Many films are subject to last-minute changes, but Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers had to undergo significant re-shoots due to a disgruntled test audience.
Halloween 6 began filming in late October, 1994. The film released in 1995 and was directed by Joe Chappelle, written by Daniel Farrands, produced by Miramax, and distributed by Dimension Films. It starred Donald Pleasence, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagen, Mitch Ryan, and put stunt performer George P. Wilbur (who played Myers in Halloween 4 as well) back into the role of Michael Myers. This film is notable for fans as an installment that tried to explain Myers' reason for killing as part of a ritual put into place by the Cult of Thorn, which many fans still consider to be an absolutely ridiculous plot line.
The film's title has been said to be a joke made by Farrands, who used the term Curse to represent all the problems that were had during the production. His original title for the script was much simpler: Halloween 666. Part of the problems had with production included Dimension's last minute insistence that scenes be re-shot after a poor showing with test audiences.
In Halloween: 25 Years Of Terror, actress Marianne Hagan stated that the test audience for Halloween 6 "consisted primarily of 14 year old boys". The film's ending, which saw the Cult of Thorn's curse pass to Dr. Loomis, wasn't well received, and saw great scrutiny from audience members. While there are numerous issues with the entire Cult of Thorn plot line, the consensus that stated the ending was bad prompted Dimension to order reshoots of the film's ending. Farrands' original goal with the script had been to explain the Man in Black from the fifth movie and find a cohesive balance that bridged Halloween 1 and 2 with installments 4-6, integrating many of the elements in a sensible way.
Production on Halloween 6 was troubled early, as an unexpected snowstorm in Salt Lake City, Utah - where the film was shooting - happened out of nowhere, causing some scenes that were meant to be exteriors moving to interior locations instead. Reportedly, Paul Freeman, the film's producer, and Chappelle re-wrote part of the ending and other various parts of the script on set, making changes throughout that sometimes even occurred between shots. Because of these last-minute changes, much of the film ended up without the clear vision that Farrands wanted, and added to the finished product being less than cohesive. Farrands has been quoted as saying that the flash cuts in Halloween 6, among other elements, were starkly different than his original vision.
Another major issue with the ending re-shoots revolved around two major cast members being swapped out. Wilbur - who played Michael Myers in the first cut - was replaced with A. Michael Lerner to appease executives who wanted a "less bulky" killer. The re-shoots for Halloween 6 took place in 1995, after Donald Pleasence had passed away. He had to be replaced with a body double for some of the re-shot scenes. Because of all the changes made, many fans of Halloween 6 prefer the Producer's Cut, which was finally released to audiences on Blu-Ray from Anchor Bay and Scream Factory in 2014.
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