“… the idea is solid and you can see glimpses of that through the shit.”

Last night I sat down and prepared myself for what I was assured was the worst movie in the Halloween franchise: Halloween: Resurrection. Thankfully I didn’t find it all that bad. I mean it was terrible, but what Halloween sequel isn’t? Halloween: Resurrection takes place three years after H20 and it follows a group of university students who volunteer to be a part of an online reality program where they spend the night in the childhood home of Michael Myers. Surprise surprise, Michael Myers doesn’t like that.

So right off the bat I want to talk about how much I love the concept of this movie. I think it is brilliant when a story, especially one revolving around a horror icon, chooses to play into the public perception. By that I mean everyone by this point is familiar with Michael Myers, and more than a few unsavoury films have made him a joke. So having other characters in the movie see him as a joke, and then he proves that he is nothing to be messed with, it’s a brilliant idea.

My problem however is with the execution. First of all, the characters in the movie were fucking insufferable. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sit and watch six assholes in a house for 90 minutes. Each of these characters had their own ‘thing’, to a hilarious extent. Then things get gentrified a little bit when all of their ‘things’ simultaneously turn into sex. The only redeeming character in this film is Freddie, the program’s producer who is lovingly played Busta Rhymes. Not only does Mr. Rhymes give us what is quite possibly the best interpretation of Michael Myers we’ve had onscreen, but he also showcases his fucking sick karate moves.

But the characters in Halloween: Resurrection being assholes isn’t really a problem, is it? With this idea it makes more sense to have the audience root against the protagonists, in order to win back their love for Michael Myers. How do you do that? Make that characters insufferable (check), and make the kills really cool and satisfying. Unfortunately this is where the movie fell short in my opinion. Halloween: Resurrection is supposed to be a reality television show, and each of the characters have what are essentially body cams. This ruins any and all tension when the movie decides to cut to this horribly grainy, 240p footage that is so punched-in and shaky it almost made me vomit. Couple that with the fact that every single kill in this movie is butchered with cuts. I don’t think we see a character die in one continuous shot in the entire film, which is disappointing becasue there are some pretty cool concepts there.

Unfortunately the story doesn’t get away scot-free either because, despite having a cool idea, it was pretty flawed at times. Not only was the beginning of the movie completely pointless to the rest of the story, but there was a plot point that was never fucking resolved. We never see the main character meet Deckard. As a matter of fact, we never find out who Deckard is. We know he’s younger than her, but that’s about it. I just find it weird that the movie would do such a poor job setting up what is a pretty pointless story beat, and then fail to wrap it up as well. Why even include it at all?

Overall Halloween: Resurrection was not a good movie, but I didn’t hate it. Sure there are quite a few problems with the execution, but the idea is solid and you can see glimpses of that through the shit. And honestly it was a pretty enjoyable watch, if only for Busta Rhymes.

I give Halloween: Resurrection a C