10 REASONS WHY HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION IS A BETTER FILM THAN HALLOWEEN H20

In 1998 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of John Carpenter's groundbreaking original, Halloween H20 hit cinemas. It received critical acclaim and became a fan favourite. Many people praised it for jettisoning the convoluted continuity of the various sequals and also for bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis in her iconic role of Laurie Strode. The movie was also highly praised for bringing the story to an actual proper and satisfying end. In the final scene Laurie decapitates Michael Myers thus ending the career of one of horror cinema's most prolific slasher villains seemingly once and for all.

However, Hollywood being what it is the producers just couldn't let it lie. H20 had made the studios a ton of money. So just four years later in 2002, Michael Myers was dusted down, his final end was retconned (Laurie chopped the head off somebody else wearing a Michael Myers mask) and Halloween Resurrection was unleashed upon the world.

Almost immediately the film was panned by critics and fans alike. It's failure left the series in limbo for years and Resurrection came to be recognised as the bastard ginger stepchild of the series (a position that prior to this was held by Halloween 3 for many years before coming to be occupied by part 6).

I recently watched both films back to back and whilst I did enjoy H20, I found myself preferring the much lambasted Resurrection a lot more. I've always liked to champion the underdog (comes of finding myself in the position of underdog for far too many times in my own life I suppose), so in that spirit here are the 10 reasons why in my opinion Halloween Resurrection is a better film than H20. 

1 - MICHAEL MYERS GETS TO DO MORE.

H20 has a strong start. Michael kills the nurse from the original Halloween and also two teenagers who live near her (including the annoying beer stealing kid with the hockey stick. Michael should have shoved that hockey stick up his arse).

After that, things go a bit quiet on the Michael Myers front. We get reintroduced to Laurie and her son and boyfriend and the first three quarters of the film are taken up by Laurie having panic attacks, imaging seeing Michael everywhere and drinking too much alcohol. I realise this is to show how damaged Laurie is but these scenes take up way too much time. 

What is Michael doing whilst all this is going on? Driving round in a van and trying to break into a uni campus. His end rampage is well worth the wait but it takes soooo long to get there.

Ressurection on the other hand starts off strongly with this timeline's real final reckoning between Michael and Laurie. It then becomes almost constant Michael slash 'em up action as he takes out a bunch of reality TV celebrity wannabes who are rudely invading his home. In Resurrection you get more Michael Myers for your money and lets face it - he's the real reason anyone watches these movies in the first place.

2 - IT GIVES A GOOD - IF BLEAK - ENDING TO MICHAEL AND LAURIE'S STORY.

OK, so I can understand why the retconned ending pissed people off. It ruined the excellent final scene of H20 and was a cheesy cop-out. But that's the fault of the producers NOT the writers, actors and director of this film who could only work with the brief they where given. What they came up with was pretty good considering.

Michael breaks into the mental institution where Laurie is incarcerated, they have a final battle, Laurie is stabbed, she kisses her brother and tells him she'll see him in Hell and then falls to her death...

It's bleak but somehow feels satisfying. Lets face it Michael being decapitated was NEVER going to stick. They'd have found some way to get round it. Also, realistically, Laurie was NEVER going to win, how COULD she ? At least this way the storyline got some kind of closure even if it is a bit of a downer.

3  - ITS ACTUALLY SET IN HADDONFIELD.

I can fully understand why H20 wasn't set in Haddonfield, Illonois. Laurie had assumed a new identity under witness protection so she could hardly go into hiding a few yards down the road, she had to be relocated.

But Haddonfield is the spiritual home of the Halloween films and it felt wrong that H20's story wasn't set there. At least in Resurrection we're back on the old home turf.

4 - ITS GOT A MORE HALLOWEENY ATMOSPHERE.

We get some pumpkin carving and we see a few trick or treaters in H20 but that's about it, it's all mainly a bit of set dressing, we don't really get the feel of the season itself.

Ressurection on the other hand has a massive Halloween party as one of its settings. We get to see people dressing up and enjoying the season. Also its SUCH a late 90's/early 00's fancy dress party - two characters dress up as Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction for crying out loud - it's nostalgic and fun - which is one of the things this season is all about.

5 - ITS A SATIRE DISGUISED AS A SLASHER FILM.

Reality TV is still popular today but this film was made in the era when it was on the rise.  Shows like Big Brother and Pop Idol where constantly being shoved down our throats. Our TV's became a platform for preening, vain, vapid celebrity wannabes to shove thier "talents" in our collective faces. Creativity was out and crass commercialism was in.

The entire premise of Ressurection is that a reality TV show - Dangertainment - is filming a Halloween special in Michael Myers old house. It's all about unscrupulous programe makers exploiting a place's tragic history in the name of ratings and money. Naturally, Michael Myers is on hand to shit all over everybody's cornflakes. In this sense Michael - technically - becomes the film's hero, all he's doing is defending his home from these arseholes. It's an interesting new take on the character. Afterall what series of Big Brother wouldn't be improved by having a homicidal psychopath as one of the housemates ? At this point that would be about the only thing that could possibly induce me to ever watch that shit.

6 - IT TRIES SOMETHING NEW RATHER THAN GIVING US MORE OF THE SAME.

The reality TV theme allows the filmmakers to utilise different styles of storytelling. There are entire scenes of the movie shot on headcams or with multiple viewpoints. This allows for some neat storytelling tricks that give the film a fresher feeling.

H20 was very slick looking but it was lacking in originality, it stuck too rigidly to the conventions of the series and genre. Ressurection at least attempts something new, and whilst it doesn't all necessarily work you've got to give it credit for trying.

7 - WE GET TO SEE LOTS OF HORRIBLE PEOPLE DIE.

One of the reasons people like to watch slasher films is to see terrible annoying people getting murdered. Its cathartic. Halloween Resurrection is full of terrible annoying people (they are reality TV contestants afterall) and we get to see them die...horribly.

All the characters in H20 where too nice. We didn't want to see them come to any harm (OK, so Laurie's son was a bit whiny and annoying but you could at least understand why he was whiny and annoying). At least here we get to cheer Michael on as he massacres all and sundry.

8 - ITS NOT AS OVERPRODUCED.

H20 was a slick big budget studio picture and that's fine. The problem is up to that point the Halloween movies hadn't been like that. The original was a small independent production shot on a shoestring and whilst the budget was increased with each successive entry it still all felt fairly lo-res.

H20 felt overproduced. The main offender for this was in the film's incidental music. Gone was John Carpenter's minimalist synthesiser based Halloween theme tune (one of the most iconic pieces of horror movie music ever). It was replaced by a full orchestral treatment of the theme tune which just sounded cheesy and overwrought. Not EVERY film needs to sound like its been scored by John Williams, ESPECIALLY a horror film.

Ressurection redressed this. Carpenter's original theme is back in force, all the music is toned down and seems much more moody and atmospheric. The grainy looking headcam scenes also help give the film a much less polished look. It's gone back to its B-movie aesthetics which is a good thing in my book.

9 - ITS GOT KATIE SACKHOFF IN IT.

Nuff said. OK, so she's playing a pretty horrible annoying character but any screen time spent with Katie Sackhoff is a good thing. Some people complain that she's got too many teeth but I think she's hot. Personal preference I know, but still....

10 - ITS JUST MORE FUN.

H20 is a good film but it takes itself way too seriously. Ressurection on the other hand is just a lot of fun to watch. It's silly, it's ridiculous, it's OTT. It's got Kung Fu Busta Rhymes vs Michael Myers  (I know lots of people hate that scene with a passion but it always makes me smile).

It's also got Busta Rhymes in a Michael Myers mask mistaking the real Michael Myers for a masked up scareactor and completely humiliating him, and for some reason Michael DOESN'T KILL HIM !

In fact pretty much any scene with Busta Rhymes in is comedy gold, be it intentionally or not. Busta Rhymes just has something inherently silly about him and its great fun to watch.

So, there you have it - 10 reasons why I enjoyed Halloween Resurrection more than Halloween H20. At the end of the day neither film's a classic but I just thought I'd put this out there. Hope it causes a bit of debate...