Halloween 5 - The Revenge Of Michael Myers (DVD)

Halloween 5 was the Halloween movie that could have redefined the Halloween franchise. After the twist ending that Halloween 4 provided the film could have steered onto a bold new path and delivered a new vibe and energy into the series. However despite everything being set up for them the filmmakers chickened out and therefore Halloween 5 does not turn out to be the possible turnaround for the series but an instalment that seems uninspired and rushed, ...
...year after Halloween 4 in 1989. Many fans of the series will, when talking about bad sequels to the series, apart from mentioning Season of the Witch (it seems obligatory to say that) will also say Halloween 5, some just don’t like it at all, others say it was too much like Halloween 4 and others are just apathetic about it.

It has been a year since the events of Halloween 4. Jamie (Danielle Harris) is now in a children’s hospital ... more

Halloween 5 was the Halloween movie that could have redefined the Halloween franchise. After the twist ending that Halloween 4 provided the film could have steered onto a bold new path and delivered a new vibe and energy into the series. However despite everything being set up for them the filmmakers chickened out and therefore Halloween 5 does not turn out to be the possible turnaround for the series but an instalment that seems uninspired and rushed, which is not surprising as this was made just a year after Halloween 4 in 1989. Many fans of the series will, when talking about bad sequels to the series, apart from mentioning Season of the Witch (it seems obligatory to say that) will also say Halloween 5, some just don’t like it at all, others say it was too much like Halloween 4 and others are just apathetic about it.

It has been a year since the events of Halloween 4. Jamie (Danielle Harris) is now in a children’s hospital and has not spoken a word since Halloween night of 1988. Her stepsister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) and friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan, who was also in Halloween 4 but has a significantly bigger role in the sequel) regularly visit her in the hospital hoping she will recover from the fateful Halloween night. Her Uncle isn’t quite dead just yet though. After being shot down the mineshaft he took refuge in an old hermits house and stayed there for one year. Now it is Halloween once more and Myers has awoken with the purpose to try and kill his niece again. However since the events last year Jamie has built a telepathic bond to her Uncle and she can sense when he is about to kill next which Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) urges her to try and tell him before Myers does yet more damage.

It seems, then, that this sequel is pretty much a copy of Halloween 4 and that isn’t too far from the truth. Indeed the only real new inclusion to the film is towards the middle of the film when the Man In Black shows up. His appearance throughout the film remains a mystery until the end and he does play a more important role in The Curse of Michael Myers. However other than that there is little to set this apart from the film before it apart from the slightly rushed feel of it and you cant help but shake the feeling that, after the simple and effective style of the original, we really don’t need a mysterious man turn up and raise a few questions.

With the rushed production time the main casualty is the script. Indeed, you can’t help but think that the reason why Jamie remains mute is that the writers didn’t have to think about dialogue for her. What speech it does have is fairly uninspired and adds little to the film and even the ramblings of Loomis don’t feel as good as they once were. A lot of the film involves a lot of running around in dark places, normally taken up by Jamie, or just a character on their own checking something out. While these scenes are not inherently bad a bit more imagination in the film would have been very welcome.

Despite the rushed nature of the film the acting isn’t quite as bad as you may fear. Once again Danielle Harris really does shine as Jamie. Although it is slightly annoying that she cant speak throughout most of the film she shows that she can be a solid little actress and some really good emotion is conveyed through her and, thanks to seeing her in the previous film, you feel empathy towards her and her character. Cornell’s role in the film isn’t as significant as in the fourth, which is a shame as she could have been used far more effectively than she had done. More of the film is given to Kaplan as Tina. While her acting isn’t the greatest, though this can be due to the fact most of the film requires her to run around and laugh in skimpy dresses, she is a very fun and likable character. In her moments of seriousness with Jamie another side can be shown and a nice bond is formed showing a bit more development in her character. This is more than can be said for the other teenagers in the film. Unfortunately they are so unlikeable and horned up that when they are eventually killed you’ll feel no emotion towards their deaths. Pleasance also produces another commendable role as Loomis, albeit a more worn and tired one. He was rumoured to have disagreed in the direction the film was going with the director and this is apparent on screen as he doesn’t seem to have quite as much enthusiasm as the others but he still plays the role well and manages to say some memorable lines.

The directing from Dominique Girad is fairly pleasing. He uses light a lot more than in other Halloween films and many times Myers is seen outside in the daylight skulking in bushes which still gives an air of menace and fear even if he isn’t shrouded in black. The finale stalk-down with Jamie and Myers is also quite pleasing. The scene with the laundry shoot is suitably tense and well directed picking up on the trapped claustrophobic and urgent atmosphere well and it shows that at least some spark is evident in the film. The films action is kept quite fast throughout with the entire running around and so tension does not really build up as such and there is, as in Halloween 4, a lot of violence though the kills aren’t quite as shocking or as inspired.

As well as the weak script there are other none-to-pleasing aspects of Halloween 5. The most notable is the inclusion of two bumbling police officers that, whenever on screen, are accompanied by some dreadful clown like music. This is not only pointless but it ruins the mood of the film, this is, after all, a horror film. Whether they were included for slapstick humour or to relieve possible tension does not matter as they were simply not needed and should not have been included at all. A link to the downside of the script is character development, which is pretty much none existent for new characters that means you wont care if they are killed off or not. The length of the film is also cause for concern. At 97 minutes it does seem to be stretched out somewhat, mainly due to the fact we had a lot of running in the first half let alone towards the end, and it could have used some more editing to try and get it trimmed down a touch more. A minor problem that people have with this film but nonetheless talked about is Michael Myers himself. With every film that is made the mask he wears is different and Halloween 5 is no exception. While still creepy it just looks a bit dumpy as if Michael put on a lot of weight while sleeping for a year. As well as the mask Halloween 5 is known for the unmasking of Myers (the only other time was seen in Halloween) but not only that we get to see some real emotion from him, a tear. Whether this cheapens Myers somewhat is up to the people watching it but it did anger some fans as Myers was notable for not showing emotion and that’s what made him scary. However Myers does seem to have picked up a sense of humour whereby he scrapes a hook along the car of Tina’s boyfriend who’s obsessed with it. Unexpected but it is quite funny.

Whether Halloween 5 is a bad sequel or not is subjective to the viewer. It certainly isn’t as good as Halloween 4 and doesn’t come close to the first two films. Despite many criticisms levelled at it Halloween 5 certainly isn’t an abomination to the series of the horror genre as a whole. The main reason why people dislike it is the fact that it just didn’t deliver what could have been, a new direction and a new life and instead relied on an overused concept. However given the nice acting from most of the cast and fairly good direction it is able to at least have some credibility. This film does warrant the sharpest dip in imagination for the series but if you are after a typical slasher film then you could do worse than this film. All in all Halloween 5 is a passable way to spend watching. It is just distinctly average.

HALLOWEEN 5 IS

Uninspired
Unimaginative
Underdeveloped

HALLOWEEN 5 IS NOT

As good as it should have been
A film trying to be different
Without its charm

Written for the HALLOWEEN SEASON 2002.
 

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