Violence/Gore: The gore quotient goes up a notch as people are skewered, slashed, and stabbed in the face with a farm implement. And for the second time in as many years, the entire local police force is massacred! Recruitment is going to get pretty tough around there.

Sex/Nudity: Surprisingly none except for a bit of suggestive interplay. Things are getting a bit sanitized in slasher world.

Best Line: “I prayed that he would burn in hell, but in my heart I knew that hell would not have him.”

Score:

In case you’re wondering where it started to go horribly wrong, here it is. Only one year after the successful resurrection of Michael Myers and the HALLOWEEN series with HALLOWEEN 4, a follow-up was quickly cobbled together to keep the story rolling. Unfortunately, an ill-conceived attempt to expand the story by turning Michael’s rampage into a far more complex conspiracy of some sort with shadowy mystery figures and continuity references to things we never heard of or saw before left many a HALLOWEEN fan shaking their heads as much as non-devotees and leaving the theater with one thought: “What the hell was that all about? And just wait until the sixth movie! Join me now for those heady days of Thorn tattoos and men in steel-toed boots…

Jamie is in an institution after the events of the last movie, and for some reason Loomis is now fixated on the fact that she is in firect psychic contact with her uncle Michael. There were very minor clues to this in the final moments of the fourth movie, but it still seems like quite a leap, but then again Loomis is never crazier than he is in this installment, so let’s give him some leeway. Michael has been resting up since last Halloween with an old man who apparently took him in, cared for him, and was then repaid with a horrific death. This sequence, by the way, is one of several that were discussed at length in various magazines prior to the movie’s release but appeared to undergo massive editing before the movie was completed. As a result, Michael’s situation in the year before 4 and 5 is vague to say the least. But we haven’t even begun to confuse you yet.

Soon we meet the latest horde of oversexed Haddonfield “high school kids” in their late 20s, including new heroine Tina, whose goofy, bubbly Jennifer Tilly impression actually sets her apart as a character with a bit of energy for a change. She’s not your typical virginal slasher heroine, and she gets to participate in what is arguably one of the best confrontations with the Shape ever seen in the series. If only she knew that the guy behind the wheel wasn’t her boyfriend, coincidentally also named “Michael!”

But this is still Jamie’s story. This film was critically blasted for depicting such relentless violence and emotional torment directed at a little girl, but it’s to actress Danielle Harris’ credit that she really makes it work. It’s just a pity she’s trapped in a story that doesn’t know which way to turn next. While Myers prepares to hunt down his niece and ruin another Haddonfield Halloween, a strange Man in Black arrives in town on a bus. A few insert shots establish that both he and Myers are sporting identical triangular tattoos on their wrists. Funny how we never heard about any of that before in all these years. Who the hell is this guy?

One of the most talked-about scenes involves Jamie convincing Michael to remove his mask, at which point she notices a tear running down his shadowed face. Are we now to believe that trapped inside this demonic engine of destruction, this soulless immortal monster, is a trapped little boy who just wants to be loved? As with most of this movie, this attempt to add “depth” to our favorite psychotic slasher didn’t exactly elicit any interest from audiences, but it did generate a bit of nervous laughter.

Protected only by a distraught sheriff still reeling from the events of the last movie and two moronic deputies who are evidently supposed to be so unebearably funny that their every action is accompanied by goofy cartoon sound effects and bumbling music, the kids of Haddonfield are understandably doomed. But then Loomis stages an elaborate trap for the Shape, revealing knowledge of what drives Myers despite specifically stating in past films that he had no idea what was going on behind those black eyes. When did he come by this knowledge? The confusion is only marginally relieved by the fannish satisfaction of finally watching Loomis let loose and beat the crap out of Myers with a board with a nail in it. And then there’s the ending.

Ah, the ending. At the time, we were all left with your basic “What the fuck?” reaction when the Man in Black does something other than stand around or walk through a shot. Myers is caught by Loomis and the cops, the police station is instantly turned into an explosive inferno by the machine gun-wielding Man in Black, and a blood-soaked Jamie tearfully observes that the Shape is gone, apparently “rescued” by the Man in Black.

HALLOWEEN 5 posed many questions and introduced a number of complications that failed to enrich the saga; they only served to weigh it down. And they would remain unanswered for years due to the poor performance of this lackluster follow-up to 4. When the answers finally did come, they wouldn’t satisfy anybody…

…Oh and I almost forgot, this is possibly the worst mask in the history of the series, made even more annoying by the fact that it’s supposed to be the same mask as the one he was wearing in 4 and yet couldn’t look more unlike that one if it tried.

DVD Extras: There’s a “making-of” documentary and an intro clip.

ATB