KYMM'S 365 DAY MOVIE CHALLENGE #33-#35: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)/Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)/Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
“We’re not talking about any ordinary prisoner, Hoffman! We’re talking about evil on two legs!”
Okay, so, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers takes place a decade after Halloween and Halloween II, when, as you remember, Michael Myers gets shot 13 times, including twice in the eyes, and also gets exploded and burned to death on camera, mask and all. Dr. Loomis, who set the explosion, totally exploded in that explosion. No more Michael, no more Loomis, definitely the end forever no take backs.
Now here we are, ten years later, and Donald Pleasence has top billing! Can we but hope that he is the twin brother of the exploded Dr. Loomis? I fear ‘tis not to be. And, when it comes back down to it, if they are going to pretend that thirteen bullets, including two in the eyes, and an explosive burning is something that you can return from, as per the film’s title, why not also resurrect Dr. Loomis? I guess Donald Pleasence wasn’t busy. Jamie Lee Curtis, on the other hand, starred in A Fish Called Wanda in 1988, shaking the dirt from this franchise off of her heels forever. Theoretically.
So, of course some ambulance attendants come to the asylum to move Michael Myers to a different asylum, at night, on October 30th, in the driving rain. Why don’t they ever move him on a sunny June morning? Why don’t they ever move him right before Arbor Day? Have they not gotten the clue yet? Also, somehow the word never got around never to mention any family members in Michael’s hearing, because woe betide them. Apparently, there is a seven year old niece in Haddonfield, and that is all it took for Michael to murder the attendant with his thumb, literally, and go on another spree.
And explain this to me, if he has a niece, it’s Laurie Strode’s daughter, as we know for a fact that he has no other siblings (see opening scene of the original film), so why is she still in Haddonfield? Why not move to Italy or Australia or the Fiji Islands? Michael Myers might be able to steal a car and drive to the one place he knows how to drive to, but I doubt he could get a plane ticket and find Laurie in Madrid or Aberystwyth or Panama City. If I had an undying serial killer sibling, I wouldn’t let the grass grow under my heels in Haddonfield.
Wait, typed too soon! Laurie and whoever she married DIED and that’s why the niece is in Haddonfield. I apologize to Laurie for doubting her getting the hell out of Murderville, Illinois, but I could hardly have expected that was the situation, seeing as she comes back in four more movies down the pike. On the other hand, nobody stays dead in this series, I’m assuming PJ Soles will reappear at some point.
So, Jamie, (the niece, in a nice little nod to Curtis, played by Danielle Harris), is unsurprisingly a nervous wreck who has insomnia, and the appalling brats at her school tease her unmercifully because her uncle is the boogeyman, and of course, said uncle is on his way back to town, so hopefully some of these little assholes will get what is coming to them. So now I am pro-fictional child murder? What have these films done to me? Wait, now they are laughing at her because she is an orphan. He can’t kill them fast enough for me.Jamie didn’t want to go trick or treating, understandably, but after the teasing she does, because she wants to be normal, so she and her foster sister, Rachel, (Ellie Cornell) go to the store to pick out a costume. Where they carry the popular Michael Myers mask. This seems either like poor planning, or like the town is leaning into being The Boogeyman’s Hometown for the tourist trade. On the other hand, now we know how Michael is going to get his mask back. Thanks, capitalism! Jamie picks out a clown costume. You know, like what Michael was wearing when he killed his sister. Sooooo…that might bring back a memory or two at some point.While this is going on with Jamie and Michael and trick-or-treating, Dr. Loomis is hitchhiking to get to Haddonfield and save the day, if he can make anyone believe him, since he appears to be completely bonkers. And barely scarred for someone who blew himself only two movies ago.With all my snarkiness, however, this film turned out to be not half bad! It has a strong last third with some different twists, and a corker of an ending. So I am hopeful going forward! Do not betray me, hope!
“I prayed that he would burn in hell, but in my heart I knew that hell would not have him.”
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers continues directly on from the events of the last film, so little Danielle Harris has second billing, after Donald Pleasence, of course. I need to apologize to Mr. Pleasence for intimating in my review of the original film that he wasn’t a big part of the franchise, since, in 1989 at least, he played a more important character that Laurie Strode!
The film starts with the end of Halloween 4, where Michael is killed with a car, bullets, and an explosion, showing how Michael, after being killed with a car, bullets, and an explosion, didn’t die again.
Then, one year later, Jamie is in a children’s psych ward, having psychic flashes of Michael, seemingly unable to speak. The nurse, comforting her, asks if she wants her mother, which seems like a cruel question, as Jamie is 0 for 2 on mothers at this juncture. Though it turns out that Mom #2 is still among us. For some reason, in 4 the parents and Rachel were referred to as her foster family, but now they are her step family. Which is not a thing that actually makes sense. They could have gone with adopted family, if they want to keep the Uncle Michael connection clear, but there is no step here.
Jamie is unable to breathe, and the doctor is about to give her a tracheotomy, but Loomis pops up and stops him. Does he live in the hospital now? It’s a year later, hasn’t he gone home yet? And why is he still wearing that same trench coat?People need to stop having dogs in these movies. It never goes well. Also, if it is just before Halloween and an unkillable serial killer keeps coming back just before Halloween, and the dog is barking, PAY ATTENTION! Also, move to New Zealand, as stated previously. I don’t care if he was blown up in front of you, read the script.
I must say, Danielle Harris gives an extremely strong performance, she was quite a good child actress. She was solid and grounded and believable in Halloween 4, but in this film she really needs to go for it in a big way and appear to be a real person, not a cartoon character, and she is pulling it off with aplomb. Her scenes with Donald Pleasence are extremely good, as Dr. Loomis tries to get Jamie to help him find Michael through her psychic connection. He is extremely weird and intense, and if she wasn’t able to give it right back to him, nothing in this movie would have worked.
As opposed to 4, which had a corker of an ending, 5 has a dumb ending. But most of the rest of the movie was pretty good, thanks to Danielle Harris. I wonder if she’ll be in the next one?
“Michael’s work is not finished in Haddonfield, and soon, very soon, he’ll come back.”
Well, you know a series has really gone on a bit when it decides to forgo the numbers altogether. So, Halloween 6 is just another Halloween. It’s six years later, as the these films pay strict attention to the actual years of release, which I kind of love.
Anyway, this is burying the lede, which is the fact that this was Paul Rudd’s film debut! Clueless was released a few months earlier, but he made Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers first. But no, that meme is not true, 26 years later he does NOT look exactly the same. He looks maybe as much as five years younger than he does today! Clearly, there is a painting falling apart somewhere. Paul is playing grown up Tommy Doyle, who is super creepy. That’s the kid that Laurie was babysitting on That Night.
Back to the film in question. At the end of 5, a Mysterious Person in Black With Silver Toed-Boots was tiptoeing around for an unknown reason for the last quarter of the film, un-noticed by everyone, then Michael, after being hit by a car again and shot again and he was hit on the head with a plank about fifty times and there might have been some blowing things up again, disappeared, presumably with the Mysterious Person in Black With Silver Toed-Boots (played by the same actor as Michael Myers, either to be cute or to save some dough). And, although it wasn’t clear to me watching the ending, Jamie did, too.
This starts with a woman screaming on a gurney in a mysterious underground lair, giving birth surrounded by candles, then the baby is taken by a familiar looking Mysterious Person in Black. Strange symbols are painted on the baby in blood, so this all looks very Satanic to me. Apparently that’s what these films were missing?And that woman who gave birth was JAMIE! Not! Played! By! Our! Own! Danielle! Harris! They had the TEMERITY to recast our girl with some RANDO? Donald Pleasence is back, but not Danielle? Maybe she would have looked too young and it would have been grosser than it already was to have her have a baby in a lair, though they literally spell it out that it was six years ago and she was nine, and we all know math. So they cast 20 year old J.C. Brandy, who I am certain is a lovely person, and I’m sorry that I pointed out her rando-status. I will try not to resent the fact that she is a different person. That isn’t her fault.
A kind nurse, who somehow is in the Satanic Lair, snatches the baby and Jamie and helps her escape, then gets killed by Michael for her pains. Jamie has to do a lot of running for a person who just gave birth, but I guess she had a good reason. She’s on her way back to Haddonfield, which I suppose makes more sense than usual, as she in in a hospital gown and no shoes, so it’s not as though she can hop a plane to Guadalajara with a screaming newborn and, presumably, blood streaming down her legs.
There is a talk radio show that apparently is on the only radio station in the state, because everyone is listening to it. They say that Halloween has been outlawed in Haddonfield, So of course they are going to have a big party there. I have a feeling that might not go entirely as planned. For a town that outlawed Halloween, though, there are an awful lot of children in costumes running around.
All of a sudden there are all these Strodes, where did they come from? Why didn’t they adopt Jamie? On the other hand, the father is so terrible, it’s a good thing she went to the other family. Ah, they are both new in town, and the terrible father is a real estate agent who couldn’t sell the house, and didn’t let his family know about the whole situation. Surprised that nobody else in town never mentioned it!
There are a couple of interesting pieces of casting, besides lil Paul Rudd, who is really excellent. Mitchell Ryan plays Dr. Wynn, who is trying to convince Dr. Loomis to come back to the psychiatric hospital, Smith’s Grove. You might know him best as the General from Die Hard, but to me he is Burke Devlin from Dark Shadows. Also, there is Kim Darby, who played Mattie Ross in the original version of True Grit, and who gives a very strong performance as the Strode mom, wife of the extremely terrible father.
This actually was an extremely enjoyable Halloween outing! Different things happen in different ways, there’s the whole satanic blood cult situation, surprising people turn out to be on the evil side, it’s a real treat. Even without our Danielle Harris, or Jamie Lee Curtis, I would put this as second to the original. Six down, six more to go.
The film is dedicated to the memory of Donald Pleasence. Rest well, sir, your Dr. Loomis was terrific.
Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog