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With: Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Beau Starr, Jeffrey Landman, Tamara Glynn, Jonathan Chapin, Matthew Walker, Wendy Foxworth, Betty Carvalho, Troy Evans, Frankie Como, David Ursin, Harper Roisman, Karen Alston
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Written by: Michael Jacobs, Dominique Othenin-Girard, Shem Bitterman
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Directed by: Dominique Othenin-Girard
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MPAA Rating: R
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Running Time: 98
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Date: 10/13/1989
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Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Tricks and Cheats
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
While Halloween 4 rebooted this slasher series, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers more or less dragged it back down again. It was microwaved into theaters exactly a year after the previous one, taking place exactly a year later in the storyline. It's officially the lowest-grossing film of the series (which currently stands at ten films), although it's arguable whether fans would call it the absolute worst. It still has some good things going for it.
The wonderful little scream queen Danielle Harris -- who grew up to become a lovely 35 year-old -- returns as young Jamie Lloyd. The movie fails to deliver on the deliciously creepy ending of Part 4, but now it focuses on Jamie, checked into a kids' hospital. She is doing better, but Halloween is approaching once again, and she is beginning to have seizures whenever Michael Myers (Don Shanks) thinks about killing. Donald Pleasence returns as Dr. Loomis, even loonier than ever before.
Some of the main characters from the last film are killed off, and minor ones become major ones. There's also an astoundingly beautiful blonde cheerleader character, Sam (Tamara Glynn), who, had I seen the movie in 1989, would have been my dream girl for life. She dresses up as a devil for the requisite costume party, and also has a "safe sex" scene, wherein her partner produces and puts on a condom!
The director here is Dominique Othenin-Girard, who seems to try for something different but ends up with something dumb. Not everything makes sense, least of all the mysterious figure in boots and a black trenchcoat that walks around and watches everything from a distance.
Anchor Bay has released this on a new Blu-ray for 2012. It comes with various extras recycled from previous DVDs. There are two commentary tracks, one with actor Don Shanks and author Justin Beahm, and another by actors Danielle Harris and Jeffrey Landman and director Dominique Othenin-Girad. There's a cool, low-def behind-the-scenes documentary (about 16 minutes), a short promo, and a trailer.
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