Taking Shape

by Dustin McNeill

Brand’s original MichaelMyers.com screenplay was rife with social commentary that was all but lost in the film’s development process. His initial story was a satire on serial killer worship and the exploitation of tragedy. (Omitted dialogue: “Jeez, a live-on-the-net tour of the home of the worst serial killer in history. What could be exploitational about that?”) Brand also seems to poke fun at those who would try to decode the thought process of a figure such as Michael Myers. The webcasters are sent into “the birthplace of evil” in an attempt to understand “why Michael Myers went bad.” The clues they uncover would suggest he was emotionally and physically abused, except that they’re all fake. The house has been rigged with bogus props in a tasteless effort to entertain the viewing audience. Brand knows well that there is no reason behind Michael’s killing, which is in step with the original Halloween.

  “In my opinion, Michael Myers’ motives should always remain a mystery,” Sean Hood says. “I tend to dislike psychological explanations for his behavior, and I thought it was important to reveal that ultimately everything in the house other than Michael’s secret room was a prop planted there by Freddie.”

  As a film, Resurrection contains a number of horror clichés, some of which are clearly xeroxed from Halloween H20. Yet this was counter to the original intent of its screenwriters, who sought to subvert such tropes rather than lean into them. One rejected pitch would have seen Bianca Kajlich’s Sara killed halfway through the film, revealing Katee Sackhoff’s Jen to be the true main character. The idea behind this was to disrupt the audience’s expectation that Sara, as the virginal good girl, would survive the film and Jen, the bimbo blonde, would be killed. Another suggestion was for Jen and Rudy to have sex in the Myers house but still survive, bucking the horror movie rule that sex must equal death. This too was rejected by the studio.

  Resurrection might never have been poised to become the greatest sequel in the series, but its final theatrical version failed to deliver on the potential of its original script. Brand’s screenplay essentially devolved from a meta-critique on reality entertainment into a comedy laden send-up of the franchise. Resurrection, at times, almost plays like a parody. The dumbing down of Brand’s original vision is well summarized in Jim and Freddie’s shark metaphors. Per Brand’s original script, Jim equates Michael Myers to “the great white shark of our unconscious.” Per the reshoots, Freddie calls him “a killer shark in baggy-ass overalls.” Move over, Dr. Loomis. Halloween’s got a new elocutionist. “He had this creepy, pale-ass, emotionless face, y’all. And the fuckin’ blackest eyes. I’m tellin’ you, man, the devil’s eyes.”

  Still, Resurrection’s plot functions as a metaphor for the entire filmic experience, even if it never does anything too clever with it. The webcast participants are the actors. The Dangertainment staff are the crew. The partiers watching at home are the audience. And Harold, the serial-killer-obsessed patient from the asylum? He represents the hardcore fan, spewing factoids and collecting masks. Freddie Harris may as well be Moustapha Akkad or Rick Rosenthal, take your pick. Just imagine the following speech being given to the film’s crew: “America wants a little razzle-dazzle, a little pizazz, a little thrill in their life. And us being the ones that give it to ‘em, I don’t see nothin’ wrong with that. Y’all need to do me a favor, all right? Go along with this shit. Don’t blow it, not now. You really have no idea of how nicely I worked things out so that we all can receive somewhat of a robust back end when this shit is all over. I don’t know what you want to do about your share, but please don’t fuck it up for me. I want my money, a’ight? Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go scare the shit out of some more of these motherfuckers.”

  As the new leading lady, Bianca Kajlich’s Sara is regrettably dull for the simple fact that she doesn’t have much to do besides feel uneasy at everything around her. She is so socially awkward that her most engaging connection is with an internet pen-pal she’s never met. For a final girl, this characterization is lacking. Compare her to Halloween 4’s Rachel Carruthers, who sought to be a big sister to young Jamie Lloyd while navigating a teenage love triangle. Or Halloween 6’s Kara Strode, single mother to a troubled boy whose family just moved into the home of Haddonfield’s most notorious serial killer. In light of the other six contestants, whom Freddie rightly calls “a bunch of smart-ass, wise-crackin’, posin’ wannabes,” it would’ve helped to imbue Sara with a little more charm or backstory.

  The filmmakers had originally hoped that Sara might continue on as the new Laurie Strode. As such, attempts were made to link the two characters. Sara’s first appearance in Resurrection occurs in a classroom where she volunteers the answer to a teacher’s question just as Laurie did in Halloween. The two final girls are somewhat alike, vulnerable but intelligent, shy, and reluctant to go along with their friend’s plans, whether it’s talking to Ben Tramer in Halloween or doing a webcast in Resurrection. Both also own Raggedy Ann dolls, which Sean Hood explains was a very much intentional connection. “On a symbolic level, we hoped that giving both Laurie and Sara dolls would hint that Sara had some of Laurie’s indominable spirit. To take the idea one step further, Michael, the bane of this feminine spirit, has taken one of the old dolls and pushed nails through its eyes. But mostly, I think Raggedy Ann dolls are creepy.”

  One of Resurrection’s less fortunate touches involved the stunt casting of Busta Rhymes as Freddie Harris. This was an unabashed attempt to recreate what LL Cool J brought to H20, but equal talents Rhymes and Cool J are not. Rhymes’ casting effectively changed Freddie’s characterization. Not only was his part greatly expanded, he was also allowed to rewrite his own dialogue. This led to a sharp uptick in the number of “motherfuckers” in the film, a pre-cursor to the Rob Zombie era. The chief difference between Rhymes’ Freddie and Cool J’s Ronny is that the latter gives a grounded performance of a believable character. The same cannot be said of Rhymes’ over-the-top Freddie. Resurrection destroys its own integrity in the moment where Freddie uses kung fu on the Shape. It’s difficult to imagine a more ignoble ending than that. As studio exec Jeff Katz put it in the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documentary: “Busta Rhymes should not be karate-chopping Michael Myers. I have a real problem with that.”

  But Rosenthal didn’t see it that way. In fact, he considered this moment one of Resurrection’s strongpoints. Speaking on the film’s commentary, he felt that audiences widely shared his opinion on the kung fu direction. “The audience loves that someone is standing up to Michael Myers. First off, they care so much about Busta’s character. They’re rooting for him. But when he brings back the kung fu that we saw him watching earlier, that seems to be a great payoff for the audience. They really like that.“

  Several critics, Variety and Entertainment Weekly among them, have lambasted Resurrection for ripping off The Blair Witch Project, but any such comparisons are superficial. Blair Witch plays out entirely through home videotapes whereas Resurrection only fleetingly cuts to headcam footage, never committing to the concept enough to earn a place in the found footage sub-genre. Not that Resurrection doesn’t have influences. The Shape’s camera tripod kill is a clear nod toward an identical murder in 1960’s Peeping Tom. Then there are the numerous references to Rosenthal’s own Halloween II such as Laurie stuffing her bed with pillows to fool her brother, a character slipping in a pool of blood, and the bank of security monitors showing the Shape stalking hospital corridors. There’s also Rosenthal’s cameo as Dr. Mixter, named for the doc in Halloween II that gets the hypodermic to the eye.

  “I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we’d have done a lot more headcam video in the film,” Rosenthal said on the film’s DVD. “The more video you use, the closer it gets to Blair Witch, which was not our intention. I think it works better when you use less video and integrate it with beautifully shot film.”

  More than a decade later, Resurrection seems oddly prescient, both painfully of its time and way ahead of it. The emphasis on wearable camera tech and live-streaming is far
more relevant today than in 2002 with the rise of GoPro and Twitch. The Palm Pilot texting, however, is awfully dated. Had Resurrection not been mangled into a comedy-horror by interfering parties, it might have lived up to the cleverness of its original premise. As is, it falls short. To Resurrection’s credit, the sequel quickly shakes off any Scream-vibes leftover from H20 to become its own thing.

  THE SECOND DEATH OF LAURIE STRODE

  Halloween: Resurrection’s writers were given the unenviable task of resolving the Laurie Strode storyline within their film’s first fifteen minutes. Although only contractually obligated for a thirty-second cameo, Jamie Lee Curtis chose to return for four days of filming in order to finish out her character’s arc. Though she would later refer to the film as “a joke,” she has justified her decision to carry forth with, supposedly, killing off Laurie once and for all. Speaking to TooFab.com, Curtis indicated she was content to finally see Laurie at peace, even if it was in death. “I always felt that with Laurie Strode it needed to be one way or the other. As far as I was concerned, until that menace is either gone or you’re gone, you’re not free. You can’t live in that limbo. And so I wanted to make sure that if we’re going to end her story that we end it correctly.”

  There’s a lot to unpack about this opening, which finds Laurie institutionalized at Grace Andersen Sanitarium. Despite only returning due to contractual obligations, Curtis remained ever the idea woman. Originally, she suggested that all of the sanitarium’s patients feature creepily elaborate make-up and Marilyn Monroe-esque hairstyles – the product of a nearby beauty school leveraging the patients as guinea pigs. This idea was rejected by the filmmakers.

  Laurie has been diagnosed with extreme dissociative disorder, though this is a deception on her part. Her faking catatonia is eerily reminiscent of her brother’s original incarceration at Smith’s Grove. Her hospital room contains a framed photo of her son John. The character was originally going to be more directly referenced through dialogue but these lines were cut. This was due to the general feeling that Josh Hartnett might not return as the character in future installments. Earlier drafts saw a nurse mention that John had stopped visiting his mother in the sanitarium altogether. In a line omitted from their final meeting, Laurie tells the Shape, “I knew you’d come for me sooner or later, but you would never find my son. I made sure of that.”

  This rooftop reunion is interesting for what it reveals about Laurie’s fragile state of mind. Resurrection’s opening tells how the Shape tricked her into beheading an innocent man at the end of Halloween H20. We can tell Laurie feels enormous guilt over this as though she has become like her brother, a fate she rejects. (Omitted line: “You tried to turn me into you, but you failed.”) Still, the Shape is able to play on this guilt by grabbing at his mask, which conjures up memories of H20’s ending. Suddenly feeling less than certain, Laurie takes the bait and attempts to unmask him. (“I just have to be sure.”) Theatrically, Michael falls over the edge and takes Laurie down with him. Yet as originally written, it was Laurie who voluntarily leapt off the roof and took Michael with her. (Omitted line: “Come with me, Michael.”) This alternate staging echoes a suicide opening that was also briefly considered for Laurie, an idea the actress strongly opposed. In both the script and film, Laurie continues to exert the empowerment she felt in H20’s final act, telling her brother she’s not afraid of him nor is she afraid to die. It’s an altogether bold, if not unfortunate, exit for the longtime heroine.

  The sequel’s producers weren’t nearly as eager to say goodbye to Laurie Strode as the actress herself was. They unsuccessfully tried to convince Jamie Lee Curtis to leave the character’s fate a mystery after the opening. They even briefly lobbied the actress to have Laurie return in Resurrection’s final act to save Sara from the Shape, but Curtis flatly refused. If she were going to return for Halloween 8 at all, it would be to conclusively finish Laurie’s story.

  These opening scenes were a little different as first written. Per Larry Brand’s original script, security guards were to mistake the wandering Shape for an escaped Harold, the serial-killer obsessed patient, and actually escort him into the facility! (“Damn, Harold, you like to scare the shit out of me. Who you supposed to be today? Hmm. White mask. Don’t think I know that one.”) Theatrically, the Shape gives his bloody knife to Harold as he leaves the hospital. Rick Rosenthal theorized that this gift owed to the fact that Harold’s John Wayne Gacy mask reminded him of his own clown costume as a child. Per Brand’s script, there was a different motivation: The Shape was intentionally trying to frame Harold for the sanitarium murders. In a scene written but not filmed, authorities would go to interview Harold the following day and find him wearing a Laurie Strode novelty mask. (Fun facts: The opening scene nurses are named Wells and Phillips, which are nods to Orson Welles and Carl Phillips, the latter a character from the former’s War of the Worlds broadcast. They reference Doctors Fine and Howard, the latter with “curly hair.” This references the Three Stooges comedy trio of Moe, Larry, and Curly.

  RESHOOTS

  Miramax originally scheduled Resurrection to hit theaters on September 21, 2001. Yet the production wasn’t slated to wrap filming until early July, which left a scant eight weeks to complete post-production. Editors rushed to complete an initial cut, which was not especially well received. Rumors swirled that Moustapha Akkad was so dissatisfied that he fired Rosenthal, an accusation both parties denied. Speaking with journalist Luke Ford at the time, the director clarified, “There’s always talk. I can’t make a movie like this without rumors that John Carpenter is coming back. That Moustapha is unhappy. Moustapha is never happy until the movie makes a lot of money. [...] The film was never in trouble. The initial ending didn’t make sense. We didn’t have a visceral confrontation between the heroine and the killer. It was never cathartic.”

  Upon viewing this first cut, studio execs recommended additional filming to strengthen the story. This led Miramax to push the release date to July 19, 2002. In late 2001, they held several research screenings throughout New Jersey. Test audiences expressed dissatisfaction with the ending and a desire for more Busta Rhymes, which surprised even the filmmakers. As first written, the Dangertainment founder wasn’t even going to survive the film.

  “I don’t think anyone realized that going in,” Rosenthal told Fangoria. “Everybody thought he was terrific, but nobody knew he would be able to sustain the performance to the degree that he did. Busta went from ‘Did you see him, he was great’ to ‘He’s a movie star.’ He tested unbelievably hot.” In response to this, Miramax scheduled four days of reshoots across November and December 2001. The goal was to devise a new ending and increase the rapper-turned-actor’s screentime wherever possible.

  “Busta reworded and ad-libbed many of his lines. In this way, he really made the character’s voice his own. I personally found him very entertaining. I think that the fans who didn’t like him are responding to the character, Freddie, not the performance. They just didn’t think a character like Freddie belonged in a Halloween movie.”

  - Sean Hood

  Resurrection’s originally filmed ending saw Sara escape into the garage via Michael’s secret tunnel. He enters a moment later and begins angrily slashing about the darkened room. His blade catches a power cable, jolting him with electricity. Sara throws a live wire into a pool of blood at his feet, causing an electrical explosion. This electrocution effectively defeats the Shape, but also sets the room on fire, trapping Sara underneath fallen debris. Suddenly, Deckard bursts into the inferno to carry her to safety. After escaping the blaze, he reveals himself as her online pen pal since they’ve never actually met in person. As Brand writes, “Michael slumps as the electricity shorts out in an explosion of sparks, his body held up by the cables in an eerie tableau, arms spread like a dark messiah of the new millennium.” A short time later, first-responders wheel out a badly injured Freddie, who somberly apologizes to Sara. “I’m so sorry about your friends, everything that I’ve put you th
rough.” The film ends with Sara rebuffing Deckard for congratulating her on killing the boogeyman: “You can’t kill the boogeyman.”

  The filmmakers would capture several new endings during the winter reshoots, most of them eschewing the original ending’s seriousness for a more comedic tone. As released, Resurrection’s ending saw Sara escape into the garage through Michael’s secret tunnel. The Shape arrives a moment later and is attacked by a chainsaw-wielding Sara, who belts out a groan-worthy quip: “This is for Jen! This is for Rudy! For all of them!” In this ending, Sara accidentally starts the garage fire by cutting through power cables with the chainsaw. The same explosion happens, again pinning her under fallen debris. Before the Shape can kill her, however, Freddie enters instead of Deckard with another cringer: “Trick or treat, motherfucker.” The two engage in hand-to-hand combat with Freddie ultimately besting his opponent by jabbing a live wire into the Shape’s crotch. Grabbing Sara, they escape the burning room as Michael is electrocuted. Freddie later gives a statement to the press and looks upon Michael’s charred corpse, calling him a “chicken-fried motherfucker.” The final scene sees the Shape’s remains wheeled into the morgue. As the attendant unzips his body bag, Michael’s eyes suddenly open.

  It’s almost impressive how much worse Resurrection’s theatrical ending is from what was initially filmed. For starters, the original ending allowed the franchise’s new final girl the honor of slaying the Shape. In the new ending, Sara is but a damsel in distress who can’t even win a knife-fight with a chainsaw. Additionally, Deckard arriving to pull her from the fire was literally the only payoff to his entire subplot, especially since it marked their first meeting in reality. Theatrically, Deckard texts her “You’re alive!” and high-fives his friends at the party. This scene’s tone is a bit too celebratory given these same partygoers just witnessed half-a-dozen murders livestreamed before their eyes. Furthermore, Freddie’s reappearance is puzzling considering he was just stabbed twice in the shoulder so badly that he passed out cold. In the new ending, Freddie swings a shovel like a ninja’s bo-staff, shoulder injury be damned. As for the Shape’s roasted nuts, it ought be a general rule for Halloween’s that Michael’s family jewels be left alone. (Yes, H20 featured a knee to the groin, but this is somehow worse.)