the franchise, this one was just as enjoyable as some of the others.At least people who hated this movie can agree with me that this sequel is much better than the completely unnecessary 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch'.The death scenes weren't quite as gruesome as Rob Zombie's 'Halloween 2', but they still delivered the goods.So ignore the negative reviews and try to enjoy this movie for what it is.Just don't take it too seriously.It's a slasher movie and nothing else.

Halloween Resurrection is one of those movies that is hard to recommend. It has a few hits, but far too many misses, foul balls, and walks. As a real sequel, it follows H20 several years later when Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now in a mental institution. She has gone permanently crazy. Michael Myers, as to no surprise, shows up to finally do her in. At this point, it seems Halloween Resurrection could have stopped. Not so fast. A crazy reality television producer wants a new reality show. He has several people spend the night in the home of Michael Myers in Haddonfield, Illinois. This is to the chagrin of the town, as well as the resident. After all, this is Michael's home. In any case, the bleached William Shatner mask makes its return to take-out the unwanted guests. There are a few tense moments that give us a little scare, and a little suspense. Still, this is not true to the Halloween myth. Even looking at Halloween 4, 5, and 6, as well as the official trilogy of 1, 2, and 7, Michael Myers has a vendetta against relatives. Once they are eliminated, the rage should be gone. As for this one, there is no "reaching" out to the person trapped inside the pathological, methodological madness. That is what really brings this movie down to the real "slasher" level. There is no depth of character the Shape offers in previous roles. Worse, there is no protagonist with the relationship. We had Laurie for one set, and Dr. Loomis and Jamie in the other. In other words, there is no real "hero." Finally, just as in H20 (and the remake), there is no guts in release date. This movie is called Halloween. So why is it released in the summer? Apparently, producers had no confidence in the king of Halloween. In any case, we have finally crossed into the Friday the 13th universe where mediocrity is abound. Of course, I think mediocre is generous.