by Brett Hardel

Created on: January 16, 2009

Michael Lives, And This Time They're Ready!

After being gunned down by the police and collapsing into a mine shaft at the end of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers", this sequel opens with Michael Myers crawling out of the mine shaft, being swept down a river, and then collapsing in an shack inhabited by an old hermit, remaining comatose until the following October 30th. I'm not making this up. Then after awakening and killing the hermit he returns to Haddonfield again in search of his niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). Jamie has been mute and in a children's hospital since attacking her foster mother at the conclusion of the previous film, and appears to now have a telepathic connection with her homicidal uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is on hand and determined to use this as a link to find Myers, as he rightfully suspects Myers will make another appearance this Halloween. Of course he is already stalking her foster sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) and her friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan), whom many fans consider one of the most annoying characters in the series. After they are killed Jamie agrees to try to help Loomis and the police lead Michael Myers back to the old Myers house for a final confrontation.

After the success of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" in October 1988, series producer Moustapha Akkad put up $6,000,000 for another installment which commenced shooting in May 1989 in and around Salt Lake City. It was released on October 13, 1989 to mostly negative reviews and little fanfare. Many fans had a complaint about a strange new character, a mysterious man dressed in black of whose identity even the writers admittedly didn't know. There was also much tension on the set as actor Donald Pleasance and director Dominique Othenin-Girard rarely saw eye to eye and producer Akkad opposed Girard's desire for more graphic violence in the movie. It rang up $6,332,000 it's opening weekend with a final take of $11,642,254, trailing way behind it's predecessor. Producer Moustapha Akkad quickly nixed his concept of releasing a sequel every October, and the series remained dormant until Dimension Films acquired sequel rights and began production on another sequel in October 1994. After many titles and re-shoots it would be released as "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" on September 29th, 1995, and many consider that sequel to be the bottom feeder in the series.

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