Well here we are at number 6, or as I like to call it, the weakest film of the franchise. Joe Chappelle “Director” didn’t seem to give a damn about this film, which was actually wrote by a fan, not an official writer.
It completely strips away the mystique of Michael Myers by explaining his non-stop madness and invincibility by saying he’s part of the Thorn cult, which is then made correct by showing a tattoo on his wrist, which we’ve never seen in the previous films.
The storyline tries to tie in all the previous Myers stories, involving Tommy Doyle (Played by Paul Rudd) if you don’t remember him he’s the kid Laurie Strode was babysitting in the first film. It also brings in Jamie, who’s now 15 & pregnant, her baby is born the day before Halloween and has been kidnapped.
Tommy and Jamie’s paths cross as they are both involved with Myers. Tommy’s life is dedicated to trying to explain Myers (Which is where the cult theory comes in) ever since his encounter with him in the first film.
Sadly this was also Donald Pleasance’s last film, he died not long after from heart surgery and it’s such a shame his last role as the infamous Dr. Loomis was in such a bad film, but that wasn’t his fault, he still shines on screen and makes the film watchable.
It is also known that he was treated badly by director Joe Chappelle, because Joe never even wanted him in this film as he found him “too boring”, which is also the reason why a-lot of his scenes were cut out the film and most of his scenes are short.
I blame Joe Chappelle for this film, He wouldn’t let Danielle Harris come back for the role as Jamie and replaced her with J.C. Brandy, The fact of how he treated Donald Pleasance and cut out most of one of the most loved characters, not just in “Halloween” but in Horror. It’s very obvious he didn’t care for this film, you can feel a dark cloud over every scene…And not in a good way.
In short it’s only worth a watch just for Donald Pleasance, the storyline was horrible, Paul Rudd shows us why he went into comedy and didn’t do any more Horror’s and with no Danielle Harris it just reeks of “Studio VS Director” It’s the “Halloween” film that should have never been.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
‘Howard Stern’ was originally offered the role as radio “shock jock” Barry Simms, but turned it down.
Debra and John Strode were named after John Carpenter and Debra Hill who produced the first two films of the series.
The name of Mrs. Blankenship is a reference to Halloween lll: Season Of The Witch, in which Ellie says her father had an appointment with Minnie Blankenship.
The script went through eleven different drafts.
In the original draft of the movie, when John came home from work, he turned on the TV and the scene of the boy dying from the mask in Halloween lll: Season Of The Witch was shown.
Although the infamous Producer’s Cut of the film was never officially released, bootleg versions were made available a few months after the film’s release.
Denise Richards was considered and turned down for the role of “Beth.”
The original conception of the “Thorn” cult apparently was much more in the vein of Roman Polanski’s vision of the Satanists in Rosemary’s Baby, more mundane and real-life, as opposed to wha Daniel Farrands has called “the Temple of Doom version” in the final film, with underground lairs, altars, and robes and hoods.
The original director was to be Fred Walton, who directed the original When A Stranger Calls.
Joe Chappelle wrote the ending for the theatrical version of the film.
As a result of Donald Pleasance’s death, as well as creative differences between Joe Chappelle and the producer, and an allegedly bad test screening of the original work (the famous producer’s cut) re-shoots were done as well as lots of editing, to the anger of most of the cast and crew. Many vowed never to make another Halloween movie again after all the changes.
The producers of the movie wanted Brian Andrews to reprise his role as Tommy Doyle from the original Halloween. However, Andrews did not have an agent, so they could not get in contact with him. He regrets missing the opportunity.
At one time Scott Spiegel was going to direct and his friend Quentin Tarantino produce.
Daniel Farrands stated in an interview that Joe Chappelle used little to no ideas from his script. He had completely re-written the entire third act which included a completely (albeit confusing) different ending. Daniel’s original script dealt more with the cult and rune of Thorn.
Most of the cast and crew disowned this movie. On the 25 years of Terror DVD, they stated that the studio, producers, and director interfered and argued to the point of ridiculousness which resulted in a very poorly directed and edited film.
Daniel Farrands’ original script was far more moody and psychological than the final draft. After reading the script, one of the execs at Dimension films could not sleep that night and therefore called Farrands immediately and told him that they wanted go forward with it. ‘Donald Pleseance’ himself supported the original script and immediately signed on to make the film only to find out that the script was being rewritten.
The original title of the movie was “Halloween 666: The Curse Of Michael Myers”. There are even existing ad prints and early trailers with that title. Later, it became “Halloween 6” and finally “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers”.
The storyline tries to tie in all the previous Myers stories, involving Tommy Doyle (Played by Paul Rudd) if you don’t remember him he’s the kid Laurie Strode was babysitting in the first film. It also brings in Jamie, who’s now 15 & pregnant, her baby is born the day before Halloween and has been kidnapped.
Sadly this was also Donald Pleasance’s last film, he died not long after from heart surgery and it’s such a shame his last role as the infamous Dr. Loomis was in such a bad film, but that wasn’t his fault, he still shines on screen and makes the film watchable.
the tattoo was also visible in a few other movies at least in the 5 one i'm sure
I don't think so