Halloween V (1989) - Sunny Haddonfield/Rachel's Quick Exit

While I personally loved how sunny the film looks after the big rainy night scene, it doesn’t have that same autumnal flavor as Dwight Little’s previous film. They really, I felt anyway, landed that real Halloween feel. In “Halloween V” it just feels like Haddonfield in July. Tina and Sammie finding no Rachel at her home, walking about Haddonfield, hopping in Tina’s leather jacket boyfriend, Mike’s convertible ride, it is quite a bright, vibrant neighborhood, soon to be terrorized. I like that contrast. The day just seems like any ordinary day. You do see some leaves on the ground, but I don’t think very many viewers can see past the obviousness of summer in this film’s Haddonfield. Nonetheless, I personally enjoy our getting the chance to really feel Haddonfield before night falls.

I still wish Rachel had been granted a reprieve, and Cornell’s absence from the film is something I have indeed commented on passionately in the past. It is such a quick departure, it always felt. I recall how I felt the first time I saw that, too, back in the early 90s when renting it on VHS. It was an intentional bummer. Michael returned to Haddonfield, found only Rachel, making sure she could not hit him any more with that damned truck. The film has the tag of “Revenge of…” so I guess in that context, Michael had to bury a sharp implement into someone from the previous film. Rachel, looking yummy in nothing but a towel, with her still-damp body, running around the house with an unlocked door (!!!), seemed to be in the throes of quite a fun Halloween party with Tina and Sammie, but those plans were interrupted. Sort of subbing Tina in for Rachel never really did anything for me personally, although she does eventually try and keep Jamie from real harm, failing, tragically, do so.