Halloween Resurrection
Director: Rick RosenthalKeeping in mind that they are following a predefined set of rules and situations, Halloween Resurrection, a Dimension Home Video release (28092, $20), is an entertaining and fairly satisfying entry in what one hopes will continue to be a perennial series. The premise in the 2002 feature, the eighth effort in that series, is that the house of the original murderer has been wired with cameras and a group of victims has been hired to spend the night for a reality TV and Internet program. Ah, but of course, the murderer then decides to come home. Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks are featured in the cast, with Jamie Lee Curtis coming the closest yet to imitating her mother's most famous film role. What the movie does is follow the basic formula with just enough of a fresh variation to make the inevitable mayhem worth waiting for. It's another treat for the slasher thriller goody bag, and one that you won't want to toss out.
The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. Now, since one of the techniques in the film is the utilization of the surveillance cameras to tell some of the story, it might have been better if the aspect ratio were a little squarer, but the director, Rick Rosenthal, employs the widescreen tricks that were originally developed by John Carpenter in the first film, illuminating the killer on one edge of the screen so that your head is swinging wildly back and forth (if your monitor is large enough) looking for him, and because of that, the wider image is well worthwhile.
The color transfer is fine, with crisp images that are only distorted when they are meant to be. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound has some great separation effects and a solid bass. The 89-minute program has an alternate French audio track in 5.1 Dolby, optional English subtitles, 10 minutes of deleted scenes and alternate endings that embellish the characters a bit more, a good 7-minute look at the movie's elaborate set, a 4-minute interview with Curtis, a 4-minute piece on the small video cameras the characters (and actors) have attached to their heads, several storyboard comparison sequences and a passable collection of publicity stills.
In the DVD's most impressive extra, Rosenthal has refashioned a 41-minute version of the thriller using the video he shot from the head cameras and the 'surveillance' cameras in the house, exclusively. It works sort of like The Blair Witch Project, but it plays differently from the actual movie and is a unique innovation, perhaps a glimpse of where the future of motion pictures is headed. It is worth noting that the segment is presented in full screen format.
Rosenthal has an alternate commentary on the deleted scenes, identifying them but not saying much. He also supplies a commentary for the film, aided by editor Robert Ferretti. For a while the talk is reasonably good, explaining how the film was staged and structured, and discussing the various contributors, but it slows down in the second half, focusing more on a description of the action than on what went on behind it. Rosenthal's best talk is an alternate commentary on the video film. He is clearly excited by the possibilities the format offers and bubbles over with explanations of how the shots are set up and put together.
