20 Great Performances Wasted In Terrible Horror Movies
12. Donald Pleasence - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
The sixth Halloween movie, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, is a friggin' mess - the clear result of a chaotic production, but also overwhelmingly hamstrung by a script that just doesn't know what to do with its antagonist.
Turning Michael Myers into the pawn of a cult was definitely a choice, ensuring almost the entire film whiffs of late-franchise flop sweat. Almost.
The single saving grace is the great Donald Pleasence, who despite clearly being in ill health was simply too much of a professional to give anything less than a stellar performance.
Pleasence passed away shortly after shooting wrapped, but his ailing health lends a distinctly different quality to Dr. Loomis this time around - he's quieter and more haunted than in previous entries, and it's certainly a fitting way for the character to bow out.
Between his health issues and how deep down the franchise rabbit-hole we were at this point, nobody would've blamed Pleasence for phoning it in, but he showed up to work and did the job beautifully.