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230 comments in total

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38 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :-
Not my favorite Halloween flick, 26 July 2005

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

Halloween 5, yeah, this was a disappointment, most fans don't really dig this sequel which is understandable. It is kind of stupid or just plain stupid; this is the story that most horror movie sequels try to rip off, the telepathic powers that get really annoying. It seems like every horror movie sequel has to have it, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street had it, why not include the Halloween franchise as well? Unfortunately I didn't get into it, I think because it was extremely unoriginal and not to mention that the story didn't really continue from the 4th sequel. The ending of Halloween 4 had Jamie turning evil, I guess they just totally dropped that idea which could have been great to see, instead we got a silly and typical horror story that was badly acted, edited, and directed.

Michael Myers makes his way into a small shack by the river owned by a local hermit. Once there, Michael collapses and remains in a comatose state for a full year. On October 30th Michael awakens, kills the hermit, and returns to terrorize Haddonfield, where his young niece, Jamie Lloyd continues to live after nearly being killed by Michael the year before. Jamie has been mute since attacking her foster mother at the end of film 4, but exhibits signs of a telepathic link with her evil uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis realizes that this link exists, and plans to use it to put an end to Michael's reign of terror. Michael begins stalking Rachel and her friend Tina. After both are killed Jamie agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good. With Jamie's help, Loomis lures Michael back to the old Myers house. Michael makes many attempts at killing Jamie, finally getting the chance to in the attic. Jamie tries appealing to Michael's humanity by calling him "Uncle". Myers pauses, prompting Jamie to ask to see his face. He takes off his mask, and a lone tear runs down his face. Jamie reaches up to wipe it away, and Michael is thrown into a rage. The killer pursues Jamie, who runs into Loomis. The doctor seems to turn on the girl as he shouts for Michael to come and take her. It turns out that he has used the girl as bait, thus leading Michael to walk beneath a heavy chain net. But you have to see what happens next by watching the movie.

While granted that this movie isn't the worst movie in the world, I do enjoy the Halloween sequels, I think this was a fall in the story line for the Halloween series. It really could have had a lot of potential, but since they dropped a few ideas that were presented in the previous Halloween sequel. Not to mention this is one of the rare times that I wasn't scared by Michael, he's loosing his touch… no, I can't say that, please I can't say that… it's the writing! It's the blasted writing! So if you wanna see the sequels, yeah, do watch it just to see the story continue, but if you are just looking for a scary movie in general, you can skip Halloween 5.

5/10

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14 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Apart from Pleasence, everyone in the film is just going through the motions., 23 October 1999
Author: G.Spider

When the original Halloween was made it was scary because of its gritty realism and believable characters. Part 2 was also an edge-of-seater. But by the time you reach this, Part 5, the tension has gone from the series and Michael Myers has descended from a believable shadow-stalking figure into an unkillable Jason 'Friday the 13th' Voorhees clone.

For what its worth, the plot of this film involves Myers coming after Jamie, who is now in a childrens' psychiatric hospital after attacking her stepmother. The concept of Jamie having a psychic bond with her deranged uncle is interesting, but it's all completely ruined by the constant unfunny attempts at humour, the tedious padding and the lack of likeable would-be victims. Instead of genuine characters all we have here are Porky-style sex-mad teenagers with nothing approaching an IQ between them. There's even a scene set in a barn similar to the one in some of the Friday the 13th films. And Rachel from Part 4 seems to have been reduced to a stereotype blonde airhead whose only purpose in the film is to run around half-naked before being slaughtered. And why does Myers' mask look nothing like the one he wore in the previous films?

One good point in this film is Donald Pleasence, who is at his best as an overwhelming Dr Loomis who dominates his every scene and makes the film worth viewing. There is also an enigmatic Man in the Black Fedora-type figure who leads the film into the far superior Part 6.

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Actually, I liked it . . ., 2 December 2003
Author: jaywriterXIII from USA

Sure, they wasted their one chance to change the direction of the Halloween series (the right way). The year long coma is BS, yes, indeed. Sure, the psychic connection between Jamie and Michael is a little goofy, ill-explained, beyond the scope of a Halloween movie, and exists for no real reason, and yes, other people wearing a mask similar to Michael and pretending to be Michael is getting old (not to mention predictable.) The mask doesn't resemble any of the previous masks really, the Myers house had an inexplicable make-over . . . I could keep these complaints rolling for some time (don't even get me started on the man in black), but despite all my reasons to not like this film . . . I prefer it over #4.

I found Halloween 5 to be strangely fun, which horror tends to be when you stop caring for the cast. While I like Danielle Harris and Donald Pleasance in the leads, most of the supporting characters I didn't really like at all, so when Myers starts the party rolling I'm rooting for team Thorn. And this time around, Miky proves he has a dark sense of humor. I especially like his choice in masks in Halloween 5 . . .

But is it scary? No, but there are a few genuine intense moments towards the end as Michael inevitably runs out of victims and closes in on the stars. I liked all the chases involving Danielle Harris and confrontations between Donald Pleasence and evil personified . . . even if said confrontations are on the silly side.

Speaking of Harris, despite her character not being able to talk in the script, she manages to rise far above the material and actually pull it off. Or in other words, while her character was written by a hack and sloppily thrown together, she works wonders with the very little she's given. It makes me really wish she got writing worthy of her performance, but like a professional, she makes the best of it . . . and to think the studio wouldn't let her reprise her role after this? A slap to the face after an insult . . . oy.

I remember reading on the VHS box of Halloween 5 the exclamation, `Michael finally unmasked!' And couldn't help but chuckle as I recalled him being mask-less at least once in every Myers-inclusive Halloween until this film. Granted, this is the first time he, himself, takes it off. Oh well.

As for the film's ending, I can't forgive because it lead to the atrocity known as Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers which felt Halloween 5 was extremely flawed but still fun . . . so it set out to make a sequel that was all flaw and no fun . . . or something.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best sequels to Halloween, 17 February 2007

Author: TheSingingReviewer from United Kingdom

Halloween 5 is slightly better than Halloween 4 in the fact that we see a bit more of Micheal and we get a few more gory killing scenes like with the scissors.

The movie uses some more creepy scenes like in the barn house and the Myers house, it may not look the same as the first but it's still creepy.

The other scene is the car chase where Micheal is driving after Jamie with the theme music playing that always creeps me out.

The Man in Black was another interesting character but sadly we don't enough of him or learn his story until Halloween 6 when his character is revealed, also that symbol that is on Micheal and the Man In Black is also revealed in part 6.

A good sequel to the Halloween franchise.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Good scare scenes..., 28 February 2005
Author: boomcar61 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After facing a firing squad and falling down a mine shaft at the end of part four, this next sequel continues with Michael crawling out through a hole just before the police throw in a stick of dynamite, and then he proceeds to escape down a river. He eventually comes to a cabin, or something like that, and once inside it he faints and ultimately goes into another of his famous comas. Thanks to the resident hermit, Michael gets plenty of rest for a whole year...

Now telepathically linked to her uncle, young Jamie(now mute and unable to make use of her vocal cords)waits anxiously in Haddonfield Children's Hospital, exactly one year later. She knows that her uncle is coming, but cannot express herself with speech. Thankfully Dr. Loomis is still around, and he senses that Jamie knows something but believes that she is protecting Michael. Jamie's sister Rachel(Ellie Cornell)reprises her role for about ten minutes, unfortunately, since Michael eventually kills her in one of the many well-directed scenes in this installment. Replacing her is Tina(Wendy Kaplan), the widely hated bad actress who I actually kinda liked. Aside from being a bit annoying, I still don't think that she was as bad as some of the buffoons from part six...

Anyways, I used to believe that Halloween 5:The Revenge of Michael Myers was superior to its predecessor. However, having recently watched the two back to back, I realize that I was wrong about that. This sequel still has some redeeming qualities, though. While part four delivered some great scare scenes, director Othenin-Girard capitalizes on this formula and delivers even better scares this time. Examples are the aforementioned death scene with Rachel, the chase scene with Jamie in the hospital's basement, the car-chase scene with Tina, and a very suspenseful scene with Jamie in the Myers's laundry chute. In fact, every scene that takes place in the Myers house is superb.

Overall I rate Halloween 5 a 7/10. Some of the editing and voice-overs were absolutely awful so I had to take away a point. Other than that I think that this installment is at least worth a viewing, and the ending will certainly leave you craving more. Too bad we had to wait about six years for another one, and sadly Danielle Harris(who plays Jamie in four and five)does not return. So, to end this, part five is at least better than the next sequel, Halloween 6:The Curse of Michael Myers.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Disappointing., 20 December 2004

Author: Hotstar from Stockport, England

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was alike Halloween II a great sequel and thoroughly justified the questionable decision to bring Myers back.

The shock ending to Part 4 also left fans demanding another sequel ASAP;I bet they wished they hadn't bothered.

Halloween 5 is so obviously rushed and is littered with plot holes and events that make no sense whatsoever.

Jamie's madness is almost discarded as a plot line, the man in black subplot makes little sense and makes even less in Part 6. Also Ellie Cornell's likable Rachel Carruthers character is killed off almost instantly, and instead the film is carried by a bunch of colourless, obnoxious and unbelievably formulaic characters.

The result of this is that the viewer begins to root for Myers, willing him to slice and dice these dull protagonists.

The two cops amused me, but the circus SFX did not. The only thing that lifts this picture barely above standard horror, is the performance of Donald Pleasence, his Loomis character really begins to lose the plot in this one.

Unquestionably the weakest Michael Myers flick, although Part 6, and Resurrection are only mildly better. This is where the wheels began to fall away in the Halloween saga, even H20 is frustrating, as it discards parts 4-6 as ever happening. Let's hope Part 9 is an improvement and a return to form for the franchise although I wouldn't hold my breath.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Uninspired, 1 June 2005

Author: jroberts_95 from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If you read interviews about the Halloween films, you will see that anyone who has stepped up to the plate to direct one of them has one thing in common. They want to add something new to the series while trying to keep the feel of the original. This movie failed on both parts.

It is hard to decided where to begin on why this movie failed. The beginning was absolutely horrible, as the explanation on how Michael escaped his fate from Halloween 4 was unoriginal and completely stupid. Unfortunalty, this movie does not get better as time goes on. Rachel, who was a major player in H4, was in this movie for all of 30 minutes and she didn't contribute one thing. She was a complete idiot in this film and it is no wonder she dies rather quickly.

The setting was also horrible. In Halloween 4, the producers realized that they didn't have a house that was suitable to be used as the Myers' house, so they worked their way around it. And it worked. H5 was shot in the exact same place as H4, but this time the producers felt the need to include the Myers' house into the storyline. Unfortunalty, it looks like they didn't watch the first 2 Halloween films, otherwise they would have seen that the Myers' house was NOT a huge Gothic mansion. How they try to imitate the original when it looks as if they had never even bothered to watch it is beyond me. But nonetheless, they continued with their shooting, and completely disregarded what the previous Halloween films had done.

I know it is typical in ever horror movie that there will be one character that you know if going to die. Usually they are loud, annoying, talk about sex, dumb and overall a perfect target for the killer. But usually they die pretty quickly. But not here. Unfortuantly, we as the viewers have to endure the absolute dreadful character of Tina, the one person everyone thinks will die quickly, but alas, dies near the end of the film. Why the producers didn't replace her character with Rachel is another question that I would love to ask the idiots that made this film.

Overall, there is nothing good to be said about this film. The music is horrible, the acting is pathetic, the characters make you want to vomit and they completely disregard anything the other Halloween films have done. Overall, I give this movie a 3/10 and don't recommend it to anyone unless they want to watch the whole series or just want to waste 2 hours of their life.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Awful in pretty much every way imaginable, 4 May 2007

Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Ho boy, where to begin? At this point in the series, Dr. Loomis has become abusive, the characters are all hateful, Michael's slipping, and the scripts are making even less sense.

We begin right where we left off from Halloween 4, a la Halloween I and II: Michael escapes from the mine shaft, crawls to safety, and gets nursed back to health by some random bum with a parrot. One year later and with a lot more energy, his immediate action once he's able to move is to off the bum and head back to town, hoping to hunt down his niece who now has a psychic connection with him. A troop of teenagers are introduced, and the movie promises carnage. Sort of.

This movie is bad. By bad I mean incompetent on pretty much every level. In horror movies, part of the delight and part of the terror is the fact that the teenagers die, but one character at least we hope will live. Not so in this one. Every single character is a hateful, stereotypical 80s idea of idiocy, and Michael's carnage can't come soon enough. This storytelling is backed up by probably some of the worst editing and directing I've ever seen, as characters move sporadically through jump cuts to... well, they don't really do much of anything, except ignore the warnings of a traumatized little child with a psychic connection to a serial killer. That role is given over to Donald Pleasence's Dr. Loomis, who somehow still has a practice and still is listened to, despite the fact that at this point he breaks about every rule of clinical ethics and the fact that he's an obnoxious jerk.

Breaks every rule... that's what this movie does. This movie is so unable to bring actual horror, suspense, or gory delights to the fore that it literally just bumbles around hoping for something to photograph until Michael comes around, and then the storyline and directing are so incompetent they can't even make Michael seem cool. The scenes in the barn are pretty much must-see for film students who want to know exactly what NOT to do. And then, as if it's not enough, the movie has the audacity to introduce a new character for the sole purpose of letting Michael out of prison... who he is, what he's there for, what he knows, even if it's a he... there's no explanation. They literally wrote a character into the script because they were too lazy to know how to end this movie. That's like THE single basic screenplay no-no.

Of course, there's always room for camp, but camp only works when the film goes in outrageous directions and does things creative and fun. This movie isn't even creative enough to come up with crazy, out-there ideas like Halloween 3, it just lazily serves the tropes of its genre without even the craft and skill required to make a successful continuity cut! By the time this movie ends, you will feel frustrated, bored, betrayed, and uninterested. While this movie plays, you will wish for every character to die just so that you no longer have to watch their stupid, mindless antics, and you will regret renting (or buying) the disc. Halloween 5 isn't even worth the plastic it's printed on, and that's bad considering how cheap it is to put things on DVD.

--PolarisDiB

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
The town's infamous bad boy returns home., 26 October 2002

Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK

More or less a disappointing continuance of the Halloween saga. It has been a year since Michael Myers somehow survived massive gunfire and falling down a mine shaft. Upon healing his wounds he once again returns home to seek out his niece Jamie(Danielle Harris), who now herself is hospitalized and telepathic...knowing when the slasher is about to attack. Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell and Beau Starr reprise their previous roles. Also notable are Wendy Kaplan and Tamara Glynn. It is hard to tell if there are more squeals than thrills. My main complaint is they kill off Rachel(Cornell)way too quickly. Miss Harris is left with the most serious acting and does very well. This time it is Don Shanks playing the maniacal white masked menace. The finale is quite brutal, but is it brutal enough?

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
5 and onward, 29 May 2006

Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

Once again, Michael Myers comes back and goes around killing people. The whole thing about the mental connection with Jamie made this one slightly more interesting. Of course, the character most likely to stick in your mind is Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance); sometimes, I wonder why he didn't just call up the FBI, CIA, etc. to help him catch Michael.

All in all, "Halloween 5" is nothing particularly special, but always fun to watch. Still, the series got really good again with the seventh installment (when Jamie Lee Curtis returned).

Hoo hoo hoo hoo ha ha ha ha...

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