Halloween 5

I prayed that he would burn in hell but knew in my heart that hell would not have him.

While Dwight Little's Halloween 4 was business as usual, director Dominique Othenin-Girard has some fun with the franchise incorporating additional ideas sort of eluded at the end (whether intended or not; I'm talking the whole "psychically linked" angle...) of the previous film. Halloween 5 does feature Michael Myers killing folks--this is just a standard that is expected, the films are identifiable as a series in the slasher genre, with Myers considered part of the Bogeymen of the 80s--but director Dominique Othenin-Girard toys with the myth surrounding the Haddonfield's own stalker-psycho. Hell, Othenin-Girard even introduces a "man in black"  with steel-toed boots getting off the bus with plans for Michael. Meanwhile, that old burn-faced koot, still hanging around Haddonfield, Loomis, is trying to get little Jamie (Danielle Harris, practically confined to a children's home after nearly stabbing her adoptive mother to death in 4, unable to speak and physically ill because of her mind-link to Michael) to tell him where Haddonfield's Finest is. Loomis returns to the Myers home, once again, to see if his nemesis is waiting somewhere close. I love this scene, to tell you the truth, because it is in such terrible shape, probably a bitch of an eyesore in the neighborhood, its notoriety remaining, very much carrying the look of a haunted house due to its less-than-stellar condition. It also takes me back to the first film.

There's another scene where Dominique Othenin-Girard sets up a pretty nifty sequence of disorientation taking us into a nightmarish delirium as Jamie believes she's being chased by Michael in the children's clinic, finding herself in the basement and it's all in how the director lenses this: the warped angles, the way everything in skewed and off-kilter. Basically, Jamie is caught in a situation nobody would want to be in. She has to feel and see through Michael, sense the horror as he draws closer to those he plans to kill. In this fresh angle (maybe ridiculous to some, perhaps refreshing to others...), the director has avenues available to him; he can use the camera and the situation to convey a horror that is different than the norm. I thought Rob Zombie's Halloween II was somewhat inspired by this angle, as Laurie and Michael are "linked" in his film as well. I didn't like the way this film *dismisses* Ellie Cornell's Rachel Carruthers, though, Not at all. It's a custom, sad to say, where sequels often say goodbye to characters of importance in a franchise. I wish Cornell could've been afforded a chance to reprise her role, but what her dismissal does is further implement the horror of Jamie's torment because nothing's worse than seeing and feeling the heinous fate of someone you cherish and adore.

The stalk and slash scene, its method known by all slasher fans (and those who perhaps loathe the genre yet have  seen a few before denouncing the movies for good...), can either succeed or fail depending on style and effect. I think Dominique Othenin-Girard has a dandy in this film when friends of a character named Tina (Wendy Foxworth), who is buddies with Rachel, are making out in a barn, not knowing that lurking in the darkness is Michael. It is long and drawn out, no doubt, but because of the eeriness of the barn and how the director establishes the places to hide, understanding that while the two have their minds and libidos on lovemaking, The Shape is preparing to kill them. The kill scene is expected so at least present it with a sense of dread and visual allure that doesn't deflate completely when the murders don't quite compensate for the build up.

You know, I thought Michael using the vehicle to try and run down Jamie was also rather well executed. The car was basically no different to Michael than that big-ass butcher knife, and he tries to impale poor Jamie and Tina with it; a kid who is Jamie's little boyfriend (he has a nervy stutter but a kind heart) is almost hit by Michael. Running for her life, Michael cuts a swath through a valley of chest-high trees, eventually driving the  car into a tree (the sound of the horn, as it was in Halloween, is used in an excellent way; simple but clever).

The moment when Jamie is caught in the laundry chute, director Dominique Othenin-Girard goes the extra mile to provoke a response due to the little girl's tightly confined dilemma. He also uses minimal music and the quiet. The house has never been as vital to a Halloween film in terms of the big chase (unless you consider Zombie's films part of the entire franchise, which I don't..) and used as a lengthy suspense set piece. Loomis using Jamie to draw Michael towards him ("Let's play a game...catch the little girl.") is an interesting touch. In the film, you often see Loomis talking about the rage inside Michael, telling him Jamie is the key to the end of what lives angrily inside. There is a definite emphasis on what motivates Michael to kill and how this can be used by another as given the twist at the end with the man in black. Part 6 does explore this further, but that wouldn't be for another six years.

Perhaps the most fascinating scene could be when Jamie appeals, however briefly, to what little humanity might exist, and there's a tear that momentarily falls, but not long after the rage returns and Loomis must make a decision to once and for all face off with him and end this terror towards Haddonfield. This film interestingly seems to indicate that Loomis might have passed away after repeated blows to Michael with a 2X4 (he takes a nice knife slash and is thrown for a loop), falling onto him in a heap. I think we all can agree that Loomis' sanity has dissipated, although when we next see him in 6 he's relatively sane compared to this film. I'll end by saying that whatever attempts to make Cornell's Rachel the "good ole average girl next door" is detonated by her shower scene and moments in a white towel. No nudity, but plenty of the ole titillation.