"Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" is a mess of storytelling, but director Joe Chappelle does bring an amicable fall flavoring to this otherwise mediocre fifth sequel. Set six years after 1989's "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers," 15-year-old Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy, too old to be replacing Danielle Harris) has long vanished, having been snatched away by Michael Myers and his cohort, the mysterious Man in Black. After giving birth, Jamie escapes into the rainy night (it's October 30, of course) with her newborn, managing to secretly stash him away before getting impaled on farm equipment. Having heard Jamie's voice on the radio pleading for helping, a grown-up Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) locates the baby at the Haddonfield bus depot the next morning. In a twist of fate (or just sloppy writing), Tommy happens to live across the street from the Myers house, now being occupied by the dysfunctional Strode family, relatives of Laurie's parents. In spite of all this, single mom Kara (Marianne Hagan) and six-year-old son Danny (Devin Gardner)—not to mention Kara's mother Debra (Kim Darby) and brother Tim (Keith Bogart)—have no idea of their home's twisted history. Did I mention Haddonfield is gearing up to celebrate Halloween for the first time in over half a decade? "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" pays respectful homage to the original throughout—i.e. Danny, like Tommy, drops a pumpkin as he walks home from school; Kara and Danny race across the street and start banging on the door to be let in as Michael approaches behind them—but the film is bogged down by ridiculous plotting involving warlocks, druids and Thorn that have no place in a movie about a villain who is supposed to be "purely and simply evil." Donald Pleasence, in his final screen role before his death, returns one last time as Dr. Sam Loomis, but gets a disrespectful send-out in the movie's final moments.

Special Note: A controversial Producer's Cut (or P-Cut, as it's called by those in the know) of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" has been bootlegged around for years. This was to be the released version until the powers-that-be chopped it all up. Having seen the P-Cut myself, I can say that it is no better than the theatrical version, with a much-changed climax that nonetheless is still a disaster of story holes and asinine writing. If anything, the theatrical cut is slightly better, with a cool, moody rock-tinged music score of the well-known original themes and peppier pacing. Both, however, leave a lot to be desired.