Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

The Halloween franchise was never afraid to jump into the popular trends of the time. The franchise was born out of reaction. Black Christmas came out in 1974. It was the first true slasher, having a crazy man sneak into a sorority house during the Christmas festivities and begin killing the women within. It clearly inspired Halloween. The Christmas setting was replaced with a spooky season setting. The sorority sisters were replaced with high school babysitters. The basic elements were still present, though. There was a maniac who entered the women’s lives and began murdering them. The police tried to capture the maniac. Neither of the killers’ motivations were given; they simply killed to kill.

That wasn’t the only bit of inspiration that was pulled into the first Halloween. The casting of Jamie Lee Curtis was due to her mother being Janet Leigh. The reason that was important was that Janet Leigh was one of the stars of Psycho, a movie that paved the way for slashers like Black Christmas and Halloween to exist. The casting of Janet Leigh’s daughter was a nod to the importance of Janet Leigh in the horror landscape that led to that moment in time in the 1970s.

Other Halloween movies pulled in their influences from other horror flicks as well. Halloween II got more violent following the release of Friday the 13^th, a film that felt more down and dirty than the first Halloween had. It had been successful, so the Halloween franchise upped their violence in the second film. Halloween 5 and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers incorporated deeper mythology. Michael got a background that filled in the blank space of his motivations, much in the same way that every A Nightmare on Elm Street movie added to the Freddy backstory. The influences brought to Halloween H20 included the teen movie feel and the writing of Kevin Williamson. The franchise’s entire history was based on taking elements from other movies and recycling them through the lens of Halloween.

Halloween: Resurrection was no different. It wore its influences like a badge of honor, though how well that worked was up for debate. Most people thought the movie was downright terrible. But that didn’t make it any less interesting to look at as a piece of that time in horror filmmaking. It took many different elements and threw them together in a way that made it stand out. It might not have been good, but it was definitely the Halloween movie most tethered to what other movies were doing at the time. It all began in the story.

Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) was the creative behind a program called Dangertainment. It was an online webcast where a bunch of college kids would spend the night in the Myers house. He selected Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich), Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas), Jen Danzig (Katee Sackhoff), Donna Chang (Daisy McCrackin), and Jim Morgan (Luke Kirby) to star in his reality show. One unexpected star, Michael Myers (Brad Loree), showed up and started murdering anyone in and around the house. The reality just became deadly.

The most important takeaway from that synopsis was the Dangertainment portion. It was a webcast. That was bringing the internet into the story in a big way, which was semi-innovative. There weren’t too many horror movies before Halloween: Resurrection that utilized the internet in such an important way. Feardotcom came out the same year but couldn’t have been an influence due to how integral the internet was to the story. It wasn’t a case of the internet stuff being tossed into the peripherals because another movie was doing it. The story was dependent on the internet aspect.

The real influence came through what the internet was being used for. The webcast was a reality show where a bunch of college students spent a night at the Myers house. Reality television was hitting big in 2002, when Halloween: Resurrection was released. The Real World started in 1992 and was going stronger in 2002. Survivor began in 2000, with high ratings. The clearest influence, however, was an MTV reality show called Fear, which ran from 2000 to 2002. It was a show where a group of people were left at a haunted place for two nights and had to compete in a series of dares. That was strikingly similar to Dangertainment, only with dares added in.

Reality television shared some aesthetic qualities with found footage, which was also big at the time. The handheld camera, in the action with the people element was a part of both methods of storytelling. This meant that playing into the reality television aspect of Dangertainment put Halloween: Resurrection partly into that found footage niche that The Blair Witch Project popularized in 1999. With the three-year difference and a slew of other found footage flicks in between, that was surely a consideration for the filmmakers. They simply got their found footage (college kids wearing headset cameras) through the reality television concept (Dangertaiment).

The story wasn’t the only clear influence that Halloween: Resurrection had. The casting was another of the important elements showing how influenced the movie was by other movies of the time. 2002 was nearing the tail end of the post-Scream teen horror renaissance, but it was still smack dab in the middle of it. The casting showed as much. A few of the stars were known for their other teen movie appearances of the time. Thomas Ian Nicholas was coming from the American Pie franchise. Sean Patrick Thomas had been in Cruel Intentions and Can’t Hardly Wait. Bianca Kajlich was in 10 Things I Hate About You and Bring It On. Then there was Katee Sackhoff who hadn’t been too big in that teen world previously but was clearly channelling Brittany Murphy in her Halloween: Resurrection role. It was like they couldn’t get the teen movie actor they wanted, so they tossed someone else into the role and made them play it like that other star. The casting was all about the major teen film actors.

The other major aspect in the casting was the casting of Black actors. That was a big thing in horror sequels of the time. Scream was filled with white actors, while Scream 2 had four Black actors in major roles (two opening scene deaths, new camera guy, and Sidney’s best friend). I Know What You Did Last Summer followed four white characters. The sequel brought in Brandy and Mekhi Phifer. The Halloween franchise was primarily white actors in sizeable roles until LL Cool J came in for Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later. Halloween: Resurrection tripled down on Black actors with Sean Patrick Thomas, Busta Rhymes, and Tyra Banks all having major roles. The franchise was simply following the casting trends of other franchises from that time.

Then, of course, there was the opening sequence of Halloween: Resurrection. It wasn’t the first time that there was a major pre-credits sequence at the beginning of a Halloween movie. The first film had the young Michael Myers scene, and Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later had the opening scene with the Marion Chambers, Dr. Loomis’s coworker from the first two films. Halloween: Resurrection was the one that really upped the stakes. It took inspiration from Scream and killed off an established big star in the opening scene. Sure, that star was Jamie Lee Curtis, who was made famous through the Halloween movies, but it was still an unexpected opening death for a franchise whose return hinged upon Jamie Lee Curtis being in the movies. It was true that the early death of an established star was originally inspired by Psycho. It was the use of the trope in Scream, however, that made it a major staple of the horror movies of the 90s/00s era. Halloween: Resurrection played off those movies, even if it was really doing it because Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t want to make any more Halloween movies.

Halloween: Resurrection was an amalgamation of many different inspirations wrapped up with a messy little bow. People weren’t huge on the movie. It wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be, fitting nicely into that teen horror trend of the time. That was because it used many of the teen movie actors and many of the teen movie tropes. It was a movie made in the time to be of the time, not to pioneer anything. It was a follower, not a leader, even though the franchise was known as one of the major slasher franchises. Maybe it was disappointment that made people dislike it.

The Halloween franchise was always about taking inspiration from other franchises and filtering them through the lens of Michael Myers killing people. Season of the Witch aside, that was. Although that one had some serious Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibes at moments. The movies frequently played on elements that other, recent movies had found success with. From the first film being a holiday slasher playing on Black Christmas to the eighth film playing with reality television and teen star casting, the Halloween franchise never really veered from its copycat ways. That doesn’t mean I don’t love it.

I don’t always love the notes, but they’re always here:

• The other Halloween movie that was covered for the Sunday “Bad” Movies was Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (week 48).
• Artine Tony Browne returned to the Sunday “Bad” Movies for the fourth time with Halloween: Resurrection, after already appearing in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (week 50), Snow Dogs (week 322), and Dudley Do-Right (week 336).
• Halloween: Resurrection saw David Lewis play a role. He was previously a part of Ghost Storm (week 97) and The Marine 4: Moving Target (week 154).
• This was also the third appearance for Jamie Lee Curtis, who was in Beverly Hills Chihuahua (week 70) and Perfect (week 195).
• Natassia Malthe was in Halloween: Resurrection, as well as DOA: Dead or Alive (week 191) and In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (week 220).
• Halloween: Resurrection featured Dan Joffre, an actor known for his appearances in movies such as Air Buddies (week 270) and Holiday Spin (week 317).
• Donald Pleasence was in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (week 48) and had archive footage in Halloween: Resurrection.
• Gus Lynch popped up in Halloween: Resurrection after being in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (week 50).
• Haig Sutherland made his Sunday “Bad” Movies return in Halloween: Resurrection. He was in Dudley Do-Right (week 336) before this.
• Finally, Lorena Gale was in both Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (week 390) and Halloween: Resurrection.
• Have you seen Halloween: Resurrection? Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy any part of it? What do you think about its influences? Tell me all about this stuff and more in the comments section or on Twitter.
• Let me know what movies I should be watching by getting a hold of me on Twitter or in the comments. I’m always looking for suggestions to put into the schedule.
• Sunday “Bad” Movies is on Instagram. Give it a look. You might enjoy it.
• The last thing that must happen in any post is a look forward to what is coming up next week. October will be over, which means a couple weeks, at least, away from horror. What better way to get out of horror than with Kangaroo Jack? That’s right! The outback classic will be coming up in one week’s time. I’ll see you then.