Set a year after the events of the fourth movie, "Halloween 5" finds Jamie Lloyd confined to the Haddonfield Children's Clinic, where it becomes clear that she shares a telepathic link to her uncle Michael Myers when he awakens from his slumber and begins killing again. Needless to say, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is on hand to witness Jamie's visions of her uncle's blood-shedding ways and sets out to stop his former patient once more. Meanwhile, Rachel Carruthers' pal Tina (Wendy Kaplan) and her friends set out for a Halloween night party, not knowing they're on a collision course with a vengeful Myers.
Directed by Domenique Othenin-Girard and photographed by Robert Draper with a flair for arresting visuals, "Halloween 5" is the best looking sequel between John Carpenter's original and Rob Zombie's "Halloween II". Alas, this is in service of a story that bears the tell-tale signs of uninspired development and rushed production. Given the opportunity to take the franchise in a daring, potentially compelling direction with Jamie Lloyd in the antagonist role, the filmmakers instead bank on a repeat Michael Myers performance, which they attempt to jazz up with the introduction of supernatural and emotional flourishes that actually make the movie worse than it would have been had they played it strictly by the numbers. The fact that some goober dressed in black suit and hat has more presence in the movie than Myers himself is just silly.
For their parts, Donald Pleasence and Danielle Harris turn in solid performances despite working with substandard material. As Tina Williams, Wendy Kaplan is bubbly and endearing in a part that gets way too much hate from franchise fans on account of Rachel's terribly handled death early in the movie. Other cast members do what they can with what they're given, but this movie was just destined to flop. Yes, it remains more tolerable than "Halloween: Resurrection" and more entertaining than either "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" or "Halloween: H20", but that's not exactly a high bar. And the ending. The ending!
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