THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510060049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
IF IT'S OCTOBER, it must be time for the latest in the ``Halloween'' series. Is this Part 235?
The gory, senseless film series makes an early entry this time. This, for the record, is not Part 235. It just seems that way.
Apparently, the producers have lost count. In any case, they place no numerical tag on the latest entry. It's called merely ``Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.'' In fact, this is either Part 6 or Part 7 - even the studio can't say for sure.
The writers were the very soul of restraint: they didn't attempt to again dupe ticket buyers with any claim that this is the ``final'' edition. Michael Myers has played his final edition so often that the tape must be worn out by now.
Myers, in case you have been away on the moon and managed to miss this miserable phenomenon, was a 6-year-old who slaughtered his entire family and was sent away to a mental institution. He regularly escapes.
When new people move into the Myers house, it's creep and kill time again. That's the plot - all of it.
Myers, who wears a mask, which means that cheap, no-name people can always be hired to play him, is not rational. Perhaps that is to be expected of a homicidal maniac, but it is decidedly undramatic and uninvolving.
Myers can't be stopped by bullets. Apparently nothing can stop him other than bad box office, which may be forthcoming.
After all, young hipsters don't like to admit that they can be frightened by the same being that frightened their elders. ``Halloween'' is 17 years old this year, and that old gimmick of having someone jump from the corner of the screen is getting a little tired.
For the record, the original ``Halloween'' was a taut, tight and suspenseful film - a good deal better than the original ``Nightmare on Elm Street,'' which established a similar franchise. The standards of the original, though, were quickly dropped for money-grubbing sequels.
Sadly, Donald Pleasence, a fine classical actor who used this series to pay his bills, makes his final appearance here. He again plays Dr. Loomis, Michael's child psychologist and archenemy. Pleasence, who grimaces as if we should care about it all, died shortly after filming was completed.
Kim Darby, the little girl who once spurred John Wayne to win his Oscar in ``True Grit,'' appears as a granny-spectacled victim. Mitchell Ryan also got employment. The latest in the series of screaming starlets to have the lead is Marianne Hagan. Her hero is Paul Rudd, who is better in ``Clueless.''
The deaths are so casual that they instill the most heinous idea in viewers - that violence is meaningless.
This film is one hour and 24 minutes long. It seems longer, but not because of tension. ILLUSTRATION: KENT MILES
Dimension Films
Michael Myers, a homicidal maniac, is back at it again in
``Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.''
MOVIE REVIEW
``Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers''
Cast: Donald Pleasence, Mitch Ryan, Marianne Hagan, Paul Rudd
Director: Joe Chappelle
Screenplay: Daniel Farrands
MPAA rating: R (gory, nonsensical violence)
Mal's rating: 1/2
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake;
Janaf, Main Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Lynnhaven Mall, Surf-N-Sand
in Virginia Beach
by CNB