Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Writing

The first draft of the script was written by Shem Bitterman. Bitterman's idea was that Jamie Lloyd would become evil after stabbing her stepmother while The Shape was after her. This idea was rejected by the studio and Akkad, who brought in Michael Jacobs to write the script.^[5] After reviewing the script, director Dominique Othenin-Girard added some new aspects like Jamie's inability to speak and her visions.^[6]

Veteran actor Donald Pleasence had disagreements with Akkad and Othenin-Girard, citing that Jamie should have been portrayed as "all-evil" after stabbing her stepmother. Akkad disagreed, thinking that fans wanted to see more of The Shape. In an interview, Danielle Harris explained what she thought of the idea. Harris said,

The way Halloween 4 ended, I thought I was going to be the killer. I thought it would have been fun to come back as the killer, or Michael's sidekick. Scary, but fun.^[7]

The Hermit, who was shown in the beginning of the film as living in a quiet shack outside of the river with his parrot, was originally supposed to be a young man who tried to bring The Shape back to life after finding him.^[5] His shack was supposed to be filled with ancient runes, tablets, and other items for resurrection. This scene was filmed, but was re-shot with an old man, instead of a younger man.^[5]

The script included "bumbling" cops, Deputies Nick and Tom, with their own "clown theme" to pay homage to Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left.^[8]

Ellie Cornell was keen on returning as Rachel in Halloween 5, although she became disappointed to learn that her character would be killed off early in the film. Originally, Michael was to shove the pair of scissors down her throat, but Cornell felt that this would be too gruesome, and requested that the writers change it; as a result, she is instead stabbed in the chest.^[9]

Casting

Returning from Halloween 4 was veteran actor Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, along with Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, and Beau Starr, as Jamie Lloyd, Rachel Carruthers, and Sheriff Ben Meeker, respectively. Starr would later appear in an un-aired Halloween 5 television spot.

Karen Alston, who portrayed Darlene Carruthers in the previous film, reprised her role in the beginning of the film showing the anonymous person in the mask stabbing her as she falls into the bathtub of water. Her voice-over was recorded by Wendy Kaplan. Kaplan won the role of Tina Williams, the loud and wily friend of Rachel's. After Rachel's demise, Tina inherits the role of Jamie's protector.

George P. Wilbur, who had portrayed The Shape in the previous film, did not express interest in returning to play the role (although he did work as a stunt player on the film). Don Shanks was cast to play the speech-less, white-masked murderer. Shanks had already played a similar character in the first two Silent Night, Deadly Night films. Shanks also played the Man in Black. Wilbur, who had to wear hockey pads to appear to have a bigger build, would later portray the Shape again in the next installment, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Shanks did not have to wear the hockey pads because he already had a larger build.^[10]

Max Robinson would play Maxwell Hart, the doctor who assists Jamie when she is having one of her nightmares in the beginning of the film. Betty Carvalho appears as his assistant, Nurse Patsey, who has a "motherly" feel to Jamie. Jeffrey Landman portrayed Billy Hill, Jamie's best friend, who has a stuttering problem. Landman worked with a coach who taught him about stuttering to help him prepare for the role.

Newcomers such as Tamara Glynn, Matthew Walker, and Jonathan Chapin appear as Samantha Thomas, Spitz, and Mike, who are friends of Tina and Rachel. Walker would later appear in another slasher film, Child's Play 3 (1991).

Direction

Debra Hill, who had written and produced the first two films, had sold her and John Carpenter's rights to the series before Halloween 4. She had met director Dominique Othenin-Girard at the Sundance Film Festival and liked his style.

She arranged a meeting with Othenin-Girard and Moustapha Akkad. Akkad liked Othenin-Girard and he became the director. This was Debra Hill's last involvement in the franchise Othenin-Girard wanted to bring the franchise closer to the original, but wanted more blood in the film. The original uncut version of the film featured more explicit blood and violence. Akkad did not like this decision, as he felt that the original and Halloween 4 had worked better without showing as much detail.^[10]

After filming for two weeks, Donald Pleasence gave his much bigger trailer to Danielle Harris once he left set. Harris' mother had been complaining about the small size of her daughter's trailer and Pleasence decided that she should have his.

Danielle Harris and Don Shanks became good friends over the course of filming, reportedly spending a lot of time together while off set.^[11]

The film began production on May 1, 1989, and was filmed in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, just like its predecessor. The bus that the Man in Black gets off of stops outside exactly the same store where Jamie and Rachel went to get a Halloween costume in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

Unable to find a small Victorian house like the Myers house in Halloween, the filmmakers chose a bigger, more mansion-like house because they needed a house that could provide wide rooms, hallways, an attic, a basement, and a laundry chute. Donald Pleasence accidentally broke Don Shanks' nose on the set when they were filming the scene where Dr. Loomis beats The Shape with a 2×4 block of wood.

Don Shanks was also injured when he was filming the scene where The Shape crashes Mike's Camaro into the tree. Othenin-Girard had forgotten to yell "Cut!" and fire was beginning to emerge from the car (Shanks put this down to Othenin-Girard being sidetracked by seeing stunts take place during his first major directing job). Finally, stunt coordinator Don Hunt told Othenin-Girard to finally yell "cut". Wendy Kaplan was also injured in this scene, as the car almost ran over the top of her. She was uninjured as seen in Halloween: 25 Years of Terror.

Editing

The film had been fighting an X rating due to its violence, blood, and gore. Some scenes were trimmed down to keep it rated R. The scene in which Jamie climbs up the laundry chute was originally more graphic as she was to be stabbed in the leg. But due to the request of the Motion Picture Association of America , the scene was cut down.^[6]

An alternative opening was filmed with the Hermit replaced by a younger man with all kinds of ritualistic items in his cabin. ^[5]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 14% "Rotten" approval rating based on 22 reviews. Although Danielle Harris and Donald Pleasence received praise for their performances, the film had a mostly negative reception.^[12]

Home video

The film has been released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD. The original VHS was released by CBS/FOX. It has been released, along with Halloween 4, the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documentary and the Blu-ray, DVD and Extended Edition releases of Halloween (1978) for the commemorative Halloween 30th Anniversary box set in 2008. A Blu-ray edition was released in the United States on August 21, 2012.^[13] The film was released on DVD/Blu-ray on October 2, 2013 in Australia and the DVD/Blu-ray extras are commentary, on the set footage and trailer.