The Movie:

One year after the shock ending of Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers, we learn that Michael is still alive and up to his old tricks. As October 31st rolls around once again, we see that Jamie (Danielle Harris, reprising her role from the last film) is doing some time in the mental ward of an Illinois children's hospital. None other than Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance again) is the man in charge of her treatment, though Jaime's step-sister, Rachel (Ellie Cornell, also reprising her role from the last movie) and her friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan) help out where they can. Jamie hasn't uttered a single word to anyone since the events that finished up the last chapter in the series, so no one is aware that she's somehow developed a mental bond to her uncle Michael.

Having recently come out of a coma, Michael's intent on finishing what he tried to accomplish last time - killing Jamie. This time around, however, Michael has a plan: he's going to use Tina and Rachel as bait. Jamie knows that if she wants to save her step-sister and her friend she's going to have to leave the relative safety of the hospital where she's spent the last twelve months, though at the very least, she'll have Loomis on her side. That said, there's this mysterious stranger clad in black running around the area that seems to have some ties to all of the mayhem...

Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers is more than a little bit disjointed in terms of plot and continuity. It starts off focusing on Jamie's shattered psyche but soon loses that focus and throws that subplot away in favor of the 'mysterious stranger' aspect that doesn't really do the story any favors, though it does carry over to the sixth film in the series. When one of the key characters is murdered fairly early on in the storyline, Michael is left with nothing more than a stable of one dimensional characters to choose from and the film turns into a by the numbers stalk and slash picture, the kind we've seen time and time again.

Thankfully, there are a couple of aspects that alleviate what could have been a very painful experience for Halloween fans, the first of which is another good performance from Danielle Harris as Jamie. Once again, she does a good job with the material and turns in a surprisingly believable effort on her end. When her character is supposed to be afraid for her life, we believe that she is afraid for her life and when she's supposed to be showing concern for family members or friends, again, we believe her. She's just a solid actress and her presence here, even at a young age, goes a long way towards making this lesser entry watchable. Also helping things out immensely is 'the presence of Pleasance.' While Pleasance is older and his character is starting to show serious signs of insanity himself, Dr. Loomis turns out to be the best part of the film. Pleasance really goes for it this time around, chewing through the scenery in a pretty entertaining way and along with Harris, he winds up carrying the picture. Pleasance's acting and his character's literal obsession with Michael and the Myers family bloodline is one of the more interesting aspects of the production. Also worth noting are the kills scenes, which carry a reasonable amount of impact when you consider that most of the murder victims are little more than cardboard cut-out characters. When dealing with slasher film genre conventions, it's important to ensure that the kill scenes work and thankfully they do, highlighted by a fairly tense sequence involving a few teenagers and Myers in a barn.

Although it is one of the weakest films the Halloween series, Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers is worth seeing for fans of the series but as it deals heavily with the continuity from the fourth film, it's not the best starting point for those who may be new to the characters. It can be enjoyed as a quirky slasher film on its own merits but at this point in the series, it seems that the writers were starting to run low on ideas.

Video:

Anchor Bay presents Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1.85.1 widescreen transfer that is quite sharp and colorful looking. Detail is improved over the DVD release as is color reproduction while shadow detail also seems a fair bit stronger. There aren't any obvious issues with compression artifacts or edge enhancement nor is there any obvious noise reduction. Film grain is present but outside of some minor specks here and there you won't see any serious print damage. Texture is impressive in the costumes that the various characters wear in the movie though, as it was with part 4, so too is it with part 5 - Pleasance's make up appliances look a little dicey here. Regardless, you can't fault an older modestly budgeted slasher film for looking like an older modestly budgeted slasher film in that regard, it's just par for the course. All in all, the movie looks quite good here, fans should be pleased.