Don’t you just love it when sequels pick right up where their predecessor left off? I don’t know about you but to me, it makes the story feel more complete. Enter Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. This is the fifth installment into the Halloween franchise and the second film to continue the Jamie Lloyd storyline.
This film is truly the first time this mythology embraces the mystical. In the beginning, there is a moment where Jamie touches (Uncle) Michael and immediately drops her hand. It’s after this event, that it causes her to stab her step mother. Fast forward a year and Michael has come back for his niece. There’s something different with this film that the previous entries, Michael is almost portrayed as immortal. It’s allured to in H4 with Dr. Loomis but this film really embraces the mystical nature. Going even as far as to create a spiritual bond between Michael and Jamie. Honestly, it’s just weird and poorly executed.
Danielle Harris returns to reprise her role as Jamie Lloyd, this time with a psychic link to the boogeyman. Which in concept sounds amazing but falls so short. Harris delivered a strong and compelling performance in the fourth film of the series. Here it just feels like a wasted opportunity. She has a connection to a serial killer, something which is troubling and psychologically compelling. Instead, she sends the entity of the film fearful. While that’s not necessarily on her as an actress, but on the writers; her performance feels like a diet version of her H4 performance. While Harris was very under acting for this film, Donald Pleasance picks up the slack. Pleasance delivers an overly intense film that just feels out of place even for a horror film. Again, this comes back to the script.
I feel like my biggest problem with this film is the inability to find a tone and stick with it. The actors are either over acting or underacting – it’s almost as if this film is afraid to just deliver good performances. The tone wants to be grounded and develop these characters. Yes, this film does have one of the lower body counts in the franchise. However, it also wants to embrace the fantastical with the Jamie & Michael bond. It just can’t pick what it wants to do. To top it all off, Michael Myers once again comes across wooden in delivery.
Now while this film is loaded down with error and tonal inconsistencies, it does feature a bold cinematic move. Our main protagonist was a cameo character in the previous installment. I truly can’t remember any other film doing something like this. Wendy Kaplan’s “Tina Williams” leads the best performance of the whole movie. Her performance reminds Nancy Kyes’ “Annie Brackett” in the original. She has charisma and charm about her that just makes her electric when she takes the screen.
Overall, this film is maybe one of the worst films in the series. Suffocated by another wooden Michael Myers performance, inconsistent tone and plenty of overacting. It does however have a couple shining gems about it. First of which being Tina Williams. She’s just a kind of character you have to smile about when they enter into the frame. Second being the concept, the concept is phenomenal but executed abundantly horrific.
FINAL SCORE: 1/5
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