#j.c. brandy

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers | Joe Chappelle | 1995

365 Day Movie Challenge (2018) - #170: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (aka Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers) (1995) - dir. Joe Chappelle

(Warning: some spoilers ahead.)

Continuing my descent down the Halloween franchise rabbit hole, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers proved itself to be a film of little consequence, although it’s notable for featuring Paul Rudd in one of his earliest starring roles. Rudd plays Tommy Doyle, a character who was last seen in John Carpenter’s original Halloween film as the boy being babysat by Laurie Strode on that fateful night when Michael Myers made his first return trip to Haddonfield. As an adult, Tommy rents a room in a house next door to the old Myers place, which is where Laurie’s adoptive parents, John (Bradford English) and Debra Strode (Kim Darby), now live. Confusingly, the Strodes seem to have bought the house that Michael Myers was raised in prior to him killing his sister Judith when he was a kid; the excuse given is that John Strode is an abusive, alcoholic moron who only cared that the property was being sold at a discount since no one else would buy it. The film doesn’t specify when the Strodes moved in, but I find it weird that most of the family, which also includes grown-up children Kara (Marianne Hagan) and Tim (Keith Bogart), never knew that they lived in the Myers house until Halloween 1995. Even weirder, they act as though Laurie Strode never existed and the name “Michael Myers” is just some far-off myth. Did these people even live in Haddonfield, Illinois before the 1990s?

Once again Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) attempts to wipe out as much of the town’s population as (in)humanly possible, although much of the plot focuses on the fact that he has a son sired with Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy), whom he apparently captured at the end of Halloween 5 - we didn’t see it happen - and held prisoner for years. Circumstances lead Tommy to find the baby abandoned in a bus station bathroom, and so he must simultaneously keep the infant safe while also protecting Kara Strode and her young son, Danny (Devin Gardner), from harm. Plus Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence in one of his final films) is also in the mix, still doing battle against Michael, and there’s a subplot about Celtic witchcraft that I can’t even begin to parse. Oh, and for no reason at all, Tommy wears eyeliner, which is noteworthy only because it really makes Paul Rudd’s green eyes pop.