Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
d. Joe Chappelle, 88 minutes, or 131 minutes (the "Producer's Cut," the original version of the film never officially released)

Film Plot Summary

The sixth film in the series opened with a woman pleading, gasping, and screaming: "Uncle Michael, please don't hurt me," as she was wheeled on a stretcher down a long underground corridor by masked physicians. [The location was eventually revealed to be the basement area of Smith's Grove Warren County Sanitarium.]

She was hallucinating that her crazed, psycho serial-killer uncle Michael Myers/The Shape (George P. Wilbur) was terrorizing her with a large butcher knife. The trench-coated Man in Black (Mitchell Ryan) from the previous film (Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)) was also visible. The 15 year-old niece of Myers, Jamie Lloyd/Carruthers (J. C. Brandy), was laid on her back, with her arms and legs tied, surrounded by a candle-lit altar with burning torches during a mysterious ceremony of Satanic cultists. She then was seen in labor delivering a male baby, who was immediately handed to the Man in Black - she cursed him as her baby was taken away.

(voice-over, during the credits, later identified as Tommy Doyle)

"When Michael Myers was six years old, he stabbed his sister to death. For years, he was locked up in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, but he escaped. And suddenly, Halloween became another word for mayhem! One by one, he killed his entire family, until his nine-year-old niece, Jamie Lloyd, was the only one left alive. Six years ago, Halloween night, Michael and Jamie vanished. Many people believed them dead, but I think that someone hid them away. Someone who keeps Michael, protects him, tries to control him. And if there's one thing I know, you can't control evil. You can lock it up, you can burn it and bury it and pray that it dies, but it never will. It just rests awhile. You can lock your doors and say your prayers at night, but the evil's out there waiting. And maybe, just maybe, it's closer than you think!"

Since the previous film, The Man in Black, over the previous six years, had kidnapped and cared for both Michael Myers and Jamie, during which time she was impregnated (by Michael?). On Halloween Eve in 1995, she delivered a male baby (the last in the Myers' lineage or blood line), marked on its stomach in blood with a rune symbol, and used on the altar in a ritual. That night, Jamie was rescued with her newborn by Nurse Mary (Susan Swift) and aided in an escape to save her baby - Jamie feared that she wouldn't be allowed to keep the baby.

When Nurse Mary left her at the exit, masked Michael Myers grabbed her by the throat, choked her, picked her up, and impaled the back of her skull into a protruding sharp metal spike high on the wall (# 1 death). With Michael in pursuit, Jamie fled to a nearby road where she took the driver's seat of a vacated truck. The angry, drunken driver yelled at her: "What the hell are you doing in my truck?" and then had his neck violently twisted around and snapped (# 2 death). She drove off in the stolen truck into the rainy, thundery night.

In Haddonfield, Illinois, the old Myers home (at 45 Lampkin Lane) had been sold, by Strode Realty, to the Strode family. The young boy Danny Strode (Devin Gardner), who slept in Michael Myers' bedroom, was experiencing nightmares of a knife-wielding Voiceman ("He says things, bad things"), and was comforted by his single mother Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan), Laurie Strode's cousin. The broadcast of a WKNB radio show called Back Talk, hosted by shock-jock Barry Simms (Leo Geter), was airing a special Halloween edition of its show on Halloween Eve. Simms announced that their next night's show would be broadcast live from Haddonfield at the Halloween Harvest Fair, where Halloween had been banned since 1989, "when infamous serial killer Michael Myers and his niece, Jamie Lloyd, and about a dozen cops were killed in an explosion." [This was an obvious falsehood - Jamie did not perish in the explosion, and neither did Myers.]

A female caller to the show professed her love for Myers: "He's so untamed, so uninhibited. He's everything I've ever wanted in a man...I just want Michael. I wanna know what's behind that mask." Living directly across the street from the Strode house on the second floor of a boarding house, grown-up, 25 year-old Tommy Doyle (Paul Stephen Rudd) was using a camera telephoto lens to spy on the Strodes.

[In the first film 17 years earlier in 1978, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Jamie's mother, was babysitting young Tommy the night when the adult Michael first struck.]

Tommy phoned the talk-radio show, explaining how he saw Michael Myers when he was eight years old. He considered himself one of the lucky ones: "I survived." Tommy also asserted: "Michael's work isn't done in Haddonfield. And soon, very soon, he'll come home to kill again. But this time, I'll be ready." He seemed obsessed about the Myers legacy ever since he was a boy. Another crackpot caller theory was put forward, that Myers didn't die in the police station explosion, but was abducted by the CIA from his cell, and then everyone was killed to cover their tracks: "They wanted the ultimate assassin...He took out eight agents when they had him at Langley. They couldn't control him so they packed him up in a rocket and shipped him off to space."

The "just very-much retired" Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's psychiatrist, was also listening to the show in his isolated country home. He was joined by Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitchell Ryan), an old friend and colleague, for a drink. Wynn stressed that he had chosen Loomis to return to Smith's Grove Sanitarium as the new administrator (now that he was relinquishing his position), insisting it was "no prank." Loomis refused, claiming he had buried the "ghosts" in a manuscript.

Jamie drove up to the local bus depot, as she listened to the broadcast on the PA system inside the darkened and empty terminal (a sign at the desk read "Back in 20"). Another female caller, from Haddonfield Junior College, spoke about a planned Halloween rally (and the radio broadcast) on the campus to revitalize the town after six years of banned celebrations. From a depot pay phone, Jamie called the 1-800-YOU-SUCK number to the radio station, and as Loomis and Tommy listened, they heard Jamie weeping and warning of Myers' imminent return: "They're coming. They're coming...Michael. Michael Myers." She asked for help, mentioning Dr. Loomis by name, but was regarded as only a wacko. Jamie's 'uncle' relentlessly pursued her into the bus depot's bathroom, outside to her truck, and then followed her in a stolen van.

After running her off the road near an old barn in the Haddonfield area where she crashed the truck into a pile of pumpkins, he followed her into the barn, grabbed her by the neck, and impaled her stomach through the spikes of a corn thresher. He pushed her further onto the spikes, as she gurgled and choked to death before his eyes. She muttered her final words to him: "You can't have the baby, Michael," before he activated the thresher's controls, causing the thresher to rip Jamie's insides apart (# 3 death). Only the baby's blanket was found in the truck.

The next day, HALLOWEEN, in HADDONFIELD, the film introduced all the members of the troubled and dysfunctional Strode family, including:

• struggling single mother and red-haired college student Kara Strode
• and her six year-old son Danny

Both had returned to live with her parents in the household, after being away for five years. Kara's parents included:

• a caring mother Debra (Kim Darby)
• and an extremely abusive father John (Bradford English)

John called Danny a "bastard" boy - he believed Kara had brought bad luck to the household. Also there was Kara's teenaged brother Tim (Keith Bogart), Danny's uncle, who was dating girlfriend Beth (Maria O'Brien). Beth lived across the hall from Tommy Strode in the boarding house across the street from the Strode house. Hard-of-hearing, elderly Mrs. Minnie Blankenship (Janice Knickrehm) managed the boarding house.

At the Smith's Grove Sanitarium, Dr. Wynn and Dr. Loomis learned that Jamie Lloyd's body had been discovered near Haddonfield. The rune symbol or mark, tattooed on Michael Myers' wrist, and on the stomach of Jamie's baby, was seen at the crime scene painted (or burned) in black on bales of hay. Dr. Loomis interpreted:

"It's his mark...He's come home."

Meanwhile, Tommy Strode listened intently to his reel-to-reel tape recording of Jamie's radio interview, and figured out the call came from the bus depot. Blood droppings from the pay-phone booth led to the downstairs restroom, where he found Jamie's baby crying in a wooden cabinet - he took the infant with him.

The imaginative, young Danny Strode had drawn a prophetic picture of the Strodes: Mommy, Uncle Tim, Grandma and Grandpa, all with bloody knives sticking into them, as they stood next to a black object labeled "THORN." In the emergency room of Haddonfield hospital, Tommy was carrying Jamie's baby when he spoke to Dr. Loomis and introduced himself, and corrected his misconception about Jamie being the last of Myers' bloodline, now that Michael had come home ("No, Dr. Loomis, she's not the last"). Loomis was told about the Strodes, now living in the Myers old house. Tommy took the baby into his care for protective safe-keeping from harm, and named it Steven.

When Debra was in the Strode home struggling with a malfunctioning washing machine in the basement, she suspected someone else was in the house, but it was only Dr. Loomis who claimed he wanted to help the family. He warned her of the violent force inside serial killer Myers that contaminated his soul: "It was pure evil," and that he would return to his childhood home that was "sacred to him...with all his memories here." Loomis' tale terrified Debra with his rantings about the haunted house and all the terrible things that had happened there - and she understood the reason why her husband's brother couldn't sell the house and why they were living there. As she expressed her fears to her husband on the phone and then prepared to vacate, Myers stalked her, and then hacked her up in the backyard with an axe (# 4 death), decapitating her (?) and splattering blood onto her freshly-hung laundry on the clothesline.

Suspecting that the entire Strode family was in danger from "him" (Myers sent on a murderous quest by the Druid cult), Tommy befriended Danny, and led him and Kara back to his boarding house room for safety, although she thought he was crazy. She became more convinced of his sincerity when she saw the evidence of years of his collected newspaper clippings about Myers and the murders. He explained about the runes symbols and the meaning of Thorn:

"Runes are a kind of early alphabet that originated about 500 B.C. They were symbols carved out of stone or pieces of wood used in pagan rituals to portend future events and invoke magic. Among the ancient Druids, Thorn represented a demon that spread sickness, brought death to hundreds of thousands of people. According to Celtic legend, one child from each tribe was chosen to be inflicted with the curse of Thorn, to offer the blood sacrifices of its next of kin on the night of Samhain [Halloween]. The sacrifice of one family meant sparing the lives of the entire tribe."

Tommy believed that might be the contaminating force or reason that compelled Michael Myers, marked with Thorn, to commit evil - the method behind his madness. He continued, explaining how Michael was seeking the baby, his next of kin (the spawn of Michael?), for a blood sacrifice (to save the tribe), and why he kept reappearing year after year - especially when the stars were aligned into a Thorn symbol:

"The Druids were also great mathematicians and astronomers, but the Thorn symbol is actually a constellation of stars that appears from time to time on Halloween night. Whenever it appears, he appears. Coincidence? I think that's why these people, whoever they are, are after Jamie's baby. To make it Michael's final sacrifice."

Tommy left to seek out Dr. Loomis, warning Kara never to return to her house.

In the boarding house parlor where she was watching the classic film on television The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Mrs. Blankenship explained the origins of celebrating Halloween to Danny:

"A long, long time ago, it was a night of great power when the days grew short and the spirits of the dead returned to their homes to warm themselves by the fireside. All across the land, huge bonfires were lit. Oh, there was a marvelous celebration. People danced and they played games, and they dressed up in costumes, hoping to ward off the evil spirits, especially the boogeyman."

Then, she told Kara that her son could also hear the "voice" - "just like the other boy that lived in that house." She revealed that she was babysitting in 1963, 32 years earlier, when little Mikey Myers lived across the street, and he heard a voice the night that he murdered his sister: "It told him to kill his family." She was implying that Danny, who could also hear a voice, was the next "child" to be cursed with Thorn, if Michael succeeded in killing his entire family.

When John Strode returned home, he found everyone gone. Suddenly, the lights inexplicably extinguished, and he laughingly pondered: "It must be the boogeyman." In the basement, as he investigated the cause of the power outage and the loud, chugging and leaking washing machine (how could it run without electricity?), he found a bloody sheet inside. When he turned, Myers murdered him by stabbing him in the stomach with a butcher knife, lifting him up, and pinning him against the fuse box, where he was electrocuted (# 5 death) - his face fried and then exploded.

At the Halloween Harvest Fair, Beth was interviewed by DJ Barry Simms in front of the crowd, asserting:

"We will no longer let the powers that be control our minds. For years, Halloween has represented everything that's wrong with Haddonfield. But Michael Myers is long gone. There is no Boogeyman."

Tim was surprised to learn that he lived in the notorious Myers house, once occupied by the "most brutal mass murderer in history." As a publicity stunt, Simms promised to move the shock-fest show to the Myers house: "Ten minutes in that house and I'll have every fruitcake medium in the country calling in, trying to channel the spirit of that pussy, Michael Myers." In his vehicle as Simms prepared to drive to the Myers house, he was knifed in the chest from behind (# 6 death). [Later, his half-naked body was wrapped in lights and strung up in a tree - his dripping blood was misinterpreted by a child as red rain.]

Beth and Tim found themselves alone in Myers house when Barry didn't show - she spooked him by recreating the night of the initial murder. They kissed in the darkened house and then proceeded to make love in Kara's bed while surrounded by candles. After showering and then standing in front of a foggy mirror, Tim's throat was slit with a butcher knife (# 7 death), and Beth was stabbed multiple times in the back (# 8 death), as the horrified Kara (who had vainly tried to warn her by phone) watched from across the street as Michael committed the murder.

Hearing the "voice," Danny was drawn to the Myers house, where Kara found the two bloody corpses under the bed covers. Kara (defending herself with a fireplace poker) and Danny were both confronted by Myers, but escaped unharmed back to the boarding house - where they met up with Loomis and Tommy.

The film's biggest reveal was in the next scene in the boarding house parlor -- Dr. Wynn showed himself to be the "Man in Black," with Druid sect followers, including Mrs. Blankenship, who together stole Jamie's baby, now named Steven. To flee, Kara jumped through the second story window onto the lawn below.

In the next fade-in, Loomis and Tommy stood where Kara had fallen (and had disappeared), asking each other why they were alive and drugged by cult members. Soon after, Kara awoke unphased (!) in a locked room in the maximum security ward within Smith's Grove Warren County Sanitarium, now dressed in white garb. Before driving there for the final climactic showdown, Dr. Loomis solemnly told Tommy: "It's his game, and I know where he wants to play it."

In his office at the Sanitarium, Dr. Wynn told Loomis about the "pure, uncorrupted, ancient" power of evil, claiming he was at "the dawn of a new age" with Jamie's baby - his group was presumably looking to sacrifice the baby, and then find a new avatar to spread their seeds of murder. He even asked Loomis to "join" his effort, before knocking him unconscious.

Meanwhile, Tommy searched for Kara and the two children, and found Michael prowling the hallways too, having already knifed one of the Sanitarium patients in the stomach (# 9 death). The lunatic dying mental patient spooked him: "He walks amongst us, brother. He's come back and he's very angry. How does it feel to be damned?" before dropping dead.

Tommy released the imprisoned Kara from her room, and they fled together as Myers stalked them. From an adjacent room, they observed an experimental, breakthrough genetic engineering splicing procedure about to take place in an operating room, performed on the two children by Dr. Wynn and his Thorn cult followers (now dressed in surgical gowns). Michael grabbed a large surgical machete from an operating table in the hallway and interrupted the procedure - he slaughtered at least four nurses and doctors with the machete (# 10-13 deaths) in a bloody massacre, including the murder of Dr. Wynn (# 14 death, questionable?). Tommy (carrying the baby), Kara, and Danny fled from Myers, as did another doctor whose skull bones were crushed and head was smashed and ripped off against metal gate bars (# 15 death). Presumably, Michael was getting even for the many years he was subjected to evil in the mental hospital.

While hiding in a side room from Michael's pursuit, Kara noticed a lab where DNA experimentation was being performed on preserved baby fetuses. [Were the cult members trying to isolate Michael’s evil on a genetic level?] With the baby wrapped in his arms, Tommy came out into the open and told the masked killer: "Mike. You've won. (he chuckled, then walked forward) He's yours." As he handed over the baby, he stabbed a cluster of large hypodermic needles (filled with corrosive chemicals or tranquilizers) into Michael's neck, and injected him, but there was no effect. Kara then beat Myers repeatedly with a large leaden pipe, although he grabbed her neck and began strangling her. He stopped when Danny (with the baby in his arms) cried out: "Leave her alone." As Myers approached menacingly toward Danny, Tommy stuck another hypodermic into Myers' neck, and viciously bashed him again with the pipe - leaving him 'dead' on the floor.

Dr. Loomis aided Kara's, Danny's, and the baby's escape in an elevator, and Tommy joined them. But when they were ready to drive away in a red Jeep, Dr. Loomis claimed: "No, I-I have a little business to attend to here." Inside the building, the camera panned down to the lab's concrete floor, where only Michael's mask and the hypodermic needle were visible. A man was heard screaming (off-screen) - was it Dr. Loomis' ungodly final scream? Was the curse of Thorn passed onto Dr. Loomis so that he was forced to protect Michael until he could finish his sacrificial killings?

Wind whistled around the Myers house - causing a jack-o-lantern's candle on the porch to flicker and extinguish - cutting to black.

The next screen read: "In Memory Of DONALD PLEASENCE" before the closing credits.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

This sequel, the sixth film in the series, had a troubled past, with almost a dozen script rewrites, reshoots and editing. Donald Pleasence passed away during re-editing and reconstruction of the film following test screenings, similar to the situation with Brainstorm (1983) and Natalie Wood, causing filmmakers to revise the ending to make it appear like Pleasence's character wouldn't survive into the next sequel.

As of this sixth film, the budgeted costs were about $20 million, while the six films grossed more than $131 million (domestically).

This was Donald Pleasence's final film.

With the taglines: "Six Times the Terror...Six Times the Fear...Six Times the Thrills of the original Halloween" and "Terror Never Rests in Peace."

With a production budget of approximately $5 million, and box-office gross revenues of only $15.1 million (domestic).

Body Count: 14, or 15
(In addition, the fates of both Dr. Sam Loomis and Michael Myers were left up to speculation, though the most common belief was that Michael survived and that Dr. Loomis was killed. Dr. Wynn's death was not directly shown on-screen in the theatrical version.)