Halloween: Resurrection

Directed by Rick Rosenthal, Halloween: Resurrection follows several young adults, including Bianca Kajlich’s Sara, Sean Patrick Thomas’ Rudy, and Luke Kirby’s Jim, as they find themselves trapped in Michael Myers’ childhood home with the unstoppable killer himself. There’s little doubt that Halloween: Resurrection fares best in its irresistible prologue, as filmmaker Rosenthal, working from Larry Brand and Sean Hood’s screenplay, kicks the proceedings off with an entertaining and tremendously promising pre-credits sequence detailing Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) final confrontation with Michael – with this portion of the proceedings containing an irresistibly old-school and genuinely tense feel that sets an incredibly high bar for what’s to follow. It’s disappointing to note, then, that Halloween: Resurrection subsequently progresses into a middling narrative that grows less and less interesting as it unfolds, as Rosenthal delivers a sluggish slasher that is, to put it mildly, rather hit and miss in its execution – with the midsection’s repetitive bent (ie there are just so many scenes of characters exploring said house) exacerbated by an assortment of one-dimensional, far-from-sympathetic protagonists. By the time the dimly-lit and thoroughly underwhelming third act rolls around, Halloween: Resurrection has cemented its place as a missed opportunity of fairly epic proportions.

** out of ****