John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Which is why it is such a shame that not only are all of the sequels nowhere near as good but that the decline in quality is so drastic. Ok, the original 'Halloween' is very difficult to follow on from, but most of the sequels could at least looked like effort was made into them. 'Halloween H20' is the one exception and the fourth film is also watchable. 'Halloween: Resurrection' is the worst offender. One of the worst sequels ever, of the genre and any genre, and one of the most pointless.

'Halloween H20' was a perfect place to stop the series, to have it resurrected so badly and in a way that disgraces the 'Halloween' name to intelligence insulting degrees is enough to make the blood boil. The only halfway good thing is Jamie Lee Curtis and she and her iconic character are written out in such a slap in the face way in a scene that is anything but creepy or suspenseful. Sadly that is the one scene that actually feels like it belongs in a 'Halloween' film.

Curtis aside, the acting is absolutely dreadful. By far the worst acted of the sequels, yes worse than the 'Revenge...' and 'Curse...', with the embarrassment that is Busta Rhymes being the biggest offender. The entire cast of characters are far more annoying than Tina in 'Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers' which is quite a feat.

Laughably awful dialogue, in a script that shouldn't have been approved beyond first draft if even that, can also be found. The film is even more ineptly directed than Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers' and the non-horror scenes in 'Season of the Witch'. Visually, it is far too gimmicky that it severely gets in the way of the atmosphere.

The music, after improving drastically in 'H20', is even bigger a drawback than in the fifth and sixth films, no it is no longer one of the best assets like it was in the first four films. Here it sounds cheap, goofy and just doesn't fit in placement or in tone. There is nothing remotely creepy, tense, suspenseful or even entertaining here, the deaths cause unintentional laughs, nothing creative or shocking.

The atmosphere is just ruined by that, gimmicky filming, a paper thin, confusing and ridiculous story that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, terrible dialogue and acting, intelligence insulting stupidity (Rhymes versus Michael, the nadir of the entire series bar none) and erratic pacing (mostly dull).

In summary, should never have been made, an unforgivably poor quality and pointless excuse of a sequel and a film. 1/10 (a rare rating for me these days but this deserves it). Bethany Cox

It comes as little surprise that HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION was the last film in the long-running HALLOWEEN series (except for the new Rob Zombie 're-imaginings'). It's a real stinker of a movie, totally devoid of any kind of originality and playing out its storyline with an inane mix of seriousness and goofiness, never really working as a straight film or a spoof. It's heavily indebted to two films: SCREAM, what with the self referencing and the self-aware nature of the hidden cameras, internet webcams etc., and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, with lots of mock-grainy video camera footage used in an attempt at atmospheric scares.

HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION begins in a totally unacceptable way: by killing Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Laurie Strode. Apparently, Curtis only agreed to appear if she would be killed off, so the scriptwriter decided to have her do something extremely stupid (and anybody who knows her character, especially from the first film, would know that she would never do something this crazy). Once that unpleasantness is out of the way, we're back into the predictable teen slasher mould, with a bunch of teenagers hooked up in the Myers house, having sex and smoking drugs until Myers himself turns up to bump them off. This film tries to update the plot into the internet age, so characters use palm-top computers and communicate online rather in real life, although oddly nobody seems to use a mobile phone much. It's all rather pointless.

The stalk 'n' slash sequences are amusing rather than frightening, and the cheesy gore effects are just that: all effect, all put on, without any impact. There's also one of the dumbest-looking severed head gags I've seen in a movie. The teen cast is pretty awful, with the ladies particularly ill-represented. Bianca Kajlich is an uninteresting heroine, and the rest of the girls are either bimbos or, in the worst case, Tyra Banks. Not that the guys fare much better: the two familiar cast members are American PIE's Thomas Ian Nicholas (he's offed quickly in a gag ripped from HOUSE) and black rapper Busta Rhymes, whose kung fu schtick come the climax is frankly embarrassing. This time around, Myers isn't in the least bit frightening, and he's played by a stuntman who should have stuck to doing stunts rather than trying to act menacing. The only decent thing about this film is the classic HALLOWEEN music, and even that was better in the original.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is catatonic locked in an asylum after the last encounter with Michael Myers. She is faking it and he is still after her. He stabs her in the back and sends her off the roof. Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich),Rudy Grimes (Sean Patrick Thomas) and Jen Danzig (Katee Sackhoff) are friends studying in Haddonfield University. Jen signs them up for a reality show at the Myers house. They are joined by Bill Woodlake (Thomas Ian Nicholas),Donna Chang, and Jim Morgan in the show run by Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and Nora Winston (Tyra Banks). Myles Barton is in a chatroom relationship with Sara. Unknown to them, the six reality TV guests are locked in the house with Michael Myers.

Despite any possible retcon, the first fifteen minutes are still the best part of this movie. Jamie Lee Curtis is Halloween every bit as much as Michael Myers. The rest is something else. Whatever it is, it's not Halloween. The reality TV idea is annoying and it gets worst with the intermittent reality TV camera work. I like a few of the actors, but Tyra Banks and Busta Rhymes really lower the likability factor. It's so bad that I am more interested in everybody getting killed. I don't care if any of them survive.