"A fun popcorn flick which follows an interesting prologue. "
Three years after the monumental success of "H20" (1998) by horror sequel standards, Moustapha Akkad returned to the Halloween franchise for what would be the final time.
His son for whatever reason had the idea in his head that the 'kids of today' liked Busta Rhymes, so I take it this wasn't the same son who'd take a lot of girls to see the original film to see who's touch he liked more. I'm guessing this kid was preteen. Anyway, Moustapha Akkad was smart to not make Busta Rhymes the lead star in the film, though he was surprisingly comedic in a traditionally comedic way rather than by being himself. The character being Freddie Harris of an internet reality show who's to host a night of terror in the old Myers home with six college students who mostly give lackluster performances, save for Sean Patrick Thomas' character of Rudy Grimes, the wannabe chef who's more intrigued by the dusty & rustic kitchen utensils in the Myers house rather than the high chair with shackles for the arms & legs.
The setting was obviously the interior of the Myer's place, and cinematographer David Geddes did a nice job at making this place seem much bigger than it was, as you quickly get the sense that they're all separated in a mansion rather than an old double decker mid-western house. Production Designer Troy Hansen also added to this effect by making the stage reproduction of the house seem eloquently real, and decent for a horror movie setting, though the drawback to having eight main characters for the eighth movie is long introductions for all of them, making for less creepy build up, and semi-boring scenes.
The other plot is that of leading lady Sara Moyer's (Bianca Kajlich) internet pen pal Decker (Ryan Merriman) who's attempting to watch the webcast while attending a Halloween party. Many wannabe comical scenes ensue, and the climax further ensures that. But the neat extra feature on the DVD that allows you to view everything like the webcast viewers did on the tiny snap on cameras made for a creepier & more suspenseful experience. Either way, the movie still wasn't too great, but the cast was semi-entertaining as a group.
The prologue which resolves the conflict between Laurie & Michael was bittersweet as Laurie had since gone nearly stir crazy once learning she'd decapitated an innocent man with a crushed larynx at the end of "H20." And I don't know if you noticed, but the Shape in "H20" appeared confounded at being pinned between a tree and a van, and even attempted to remove the mask. So did the writers already have this explanatory prologue in mind without telling Jamie Lee Curtis? Who knows. But I'm surprised she agreed to return to go out like this. It was a real slap in the face to her whole purpose behind "H20." And I thought that was kind of crummy, but she acknowledged in interviews that horror franchises never die, and ergo neither do their monsters, so she figured it was good to usher in the new age of Halloween. [don't worry, Usher isn't in the movie--haha, didn't make the pun, but infered it anyway]. Oh, and the mental patient had this JWC thing going on with his clown mask and serial killer knowledge. Seriously, he knew everything. It was actually the only inside joke humor I got out of the whole movie. Seeing as you'd have to know these psychos to get the references.
So overall, it was an okay popcorn movie shot for $13,000,000 by "Halloween II" (1981) director Rick Rosenthal. It profited $24,664,855 so I don't think they'll be wanting to go back down that route anytime soon.
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