Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Encyclopedia
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is a 1995 American horror film
and the sixth installment in the Halloween series
. Directed by Joe Chappelle
from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands, the plot involves the "Curse of Thorn", a mystical symbol first shown in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
and revealed in the film to be the source of Michael Myers
' evil. The cast includes Paul Rudd
(in his first film appearance) as Tommy Doyle, a returning character from the original Halloween film
, and Donald Pleasence
reprising his final role as protagonist Dr. Sam Loomis
. Jamie Lloyd's appearance in the beginning of the film ties up loose ends to Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
Curse opened to a respectable $7.3 million on September 29, 1995, coming in second to New Line's seminal serial killer thriller Seven
. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and the Thorn plotline would be ignored in succeeding installments, 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
and 2002's Halloween: Resurrection
. However, the 2001 Halloween comic book series published by Chaos Comics — and based on Farrands' concept for the eighth Halloween film — attempts to bridge the continuity between The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween H20.
The sixth installment is known for its controversial behind-the-scenes history, suffering from re-shoots in production and numerous cuts and arrangements made in the editing room; the workprint
of the film, with 43 minutes of alternate footage including a different ending, was eventually discovered by fans
of the series. This version, dubbed "The Producer's Cut" (as it was the original intended version of the film) developed a strong cult following
, with bootleg
DVD
copies sold on eBay
.
, it is revealed that the Man in Black seen throughout the previous movie who had rescued Michael from the Haddonfield Police Station had also abducted his niece Jamie Lloyd as well. At this point, a now 15 year old Jamie (J.C. Brandy) has been impregnated. The baby is born on October 30, 1995 and is then carried away by the Man in Black who appears to be a leader of a Druidistic-like cult
. Later that night, Mary (Susan Swift
), a nurse, helps Jamie escape with her baby she warns is in harms way. Michael (George P. Wilbur
), in pursuit of Jamie and her newborn, kills the nurse. Jamie and the baby flee in a stolen pickup of a drunk motorist (who quickly becomes Michael's next victim) and hides at a dark and deserted bus station. She calls into a local radio station for help, only to be ignored by the DJ Barry Simms (Leo Geter
) who is doing a broadcast on the Haddonfield murders. Michael nearly corners her, but she escapes only to later be run off the road by Michael. Beaten and exhausted, she makes her way inside of an old barn where Michael pushes her into a corn thresher
, only to find that Jamie does not have the baby.
Meanwhile, Tommy Doyle (Paul Stephen Rudd
), the child Laurie Strode
babysat in the first film
, has his eye on a family who has moved into the old Myers house across the street from the boarding house
where he lives. The boarding house is run by a mysterious old woman named Mrs. Blankenship (Janice Knickrehm
). For years, Tommy has been obsessed with finding the truth behind the murderous motives of Michael Myers. After hearing Jamie begging for help on a local radio show, Tommy finds her baby at the bus station, takes the child into his care and names him Steven. Tommy runs into Dr. Loomis
(Donald Pleasence
) at the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and tells him of a family living in the old Myers house when the two are convinced Michael has indeed come back to Haddonfield.
The people living in the Myers house are relatives of the Strode family who had adopted Laurie. While Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan
), her six-year-old son, Danny (Devin Gardner), and Kara's teenage brother, Tim (Keith Bogart
), are at school, Dr. Loomis visits their mother Debra Strode (Kim Darby
) and reveals to her that she is living in Michael's home. After he leaves, Debra calls her husband John (Bradford English
) who is at work and tries to convince him to leave Haddonfield but is then killed by Michael. Later, Kara returns home to find Danny in his room with Tommy, whom he had met while on his way home. The three of them go to Tommy's house across the street, where Tommy reveals to Kara that he believes Michael was selected by a cult of people to be under the influence of an ancient rune symbol called Thorn
; that druid astronomers
claimed originated from a constellation of stars that appear from time to time on Halloween night. It is an ancient Druid curse that represented a demon that spread sickness and caused destruction. To prevent this, a child from each tribe was chosen to inherit the curse and would offer a blood sacrifice of its next of kin on the night of Samhain
(Halloween). The curse explains why Michael is trying to kill his family and also accounts for his superhuman abilities.
While Tommy goes out to look for Dr. Loomis at a party at the Haddonfield Junior College, Mrs. Blankenship reveals to Kara (after talking to Danny) that she was babysitting Michael Myers when he killed his sister many years ago, and that Danny hears the "voice" telling him to kill just like Michael Myers heard when she was babysitting him the night he killed Judith. This indicates that he is to be the next child to come into the influence of Thorn. Meanwhile, Michael kills Barry Simms, John Strode, and then Tim and his girlfriend Beth (Mariah O'Brien
). After Tommy returns to the boarding house with Dr. Loomis, the "Man in Black" finally reveals himself as Dr. Wynn (Mitchell Ryan) from the original Halloween
. After a terrifying showdown, he and his cult of people who appear to be the "Cult of Thorn" take Kara, Danny, Steven, and Michael back to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, with Tommy and Dr. Loomis following them. Loomis confronts Dr. Wynn, who credits him for recognizing the evil he corrupted inside Michael. Wynn then implies that Jamie's baby represents a new cycle of evil, inviting Loomis to join in on his efforts. Stunned, Loomis calls Wynn out on his evil scheme before being knocked unconscious by a staff member. Meanwhile, Tommy finds Kara locked in a room in the maximum security ward. After a brief confrontation with Michael, they continue on to find Danny and Steven.
In the hallway, they see Dr. Wynn and a team of surgeons walk into an operating room after discussing a scientific breakthrough procedure they are about to work on as a result of a genetic experiment
. Tommy and Kara sneak into the adjoining room, where they find the children. They watch the doctors begin to perform the procedure, but Michael soon interrupts it, walking in with a surgical machete
and slaughters them all (though Dr. Wynn's fate remains unclear in this sequence). Tommy, Kara, and the kids run with Michael in hot pursuit until they hide in a high-tech medical laboratory. Inside the lab, Kara notices tanks containing human fetuses inside each one of them with a chart of runes and scientific letter codes next to them; both connected together by the Thorn symbol. There is the vague suggestion that Dr. Wynn and the sanitarium crew are not a true "Cult of Thorn" but a group of geneticists who are trying to control and study Michael's evil power, and harvest that power through more than one child through IVF, PCR
and using the female patients of the sanitarium.
Michael breaks into the room where Tommy injects him with tranquilizers of a corrosive and beats him into unconsciousness with a lead pipe. As Dr. Loomis, Tommy, Kara, Danny, and Steven are about to escape, Loomis tells them to go on without him because he has "a little business" to attend to. Back inside the building, Michael's mask is found lying on the floor of the lab room as the screams of Dr. Loomis can be heard in the background.
In 1990, screenwriter, and long-time Halloween fan, Daniel Farrands, had set out to write the sixth entry in the Halloween series. Farrands gave his horror movie scripts to the producer of Halloween 5, Ramsey Thomas; impressed by his writing, Thomas set a meeting for Farrands with executive producer Moustapha Akkad
. Farrands described the meeting:
Although the producers at the time had already sought to make a sixth Halloween film, a series of complicated legal battles ensued which delayed plans for a sequel; eventually Miramax Films (via its Dimension Films
division) bought the rights to the Halloween franchise.
The writer and filmmakers' intentions with the script were to ultimately unveil what had kept Michael Myers alive, and his reasons for killing. They decided upon using the "Curse of Thorn"-angle, which is the concept that Myers had been under the influence of an ancient Celtic curse
that drove him to murder all family members in his bloodline; once this task was completed, the curse would be passed onto another young child.
returned as Dr. Loomis
, in his last performance; according to Farrands, Pleasence "loved the script for 6, however, and told me that he felt it was the best story since the original." Danielle Harris
was asked to reprise her role as Jamie Lloyd
, but she and Dimension
could not come to an agreement over her salary and ultimately did not want to pay Danielle more than she received in Halloween 4. Harris herself admitted to "not caring for the script" and that upon meeting with director Joe Chappelle, did not see "eye to eye" on things. She also stated that she did not like that Jamie would be killed in the beginning of the film, because her character was no longer important to the series. She ultimately opted out of reprising the role, and J. C. Brandy
was cast instead. The producers wanted Brian Andrews
to reprise his role as Tommy Doyle. However, without an agent, they could not get in contact with Andrews.
The leading female role, Kara, was given to Marianne Hagan
; however, Hagan has since stated that Miramax did not favor her, and made aesthetic criticisms about her being "too thin" and her chin being "too pointy".
For the role of Dr. Terence Wynn, Mitchell Ryan was cast; Farrands originally urged the producers to cast Christopher Lee
, having had the veteran horror actor in mind when writing the character. Denise Richards
also auditioned for the part of Beth, but the studio passed on her, giving the role to Mariah O'Brien.
Stunt performer
George P. Wilbur
, who portrayed Michael in the fourth installment
, reprises his role as the silent unstoppable killer in the film.
and April Fool's Day) was originally attached to direct Halloween 6 but dropped out. Cult movie director Jeff Burr
also expressed interest in directing the film at one point.
Filming started in October 1994 and was shot mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah
; the city was experiencing an early winter at the time which proved troublesome for the production company. Producer Paul Freeman and director Chappelle reportedly rewrote the ending on-set, even from shot to shot as production deadlines loomed large. Freeman also sent the crew home when crucial scenes needed to be shot; deleting scripted scenes indiscriminately, rewrote dialogue and action sequences; and took it upon himself to direct second-unit shot as well supervised the post-production phase of the original cut and made a series of blunders that resulted in Miramax taking control of the film, ordering reshoots.
In early 1995, after filming and editing was completed, Halloween 6 was given a test screening which, as described by actress Marianne Hagan, "consisted primarily of 14-year-old boys." During the Q & A afterward, one of them expressed great displeasure at the ending of the film, which entailed a Celt
ic ritual and the passing on of the Curse of Thorn to the Dr. Loomis character. As a result of the audience's disapproval toward the film's finale, the movie was rushed back into production, this time without Donald Pleasence, who died on February 2, 1995.
The film's ending was excised from the original cut that had been shown in the test screenings, and an entire new ending was shot that nearly dropped the film's "Curse of Thorn" concept entirely. Additionally, over twenty minutes of other footage was removed from the film during the re-editing process, creating several plot holes in the final cut.
Some violent footage was also edited out for fear of an NC-17 rating. This including some extra seconds of Jamie being impale
d on the drills, with more blood pouring from her mouth and extra closeups of the drills going through her body. The other major edited scene involved Michael ramming the doctor's head through the bars in the hospital until his head is gorily mashed through and pulps of his skull hit the floor. This footage is restored in the "Director's Cut".
is composed by long-time Halloween contributor Alan Howarth, his work in the series dating back to his collaboration with John Carpenter
on Halloween II
. However, Howarth's score was redone when the film went through reshoots. A soundtrack album was released by Varese Sarabande Records, and is an unusual combination of the music featured in the original cut of the film, as well as that of the final theatrical cut.
The music of Alabama based rock band, Brother Cane
, was featured throughout the movie. The music came from their 1995 release Seeds on Virgin Records
. The album's hit single "And Fools Shine On" can be heard when Kara, Tim and Beth arrive at school in their car. The song is also heard during the closing credits. Three other Brother Cane songs (all from the Seeds album) are featured in the film: "Hung on a Rope", "20/20 Faith", and "Horses & Needles".
"Disconnected" by the group I Found God is also featured in the film.
of the film employed the title Halloween 666: The Origin of Michael Myers, which according to Daniel Farrands, came before an official title had been decided, and that the trailer title was a combination of an earlier script titled The Origin of Michael Myers by another writer, and Farrands' original script titled Halloween 666. At one point, executive producer Moustapha Akkad asked Farrands for a title, who suggested The Curse of Michael Myers due to the troubled production. Although Farrands was half-joking, Akkad took the name to heart and decided upon it. Farrands also adds that this coincidentally made the subtitles similar to those in The Pink Panther
films, which also used Return, Revenge, and Curse subtitles.
thriller Se7en
, being the first film in the series to beat Halloween IIs opening weekend gross. The film went on to gross a total of $15,116,634 at the U.S. box office, from an estimated $5 million budget.
called the film "tired" and "run-of-the-mill", while Mick LaSalle
of the San Francisco Chronicle
said the film lacked suspense and said that "not even the presence of the late, gloriously histrionic Donald Pleasence can liven things up". In general, most critics had negative reactions to the film. It currently holds a 7% 'Rotten' rating on the film review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes
. Screenwriter Daniel Farrands generally dislikes the film, due to its deviations from his original script. Although Farrands thinks both versions are poor, he considers the Producer's Cut to be the superior version.
in Canada. The film was released on Blu-ray and again on DVD in the United States on May 10, 2011. Home entertainment distributors Echo Bridge Entertainment are planning an official realease of The Producer's Cut on Blu-ray. No release date has been confirmed as of yet, it is known that two cuts will be available on the Blu-ray release, The Producer's Cut and possibly either the theatrical or director's cut.
On the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD, it was stated that Dimension was trying to plan an official release of the Producer's Cut. Fangoria
reported that the Producer's Cut may get an official release. However, Disney, who owns the rights to the film; decided not to give an official release.
Fans continue to sign online petitions asking for an official release of the Producer's Cut, but there has been no official release for any of the alternate versions.
A few select scenes from the Producer's Cut can be seen on the television version of the film. The scenes were re-inserted to increase the running time of the film (originally a scant 88 minutes).
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and the sixth installment in the Halloween series
Halloween (film series)
Halloween is an American horror franchise that consists of ten slasher films, novels, and comic books. The franchise focuses on the fictional character of Michael Myers who was committed to a sanitarium as a child for the murder of his older sister, Judith Myers...
. Directed by Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands, the plot involves the "Curse of Thorn", a mystical symbol first shown in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is a 1989 American slasher film and the fifth installment in the Halloween film series. It was directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard and starred Donald Pleasence, who again portrayed Dr. Sam Loomis and Danielle Harris, who returned to play Jamie Lloyd...
and revealed in the film to be the source of Michael Myers
Michael Myers (Halloween)
Michael Myers is a fictional character from the Halloween series of slasher films. He first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween as a young boy who murders his older sister, then fifteen years later returns home to murder more teenagers...
' evil. The cast includes Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
(in his first film appearance) as Tommy Doyle, a returning character from the original Halloween film
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
, and Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
reprising his final role as protagonist Dr. Sam Loomis
Samuel Loomis
Samuel Loomis was a Connecticut furniture maker and the most celebrated maker of Colchester/Norwich style furniture.-External links:* ]]* ]]...
. Jamie Lloyd's appearance in the beginning of the film ties up loose ends to Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
Curse opened to a respectable $7.3 million on September 29, 1995, coming in second to New Line's seminal serial killer thriller Seven
Seven (film)
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and the Thorn plotline would be ignored in succeeding installments, 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later is a 1998 slasher film and is the seventh installment in the Halloween film series. It is directed by Steve Miner and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, and Michelle Williams. The screenplay, based on a story by Kevin Williamson further developed by Robert...
and 2002's Halloween: Resurrection
Halloween: Resurrection
Halloween: Resurrection is a 2002 American horror film and eighth installment in the Halloween film series. Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who had also directed Halloween II, the film builds upon the continuity of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later...
. However, the 2001 Halloween comic book series published by Chaos Comics — and based on Farrands' concept for the eighth Halloween film — attempts to bridge the continuity between The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween H20.
The sixth installment is known for its controversial behind-the-scenes history, suffering from re-shoots in production and numerous cuts and arrangements made in the editing room; the workprint
Workprint
A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture, used by the film editor during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or special effects, and animation tests for in-production...
of the film, with 43 minutes of alternate footage including a different ending, was eventually discovered by fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
of the series. This version, dubbed "The Producer's Cut" (as it was the original intended version of the film) developed a strong cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
, with bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
copies sold on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Plot
Six years after the events of Halloween 5Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is a 1989 American slasher film and the fifth installment in the Halloween film series. It was directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard and starred Donald Pleasence, who again portrayed Dr. Sam Loomis and Danielle Harris, who returned to play Jamie Lloyd...
, it is revealed that the Man in Black seen throughout the previous movie who had rescued Michael from the Haddonfield Police Station had also abducted his niece Jamie Lloyd as well. At this point, a now 15 year old Jamie (J.C. Brandy) has been impregnated. The baby is born on October 30, 1995 and is then carried away by the Man in Black who appears to be a leader of a Druidistic-like cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. Later that night, Mary (Susan Swift
Susan Swift
Susan Rachel Swift is an American actor and former child actor.-Early life:Swift was born in Houston, Texas. She attended Pepperdine University and became an attorney practicing in Downtown Los Angeles...
), a nurse, helps Jamie escape with her baby she warns is in harms way. Michael (George P. Wilbur
George P. Wilbur
-Biography:Wilbur played Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the fourth and sixth films of the Halloween film series. He was the first actor to portray Michael Myers more than once during the film series...
), in pursuit of Jamie and her newborn, kills the nurse. Jamie and the baby flee in a stolen pickup of a drunk motorist (who quickly becomes Michael's next victim) and hides at a dark and deserted bus station. She calls into a local radio station for help, only to be ignored by the DJ Barry Simms (Leo Geter
Leo Geter
Leo Geter is an American character actor who has appeared in many films, including the 1984 hit Footloose, as well as Near Dark, The Stand, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and Silent Night, Deadly Night....
) who is doing a broadcast on the Haddonfield murders. Michael nearly corners her, but she escapes only to later be run off the road by Michael. Beaten and exhausted, she makes her way inside of an old barn where Michael pushes her into a corn thresher
Threshing machine
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...
, only to find that Jamie does not have the baby.
Meanwhile, Tommy Doyle (Paul Stephen Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
), the child Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the Halloween horror film series, portrayed by actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Scout Taylor-Compton. She appears in six of the present ten Halloween installments, first appearing in John Carpenter's original 1978 film...
babysat in the first film
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
, has his eye on a family who has moved into the old Myers house across the street from the boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
where he lives. The boarding house is run by a mysterious old woman named Mrs. Blankenship (Janice Knickrehm
Janice Knickrehm
Janice Knickrehm is an actress known for her role in the film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, as Ms. Blankenship. She made an appearance at the 25 Year Anniversary convention for Halloween held in Pasadena, California in 2003...
). For years, Tommy has been obsessed with finding the truth behind the murderous motives of Michael Myers. After hearing Jamie begging for help on a local radio show, Tommy finds her baby at the bus station, takes the child into his care and names him Steven. Tommy runs into Dr. Loomis
Samuel Loomis
Samuel Loomis was a Connecticut furniture maker and the most celebrated maker of Colchester/Norwich style furniture.-External links:* ]]* ]]...
(Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
) at the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and tells him of a family living in the old Myers house when the two are convinced Michael has indeed come back to Haddonfield.
The people living in the Myers house are relatives of the Strode family who had adopted Laurie. While Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan
Marianne Hagan
Marianne Hagan is an American actress and writer.-Early life:Hagan was born and raised in New York and is of Irish, Scottish, Italian and Belgian descent...
), her six-year-old son, Danny (Devin Gardner), and Kara's teenage brother, Tim (Keith Bogart
Keith Bogart
Keith Bogart is an actor who has starred in film, television and theatre. Keith is best known for his roll in the horror film community in the 1995 horror film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as Tim Strode...
), are at school, Dr. Loomis visits their mother Debra Strode (Kim Darby
Kim Darby
Kim Darby is an American actress perhaps best known for co-starring with John Wayne and country singer/actor Glen Campbell in the 1969 western True Grit.-Early life and film career:...
) and reveals to her that she is living in Michael's home. After he leaves, Debra calls her husband John (Bradford English
Bradford English
Bradford English Born in 1943, is a character actor who has starred in film and on movies. He is best known in the horror film community for his role in the 1995 horror movie Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as John Strode...
) who is at work and tries to convince him to leave Haddonfield but is then killed by Michael. Later, Kara returns home to find Danny in his room with Tommy, whom he had met while on his way home. The three of them go to Tommy's house across the street, where Tommy reveals to Kara that he believes Michael was selected by a cult of people to be under the influence of an ancient rune symbol called Thorn
Thorn (letter)
Thorn or þorn , is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, and Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph th. The letter originated from the rune in the Elder Fuþark, called thorn in the...
; that druid astronomers
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
claimed originated from a constellation of stars that appear from time to time on Halloween night. It is an ancient Druid curse that represented a demon that spread sickness and caused destruction. To prevent this, a child from each tribe was chosen to inherit the curse and would offer a blood sacrifice of its next of kin on the night of Samhain
Samhain
Samhain is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer...
(Halloween). The curse explains why Michael is trying to kill his family and also accounts for his superhuman abilities.
While Tommy goes out to look for Dr. Loomis at a party at the Haddonfield Junior College, Mrs. Blankenship reveals to Kara (after talking to Danny) that she was babysitting Michael Myers when he killed his sister many years ago, and that Danny hears the "voice" telling him to kill just like Michael Myers heard when she was babysitting him the night he killed Judith. This indicates that he is to be the next child to come into the influence of Thorn. Meanwhile, Michael kills Barry Simms, John Strode, and then Tim and his girlfriend Beth (Mariah O'Brien
Mariah O'Brien
Mariah O'Brien is an American film and television actress.-Career:O'Brien is perhaps best known for playing the role of "Beth" in the 1995 horror sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Her feature film debut was a small role in the 1992 drama Gas, Food Lodging, which starred Brooke Adams,...
). After Tommy returns to the boarding house with Dr. Loomis, the "Man in Black" finally reveals himself as Dr. Wynn (Mitchell Ryan) from the original Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
. After a terrifying showdown, he and his cult of people who appear to be the "Cult of Thorn" take Kara, Danny, Steven, and Michael back to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, with Tommy and Dr. Loomis following them. Loomis confronts Dr. Wynn, who credits him for recognizing the evil he corrupted inside Michael. Wynn then implies that Jamie's baby represents a new cycle of evil, inviting Loomis to join in on his efforts. Stunned, Loomis calls Wynn out on his evil scheme before being knocked unconscious by a staff member. Meanwhile, Tommy finds Kara locked in a room in the maximum security ward. After a brief confrontation with Michael, they continue on to find Danny and Steven.
In the hallway, they see Dr. Wynn and a team of surgeons walk into an operating room after discussing a scientific breakthrough procedure they are about to work on as a result of a genetic experiment
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
. Tommy and Kara sneak into the adjoining room, where they find the children. They watch the doctors begin to perform the procedure, but Michael soon interrupts it, walking in with a surgical machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
and slaughters them all (though Dr. Wynn's fate remains unclear in this sequence). Tommy, Kara, and the kids run with Michael in hot pursuit until they hide in a high-tech medical laboratory. Inside the lab, Kara notices tanks containing human fetuses inside each one of them with a chart of runes and scientific letter codes next to them; both connected together by the Thorn symbol. There is the vague suggestion that Dr. Wynn and the sanitarium crew are not a true "Cult of Thorn" but a group of geneticists who are trying to control and study Michael's evil power, and harvest that power through more than one child through IVF, PCR
Polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
and using the female patients of the sanitarium.
Michael breaks into the room where Tommy injects him with tranquilizers of a corrosive and beats him into unconsciousness with a lead pipe. As Dr. Loomis, Tommy, Kara, Danny, and Steven are about to escape, Loomis tells them to go on without him because he has "a little business" to attend to. Back inside the building, Michael's mask is found lying on the floor of the lab room as the screams of Dr. Loomis can be heard in the background.
Cast
- Donald PleasenceDonald PleasenceSir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
as Dr. Sam Loomis - Paul Stephen RuddPaul RuddPaul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
as Tommy Doyle - Marianne HaganMarianne HaganMarianne Hagan is an American actress and writer.-Early life:Hagan was born and raised in New York and is of Irish, Scottish, Italian and Belgian descent...
as Kara Strode - George P. WilburGeorge P. Wilbur-Biography:Wilbur played Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the fourth and sixth films of the Halloween film series. He was the first actor to portray Michael Myers more than once during the film series...
as Michael MyersMichael Myers (Halloween)Michael Myers is a fictional character from the Halloween series of slasher films. He first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween as a young boy who murders his older sister, then fifteen years later returns home to murder more teenagers... - Mitchell Ryan as Dr. Terence Wynn
- Kim DarbyKim DarbyKim Darby is an American actress perhaps best known for co-starring with John Wayne and country singer/actor Glen Campbell in the 1969 western True Grit.-Early life and film career:...
as Debra Strode - Bradford EnglishBradford EnglishBradford English Born in 1943, is a character actor who has starred in film and on movies. He is best known in the horror film community for his role in the 1995 horror movie Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as John Strode...
as John Strode - Keith BogartKeith BogartKeith Bogart is an actor who has starred in film, television and theatre. Keith is best known for his roll in the horror film community in the 1995 horror film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as Tim Strode...
as Tim Strode - J.C. Brandy as Jamie Lloyd CarruthersJamie LloydJamie Lloyd is a fictional character in the Halloween film series, serving as the series protagonist in Halloween 4 and 5. The character also makes a brief appearance in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers....
- Mariah O'BrienMariah O'BrienMariah O'Brien is an American film and television actress.-Career:O'Brien is perhaps best known for playing the role of "Beth" in the 1995 horror sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Her feature film debut was a small role in the 1992 drama Gas, Food Lodging, which starred Brooke Adams,...
as Beth - Leo GeterLeo GeterLeo Geter is an American character actor who has appeared in many films, including the 1984 hit Footloose, as well as Near Dark, The Stand, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and Silent Night, Deadly Night....
as Barry Simms - Devin Gardner as Danny Strode
- Susan SwiftSusan SwiftSusan Rachel Swift is an American actor and former child actor.-Early life:Swift was born in Houston, Texas. She attended Pepperdine University and became an attorney practicing in Downtown Los Angeles...
as Mary - Janice KnickrehmJanice KnickrehmJanice Knickrehm is an actress known for her role in the film Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, as Ms. Blankenship. She made an appearance at the 25 Year Anniversary convention for Halloween held in Pasadena, California in 2003...
as Mrs. Blankenship
Production
Moustapha Akkad
Moustapha Akkad was a Syrian American film producer and director, best known for producing the series of Halloween films and directing Mohammad, Messenger of God and Lion of the Desert. He was killed along with his daughter Rima Akkad Monla in 2005 in Amman, Jordan by a suicide bomber.-Early life...
. Farrands described the meeting:
Although the producers at the time had already sought to make a sixth Halloween film, a series of complicated legal battles ensued which delayed plans for a sequel; eventually Miramax Films (via its Dimension Films
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
division) bought the rights to the Halloween franchise.
Writing
In 1994, Akkad called Daniel Farrands for him to write the sixth Halloween film, after several screenplays from writers were deemed insufficient. Farrands has said his initial intent for Halloween 6 was to "bridge the later films (4-5) in the series to the earlier films (1-2) while at the same time taking the story into new territory so that the series could expand for future installments." Daniel Farrands had written several drafts to the film. His final draft, originally titled Halloween 666, went through eleven different drafts.The writer and filmmakers' intentions with the script were to ultimately unveil what had kept Michael Myers alive, and his reasons for killing. They decided upon using the "Curse of Thorn"-angle, which is the concept that Myers had been under the influence of an ancient Celtic curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
that drove him to murder all family members in his bloodline; once this task was completed, the curse would be passed onto another young child.
Casting
Donald PleasenceDonald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
returned as Dr. Loomis
Samuel Loomis
Samuel Loomis was a Connecticut furniture maker and the most celebrated maker of Colchester/Norwich style furniture.-External links:* ]]* ]]...
, in his last performance; according to Farrands, Pleasence "loved the script for 6, however, and told me that he felt it was the best story since the original." Danielle Harris
Danielle Harris
Danielle Andrea Harris is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her roles in several horror films, four of them in the Halloween series: in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in Halloween and...
was asked to reprise her role as Jamie Lloyd
Jamie Lloyd
Jamie Lloyd is a fictional character in the Halloween film series, serving as the series protagonist in Halloween 4 and 5. The character also makes a brief appearance in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers....
, but she and Dimension
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
could not come to an agreement over her salary and ultimately did not want to pay Danielle more than she received in Halloween 4. Harris herself admitted to "not caring for the script" and that upon meeting with director Joe Chappelle, did not see "eye to eye" on things. She also stated that she did not like that Jamie would be killed in the beginning of the film, because her character was no longer important to the series. She ultimately opted out of reprising the role, and J. C. Brandy
J. C. Brandy
Justine Chelsea "J. C." Brandy is a British actress.-Career:Among her roles she has appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation playing the role of Ensign Marta Batanides in the episode "Tapestry", CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Strong Medicine, What Lies Beneath , Silk Stalkings and played Jamie...
was cast instead. The producers wanted Brian Andrews
Brian Andrews (actor)
Brian Andrews is an American actor who has starred in movies and on television. He is best known for his role as Tommy Doyle in the classic John Carpenter horror movie Halloween, and reprised this role in Halloween II in a small appearance...
to reprise his role as Tommy Doyle. However, without an agent, they could not get in contact with Andrews.
The leading female role, Kara, was given to Marianne Hagan
Marianne Hagan
Marianne Hagan is an American actress and writer.-Early life:Hagan was born and raised in New York and is of Irish, Scottish, Italian and Belgian descent...
; however, Hagan has since stated that Miramax did not favor her, and made aesthetic criticisms about her being "too thin" and her chin being "too pointy".
For the role of Dr. Terence Wynn, Mitchell Ryan was cast; Farrands originally urged the producers to cast Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, having had the veteran horror actor in mind when writing the character. Denise Richards
Denise Richards
Denise Lee Richards is an American actress and former fashion model of Croatian and Welsh descent. She has appeared in films including Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and The World Is Not Enough...
also auditioned for the part of Beth, but the studio passed on her, giving the role to Mariah O'Brien.
Stunt performer
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
George P. Wilbur
George P. Wilbur
-Biography:Wilbur played Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the fourth and sixth films of the Halloween film series. He was the first actor to portray Michael Myers more than once during the film series...
, who portrayed Michael in the fourth installment
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a 1988 slasher film and the fourth installment of the Halloween film series, directed by Dwight H. Little and written by Alan B. McElroy. The central plot focuses on Michael Myers returning home to kill his niece Jamie Lloyd , the daughter of Laurie...
, reprises his role as the silent unstoppable killer in the film.
Filming
Fred Walton (director of When a Stranger CallsWhen a Stranger Calls (1979 film)
When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 thriller starring Carol Kane and Charles Durning, directed by Fred Walton. The film derives its story from the classic folk legend of "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". The original music score is composed by television composer Dana Kaproff.The film ranked #28...
and April Fool's Day) was originally attached to direct Halloween 6 but dropped out. Cult movie director Jeff Burr
Jeff Burr
Jeff Burr is an American film director, Writer and producer best known for his work in horror sequels, such as Stepfather II, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Puppet Master 4 and 5, and Pumpkinhead II....
also expressed interest in directing the film at one point.
Filming started in October 1994 and was shot mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
; the city was experiencing an early winter at the time which proved troublesome for the production company. Producer Paul Freeman and director Chappelle reportedly rewrote the ending on-set, even from shot to shot as production deadlines loomed large. Freeman also sent the crew home when crucial scenes needed to be shot; deleting scripted scenes indiscriminately, rewrote dialogue and action sequences; and took it upon himself to direct second-unit shot as well supervised the post-production phase of the original cut and made a series of blunders that resulted in Miramax taking control of the film, ordering reshoots.
In early 1995, after filming and editing was completed, Halloween 6 was given a test screening which, as described by actress Marianne Hagan, "consisted primarily of 14-year-old boys." During the Q & A afterward, one of them expressed great displeasure at the ending of the film, which entailed a Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic ritual and the passing on of the Curse of Thorn to the Dr. Loomis character. As a result of the audience's disapproval toward the film's finale, the movie was rushed back into production, this time without Donald Pleasence, who died on February 2, 1995.
The film's ending was excised from the original cut that had been shown in the test screenings, and an entire new ending was shot that nearly dropped the film's "Curse of Thorn" concept entirely. Additionally, over twenty minutes of other footage was removed from the film during the re-editing process, creating several plot holes in the final cut.
Some violent footage was also edited out for fear of an NC-17 rating. This including some extra seconds of Jamie being impale
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
d on the drills, with more blood pouring from her mouth and extra closeups of the drills going through her body. The other major edited scene involved Michael ramming the doctor's head through the bars in the hospital until his head is gorily mashed through and pulps of his skull hit the floor. This footage is restored in the "Director's Cut".
Music
The original music scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
is composed by long-time Halloween contributor Alan Howarth, his work in the series dating back to his collaboration with John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
on Halloween II
Halloween II
Halloween II is a 1981 slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal, and written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. It is the second installment in the Halloween series and is a direct sequel to the Halloween set on the same night of October 31, 1978 as the seemingly unkillable Michael Myers continues to...
. However, Howarth's score was redone when the film went through reshoots. A soundtrack album was released by Varese Sarabande Records, and is an unusual combination of the music featured in the original cut of the film, as well as that of the final theatrical cut.
The music of Alabama based rock band, Brother Cane
Brother Cane
Brother Cane was an American hard rock band that released three albums in the 1990s. The band was formed in 1990 by singer/guitarist Damon Johnson and bassist Glenn Maxey. Joined by guitarist Roman Glick and drummer Scott Collier, Brother Cane released their self-titled debut album in 1993...
, was featured throughout the movie. The music came from their 1995 release Seeds on Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
. The album's hit single "And Fools Shine On" can be heard when Kara, Tim and Beth arrive at school in their car. The song is also heard during the closing credits. Three other Brother Cane songs (all from the Seeds album) are featured in the film: "Hung on a Rope", "20/20 Faith", and "Horses & Needles".
"Disconnected" by the group I Found God is also featured in the film.
Release
An earlier teaser trailerTeaser trailer
A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...
of the film employed the title Halloween 666: The Origin of Michael Myers, which according to Daniel Farrands, came before an official title had been decided, and that the trailer title was a combination of an earlier script titled The Origin of Michael Myers by another writer, and Farrands' original script titled Halloween 666. At one point, executive producer Moustapha Akkad asked Farrands for a title, who suggested The Curse of Michael Myers due to the troubled production. Although Farrands was half-joking, Akkad took the name to heart and decided upon it. Farrands also adds that this coincidentally made the subtitles similar to those in The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers...
films, which also used Return, Revenge, and Curse subtitles.
Box office
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released on September 29, 1995 in the United States, and brought in a $7,308,529 opening weekend gross, coming in second to serial killerSerial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
thriller Se7en
Seven (film)
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
, being the first film in the series to beat Halloween IIs opening weekend gross. The film went on to gross a total of $15,116,634 at the U.S. box office, from an estimated $5 million budget.
Critical reception
While the film was a financial success, it received poor reviews from film critics. Daniel Kimmel of VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called the film "tired" and "run-of-the-mill", while Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said the film lacked suspense and said that "not even the presence of the late, gloriously histrionic Donald Pleasence can liven things up". In general, most critics had negative reactions to the film. It currently holds a 7% 'Rotten' rating on the film review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Screenwriter Daniel Farrands generally dislikes the film, due to its deviations from his original script. Although Farrands thinks both versions are poor, he considers the Producer's Cut to be the superior version.
Home media
The film was first released for home media on VHS on October 7, 1997. A DVD followed on October 10, 2000. In January 2010, the film was released for the first time on Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
in Canada. The film was released on Blu-ray and again on DVD in the United States on May 10, 2011. Home entertainment distributors Echo Bridge Entertainment are planning an official realease of The Producer's Cut on Blu-ray. No release date has been confirmed as of yet, it is known that two cuts will be available on the Blu-ray release, The Producer's Cut and possibly either the theatrical or director's cut.
Alternate versions
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is notorious among Halloween fans for having multiple versions. The Producer's Cut is the most well known, however a Director's Cut also exists with most of the footage cut for the R-rating restored. As of 2011, the theatrical version is the only version commercially available while the Director and Producer's cuts only exist as low-quality bootlegs.Producer's Cut
Copies of the original version of the film (known as the "Producer's Cut"), without the changed ending, have long been floating around in bootleg/collectors' circles. In addition to featuring a different ending which was intended to keep Donald Pleasence's character in the films, it also features longer scenes in several parts of the movie, as well as different music at times. Major plot points differ between the two cuts. For example, in the Producer's Cut, Jamie Lloyd is not killed by Michael's attack in the barn; she is wounded only to be killed later on in the film by the "Man in Black" after having a dream about how she was imprisoned in Smith's Grove and impregnated with Michael's child. There is also a flashback to Halloween 5 that shows Jamie and Michael kidnapped by the "Man in Black".On the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD, it was stated that Dimension was trying to plan an official release of the Producer's Cut. Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
reported that the Producer's Cut may get an official release. However, Disney, who owns the rights to the film; decided not to give an official release.
Fans continue to sign online petitions asking for an official release of the Producer's Cut, but there has been no official release for any of the alternate versions.
A few select scenes from the Producer's Cut can be seen on the television version of the film. The scenes were re-inserted to increase the running time of the film (originally a scant 88 minutes).