Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
DIRECTED BY: Dominique Othenin-Girard
WRITTEN BY: Michael Jacobs & Dominique Othenin-Girard and Shem Bitterman
MUSIC BY: Alan Howarth
DISTRIBUTOR: Galaxy International Releasing Co
STARRING: Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Beau Starr, Jeffrey Landman, Tamara Glynn, Jonathan Chapin, Matthew Walker, and Wendy Kaplan as "Tina"
RUNNING TIME: 96 Minutes
Plot:
One year after the events of part 5 Jamie has been committed to a children's hospital; and has remained mute since stabbing her adopted mother. Michael did not die in the mine shaft. Jamie is connected to Michael, she can see what he sees, but can not communicate it to anyone. The rest of Haddonfield believes that Michael is dead. After Michael begins killing people the police finally accept that he has returned. They set a trap for him in the old Myers place. The trap backfires, but the police finally capture him and take him to the police station. A mysterious Man in Black sets off an explosion inside the station and shoots up the place with a machine gun. Jamie, who was left alone in a police car, goes into the station and finds that all of the cops are dead and Michael is gone.
Mythos Information:
Takes place October 31, 1989; 1 year after Part 4.
At the end of part 4, after Michael fell into the mine shaft, he escaped into a nearby river.
Darlene Corruthers did not die after Jamie stabbed her.
Jamie is 9 years old.
Michael was saved from the police station by a mysterious stranger who was dressed in all black
Michael and The Stranger both have the same strange mark on their right wrists.
Story:
After the success of Part 4 Moustapha Akkad decided to make another sequel as quickly as possible. Even though Debra Hill had already ended her involvement with the franchise, she recommended French director Dominique Othenin-Girard. Girard brought in writer Michael Jacobs. The two worked on a script together. Writer Shem Bitterman worked on re-writes of the script to prepare it for shooting.
The film was rushed into production because they wanted to hit an October 1989 release date; which gave them less than a year to make it. As with the previous installment Akkad financed the film without studio involvement. Also
as with the previous installment they filmed in Salt Lake City Utah.
Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell and Beau Starr all reprised their roles. Shooting began in May of 1989. Pleasence did all of his scenes during the first 2 weeks of shooting. When he left he told 11 year old Harris that she could have the large trailer that had been his during his brief time on set. She said that having a 40 foot RV as her
makeup trailer made her feel like a real movie star.
Their was tension on the set between the director and some cast and crew members. Akkad and Pleasence both felt that Girard was going too far from the basic style of Halloween. Akkad did not like the amount of gore that Girard wanted. Pleasence felt that Jamie's adopted mother should have died and Jamie should have been
completely evil.
The film was completed on time, and for a budget of about $5 million. It was released on (Friday) October 13, 1989. It made $12 million at the box office. Many fans were upset about several aspects of the film. Many fans felt cheated because the ads promised "Michael Myers is finally unmasked" but the unmasking scene is all in the shadows so his face is never seen. (Marketing guys have a tendency to make promises that the film can not keep, thinking that it will get more people to see the movie) Others did not like the fact that the film was just setting it self up for another sequel, (The film-makers admit that they had no clue who the mysterious stranger was supposed to be or what his involvement with Michael was). Others did not like the change of the Myers house (see trivia).
Trivia:
The film was shot in with Spherical lenses at a ratio of 1.85x1.
If you don't know what I am talking about check out my artical on film aspect ratios.
Michael Myers was played by one person, Donald L. Shanks.
Originally had an opening where Michael washes up on the bank of a river and a guy takes off his mask, but than is killed. This shot appears at the end of a documentary about the making of the film which appears on the Anchor Bay DVD.
Don Shanks, who played Michael Myers, also played this mysterious Stranger in many of his scenes. Because they both had identical marks on their wrists and were being played by the same person Shanks thought
that they would turn out to be long lost twin brothers.
In the scene with Michael trying to get at Jamie in the laundry chute he originally stabbed her in the leg. It was removed because the film-makers felt that the cute little girl getting stabbed in the leg was too much. If you look closely when she gets out of the chute you can see that she has blood on her leg.
Another of Girard's changes was in the design of the Myers house. In the first two it was a regular looking 2 story house that Beaver Cleaver might live in. Now it is a big gothic mansion.
Do not adjust your computer monitors; they actually wanted us to believe it was the same house.
Deaths:
Harper Roisman (Mountain Man) - Stabbed
Rachel Corruthers (Ellie Cornell) - Stabbed in the chest with scissors
Mike (Jonathan Chapin) - Pitchfork to the head
Spitz (Matthew Walker) - Stabbed in the back with a pitchfork
Samantha (Tamara Glynn) - Sliced with a sythe
Deputy Nick (Frank Como) & Deputy Tom (David Ursin) - Stabbed with a pitchfork (offscreen)
Tina Williams (Wendy Kaplan) - Stabbed with a knife
Eddy (Fenton Quinn) - Head slammed in the stearing wheel multible times
Charlie (Troy Evans) - Hung out the window with a rope
Dr. Hart (Max Robinson) - unknown (body taken out of the clinic in a streatcher)
Max, the dog - unknown (body found in Myers house)
Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr) & several cops at the station - Explosion and machine-gun fire.
Sex/Nudity:
Note: I would like to nominate Ellie Cornell for the "Biggest Tease" award for her almost nudity in this movie.
Rachel Corruthers (as Ellie Cornell) - 2 brief butt shots as she goes up stairs to take a shower. Shoulders-up shot of her in the shower where nothing is really seen. Than a blurry full body shot (through the shower curtain) of her standing nude in the shower. (Note: Her face in not seen in the blurry full body shot but it appears to really be her (not a body double) because the major tan line on her butt, is the same as the earlier shot when she runs upstairs.) She gets out of the shower and wonders around in just a towel. Than later their is a behind the back shot of her as she removes her robe and gets a shirt out of the closet.
Wendy Kaplan (Tina Williams) & Tamara Glynn (Samantha) - Both wear skimpy Halloween costumes that show off their bodies, with major cleavage.
Tamara Glynn (Samantha) - While fooling around with Spitz (Matthew Walker), he opens up the top of her costume and a substantial portion of her breasts are seen. After he is killed she runs away from Michael, but his blood obscures her boobs.
