I watched Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
WAS I ENTERTAINED?
Yes.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME?
Max the Dog!
The way they showed Jamie’s face through a transparent wall as she was drawing Max the Dog was quite nice. I don’t know that it was ground-breaking at the time, but it’s a fun tool for visual storytelling.
The Clown Cops thing. Though it is tone def and out of place it is so very close to being something that makes sense. It would have worked if it were played as cops trying to put a scared girl at ease. The timing, delivery, and dialogue work toward that end. See the next section for my other thoughts on this sequence.
Michael is in the background of so many shots and that is just freakin’ awesome!
For the short time that we get to see them, Rachel and Tina leave a significant impact on us. I would have loved to see them operate as a duo in this story serving to confound Michael’s attempts to reach Jamie. Both Elllie Cornell and Wendy Kaplan serve these roles with great charm and charisma. It’s a waste not to have utilized them more fully.
Dr. Loomis is being a bit of a dick in this movie, and plenty of people call it out, but I think it’s a good bit of development for Loomis.
The Man in Black. This is one of the greatest set-ups for a mystery ever committed to film. It’s too bad no one knew what to do with it.
Michael killing Mikey is catharsis writ large.
Michael wearing a different mask to be “in disguise” is fantastic!
There are many little things in Don Shanks performance that points to there being much more to Michael than the empty vessel so many people seem to want him to be.
Michael’s cat-and-mouse shenanigans really are on point in this outing!
Michael, in the car, chasing Jamie, on foot, through the woods is a fun stretch of tension.
I love this whole sequence through the woods, but Michael would you tuck in your damn mask, please!
After the cops and paramedics leave and Loomis is left alone to address Michael in the woods as Michael’s visage plays hide-and-seek with the light and shadow of the set piece… Beautiful!
Jamie versus the Laundry Chute is another great bit of tension!
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME?
The Clown Cops: Part II. The music and a poor set-up ruin what could have been a kind of touching moment between two decent cops and a scared girl. But, no, we got a clown show instead.
Michael’s untucked mask is putting me off. It just looks incredibly out of place.
Rachel was killed too early. I know they did this to up the stakes, but this was also a waste of Rachel the character and Ellie Cornell the actress.
If we presume that Michael is out to kill Jamie then why does he leave Jamie behind at the clinic to pursue Tina to the Tower Farm?
Ten rounds fired from a police-issue revolver. Weird how this continues to happen in the movies even to this day.
Dude dresses up in a Michael Myers costume to prank the cops at the Tower Farm party. Why is there some random Michael Myers costume just lying around? Yeah, we know it’s to bait-and-switch the audience, but these things should at least make sense so as to not break immersion.
Yeah, yeah, we get it! Enough with the moaning foreplay bit. Maybe it’s just because I’m an old fart, but this stuff just bores me.
That is not the Myers house!
WOULD I RECOMMEND?
Yes, I would.
Though we we see a decline in quality and plausibility I’d say this is the last of the Halloween films that tries to be a Michael Myers movie in anything other than name only. After this installment the bad ideas per film begin to outnumber the good ideas in my estimation.
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