While technically it’s after the holiday of Halloween, it truly appears that this franchise of the same name is the only one that is continuing onward with theatrical releases. After the less than welcoming Halloween: Season of the Witch [1983], which now is finding a love affair with the fans, it seems as if the series died that year, although in the horror genre nothing stays dead, one knows that both Halloween [1978] and Halloween II [1981] held the mantle high for the franchise. However, it’s time to return to an ultra-low point (aside from Resurrection) in the series history, at the time with reemergence and success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, producer and owner of the rights Moustapha Akkad, hurried the fifth addition into production mode; a no-brainer, oops someone forgot the brains in its script pages. That actually started with the title, onscreen it only says Halloween 5 nothing about The Revenge portion, even covers and posters gave full title, although to be fair the other two major franchises at the time neither had “5” titling mistakes Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, the “Part V” is missing on the actual movie screen and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, the number “5” is missing too. Aside from this, it’s been 30-years and my first reviewing this film, in fact perhaps any from this series, at the time of the release critics slammed it for a multitude of reasons, nothing quite new, except it highly deserved it, even the customary pumpkin that had been on the opening credits in previous films rolled away until the latest release Halloween (2018). One needs to recall the era for this movie, 1989, the slasher heyday heavily dying down, though studios still crank them out for the remaining hungry male dominated teen markets, I was 16. On May 1, 1989 Dominique Otherin-Girard (Night Angel [1990]) took both the directorial helm and writer credits for the production, but also aided in the writing with Michael Jacobs and Shem Bitterman (Living Hell [2008]) then responsible for making sure that Michael left Haddonfield alone for another 7-years, after resulting in the lowest grossing flick of the series.
Those uninformed some spoilers likely found in the review, the film begins with a recap of the last few minutes of the previous film, hence taking a page out of some of Friday the 13th movies, showing Michael shot to hell and falling into a mine shaft, with an explosive dropped into the hole. Well it starts with Michael crawling towards river and taken in by an old hillbilly who meets slashing final end one year why – I don’t know, and no reason given either, but Michael has his eternal clock working overtime. Over the course of year, he got a new tattoo on his wrist, improved his mental connection to his cousin Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris (Camp Dread [2014])) and generated new driving skills, as well as knowing every place teens hang out too busy drinking and with each other, all while noting doesn’t look anything like the Haddonfield we all knew. Jamie resides in a children’s mental clinic since she tried to kill someone dear to her and possibly repeat in her uncle’s footsteps, who still wants to kill her. Meanwhile friends of Jamie, namely Rachel (Ellie Cornell (House of the Dead [2003]), who reprises her role from the previous movie) and her friend Tina (Wendy Foxworth (The Labyrinth [2017])) her boyfriend Mikey (Jonathan Chapin (Twice Dead [1988])) plan a Halloween party, however everyone knows the key principle most not likely to make it to next movie. All leading Michael to use farming equipment to dispatch the sexual teens and police to the next life, as he hurries home to a final battle with heavily misuse Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance).
1967 Chevrolet Camaro
The most inappropriate music for the police a sort of bubbling moronic music that echoes from the 1940s, it serves no place in the film, and to suggest the they are incapable to handle any situation provide that to audience, namely their appearance can’t stop Michael Myers. In addition, the classic version of his home drastically changes to a Victorian House, with a gothic overtone such as grand but dusty stairwells, haunting arched windows that look down with doom, and a rounded corner turret, quite nice but the change insults the fans.
While perhaps not a full travesty, it does suffer numerous plot holes, and illogical jumps on the Michael Myers history, nothing quite adds up, a large body count but still very substandard in execution of slasher genre flick. It all shows why the failure caused another major delay in the franchise rolling out another more evenly paced and smoother horror movie.
TAGLINES:
- The citizens of Haddonfield are about to endure the revenge of Michael Myers.
- Michael Lives, And This Time They’re Ready!
- He’s Back With A Vengeance
Follows:
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Followed by:
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Halloween (2018)
Halloween Kills (2020)
Halloween Ends [2022]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097474/
IMDb Rating: 5.2/10
Baron’s Rating: 5.0/10