[HorrorScience] Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

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Qualification

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Year

1995

Duration

84 minutes (film version) 89 minutes (director's cut) 96 minutes (producer's cut)

Director

Joe Chapelle

Distribution

Donald Pleasence, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagan, J.C. Brandy, Devin Gardner, Mitchell Ryan, Kim Darby, Bradford English, Keith Bogart, Mariah O'Brien

Script

Daniel Farrands

After the end of the previous film in this saga it was clear that there would be a continuation, although this materialized 6 years later under the name Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. In its Spanish translation, the number 6 was also added to the title, to avoid confusion and highlight the continuity of the story within this franchise.

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers is the most controversial within this franchise, having 3 versions, of which two have been officially released, one of them very recently as I will comment on the curious details about the film at the end of this article. And not only does it have 3 versions, but one of them even changes the ending of the film as well as some important details in the story. These changes become a no-brainer when we also learn that the script went through a very long process of corrections, which included more than 11 drafts. It is also considered one of the most violent in the saga.

Those who want to get started on the story of Michael Myers will find that this film is the one, since it tells us a lot about the origin of this masked killer and the reason for his desire to murder all the members of his family who share the same bloodline, in addition to explaining the cause of his apparent immortality. However, as this story was conceived as a kind of trilogy included within this franchise, we will not understand the reason for some things if we have not previously seen Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.

I would like to take advantage of this same article to comment a little on how the story is related so far. On the one hand we have halloween and Halloween II, which are direct consequences of each other. Then we continue with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which tells us a completely different story and even in another universe, where Michael Myers is actually a fictional character as he is in our reality. That third film is criticized and loved in equal parts, and it is the only one in the franchise that does not have Myers or anything related to him in its history. And after this last one they continue Halloween 4, Halloween 5, and halloween 6 which is the one I mention in this same article, and those 3 form an internal trilogy that not only ends in this sixth part but is not taken into account for the continuity of Myers' story, turning it into a trilogy of films independent of the others whose events do not affect either the previous or subsequent films.

I want to clarify that this article is written taking into account what I consider to be the most complete version of the film, which is the Producer's Cut, and although in the synopsis that I will write below I avoid the spoilers most important and it is the same for the three versions, I have based myself on this version to give the final grade.

[HorrorScience] Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) — Jamie Lloyd and the nurse who helps her escape

The story begins 6 years after the end of the previous one, following the style of the previous films that are also set in the same year in which they were released to the cinema. In this case, the date is October 30, 1995, and a now teenage Jamie Lloyd is being carried on a stretcher through different underground hallways until she reaches what appears to be a ritual room of some pagan cult. If you have seen the two previous films or have already read my analysis of them, you will know that Jamie is the niece of Michael Myers, who in the two previous films was still a child and who at the end of the fifth installment of the saga disappears along with Myers after an explosion occurred at the police station in Haddonfield, Illinois.

After these 6 years, that's when we found out that Jamie had been kidnapped by the mysterious man in black that we had seen in the previous movie. We will also see that this man is the leader of a Celtic cult that has (or at least tries to have) Michael Myers under its control.

This man kept Jamie in captivity for 6 years, and now, as I already mentioned, she is being taken on a stretcher to a place where will give birth to a child, which will be given to this man in black and will be part of a pagan ritual in which a druid draws with blood on the baby's chest the same symbol that we already saw a couple of times in the two previous films. This symbol is the runic symbol of Thorn, and is important within the story of the film. And yes, Jamie Lloyd is now a teenager, she was pregnant and just gave birth to a child. Whose son is that child?

That same day, a nurse helps Jamie escape from that place along with her baby. Michael begins to chase them and kills the nurse along the way. Outside Jamie finds a van and gets into it. The driver of it was outside in the rain, drinking, and asks, "What are you doing in my truck?" He is drunk, and does not seem to understand Jamie's warnings, who, using signs from inside the truck, try to tell him to escape, that Michael is there behind. Obviously, the poor truck owner ends up being another of Myers' victims.

Meanwhile, we see that The old Myers house in Haddonfield has been sold, and the Strode family now lives there, which is the same family that had adopted Laurie, the protagonist of the first two films and Michael's sister. This family is made up of Kara Strode, her son Danny, her brother Tim, and her parents John and Debra.

In front of the Strode house lives Tommy Doyle, a young man whom Laurie Strode had babysat when he was little, and who since the events that occurred in 1978 has been obsessed with Michael Myers and wants to know the truth about him and where his power comes from. That is precisely why he continues to live there, always monitoring what is happening in front of him, and also why he is listening to a local radio program, where the D.J. Barry Sims is hosting a special from his section called "Back Talk" in which they talk about Myers and what happened in Haddonfield.

Tommy calls the radio to tell that when he was 8 years old he saw Michael, but he was lucky and survived. He also comments that Myers has not finished his work in Haddonfield, and that he will soon return to kill again. Then we also hear the typical government conspiracy theories, which say that Myers was kidnapped by the CIA because they were looking for the perfect killer, and that when they realized they couldn't control him they sent him into space. To one's question about "What happened to the psychiatrist, Loomis?" They answer that they believe the old man has died, although at that very moment we are seeing an old man on stage with his back to the camera writing something with a typewriter, and upon hearing this He turns around and we see that it is Dr. Loomis who says "Not dead, just retired.".

Jamie was in the van also listening to this same radio program, and arrives at a bus station, but it is so late that there is no one there, not even at the counter that has a sign that says "I'll be back in 20." Then he calls 911, where a recorded voice tells him that due to bad weather they are having problems, so Jamie does not hear the end of the explanation and hangs up, calling the radio immediately afterwards. At that very moment we see that Loomis is having a visit from Dr. Terence Wynn, who asks him to work with him again at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, to which Loomis refuses, saying that he no longer wants to practice medicine. Jamie then manages to communicate with the radio and says "Here he comes, here he comes", but the host of the radio show ignores her, taking her for a crazy person, and when he asks who is coming she says "Michael Myers", and begins to ask for help, asking if Dr. Loomis is there, saying that she needs him. Loomis hears this and becomes concerned, and Tommy Doyle is also listening intently, but Barry Simms hangs up complaining that all the crazy people are calling him that night.

Jamie ends up hiding in a bathroom, although it's clear that Michael will end up finding her, and that's just what happens. Jamie barely escapes being killed, escaping through a bathroom window and fleeing in the van, but Michael is also driving a van and manages to hit it sideways. causing it to swerve and end up crashing into a pile of pumpkins in an old farmhouse. Jamie gets out of the truck and into the barn, where Michael catches up with her and ends her life once and for all. Ahora sólo queda el bebé, aunque no está en el granero, así que Michael va hacia la camioneta que conducía Jamie y ahí se encuentra con algo envuelto en una manta, a modo de señuelo. ¿Dónde está el bebé entonces, si en la estación de autobuses lo vimos claramente?

Como he dicho al principio, este «final de trilogía» ha sido bastante controversial. Existen 43 minutos de filmación extra que no fueron incluidos en la versión final, y hay 3 versiones diferentes. De esas 3 versiones, la Producer's Cut es la que se considera como lo que debió ser la película y no como finalmente fue la versión que salió en cines. Aún así, el guionista Daniel Farrands considera que ambas versiones son malas y no respetan demasiado el guión, aunque admite que Producer's Cut es mejor que la versión original que se vio en cines.

Estamos ante una película de calidad mixta. Por un lado tenemos una atmósfera bien lograda, oscura y acompañada con arreglos musicales derivados de la melodía original compuesta por John Carpenter que ayudan a generar tensión. Tenemos también a Myers protagonizando escenas violentas bien ejecutadas y una cámara que cuida mucho los planos y el movimiento. Sin embargo tenemos también personajes sin carisma, malos actores, un director que no sabe guiar a su equipo y que tampoco sabe qué hacer con la historia, y la costumbre de Hollywood de querer darle explicación a todo aunque sea mejor no hacerlo, como ocurre en esta película. halloween 6 marca el cierre de una trilogía olvidable, que llega a cumplir con su objetivo de entretener y de volvernos a traer a Myers a la gran pantalla, pero poco más.

Some curiosities:

Para el personaje de Terence Wynn el guionista le insistió a los productores que contraten al veterano actor de cine de terror Christopher Lee, y creó al personaje pensando en ese actor. Finalmente fue el actor Mitchell Ryan quien interpretó ese papel.
Un primer borrador del guión, realizado por el guionista y fan de la saga Daniel Farrands fue entregado en 1990 a los productores, sólo un año después de la 5 película. A pesar de que estaba todo decidido para realizarse una sexta cinta, varios problemas legales terminaron retrasando esta película por casi 5 años más (se comenzó a filmar en octubre de 1994). A pesar de haber tenido más de 11 borradores diferentes, finalmente el mismo Farrands fue quien se mantuvo como guionista de esta entrega.
Esta es la última película donde aparece Sam Loomis, ya que el actor Donal Pleasence murió el mismo año del estreno, 1995.
El productor Freeman y el director Chapelle decidieron ir re-escribiendo la historia a medida que la iban filmando. Freeman incluso de deshacía de varios miembros del equipo cuando necesitaba filmar escenas cruciales para su propia versión, y hasta incluso dirigió él mismo varias escenas. Se eliminaron de forma indiscriminada varias secuencias que existen en el guión, se re-escribieron diálogos y hasta se cambió el final. Estando ya en fase de post-producción, la cual también estaba siendo supervisada por Freeman, Miramax decidió que el proyecto se había salido de control y decidió tomar las riendas de este asunto, ordenando que se vuelvan a filmar varias escenas. A principio de 1995, luego de finalizado el proceso de filmación y edición, se realizó una proyección de prueba, que según la actriz Marianne Hagan fue vista mayormente por niños de 14 años. Debido a que la recepción fue mayormente negativa y que uno de ellos se quejó particularmente del final, se decidió poner a la película nuevamente en estado de producción. Esta vez no contaban ya con la presencia de Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis) ya que el actor había muerto el 2 de febrero de 1995. Se eliminó el final y se volvió a filmar uno completamente nuevo, que casi descarta por completo el concepto original de la «maldición de Thorn» que vemos durante la película. También se quitaron alrededor de 20 minutos de filmación, y esto provoca unos cuantos huecos en la historia. Finalmente se editaron también algunas de las escenas más violentas del filme, por miedo a recibir una calificación de +17.
La película tuvo finalmente 3 ediciones diferentes. La que salió en cines, la edición del director, que es igual a la original pero incluyendo las escenas violentas que fueron recortadas, y la edición de los productores. Esta última incluye el «verdadero» final, no está censurada, y tiene además más minutos de metraje que las otras dos versiones. Generó gran cantidad de seguidores, que además distribuían copias de esta película de forma ilegal, ya que la única editada oficialmente era la versión original vista en cines. También se firmaron gran cantidad de peticiones online para que esta versión se edite oficialmente. El 23 de septiembre de 2014, se lanzó la colección Halloween Complete Blu-ray Collection de Anchor Bay, que incluye por fin la primera edición oficial de la versión Producer's Cut.