Halloween: Resurrection, the franchise’s eighth movie, brought Busta Rhymes to fight Michael Myers, yet the film’s live-stream Internet plot line was the worst part. However, far-fetched as it might have been for 2002, this plot line could potentially work for a Halloween movie in 2020 with just a little finesse.
Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who previously lent his talents to the direction of Halloween II, returned for Resurrection with a script by Larry Brand and Scott Hood. Busta Rhymes was the main attraction of the film, but he was joined by co-stars Bianca Kajlich, Ryan Merriman, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Tyra Banks. Jamie Lee Curtis, who previously stated that she wanted to end the franchise, returned for this film as Laurie Strode, but was killed by Michael in the very beginning. Her death was shocking to fans, but 2018’s complete retcon picked up forty years after the first movie and saw Curtis’ return to the fight. Some aspects of the franchise, including the Cult of Thorn arc through installments four through six, were completely convoluted, yet the notion of an Internet game show allowed Halloween to completely jump the shark.
While the film tried to embrace the modern 2000s style of slasher films with an ensemble cast, hip hop music, and adhered to some of the tropes that were more Scream and less Halloween, it’s attempt to be cutting edge ended up not striking a chord with critics or audiences, despite the fact that it managed to make a marginal profit at the box office, grossing $37.7 million at the box office on a $13 million budget. The concept of the Internet and social media was in such early stages back in 2002 that it almost seemed too high-tech, but in today’s world, this plot twist might actually work and do well with audiences.
Halloween: Resurrection’s Too Modern Take Could Work In 2020
In Halloween: Resurrection, a group of young people are set up to stay the night in Michael Myers’ house in Haddonfield for an Internet reality series called Dangertainment. Headed by Freddie (Busta Rhymes), it’s set up in exactly the way one might predict without even seeing the film where Michael comes home while others are, essentially, hanging out in his house and starts picking them off one-by-one. The film could easily be marked down for a lack of unpredictability on numerous levels, but that’s never been a strong suit of the franchise, so can be forgiven. However, the fact that Internet reality series were being lauded as a main part of life in 2002 made absolutely no sense.
Facebook and Myspace, two of the most popular social media platforms in the early 2000s and beyond, didn’t launch until 2003, a year after the film was released. At the time, the major platforms for social media were Friendster, and various types of online chatrooms, such as AOL Instant Messaging and Yahoo! Messenger. While certainly predictive of the future, it wasn’t a prominent feature of the times, so it was hard for audiences to connect. In modern times, however, social media isn’t just popular, it’s a lifestyle. With people being connected to their phones constantly and with the rise of live-stream gaming platforms like Twitch, it’s a whole new world.
Modern horror movies have toyed with technology before in interesting ways. Unfriended explored a vengeful spirit who sought revenge on classmates throughout various different social media platforms, and the found-footage sub-genre is perpetually on the rise in terms of popularity. While perhaps not the best avenue for a franchise like Halloween directly, there’s still potential. Scream 4 had a few interesting sequences that utilized web cams and head-mounted cameras to capture some of Ghostface’s action. With there being at least two more sequels left in the Halloween franchise, maybe there will be a nod to Halloween: Resurrection at some point, but with properly used technology that could make Michael Myers go viral.
Next: Halloween 2: Rob Zombie’s Biggest Mistake Was A Talking Michael Myers
