Where do I begin? Halloween 4: the Return of Michael Myers was a terrific return to the big screen for Michael Myers. When it left us with a cliff hanger we knew Halloween 5 would soon happen. It only took a year before the release of the Revenge of Michael Myers. This one, just didn’t measure up to the previous three movies and it introduced the “Order of Thorn”. We waited 6 years and finally in 1995, Myers returned in the Curse of Michael Myers. I was 15 and thanks to my mom being best friends with the manager of one of the local theaters, I got to go to a sneak peek, before it was unleashed on the rest of the world. I was excited, I had been a fan of Halloween since 1986 when I first saw Halloween II. I loved the movie so much, I saw it a few times. While Halloween 4 was very good and a great return to Haddonfield, but the “Jamie Lloyd” trilogy gave us a bizarre reason for Michael and his madness. Rather than Myers being pure evil, he was chosen by the order of the Thorn….blah!
I am sure most of have seen this movie or should I say these movies and we know what happened. If not, well a good portion of the film was re-shot including a new ending. This is what would get a theatrical release, rather than the now known “Producers’ Cut”. The fun thing about this, in the late 90s we found out about another cut and there were bootlegs of the workprint and it was known as the “Producer’s Cut”. I saw this in the year 2000, it was something I wanted for, well 5 years I guess and I was super disappointed. Mostly because it wasn’t different enough, with the exception of the bad ending, also the quality was so bad, it took me right out of the movie. I did notice, the score…it was more like reminiscent of John Carpenter’s original score for Halloween. This was much better, but missing, was Brother Cane’s “And Fools Shine On”. Of course, not a big deal, but I love that song. Maybe they should have just added “Man in the Box” from Alice in Chains.
There is a question among horror fans, or Halloween fans anyway, which version is better? Well, that is like asking which piece of shit is a better piece of shit. Now, I love this movie, but most think it is a big piece of shit and one of the worst of the series, that may be. But, for what it is, it is much better than Halloween 5, even it if is a mess. At least it has a reason to be a complete mess, the studio got involved and mess everything up…kinda. I mean there are other things going wrong with this movie, like JC Brandy and killing off Jamie Lloyd all together. There is a better way to make a follow up to Halloween 5 and one, pay Danielle Harris and give her a bigger role and a better death, better than the two she got in this one.
Really this is the rants of a madman who really loves this movie. Donald Pleasence is in his final performance and it wasn’t bad, but he was cut out of some scenes and Loomis is partially why I keep coming back to the series. I loved Paul Rudd as the grown version of Tommy Doyle, he was creepy in all the right places. The rest of the cast was blah, well I take that back, I did like Marianne Hagan as Kara Strode, it was nice to see the Strodes back in the mix.
But, let me get back on track here, the reason this article is a thing, to tell you which version is better. Well, I love the original, theatrical cut, because it is the first I saw and there are things I like about Producer’s Cut, but I think overall, the theatrical for me. With that said, well I think it is up to you, the reader….Yes, that is a cop out. Both versions have issues and strong points, but I will always watch the theatrical, but it doesn’t make it better. What I would like to see is a version with parts from both. I prefer the way Jamie was handled in the Producer’s Cut, but the end of the theatrical. The score is so much better in the Producer’s Cut, as is Loomis. So, someone needs to cut these together to make…are you ready for this, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers: The Ultimate Cut. Then we can all bitch and moan about it.
So, watch both back to back like I did and see if “which is better” even matters. But, remember…it could be worse, oh yes, it could be worse. Check out Seth T. Miller’s article, Dodging a Bullet.
I will leave you with this. Halloween 6 nearly killed the franchise, a franchise that probably should have died in 1981. But, I think the crimes against the Halloween series do not stop here, the next 14 years and four movies, to me, are the worst thing to happen to the series, period. Don’t even get me started on the Rob Zombie movies, I will let Seth deal with those. I will say, why 2007 and not 2008 for the release?
