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A serial killer returns to his hometown a year after being presumed dead.
The first three Halloween sequels have all had problems to one extent or another but I'd still say that, at the absolute worst, they are still vaguely decent as far as superfluous slasher sequels go. However, the series takes a serious dive in quality with the release of fifth entry The Revenge of Michael Myers, which really does set the tone with its own variation on the iconic jack-o'-lantern opening sequence that opts to simply show quick, jagged close-ups of someone hacking a pumpkin to pieces in between the title cards. The hack-work continues into the film proper as it picks up by showing how Michael has survived yet another seemingly-fatal attack by being nurtured back to health by a homeless person, who he naturally murders upon recovery before putting on an even worse mask than he had in the last movie and setting off to once again pursue his long-lost niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). Jamie has spent the past year recovering from her ordeal in a psychiatric clinic, but as with the previous film she's having weird psychic visions connected to Michael, which Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) naturally wants to exploit in his latest attempt to find and stop Michael. This being a slasher and all, all this is inter-weaved with how Jamie's foster sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) and her friends are planning their own Halloween night shenanigans that make them obvious targets for Michael.
Whatever goodwill The Return of Michael Myers generated for the fledgling franchise is swiftly compromised here in the name of providing a much more generic slasher experience that is occasionally interspersed with scenes of a traumatised Jamie having her visions. It's comparable to Halloween II in that its first couple of acts are so sluggishly paced due to having to work around a protagonist in recovery by cooking up a whole new batch of unlikeable deadmeat for Michael to butcher before finally putting said protagonist in harm's way for the tense finale. At least there is more of an attempt at developing Jamie and giving her an arc as she has to overcome her fears and trauma in order to use her psychic ability for good, though it's still a flimsy one that comes across as more than a little manipulative in how it relies upon the relentless endangerment and traumatising of a child at the hands (and mind) of a remorseless killer. If nothing else, it's certainly at odds with the rest of the film's attempts at goofy humour such as comic-relief deputies getting their own jaunty theme music or even a drawn-out sequence involving Michael wearing one victim's absurdly ugly Halloween mask to dupe another potential victim. Though I wouldn't currently consider Revenge the worst of the bunch (even after two exceptionally leaden viewings), I would definitely place it low in an overall ranking as a result. I do think it's ultimately saved from a lower rating by how much residual investment there is in having likeable protagonists like Rachel and Jamie return, but the film really does work hard to undermine that through a film that alternates quite frequently between being cruel and boring.
#39 - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Dominique Othenin-Girard, 1989
Dominique Othenin-Girard, 1989
A serial killer returns to his hometown a year after being presumed dead.
The first three Halloween sequels have all had problems to one extent or another but I'd still say that, at the absolute worst, they are still vaguely decent as far as superfluous slasher sequels go. However, the series takes a serious dive in quality with the release of fifth entry The Revenge of Michael Myers, which really does set the tone with its own variation on the iconic jack-o'-lantern opening sequence that opts to simply show quick, jagged close-ups of someone hacking a pumpkin to pieces in between the title cards. The hack-work continues into the film proper as it picks up by showing how Michael has survived yet another seemingly-fatal attack by being nurtured back to health by a homeless person, who he naturally murders upon recovery before putting on an even worse mask than he had in the last movie and setting off to once again pursue his long-lost niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). Jamie has spent the past year recovering from her ordeal in a psychiatric clinic, but as with the previous film she's having weird psychic visions connected to Michael, which Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) naturally wants to exploit in his latest attempt to find and stop Michael. This being a slasher and all, all this is inter-weaved with how Jamie's foster sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) and her friends are planning their own Halloween night shenanigans that make them obvious targets for Michael.
Whatever goodwill The Return of Michael Myers generated for the fledgling franchise is swiftly compromised here in the name of providing a much more generic slasher experience that is occasionally interspersed with scenes of a traumatised Jamie having her visions. It's comparable to Halloween II in that its first couple of acts are so sluggishly paced due to having to work around a protagonist in recovery by cooking up a whole new batch of unlikeable deadmeat for Michael to butcher before finally putting said protagonist in harm's way for the tense finale. At least there is more of an attempt at developing Jamie and giving her an arc as she has to overcome her fears and trauma in order to use her psychic ability for good, though it's still a flimsy one that comes across as more than a little manipulative in how it relies upon the relentless endangerment and traumatising of a child at the hands (and mind) of a remorseless killer. If nothing else, it's certainly at odds with the rest of the film's attempts at goofy humour such as comic-relief deputies getting their own jaunty theme music or even a drawn-out sequence involving Michael wearing one victim's absurdly ugly Halloween mask to dupe another potential victim. Though I wouldn't currently consider Revenge the worst of the bunch (even after two exceptionally leaden viewings), I would definitely place it low in an overall ranking as a result. I do think it's ultimately saved from a lower rating by how much residual investment there is in having likeable protagonists like Rachel and Jamie return, but the film really does work hard to undermine that through a film that alternates quite frequently between being cruel and boring.