Halloween: Resurrection was critically lambasted and its failure hurt the franchise, but it was ahead of its time in one key way. The Halloween movie franchise has been running for nearly 40 years, having survived multiple reboots and waning horror trends.
Despite Halloween Ends, ummm, ending with Michael Myers getting ground into meat, there is zero chance the series is permanently done. The saga is somewhat infamous for hitting the reboot ʙuттon constantly and there are about five different Halloween timelines to keep track of, with some sequels ignoring others.
What’s interesting about the eighth movie, Halloween: Resurrection, is that it represents the end of the original continuity. This saw Michael returning to his old home, and disrupting the intruders there who are making a TV show about his exploits.
Halloween: Resurrection’s Main Concept Was Ahead Of Its Time
Halloween 8 at least had a solid hook
Halloween: Resurrection is considered the worst of the franchise, and with good reason. It’s impressively low on tension or scares, the acting is largely terrible and the script feels like a first draft that was never refined. The sequel sits at a paltry 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, and feelings towards it haven’t warmed since 2002.
Halloween: Resurrection featured an early role for Longmire and Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff.
Still, the one thing Halloween: Resurrection does right is its reality TV concept. After Resurrection controversially kills Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the opening, the real story kicks in and involves a reality TV show streaming from Michael’s house on Halloween. The show’s producers planned some fake scares, but they obviously didn’t count on Michael actually turning up.
As Michael picks his way through the movie’s irritating cast of characters, those livestreaming the show can’t tell what’s real or what’s staged. In some ways, Halloween: Resurrection’s take on reality television has aged poorly, but it still manages to make some valid critiques on the format and its inherent unreality.
It felt like a hip pitch back in 2002, but the concept may have worked better had the sequel been produced five years later, when reality TV had become more ingrained in pop culture. Still, it does give Halloween: Resurrection an interesting edge, even if its satire isn’t that subtle.
Halloween: Resurrection Was So Poorly Received That The Franchise Had To Be Rebooted
Resurrection ironically killed the original Halloween continuity
Curtis had agreed to return for 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later on the understanding that, in the finale, Laurie would kill Michael Myers for good. When the movie was gearing up for production, however, she learned the franchise’s producers refused to let that happen.
Michael’s survival is a terrible twist that sets the tone for Halloween: Resurrection, a movie that feels reluctant to even exist.
Instead, a compromise was reached where Laurie believed she had killed Michael in H20’s final scene, only for Resurrection to reveal Myers had switched places with a medic. It’s a terrible twist that sets the tone for Halloween: Resurrection, a movie that feels reluctant to even exist.
The sequel still grossed over $37 million theatrically, making it a modest hit. That said, Resurrection was so reviled by critics, viewers, and fans that it left producers little option but to reboot the entire saga.
That’s why the next movie, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, started from scratch. The ultimate insult to Resurrection came with Blumhouse’s Halloween legacy sequels. Not only did they wipe the film from the timeline, but they brought back Curtis’ Laurie to great acclaim, finishing her story on a far more satisfying note.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Numbers
