In this weeks episode of the Halloween Rewatch, Cory and Nathan pick up exactly where they left off… again! Come and join us for our discussion of “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.”

Trailer:

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989):

On October 31, 1988, Michael Myers (Don Shanks) is shot and falls down a mine shaft. He stumbles upon a hermit who bandages him up. Michael falls into a coma, placing him in the hermit’s care. One year later, on October 30, 1989, Michael awakens, kills the hermit, and returns to Haddonfield, where his niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) continues to live after nearly being killed by Michael the year before.

Jamie has been committed to a children’s hospital, having been rendered mute due to psychological trauma suffering from nightmares and seizures, and being treated for attacking her foster mother under Michael’s influence, but exhibits signs of a telepathic link with her uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) becomes aware of Jamie’s psychic link with Michael, and tries to convince Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr) that Michael is still alive. Meanwhile, showing signs of a metaphysical connection to Jamie, Michael tracks Jamie to a local child mental health clinic. He kills Jamie’s sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) by stabbing her in the chest with a pair of scissors, and begins stalking their friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan), also killing Tina’s boyfriend Mike with a sharp rake to his head.

Later that night, Tina and her friends Sam and Spitz go to a Halloween party at a farm. Sensing that Tina is in danger, Jamie, having regained her ability to speak, goes to warn her; her friend Billy goes with her. While Sam and Spitz are having sex in the barn, Michael murders them. Spitz is impaled with a pitchfork and Sam is sliced across the chest with a garden scythe. Michael then leaves the barn and kills two deputies that Loomis had asked to keep an eye on Tina for her protection. After the party, Tina goes to the barn and discovers the bodies. Michael chases Tina, Jamie, and Billy with a car. Tina sacrifices herself to save Jamie, and Michael fatally stabs her in the chest. Loomis, Sheriff Meeker, and the police arrive on the scene and rescue Jamie and Billy. Jamie finally agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good.

With Jamie’s help, Loomis lures Michael back to his abandoned childhood home. In the old Myers house, Loomis and the police create a set-up. Jamie senses that Michael has arrived at the clinic and Billy is in danger, which causes Sheriff Meeker, along with most of his backup, to leave the Myers house. Eventually, Michael arrives at his old home and kills the two remaining officers. Loomis tries to reason with him, but Michael subdues him and then goes after Jamie.

Jamie hides in an old laundry chute, but she is forced to abandon it after Michael finds her and repeatedly stabs the chute. She races upstairs to the attic where she finds a coffin that was stolen from the cemetery earlier, and the bodies of Rachel and Mike. Michael finds Jamie, but before he can kill her, she tries to appeal her uncle’s humanity. At Jamie’s request, Michael takes off his mask. However, Jamie touches Michael’s face, sending him into a fit of rage. Loomis appears, using Jamie as bait, and lures Michael into a trap to weaken him with a tranquilizer gun. After beating Michael unconscious with a wooden plank, Loomis suffers a stroke and collapses. Michael is locked up in the sheriff’s station, to eventually be escorted to a maximum-security prison, where, Meeker says, he will remain “until the day he dies,” to which Jamie responds, “He’ll never die.” After Jamie is escorted out to be taken home, a mysterious “Man in Black” arrives and attacks the police station, killing the officers, including Sheriff Meeker. In the aftermath, Jamie walks through the station, and discovers her uncle’s cell empty, prompting her to begin sobbing in terror.

Summary:

Let’s start positive. Yes, we actually enjoyed this one. It’s strangely gripping to be honest. However, the plot is complete nonsense. Unfortunately, with the script last week being essential a first draft, completed to meet the deadline of a writers strike, it seems that they really struggle to pull together a solid and cohesive story. To make matters worse, they attempt to layer in a secondary side story or a mysterious man lurking around town who ultimately help Michael escape at the end; it makes the story all the more convoluted and should have abruptly been axed out of the story. But yet again, Danielle Harris gives us a solid performance as the ever tormented Jamie Lloyd, but they could have gotten her talking a lot sooner and maybe told Donald Pleasance to take a step back so his rum breath wasn’t constantly being forced into Jamie’s nostrils at every turn. Soft recommend. Watch 4 and 5 back to back, it’s a lot more fun that way.

What’s Up Next?:

We’re taking another quick break from the Halloween series and returning to Jamie Lee Curtis as she is chased around New York by a serial killer in “Blue Steel.”

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