Myers Week: Mikey's Revenge
I just have to re-iterate how uncool disposing of Rachel (Ellie Cornell) was. I still think this is an even worse mistake than trying to shoehorn a "man in black" character into the franchise. I get the point that no one is safe from Mikey and all, but Rachel was such a personable character. Nothing against Wendy Caplan, but she screams *secondary character dead meat*, a sexually promiscuous (again, I am not a moralist; if she wanted to shag the leather jacket in a hot ride, be my guest) naughty friend of Rachel's (Caplan's Tina isn't even mentioned in the previous film at all, but I digress...) who loves to party. Maybe that is actually the point: why not personalize this party-hearty buddy of Rachel's while the virginal girl next door gets stabbed by a pair of scissors like twenty minutes into the movie. Try something different. Hence, the man in black. I figure if the fifth film (fourth involving Mikey) had been more successful, then the franchise would have explored the character. He gets it in the Producer's Cut of The Curse of Michael Myers, but I am thinking it wouldn't have taken six years of waiting had the fifth film been a success.
Despite the indescribably excruciating tease of Rachel almost in a state of undress, her taking a dirt nap made for a rather frustrating experience. I think the film is at its absolute best during its various "child terror" sequences where Jamie (Danielle Harris) is on the run from or tormented in *thought* by her uncle. The *psychic link* between Mikey and his niece is also this added detail to the plot that separates it from other films. She senses and feels Mikey, can feel his rage and see him kill. That further terrorizes Jamie. That point of keeping a child in a state of distress and duress is a method that urges us to fear for her safety. We are invested in her welfare. I think the laundry chute sequence is an ideal piece of well orchestrated suspense. Mikey seems to be in total control as Jamie tries to escape a chute and it seems there is no hope for her.
There's a really good chase scene with a car. I think these are a bit ludicrous (people simply don't outrun cars unless grandma is behind the wheel), but they are ideal for building tension. Put Mikey behind a wheel, in a muscle car, and have children and Tina caught off guard, in the dark with some fog, rural America, and there's some good that can come out of it.
Let Michael use an assortment of weapons (pitchfork, three-pronged garden tool, trusty butcher knife, car) and kill, baby, kill.
The film is far more stylist than Little's Return, as the barn sequence can attest, and there's a nightmare sequence I grooved from where Mikey emerges in the warm child home where Jamie is currently inhabiting, unable to talk (mute kid, traumatized by her previous experience is another added detail to this installment), as this figure of terror seems to close in on her...the only place of comfort that seems available to her is invaded. She can't even escape Mikey when she closes her eyes to sleep.
Despite the indescribably excruciating tease of Rachel almost in a state of undress, her taking a dirt nap made for a rather frustrating experience. I think the film is at its absolute best during its various "child terror" sequences where Jamie (Danielle Harris) is on the run from or tormented in *thought* by her uncle. The *psychic link* between Mikey and his niece is also this added detail to the plot that separates it from other films. She senses and feels Mikey, can feel his rage and see him kill. That further terrorizes Jamie. That point of keeping a child in a state of distress and duress is a method that urges us to fear for her safety. We are invested in her welfare. I think the laundry chute sequence is an ideal piece of well orchestrated suspense. Mikey seems to be in total control as Jamie tries to escape a chute and it seems there is no hope for her.
There's a really good chase scene with a car. I think these are a bit ludicrous (people simply don't outrun cars unless grandma is behind the wheel), but they are ideal for building tension. Put Mikey behind a wheel, in a muscle car, and have children and Tina caught off guard, in the dark with some fog, rural America, and there's some good that can come out of it.
Let Michael use an assortment of weapons (pitchfork, three-pronged garden tool, trusty butcher knife, car) and kill, baby, kill.
The film is far more stylist than Little's Return, as the barn sequence can attest, and there's a nightmare sequence I grooved from where Mikey emerges in the warm child home where Jamie is currently inhabiting, unable to talk (mute kid, traumatized by her previous experience is another added detail to this installment), as this figure of terror seems to close in on her...the only place of comfort that seems available to her is invaded. She can't even escape Mikey when she closes her eyes to sleep.
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