With the exception of the inconceivably awful Halloween: Resurrection, no film in the Halloween franchise is as reviled as Curse amongst fans. It had been a long time since I'd watched it so I popped it in this evening (along with Resurrection) to give it a fresh look. While it definitely deserves its reputation for sucking, I found there to be quite a bit of stuff I liked about the film. The problem was the story the filmmakers decided to frame the film with.
A lot of things go into why this film is despised by Halloween fans. The main reason is the "explanation" of Mike's origin. If you haven't been keeping tabs, it turns out he's the chosen child possessed by some ancient Celtic god named Thorn. A group of modern day Druids uses Myers as a tool in which to experiment with pure evil and kill off his family in order for theirs to be safe...or something like that. It gets pretty convoluted and once Tommy Doyle shows up to explain that Shatner goes on a murder spree every time a constellation appears in the sky, the film becomes the equivalent of the Pope blaspheming God. There's no way to defend any of this "origin". It's just shit, plain and simple. The story is a continuation of stuff that was hinted at in Revenge, such as the weird rune symbol on Mike's wrist. Whatever. After watching Curse, you'll understand why H20 pretended that 4,5, and 6 never existed (although to be fair, 4 is a pretty good flick).
What I did appreciate in Curse was the attempt to bring some familiarity back to the franchise. I loved that they brought back Tommy Doyle, one of the surviving kids from the first flick. I didn't particularly care for how the actor played the part, but it seemed like an understandable continuation. It was great to see a character from the original other than Loomis try to get involved. I absolutely hated the idea that the "Man in Black" (don't get me started...) somehow kidnapping and impregnating Jamie, but I did like the concept of the baby needing protection from Michael. Not only does the baby continue the family bloodline (thus giving Myers continued reason to kill), but it makes for a great character completely helpless on one side and a burden to the others in the film that have to protect it. All the filmmakers needed to do was trash the entire Druid/demon/constellation storyline and this could have been a really decent flick.
A couple other things. I thought there were some great shots of Myers hiding/coming out of the shadows. The film has a definite cinematic polish to it and some of the death scenes and cinematography with Mike are top-notch. Donald Pleasence is just sad here. It's not that he acts bad (he's only in a handful of short scenes), but with each subsequent film in the series, his health gets noticeably worse and worse. It's almost like you're watching someone die on film, literally, before your eyes. This was his last film, and although he classes it up, you just can't help but feel awkward. It just feels like Moustapha Akkad grabbed him off his deathbed by gunpoint and said "be in this movie".
The one last thing that ruins this movie is the incredibly lame "death" of Myers. Tommy Doyle just beats him over the head repeatedly with a pipe and...that's it. Loomis shows up cryptically to say something about unfinished business and the the movie abruptly ends with Myers' mask lying on the ground. Huh?! When you couple the lame ending with all of the Druid nonsense, the movie becomes unsalvageable. Too bad, because there is a really good skeleton frame of a film here with some interesting characters and a kernel of a great continuation to the series, but there's just too much crap that doesn't make any sense (somebody explain to me how Mike got in the van to kill the deejay).
There is a "Producer's Cut" to this film that I've never been able to get a hold of. It apparently fleshes out the story a lot better than the theatrical release. I've heard it's a lot better but still retains all of the dumb Druid stuff. I'd like to see it sometime.
D+
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