With the box office success of Halloween 4, a sequel was inevitable. Halloween 5 was rushed into production and it shows.
Halloween 5 picks up right where Halloween 4 left off. Michael Myers (Don Shanks) escapes his supposed fate from the end of H4 and is carried down the river. He ends up in the cabin of a old man, where he convalesces for an entire year. He has to since these movies can ONLY take place on Halloween night.
Meanwhile, in that year Jamie (Danielle Harris) has become mute and is under the care of Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). She also has a psychic connection with Michael. Halloween comes around and Michael rises again (must be stiff after laying there for a whole year) and again begins his pursuit of Jamie. Jamie has gotten a little stuttering boyfriend named Billy (Jeffrey Landman) and an annoying old friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan). Rachel (Ellie Cornell) is still around, but is the first on Michael’s hit list. Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr) is also still around.
There’s also a mysterious man in steel toed boots that seems to be on Michael’s trail (and not really paid off in the movie). Dr. Loomis decides to lay a trap in the old Myer’s house (which is nothing like the house from the original!) to catch Michael. Halloween 5 is so bad, I hope that Michael wins. Kill ‘em all Mike!
The success of The Return of Michael Myers made the producers green light the sequel just a little too soon. Moustapha Akkad admits this in the documentary on the disc. The dollar signs in their eyes got in the way of a good movie in my opinion. Dwight H. Little was replaced with Dominique Othenin-Girard.
A reunion of old enemies
I don’t know what his other movies were like but I think that he did a mediocre job with H5. Jamie spends most of the film supposedly mute and does a lot of grunting, etc. that I think ruins Danielle Harris’ fine performance from H5. The other characters are just annoying and also sink the show.
Heck, they don’t even try and get a Myers’ house that is even close to what the house looked like in the 1978 Halloween (like fans wouldn’t notice THAT). H5 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I’ve never watched any of the following sequels. I’ve heard that H6 is a train wreck (besides the bootlegged “producer’s cut”) but that H20 was pretty good and made up for H6, but again it slipped a little with H8 (Busta Rhymes versus Michael?!?).
It’s sad since Donald Pleasence was getting on in years (H6 would be his last film) and that he’s wasted in his remaining years in such poor sequels (besides H4 which I happened to like).
The Revenge of Michael Myers is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. This release ports over all of the special features from the 2000 DVD. The first is a short introduction by Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris that plays before the feature.
There are also 7 minutes of on set footage from H5 (this is also on the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD). Next is the 15 minute “Inside Halloween 5” which is also from the 2000 DVD. It has interviews with Moustapha Akkad, Ellie Cornell, director Othenin-Girard (1988 footage), cinematographer Rob Draper, Danielle Harris (1988 archive footage and 2000 interview), and Don Shanks.
This featurette also has a deleted scene. Instead of the old river rat, Michael was supposed to have convalesced in the cabin of a thin punk rocker Satanist. This offers our only glance at this (thankfully?) deleted character (also no more of this footage makes it’s way onto this new DVD). The new addition to this disc is a newly recorded commentary with director Dominique Othenin-Girard, Danielle Harris, and Jeffrey Landman.
Michael's coming
Frankly, I think that H5 sucks in comparison to H4. Only Halloween completists need apply in my humble opinion. If you do want to buy it at least Anchor Bay puts some a new commentary on it.
Halloween 5 - The Revenge of Michael Myers (Divimax Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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