Video Ferox

WRONG!

Before H20, HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, and the new Zombie line, there was HALLOWEEN: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS.

I know what you’re saying. “What is this? HALLOWEEN: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS? Do you think I’m an asshole, Jason? I’ve never heard of this.”

Of course you haven’t! (And it depends on who you are.) It’s an unlicensed, fan-made sequel to HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS. Aww shit.

While I was working to put together a HALLOWEEN youtube video roundup in the style of fellow Video Ferox contributor Sarah, I stumbled upon this piece of HALLOWEEN gold — or copper maybe, depending on your outlook.

This low-budget, unlicensed, snore — eer, I mean, gore fest was, according to the filmmaker (or the person who posted it on youtube, anyway), made a month after he and his friends saw CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS in theatres. I can only imagine that the origin of the movie was a deep dissatisfaction with this last HALLOWEEN’s conclusion — as well as its plot, dialogue, and pretty much everything about it.

Although this no-budget sequel to CURSE is described as a “labor of love,” I honestly can’t imagine how anybody could have loved that jumbled, disjointed, debacle of a film enough to want to continue its story in the form of a feature length sequel. But, hey, to each his own.

THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS is actually not the only fan-made HALLOWEEN movie either (a group calling themselves Palangi Studios have put together at least three of them), but it is, I think, the longest. Which occurs to me now as a reason why I should have chosen a different one to write about. Oh, well. You live and you learn. Unless of course you’re Michael Myers. He very soon won’t be able to live or learn since his imminent death has been promised to us by the film’s title.

The story begins exactly where CURSE ends, only Loomis’ scream, which viewers of CURSE were to take as a sign of his murder at the hands of his famous patient, is in the new film to be taken as a huzzah of temporary triumph. Tommy Doyle, rushing back into the hospital, discovers a very much alive Loomis standing above a temporary KOed Michael.

This is a far more impressive example of historical revision than those that past sequels have perpetrated. Turning a scream of death into a shout of joy is not nearly as absurd as turning the severed head of Michael Myers into the severed head of Paramedic #2, or turning Jaime Strode’s murder of her step-mother into Michael Myer’s psychically implemented murder of a somebody that was nobody to him, or turning a close range head-exploding blast from a magnum round into a slight graze. Should I go on?

Actually, as far as flow from past movie to present goes, THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS accomplishes what nary a sequel has done since part II — a seamless transition.  Well, seamless if you ignore the fact that all the actors have been replaced with stand-ins and that baby Caruthers has been replaced with a football wrapped in dishtowels.

Loomis incidentally is pretty great in this new movie. Invigorated, apparently, by his close call with Michael Myers, the good doctor is back to being the impatient, fiery-tempered curmudgeon we all know and love rather than the tired and resigned Loomis of CURSE. Although played by an actor a quarter Loomis’ age, the new Loomis disguises the greenness of his portrayer with a rubbery bald cap, a long trench coat, and a crotchety waddle. The actor steers his depiction of Loomis dangerously close to the Columbo side though, but manages to veer back on course when he delivers those classic Loomis tirades. And I’ve never heard Columbo discourse on the metaphysics of Evil.

The movie itself tells a simple story: Michael ain’t dead yet, and he wants that baby. It’s a capture the flag game, pitting Tommy Doyle and Kara Strode against Michael Myers with a baby as the flag. Quite frankly, it’s this simplicity that gives the movie something most HALLOWEEN sequels lack — a basic dramatic structure.

They keep it simple. No revelations. No soap-opera twists. You don’t find out that Michael Myers is Loomis’ long lost step-nephew on his mother’s sister’s brother’s side. The name Dr. Whyn is never mention. And not a single member of the Cult of Thorn makes an appearance. It’s just Michael doing what Michael loves to do: Hunting his kin and chopping up some losers on the side.

Despite the fact that the film is comprised mostly of scenes of characters walking around, there are some nice sequences. One scene involves Michael Myers plastered to the windshield of a car which is traveling at high-speed down a suburban roadway. I’m imagining the budget didn’t call for any stunt doubles. So somebody had to talk their friend into putting on a Michael Myers mask and holding onto the car for dear life as one his other friends took it up to ninety.

There’s also a nice scene of implied lesbianism. Kara and Tommy’s leggy female roommates have a cozy bed-in before their craving for midnight munchies provides Michael with the perfect opportunity to go all phallic-symbol-y on them with his big long knife. Tommy tried to warn them. “It’s your funeral,” he calls nonchalantly after they refuse to accompany him and Kara on their baby hunting mission. Nice warning, Tommy.

There’s also another interesting scene in which Tommy and Kara try to get baby Ernie or whatever the Caruthers brat’s name is back from the baby house where the Haddonfield Municipal Court has remanded him. I’m guessing the actors are Canadian, not only because of how they say “aboot” instead of “about,” but also because after being refused access to the baby or any information about the little guy’s whereabouts, Tommy politely thanks the stubborn attendant instead of getting pissed and opening a can of USDA approved whoop ass all over the dude. Tommy has calmed down a lot since the days when he stormed into hospitals demanding to see doctors he didn’t stick around long enough to get yelled at by.

The climax of the movie features an unexpected twist. When Kara and Tommy fail to find baby Caruthers at the foster parents’ house (Tommy: The baby’s gone. Kara: Where is he? Is he dead? Way to jump to conclusions, Kara), they rush to Loomis’ finely furnished home. He’s got the baby safe and sound. Then he unexpectedly bashes Tommy in the back of the head (or shoulder?) with the butt of his handgun. He holds Kara at gun point and drives them to the place where it all began, that home, sweet home, the Myer’s house.

I’m not sure we ever find out why Loomis brings them with him to accomplish his scheme of giving Michael the baby — or why, for that matter, he even wants to give Michael the baby. In all fairness, there might have been an explanation in there somewhere — I wasn’t paying that much attention. In the absence of any better reason, though, I’m just going to believe that he brought Kara and Tommy with him because he simply wanted a captive audience for another one of his classic Loomis speeches. The man likes to pontificate.

As he concludes his oration — in the course of which he refers to his former patients as “outcasts of society” and “freaks of nature” (what the hell kind of doctor was he anyway?) — the movie itself draws towards its exciting finish, and a dramatic game of touch football ensues with little baby Caruthers starring in the part of the football.

It’s certainly not the worst movie I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’ve seen plenty of movies with professional distribution offering about the same level of production values, budget, acting and directing talent — but those movies, ya know, made up their own characters and stories and stuff. The music you hear in DEATH was inspired by the HALLOWEEN theme and composed and recorded by one of the crew members. It’s actually a pretty impressive soundtrack and surely the most professional part of the movie (which is perhaps not exactly the greatest compliment in the world).

While HALLOWEEN: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS is not technically canon, there’s nothing in later sequels to negate any part of its story. In fact, it offers a suitable conclusion to the line of films that abruptly terminated with H20’s decision to junk almost all previous sequels. So with this last and amateurish tale we get the closure that Hollywood failed to give us. Michael dies. Loomis lives. And little baby Caruthers?

Michael stabbed that little brat silly.

Way to go, Mike. You pissed off Gamera.

Watch HALLOWEEN: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS for free!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten

This entry was posted on Friday, October 29th, 2010 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Halloween, Horror, VHS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.