Michael Myers was shot at the end of Halloween, burned at the end of Halloween II, left out of Halloween IIIaltogether, then run over, shot, dropped into a hole and blown up at the end of Halloween 4 . . .
But, of course, he escapes from the hole and spends the first 15 minutes of this movie recuperating in the shack of a hermit. He finishes his convalescence just in time to pick up his mask and knife on – you guessed it – Halloween eve one year later.
Instead of wandering aimlessly around whacking away at whatever unfortunates happen across his path, Michael has a specific goal in mind this time. He begins stalking his nine-year-old niece, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), who was present at the time he was left for dead a year earlier.
Somehow, the psycho and his niece (the daughter of Laurie Strode) are linked telepathically and Michael has influenced Jamie to kill her stepmother. A year after the trauma, the girl remains in a clinic tormented by nightmares and unable to speak.
Also on hand is the untiring psychiatrist Dr Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who has been trying to warn people for four movies now that this Michael guy is really quite dangerous.
Otherwise, it’s business as usual as nasty uncle Michael (Don Shanks) systematically works his way through the town’s unfortunate population – slashing by numbers all the way – in his search for the terrified Jamie.
Ellie Cornell and Wendy Kaplan toss off their lines with aplomb, and Danielle Harris delivers a brave performance in which she must endure more seizures than Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
Dr Sam Loomis
Donald Pleasence Rachel Carruthers
Ellie Cornell Sheriff Meeker
Beau Starr Jamie Lloyd
Danielle Harris Tina
Wendy Kaplan Michael Myers
Don Shanks Mountain Man
Harper Roisman Stepmother
Karen Alston Nurse Patsey
Betty Carvalho
