Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
d. Rick Rosenthal, 94 minutes

Film Plot Summary

The film opened with the voice-over of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) speaking about a 'death tunnel'. As the camera tracked along a sanitarium hallway, she talked about a door at the end of the corridor, to either "heaven or hell." The camera continued into the round window in the doorway, where a Raggedy Ann doll sat on her room's pillow and she sat nearby, staring off and looking heavily sedated. In 2001, she was a patient, in lockdown, at the Grace Andersen Sanitarium, a psychiatric care facility in California, where she had a reputation as the sister of notorious serial killer Michael Myers.

A nurse on duty described, as the film flashbacked to the concluding events of the previous film - three years earlier on Halloween in 1998, when Laurie had shockingly decapitated a man. It was "twenty years after the first murders" when Michael finally found his sister at the school where she worked, and attempted to murder her. During the confusion, an innocent Summer Glen paramedic had discovered the 'dead' body of Myers in the school's dining hall. The man was attacked, and his larynx was grabbed and crushed (rendering him conveniently mute with inoperable vocal chords) - and Michael switched clothing with him. When the 'Michael Myers' mask was removed from the decapitated head, it was discovered that Laurie had beheaded the "wrong person" - instead of Myers, she had beheaded the paramedic, a father of three. (This death was counted in the previous film.)

[Myers was unseen in the three years between the previous film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) set on Halloween night in 1998, and the present year of 2001.]

Appearing in a vegetative state, Laurie was suffering from "extreme dissociative disorder" and had been mute for years. Doctors considered the guilt-ridden patient a suicide threat (she was often discovered on the hospital's roof poised to kill herself). After two nurses gave the haunted-looking Laurie her medications and left her locked room, Laurie (faking illness) removed the pills from her mouth and stuffed them (along with many others) into the insides of her rag-doll. As she looked out her window, she saw Michael Myers (Brad Loree), with whitish mask and workman's jumpsuit, standing and looking back at her from a grassy area.

A sanitarium security officer named Willie (Dan Joffre), checking on an open outdoor chain-fence gate, was spooked by a clown-masked patient named Harold (Gus Lynch), known for posing as notorious serial killers (this time, he was John Wayne Gacy). Willie brought Harold to his room, but then another guard named Franklin (Brent Chapman) noticed a similar figure on a surveillance monitor roaming in the basement's corridor. The two guards went to check out the situation, and as Willie paused at a snack machine, Michael Myers decapitated Franklin (# 1 death) (off-screen) in the laundry room. Willie heard a scream, and then a thumping noise when he investigated - and then discovered Franklin's bloody head wrapped in sheets and revolving in an institutional laundry machine. Behind Willie, Michael lowered himself from the ceiling, and as Willie stepped backwards, he tripped over Franklin's beheaded body (in a pool of blood) on the floor, and then had his throat slit with a butcher knife (# 2 death).

Michael passed by patient Harold's room (where he was studying up on Ted Bundy in a Detective magazine), and approached Laurie's room with his bloody knife. He burst through her door and saw the shape of someone in bed, but she had planned her revenge. Laurie struck him from behind with a floor lamp, raced down the hallway, and ascended stairs to the rooftop. There, after he methodically followed her, her robe was left at the edge of the building - had she committed suicide? From behind, she confronted him: "Hello, Michael," grabbed his left leg in a rope-snare trap, and flipped him upside down on a crane device. As he dangled there in mid-air over the side, he dropped his knife, as she told him:

"I knew you'd come for me sooner or later. What took ya so long? (She grabbed his knife) You failed, Michael. You want to know why? Because I'm not afraid of you. But what about you? Are you afraid of me? Are you afraid to die, Michael?"

After partially cutting the rope to drop him to his death, she decided to make sure it was actually him ("I just have to be sure") - and as she reached over to rip off his mask, he grabbed her arm. When the frayed rope broke and dropped him, he pulled her over the side of the building with him, while stabbing her in the back. He hung by one arm from the edge as she grasped onto his clothing. Intimately close to him, she kissed his mask mouth-lips and growled her final words: "I'll see you in Hell" after which she fell backwards to her death (in slow-motion) (# 3 death) through the trees and onto the ground far below. During his exit from the institution, Michael gave Harold his butcher knife - as a memento of his status as a famous serial killer.

In voice-over, Harold recounted Michael's history - [a flawed account]:

• "Michael Myers. Born October 19, 1957. Killed his older sister October 31st, 1963. Killed three high school students, October 31st, 1978." [Halloween (1978)]
• "Also killed three nurses and a paramedic, same night." [Halloween II (1981) - actually, Michael killed 9 people that same night: a neighbor, a security guard, a paramedic, a doctor, four nurses, and a Marshal]
• "Was believed to be dead, then killed four students, Hillcrest Academy, 1998." [Halloween H2O: Twenty Years Later (1998) - actually, Michael killed only two students at the Academy, plus a guidance counselor]
• "Has been missing, unheard of, last three years. (Laughs) Now he's back."

The next scene was set at Haddonfield (Illinois) University, where Dr. Mixter (director Rick Rosenthal) was lecturing in a classroom about famous psychologist Carl Jung, who said that in everyone, there "lurks a dark malevolent figure - a kind of boogeyman if you will." One attentive, smart female student, Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) was shown twirling her hair, and answered his question about "the shadow." Narcissistic bleach-blond Jen (Katee Sackhoff) told her friend Sara and university cafeteria worker Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas), that all three of them had been selected as "chosen few" cast members of the Dangertainment team, to "explore the deep dark recesses of the human psyche." Sarah was reluctant, although aspiring network TV broadcaster Jen was excited about the publicity and the paid scholarship. Weird fellow classmate Aron (Haig Sutherland) warned them not to participate:

"That's the house where it all started. He walked its hallways, hid in its closets, dreamed in its bedrooms, helped his mother in the kitchen, watched TV in the living room with his Dad, played in his sister's bedroom. Then one day, he picked up a knife and he never put it down again."

On Halloween eve October 30th, the six selected students attended a meeting at the 2400 Court Motel, where they met fast-talking, trashy reality-show media promoter (and kung-fu aficionado) Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and his girlfriend/business partner Nora Winston (Tyra Banks), representing the Dangertainment.com website.

The twenty-somethings were to "explore America's worst nightmare" on Halloween night, and "to enter the birthplace of evil in its purest form - the childhood home of our most brutal mass murderer, Michael Myers." During a live Internet broadcast, students were to spend a MTV-like Real World night in Myers' childhood home.

Three other participants (in addition to Sara, Jen, and Rudy) were introduced on-camera:

• Bill (Thomas Ian Nicholas) - who was intrigued by the Myers' legend
• red-headed, intense "critical studies" major Donna (Daisy McCrackin) - who wanted to see how Myers embodied the "politics of violence"
• horny goth music major Jim Morgan (Luke Kirby) - who asserted that Myers was "the great white shark of our unconscious" and the "dark-eyed child of our spirits." He added that everyone shared Myers' murderous impulses: "Get to know him, baby. he's you."

Aspiring chef Rudy Grimes speculated that Myers was a serial killer because of poor nutrition:

"Never underestimate the effect of a poor diet. Too much protein, not enough zinc. Next thing you know, you're cutting up bodies in the bathtub. I mean, look at Hitler. He was a vegetarian. The brother was seriously malnourished."

Sara was asked why ordinary people would turn to murder and evil deeds, and replied that upbringing was a key factor. She was so scared and "freaked out" by the show that she wished to drop out because she felt unlike the other wannabees, but Harris encouraged her to remain: "You are the real deal." He stressed how her feelings were legitimate:

"Being scared is good. Fear is good. Fear motivates. Fear gives you the feeling of being alive."

On Halloween Day, in preparation for the live Internet show, the students were given a clip-on mini-camera to wear above one ear, through which Web viewers would be given inter-active clickable images (via split-screen), with choice about which student (or camera) to follow. Freddie suggested that they act "very interesting" so that it would be "worth the while of the viewers." Donna commented: "Cameras are so phallic." Jim replied: "Is that good or bad?" and she responded: "It depends who's watching."

During the day at the boarded-up Myers house in a state of disrepair, Spielberg-aspiring, Long Beach State graduate and cameraman Charley Albans (Brad Sihvon) was positioning DV cameras everywhere. Suddenly, the serial killer grabbed the tripod leg of his camera and spiked Charley through the neck (# 4 death) [a death reminiscent of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960)].

The students were to search for clues in the house, "discovering the secrets of Michael Myers" - to find "answers" about why Michael "went" bad, and to mainly look around. Just before the event officially began, Freddie promoted the realism of the show, captured by a state-of-the-art surveillance system: "Absolutely everything you see is real. There's no actors. None of the components or contents in the house have been messed with, mixed up, diluted, or tampered with in any shape, form or fashion whatsoever." He also stressed to the group about the locked doorways: "No one will be allowed to leave until the show is over."

The Internet-aired show was enhanced with split-images, often jerky, fuzzy and blurry pictures of their POV movements. During their early explorations, over-sexed Jim crudely asked: "You know, Donna, you got great legs. What time do they open?" She flipped him the finger, and he quipped: "That'd be 1:00 o'clock?" Rudy found giant-sized butcher knives in a kitchen drawer, and Sara discovered baby Mikey's white high chair with leather restraints in a small closet. (It was one of several phony props placed for added effect, contrary to Freddie's assertions.)

The broadcast was enjoyed by costumed college students at a Halloween party, attended by Sara's under-aged cyber-geek friend Myles Barton (Ryan Merriman) (screen-name Deckard), and his blonde friend Scott (Billy Kay), who were dressed as the Samuel L. Jackson/John Travolta characters from Pulp Fiction (1994). Deckard had promised Sara that he would support her during her ordeal ("exploring the house of a mass murderer, live") via a hand-held technology PDA gadget (wireless Palm Pilot) and e-mail. During the party, he began watching the live event on a wide-screen TV screen hooked up to a computer.

As darkness fell, the group lit candles in the dining room, and searched in the house with flashlights. Jen and Bill came across older sister Judith's room (where Michael at age 6 had killed her in Halloween (1978)). Jen used a hairbrush (another prop?) at a cob-web covered dressing table, while Bill added his own commentary: "Poor little Judith, helpless, brushing her hair, young and naked." He gleefully proposed that she flash his camera with her nude breasts: "One flash, and you could light up a thousand computer screens. Launch your whole career." Intrigued, she rolled up her shirt above her black lacy bra, but then chickened out. (Myers spied on the two of them from closeby.) Donna explored in the shadowy basement with Jim, as she theorized that Myers' killing spree was based upon "impulse control disorder" and an uncontrollable rage: "Kind of like a klepto or a nympho or a pyro."

Screams were heard from upstairs and Jen temporarily disappeared, but it was a false-alarm prank. As Bill looked at his mirror reflection, Myers smashed through the opposite side of the mirror and stabbed him with a butcher knife in the head (# 5 death), and his camera POV became all-static. In the upstairs master bedroom where Jen noted that Michael was conceived, Sara rummaged around in the closet and was spooked by a white Michael Myers mask-head on a mannequin. Rudy found a marked-up coloring book, another suspicious object, and he suspected that it was another prop: "It's too easy. Why is all this stuff still here?"

Meanwhile, Jim (with Donna) opened up a large, round trap door on the basement floor with a massive key, revealing a ladder down to a crumbling, underground room. Jim asked: "You think they kept him down here?", while Donna asked about a weird chain harness attached to the wall, speculating that the room was a "sadistic playpen." Because there were no surveillance cameras there, she assertively suggested removing their mini-cameras and making out. They were quickly all over each other, groping and kissing, and Donna was soon topless - seen in a fuzzy image from one of the cameras tossed to the floor. But then as they fell down onto the dusty floor, the ancient wall crumbled above them, unleashing skeletons onto them. Donna became hysterical: "All his victims. It's a mass grave," although it was soon revealed that this was only another fake prop - Jim read a label on a detached arm: "Made in ('f--king') Taiwan."

To complicate matters, two Michael Myers appeared in the dining room - Freddie (masquerading as the killer) was stalked by the REAL Myers, and turned to scold him, thinking it was Charley:

"I ain't payin' you to be Michael Myers! I'm playin' Michael Myers! If them kids come around and see us dressed up in the same s--t, you're gonna ruin the whole effect, God damn it! What the hell is wrong with you?...Take your ass in the back of the garage with Nora! That's your job! Go back there with Nora and help her ass out!...Go on, skoot! Skedaddle! Get the f--k out of Dodge!"

Finally, Myers responded and walked away.

As Donna investigated the collapsed basement wall further without Jim, she found a passageway to a brick-walled, rat-infested area with a bed, where Myers was actually living and sleeping, and living off rats as food, although she remarked: "Nice prop." Resting on the bed was Laurie Strode's Raggedy-Ann doll, with two nails impaled into its eyes.

The college students at the party relished the abrupt appearance of Myers as he stalked Donna, believing it was all theatrics. But she was realistically screaming: "Somebody help...This isn't funny anymore." She was grabbed, thrust backward into a bent metal spike on a broken gate - and the impaling spike emerged from her chest (# 6 death). Spectator Scott at the party responded: "That was so fake," but Deckard believed otherwise. In another area of the upstairs, Jen was bong-smoking with Rudy, while Sara got a view of the killer in the living room ("Michael's here" she screamed), but Rudy didn't believe her. When 'Myers' did emerge, Jim clobbered him on the head, causing Freddie (in a Myers' costume) to be upset: "Relax, man. I'm only tryin' to give America a good show." Jim glared at the producer for setting them up:

"So you set us all up at our f--king expense, huh?" Freddie responded that faked reality shows were what viewers actually wanted: "America don't like reality, first of all. Second of all, they think the s--t is boring...They want a little razzle-dazzle, a little pizazz, a little thrill in their life."

He begged them not to mess up the remainder of the show, fearing a reduction of his (and their) financial rewards for participating.

When Rudy and Sara decided to leave the show, Jen opened the attic trap door - and as it opened, a body dropped down, head first. It was the bloodied body of Bill hanging upside down, and her screams at the grisly sight brought them back. Jim quipped: "She must be going for the first Internet Emmy." They thought she was crying 'wolf' - but after Myers appeared behind her and cleanly beheaded her with a brutal swing of his butcher knife (# 7 death), and her head toppled down the stairs to their feet, they feared otherwise. Her mini-cam landed a few inches away from her head, pointed back at her own open but dead eyes. The party spectators were entertained by the broadcast, however: "How'd they do that?" and someone answered: "It's all digital effects."

Deckard, however, immediately dialed 911 to report an emergency ("It's not a hoax"). Myers grabbed Jim's head between his bare hands and crushed the bones in his skull until his neck snapped (# 8 death). As Sara fled upstairs, Rudy valiantly fought off Myers in the kitchen, striking him with a wooden rolling pin, throwing fennel into his eyes, and grabbing a knife in each hand to slash at him. But the super-strong Myers pinned and suspended Rudy's body on the kitchen door with three butcher knives (# 9 death). The party audience cheered, but soon realized that the deaths weren't faked.

Sara began communicating with Deckard through one of the net-cams mounted in the corner of a room, pleading for help. She also began using her PDA, to receive survival advice from him, updates on Michael's location in the house, and safe directions for flight, as he followed her progress on the live broadcast. She climbed through a second-floor window out onto the roof, but when it was too high to jump, she re-entered the house through the attic window - where she was shocked to see cameraman Charley's corpse.

When Myers was seen in his old bedroom, Sara received the message: "GO NOW!" and she carefully crawled over Bill hanging on the trap-door ladder to escape from the attic. From the darkness, Freddie grabbed her, covered her mouth, and whispered in anguish: "My God. Everybody's dead," and suggested they leave the house immediately. Their way to the stairs was blocked when Myers stepped into view and began wrestling against both Freddie (using kung-fu kicks) and Sara (attempting to choke Myers with an electronic cable). When Freddie kicked Myers through a second-story window, the killer was suspended in mid-air and dangled there by the cord wrapped tightly around his neck. He twitched and then stopped moving.

As they moved to the front door, Freddie apologized to Sara for putting her life in danger, not knowing that Myers had been living under the house for many years. Sara's next message from Deckard read: "He's still alive." He had cut the cable choking him, and was still "in the house." Myers stabbed Freddie twice in the shoulder, as Sara fled through the kitchen (where she noticed Rudy's corpse), into the basement, and then into Myers' hideout (where she glimpsed Donna's corpse). She climbed up another ladder into the garage/tool shed (the location of the show's control room console, with monitors and a mixing panel), closed off the passageway with an overturned, gas-leaking lawn mower, and then slipped on a large puddle of blood on the floor. Looking up, she noticed that Nora was hanging from the ceiling in a cable noose and impaled with a butcher knife (# 10 death) (off-screen), dangling over her own pool of blood.

Sara then burst out of her hiding place and attacked the ever-resilient, pursuing Myers with a chain-saw. She accidentally severed the electronic cables, and sparked an explosion and electrical fire, further fueled by old paint cans. Freddie saved Sara from Myers' threatening butcher knife, prefaced by a greeting: "Trick or treat, motherf--ker," and thrust a high-power generator plug at Myers' crotch. The power surge electrocuted him - further intensified by the pool of blood he was standing in. As the voltage coursed through his stiffened body, sizzling and crackling sounds were heard. Michael's body slumped, but was still held up by cables - his arms spread in a crucifix pose, as flames roared around him.

Approaching sirens were heard from police and fire engine vehicles. Near the burned-down, charred shed, the survivors' injuries were treated by medical personnel. Sara received another message: "You're Alive!" On a news broadcast, Sara thanked Deckard for saving her life. Freddie asserted that he didn't want any more cameras: "Dangertainment is off the air." He lectured the news crew that was clamoring around Sara for an interview:

"Michael Myers is not a sound bite, a spin-off, a tie-in, some kind of celebrity scandal. Michael Myers is a killer shark in baggy-ass overalls that gets his kicks off of killing everything and everyone that he comes across. That's all. We're done dancing for these cameras."

After Myers' body was placed in a body bag, Sara insisted on seeing the corpse's face. As they both glanced down, Freddie commented:

"You're looking a little crispy over there, Mikey. Like some chicken-fried motherf--ker. Well, may he never, ever rest in peace."

At the morgue, a nervous coroner (Ananda Thorson) approached "celebrity" Michael Myers' body bag to examine his burned face. She unzipped the bag, noting the melted mask on his burned face. As she started to remove the mask, his eyes suddenly popped open, as the screen cut to black and the film ended.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

The eighth film in the series, directed by Rick Rosental (the only director of two of the films in the series), who had previously directed Halloween II (1981).

With a production budget of approximately $13 million, and box-office gross revenues of $30.4 million (domestic) and $37.7 million (worldwide).

One of the most universally-trashed and poorly-received films of the series, a feeble updating of the franchise with a The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Big Brother (TV reality show) feel, in a spooky house where a stalking killer lurked.

With the tagline: "Evil Finds Its Way Home."

As with the previous film, it ignored much of the previous series' backstory, in the 4th-6th installments.

A number of other different endings were shot, but never used.

Body Count: 10.