As previously mentioned, "Halloween" was a box office success. Regardless of the critical impact of the film, financial success inevitably lead to sequels. The Micheal Myers story is kind of a gift that keeps on giving, so you can see why film makers have continued to run with it. The ambiguity of the first film and it's characters provides a wealth of material for sequels, and the fact that Micheal Myers is seemingly invincible only adds further to the sequel potential. "Halloween II" followed in 1981, with a production budget of $2,500,000 (towering over the budget of the first film with it's tiny $325,000 budget), "Halloween II" went on to make over 25 million at the box office worldwide, significantly lower than the 70 million gross of "Halloween" but still a significant success. "Halloween II" sought to bring closure to the Michael Myers/Laurie Strode saga. The ending of the film hints heavily at the demise of Michael & almost sort of ties up the ends of the narrative. Sort of.
Following the success of both "Halloween" and "Halloween II", Debra Hill & John Carpenter decided to take the franchise in an entirely new direction. What they intended to do with the third "Halloween" film was to create a new story, thus creating a pattern in which a new self contained story would begin after each sequel. The intention was to make "Halloween" into an anthology series, but that was not to be. "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" was released in 1982 to lukewarm critical reception and a significant drop in box office gross. Many critics expressed their distaste for the new direction for the series and criticizing the film as simply a method of cashing in off the back of the popular Michael Myers saga.
The critical beating of Season of the Witch kind of killed off the series for a while. It took six years (which is basically about a hundred years in the land of horror movie sequels) in order for the series to be resurrected. Adopted by a new studio and a new set of writers and producers, "Halloween" was once again reintroduced to cinema audiences in the guise of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" in 1988. If Debra Hill and John Carpenter had their way and the series was allowed to carry on as an anthology, Halloween 4 would have allegedly been some kind of ghost story, which sounds kinda weird but I am oddly fascinated by that idea. Too bad it'll never see the light of day hah. Anyway, back to Micheal Myers killing people! "Revenge" sought not only to revisit the character, but also to broaden the origin story of Myers, giving his story more depth.
So obviously, it transpires that Myers didn't die in "Halloween II" (SPOILERZ) and that Laurie Strode died in a car accident in between II and 4. Laurie is succeeded by her daughter, Jamie Lloyd who is as a result, the niece of Micheal. Micheal pursues her and anyone who has anything to do with her. Jamie Lloyd is a fairly key element in both "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" and "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" (1989) and she also plays a small part in the plot of the final part of the "new" trilogy "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" (1995). This trilogy follows on from "Halloween II" (obviously ignoring III as it has nothing to do with Michael Myers) but the story-line established in 4,5 & 6 would later be ignored in both Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002), both of which reintroduce the character of Laurie Strode, thus splitting the narrative into two separate realities, one in which Laurie was never killed & Jamie Lloyd was never born, thus negating the events that transpired in 4, 5 & 6. Crazy.
And for me, it's kind of sad that this is what happened. Contrary to the critical reception of the trilogy (often referred to as the "thorn trilogy" or the "curse of thorn trilogy") I think this set of films is pretty great. But in particular, a little gem called "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers". But first, some 4, 5 & 6 back story. The trilogy finds it's basis in a couple of key elements, most notably the "man in black" (Terence Wynn) who appears in the "Halloween" as an administrator at Smith Grove Sanitarium from which Michael Escapes. The trilogy is referred to as the "thorn trilogy" due to the prominence of something called "the curse of thorn". The Halloween wikia refers to the "curse of thorn" as being -
"The Curse of Thorn is a constellation that could appear during Halloween. To prevent mass death among the tribes, one family was chosen to bear the curse. This curse would require the bearer to sacrificially murder his or her entire family, which in turn would spare their community from events such as plague and drought. The curse also appears to give the cursed inhuman strength and immunity from death.
The curse was greatly explored in the Producer's Cut of Halloween 6, with more importance given to Dr. Wynn and his Cult. At the end of that cut, a dying Wynn passes the curse to Dr. Loomis, which is the real reason Loomis screams at the end of the film."
Basically, Dr Wynn is a member of the cult and Micheal Myers is the one that was cursed, thus the murder of his sister way back in "Halloween". It also explains the fact that Michael is so freakishly strong and bloody unstoppable, so that's nice. People afflicted with the curse are marked with this symbol -
Which can be seen on Loomis (Donald Pleasense) at the end of the film. Sadly, Halloween 6 was the last role by Donald before his death in February 1995, meaning that the film was released in the September posthumously. Also, due to the retcon of the series by H20: 20 Years Later, the curse of thorn saga was basically wiped from the slate. Sad.
With that little bit of back story out the way, let me continue to ramble on about why I love The Curse of Michael Myers (and why everybody should). It's hard for me to put my finger on what it is exactly, but there's an ambiance about this film that is just completely different to the others in the series. It really successfully captures an Octoberish/Halloween-esque atmosphere. Part of me wants to believe that it's my deep love for anything Paul Rudd related that makes me love this film (he does have magical powers that make me love anything he's in) but that's not it. Despite being only 6 years older than Halloween 5, it feels so much fresher.
The casting is stellar, with Rudd as Tommy Doyle (the boy Laurie was babysitting in the first film remember?! REMEMBER) and Marianne Hagan as Kara Strode (relatives of Laurie) who live across the street from him. Jamie Lloyd features, this time played by J. C Brandy who is seen as being pregnant at the beginning of the film, giving birth on the 30th of October, 1995.
The film is famous for the "Producers Cut", a cut of the film featuring 40 odd minutes of scenes removed from the theatrical cut, making the film and the trilogy as a whole more cohesive (dare I say it, the entire series up to this point). It significantly boosts the films run time from its original 88 minutes and creates what I would argue to be one of the most interesting entries to the series. This cut will be receiving it's first official release this September in the Halloween Complete Blu-Ray collection (finally!) and will hopefully be well remastered to blend the cut footage with the theatrical footage. Currently, the film exists as a number of bootleg releases that can be found round the internet and in hard copy on eBay.
To summarize, I believe "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" to be an underrated gem and in the modern day horror landscape of endless Paranormal Activity clones, it is nice to go back to this film as it feels like a breath of fresh air. The editing is pacy, like that of a music video (it was 1995, after all) and the tone is perhaps the darkest of the series. It's got evil druid cults, Michael Myers and Paul Rudd in it, what more do you want. Nothing. Nothing at all.
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