Halloween IV: The Revenge of Michael Myers review

There comes a point in every cinematic trend when the movie-going public informs the powers-that-be in Hollywood that the trend has overstayed its welcome. The tool to convey this message is shitty box office returns, such as the comparatively-paltry figures brought in by the Freddy/Jason/Michael trio of sequels that came out in 1989. And the specific message? It was that the once-bankable slasher franchises were becoming old-hat, and the horror market would need a shot in the arm of some other thing to keep it afloat commercially. How ironic that the slasher film would make a successful comeback (critically and commercially) during the latter half of the 1990's.

And perhaps to further drive the point home, Dominique Othenin-Girard's Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers, is widely acknowledged as the reason Myers took a six-year sabbatical from the silver screen.

Donald Pleasance investigates a house that's clearly not the original Myers House, though the producers would just love to have you believe that it is. As flawed as this film is, it nonetheless goes back and attempts to explore Michael Myers' origins in a way that none of the other installments bothered. There are scenes shot in a house that is supposed to be the old Myers house, though it's painfully obvious that they're not. And whatever ad exec decided to put "Michael Myers is finally unmasked!" on the back of the VHS slipcover deserves to be taken out behind the woodshed and caned soundly for false advertisement; yes, the mask does come off at one point, but dammit, the camera twitches away at the crucial moment.

Onto the storyline: Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) is now catatonic, following the conclusion of the previous movie. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is now her over-seer, and once Jamie's psychic bond with murderous uncle Michael comes into play, the good doctor is once again on the hunt for Myers.

Once Myers' murderous actions come into play, Jamie is able to finally dispell her catatonia and alert the proper officials of the mayhem afoot. If it's not too late, that is.

By now, it's almost count-by-numbers, except that at the cliffhanger end of Halloween 5, a new twist presents itself. It was a twist that kept fans waiting until 1995, when Joe Chapelle offered up a convoluted explanation in Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers.

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