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Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers [1995]


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*Yawn*
Review date: 2008-09-14 Rating: 2 out of 10

But, hey, at least the film is true to its title this time, about the curse an' all... WHEN WILL IT END?

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Reviews


AN ENTERTAINING HALLOWEEN FILM
Review date: 2007-11-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

A young woman, Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy) gives birth to a baby and is stalked though a sanitarium by Michael Myers. Jamie escapes the sanitarium into a driving rainstorm, stealing a truck. Michael follows her as Jamie's sister, Kara (Marianne Hagan) tries to calm her son Danny (Devin Gardner) about the rain. One of the original children Laurie Strode babysitted in the first 'Halloween,' Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) warns that Michael is still alive as Michael tracks Jamie down to a bus station outside Haddonfield. She escapes, but Michael kills her later on. Tommy finds the baby Jamie hid from Michael in the bus station, as Kara and her friend Beth (Mariah O'Brien) plan to throw a Halloween party in Haddonfield. While Tommy seeks advice from Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) about Michael and the baby, Michael stalks Kara's family. With the help of Tommy, Kara pieces together what is actually going on. She learns that a Celtic ritual is encouraging Michael to kill. While the town is at a Halloween party in Haddonfield, Beth runs off with her boyfriend and gets killed. Kara watches, then goes over to get Danny back as he ventures over. Kara knocks Michael out and escapes with Danny and Loomis. They are all taken hostage by Loomis' friend, Dr. Wynn (Mitch Ryan) who wants the baby to be the ultimate sacrifice made to Michael to finally get him under control. Kara is then taken to an old medical facility where Loomis and Tommy break in and fight off Michael's repeated attempts to kill them.

The Good News: This is a really suspenseful movie. The beginning of this is really creepy. There is a giant sense of unnervingness about what's going to happen next. The scenes are very well put together that do lead logically from one event to the next that keep you riveted to the seat, or by now a chair, wondering when someone or something's going to pop out next. I can't rate the first twenty minutes of this film with enough praise, as it is surely entertaining, unique, and very watchable. The rest of the film does have more of an honest attempt to be more suspenseful that previous entries. When Kara returns home after Michael has killed a family member or the first defense against Michael are really quite inventive and frightening. There are tons of scenes where the character slows down their actions to go slowly, giving the impression that it will spook the audience. Michael does have a ton of truly great kills, almost as great of kills than the first one. I can't reveal what he does to people in this one, but they are really inventive. Almost every single death is different, and they are some deaths where Myers never even uses his knife. The plot is really fast paced, where something happens every few minutes. I also have to say that I love Michael's new mask in this one. It is still distinctly Michael, but it has this Leatherface-ish quality to it. The mask looks very much like a mask of human skin simply covered white that looks very creepy that adds to his new persona. He has a return to his roots with his behavior. He has a complete stalk and slash attitude, coming relentlessly at his victim with no remorse offered to his victims, which are easily the goriest kills in the whole series.

The Bad News: I don't know why I'm picking on this, but I hate the total unrealisticness of how Myers moved in this movie. In one second, he moves very slowly, taking his time to stalk someone and then he stops to admire his work before continuing on to the next victim. I prefer that image of Michael, being the slow stalker and unmerciful killer that he has always been. However, he sometimes moved a little differently. There are a couple of scenes where he moves very fast, as if they moved the camera speeds to catch him at a different rate of movement. It sounds and looks weird, but those who have seen it know. Despite the fast plot, it is very confusing. It took a few turns to fully understand the whole effect of what goes on in the movie.

The Final Verdict: If you can get around the confusing reason why this film was made, you will find a great film here. It is high-action, high gore and high body count throwback horror film from the 80's with a 90's approach to it. It is an underrated masterpiece in the Halloween saga.


Mixed Bag
Review date: 2007-09-10 Rating: 6 out of 10

It's been mentioned in the other reviews so i shall get it out of the way early, the bootleg producer's cut of this movie is superior by a large margin, the druid subplot is much better handled, the ending is a vast improvement and the characters feel more rounded. But until Dimension feel the need to milk some more cash from the franchise and release it officially this version is what we have.
Attempting to be both a continuation of the plot from Halloween 4 & 5 as well as a new story Curse maybe tries to take on more than it can chew, the Jamie Lloyd character from the previous films is dismissed much to early and Dr Loomis seems to be pushed to the sidelines (both these problems are solved in the alternate cut), of the newly introduced characters only Paul Rudd's Tommy Doyle has any real substance, Rudd brings a nice quiet mania to the role. Another big sticking point is the new motive for Michael's killing, giving the silent slasher from Haddonfield this rather convoluted back story takes away a lot of the terror the original film imbued Michael and for a horror film this is a big problem.
I understand that problems with director Chappelle and failing health meant that Donald Pleasence seems relegated to bit player in this one, but i still felt the character deserved a better send off, despite this Pleasence still commands any scene he appears in and will always be as much a part of the series as Michael.
Of course it's not all bad, the cinematography is top notch, Alan Howarth's redone score is effective, returning Myer's performer George Wilbur is a good Shape and the mask looks better than it did in the previous films also some well lit tightly edited kill sequences are most effective, in fact for a casual fan, this is an entertaining shocker but it could have been so much more and maybe then we wouldn't have had the horror-lite H20 as Halloween 6 effectively buried the series and demanded it be overhauled.

One of my favourites
Review date: 2007-06-24 Rating: 8 out of 10

Third best in the series. Shame they cut out the gore from the last death scene. The one where that stupid doctor is chased down the tunnel. I remember them showing it in detail on channel 5. But all in all a good film.

Easily the Wirst of the Series
Review date: 2006-09-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

It's sad to see soething that was once great turn into something so mediocre. And that's exactly what happened with the Halloween franchise. The original was a classic and responsible for the slasher boom of the early 1980's and while none of the sequels have ever come close, at least parts two and four and honourable attempts to follow in the same vein. Even part five, which was a major disappointment for fans, was more watchable that this convulted and confused "TV movie"-style bore.

Low on tension and even lower on logic, it is impossible to find one redeeming feature about this movie. Unfortunately, this proved to be Donald Pleasance's last movie before his death in 1995 and it's a shame, such a great actor deserved better. Luckily, the franchise was saved slightly in 1998 by Halloween H20 which ignored the later sequels and continued twenty years after the second movie. The series seemed respectable again until Halloween Resurrection was pointlessly released years later. Let's hope the ninth installment, directed by The Devil's Rejects helmer Rob Zombie, will be an improvement.

Avoid this at all costs!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Kim Darby
Donald Pleasence
Marianne Hagan
Mitch Ryan
Paul Rudd

Creators:
Donald Pleasence (Primary Contributor)
Paul Rudd (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
EAN: 5017188889124
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2007-05-01
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 85 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1995-09-29
Language: English (Original Language)

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