"I prayed that he would burn in Hell. But in my heart, I knew that Hell would not have him."
In the same vein as the first sequel, this one picks up right where its predecessor left off. The police proceed to blow up the mineshaft Michael fell into, but not before he escapes. Eventually, he makes it to a mountain hermit's house and then slips into a coma.
Fast forward one year: Jamie Lloyd is now a patient at the Haddonfield Children's Hospital, having developed a case of aphonia. Her loss of speech couldn't come at a worse time: she develops a telekinetic bond with her Uncle, and she can tell where he's at and what he's going to do. Myers awakes, kills the hermit, and returns to Haddonfield. Dr. Loomis finds out about Jamie's bond with Michael and he wants to use it to stop him. But before it's put to any good use, the body count piles up. Loomis finally subdues Michael, and the police book him. The finale in the police station with "The Man in Black" (sounds like an "X-Files" character, huh?) is the most cliffhanging in the series, and you just KNOW there's going to be a sequel.
This incarnation is the most troubled of the Halloween films, sans part III. First, we have the blatant Frankenstein rip-off that is the first five minutes of the film--the vicious killer is hurt, the vicious killer is cared for by a hermit, the vicious killer leaves and kills some more things. Then we have the out and out butt-raping of the finale of part 4: Jamie isn't the new Michael Myers-crazy-child-killer-thing that the finale made her out to become; she obviously just "went a little crazy" (where's that from again?). Also, the telekinetic link between Michael and Jamie is never explained, and is also never seen again after this movie (Jamie is in the first few minutes of part 6, still being chased by Myers). What is really convoluted about the whole telekinetic-sense-thing is that some of Jamie's convulsions happen during the day, which indicates daytime activity by Myers. Now, maybe it's just me, but Michael shouldn't be able to walk around town unnoticed. He IS the most brutal serial killer in this series' universe, right?
Something else that is really brainless about this flick is the extremely out of place attempt at humor by using annoying background music, most of the time around the idiot cops. It also seemed to be a waste of celluloid to bring back Rachel, the quintessential heroine of part 4, just to dispose of her rather lazily--It reeks of Friday the 13th Part 2. What is almost just as bad is that they replaced her with other annoying teenagers whom, as far as I'm concerned, Michael couldn't kill fast enough.
But alas! The quandaries don't stop there! Michael's mask is once again different, but this time it's REALLY retarded--the mask in part 2 wasn't as far a departure from the original mask as this one is from part 4's. Part 5 is also home to the biggest screw-up in the series--the Myers' house is no longer a regular ol' two-story home: it's a goddamned huge mansion!
But as with a great deal of films, with the exception of Steel Magnolias, it isn't exactly ALL bad. It goes without saying that Donald Pleasance brilliantly performs as Loomis. Danielle Harris definitely got better in the year seperating part 4 and this one, and does very well in her portrayal of Jamie here. I like how they made it seem that Michael might actually be in possession of a soul, due to his scenes with Jamie and Loomis. The scenes where Loomis tried to reach Michael were the most interesting of the film. They really made you believe that Michael might actually be redeemable.
On the whole, Revengeis not a bad movie. But it IS the worst sequel in the series, if not only for the fact that it is primarily just a segue between part 4 and part 6.
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