Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard

Written by John Carpenter & Debra Hill (characters) and Michael Jacobs

Starring: Donald Pleasance

      Danielle Harris

      Ellie Cornell

      Wendy Foxworth

**** (4 out of 5 stars)

This is one of my favourite films in the Halloween series, for several reasons.  I really enjoyed the previous installment, The Return of Michael Myers, because it started to give Michael a supernatural element.  He wasn't just the unstoppable psychopath that we saw in the first two films but now he had this force behind him, this incurable evil even deeper than we had already thought.  Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers gives us more to the story of the link between Myers and his niece, Jamie.  Even though I enjoyed Season of the Witch, it was off on it's own as far as Myers' story was concerned, and that's why I enjoy the previous film as well as this one because it picks up where it left off and gives us something else totally new to start looking at.  Before now, Michael Myers was just a relentless serial killer but now it appears that there is something darker, more sinister at work behind the dreary, white mask.

One of the best aspects of this movie to me were some of the great scenes in which Myers just creeps out of the background, as he so often does, and kills his victims.  For some reason, the scenes of this movie just stand out more for me than any other film in the series (although Halloween II is a stand out for me also).  In particular, the scene where one of the girls is just out of the shower and she's looking for her dog, then afterwards the dog is found and the police were called but nothing was out of the ordinary- once she goes back inside, we start to see Michael creep around behind her for awhile before he moves in and stabs her to death with a pair of scissors.  Just the quiet nature of these scenes is what keeps this film on par with the first two of the series.  The original Halloween was so effective because of its subtle qualities: Myers always lurking in the background, we never see his face but only through his eyes, the quiet spaces that occupy the film solely to keep us on edge in a state of curiosity.  These scenes make it a more whole part of the series, keeping the feeling and flow the same as before; as I said, I enjoyed Season of the Witch but it was more of a stand alone film, taking on its own life, and this film itself brings us back to the real story of Michael Myers.

The acting and the dialogue in this movie are pretty solid.  Most times sequels tend to fall by the wayside when it comes to dialogue and scripting especially, but The Revenge of Michael Myers was penned fairly well; of course there is always going to be a little cheese when it comes to some horror movies though it seems the Halloween franchise has a lot less of the cheese factor than some of the others (particulary A Nightmare on Elm Street although it is one of my favourite horror franchises).  The acting is also fairly spot on, most notably Donald Pleasance and (little girl's name).  Pleasance makes Dr. Loomis into a really creepy character but yet he is quite the hero when it comes to Myers and his terrorizing of Haddonfield; we watch as Loomis is all but torn apart by the will to find Michael and send him to Hell.  (little girl's name) is wonderful in this installment- she shows a lot of range for a young girl acting especially in the beginning when she is still traumatized by the events of the previous film and cannot speak.  We watch her struggle to figure out what is going on, as she seems to have an almost psychic link with her evil uncle Mike.  There are a couple intense scenes between her and Loomis when he is trying to convince her to help him, but she's still just a frightened little girl who has been through too much to really comprehend.  Also a honorable mention goes to (lead actress) for playing a fairly good role as being the main character, aside from Jamie, that Myers is after throughout most of the film.  All in all, I was pretty impressed by the acting from all the players involved- even the creepy, weird little kid who was in love with Jamie (he may have been handicapped and if so, I apologize for calling him creepy & weird!).

A solid installment in the Halloween series, ranking 3rd after Halloween and Halloween II respectively.  The atmosphere and tone of the film are what makes it so great for me, accompanied by some fairly good acting and scripting it makes this a great slasher film.  This is one of the films in the series, including the first and second, that I can watch frequently and not get tired of- that's something special for me, especially when it comes to horror films and the slasher sub genre.