‘Halloween’: 40 years of the Boogeyman

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

To cash in on the box office success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, which sparked renewed interest around the emotionless killer, the follow-up was immediately rushed into production. The slasher trend was on a considerable downward spiral by the end of the ‘80s, but executive producer Moustapha Akkad believed there was more money to be made.

Shem Bitterman was enlisted to helm the script, but his vision ⏤ of continuing the groundwork of pivotal character Jamie Lloyd now becoming the killer ⏤ was rejected by the studio. Michael Jacobs was then brought in to craft a story, one which excited newly-appointed French director Dominique Othenin-Girard, an eclectic recommendation made by series originator Debra Hill.

Principal photography was well underway in the spring of 1989 ⏤ without a complete screenplay. Much like the previous installment, Salt Lake City continued to be an apt backdrop for the film, which brought back the beloved Rachel Caruthers (Ellie Cornell) and Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) from Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and introduced a host of new characters, including Tina Williams (played by Wendy Kaplan), Samantha Thomas (Tamara Glynn), Spitz (Matthew Walker) and Mikey (Jonathan Chapin).

“Now, almost 30 years later, I can look at that sort of style of late-80s horror movies, late in the series, and its own place in the horror cannon,” says actor Jeffrey Landman, who played the stuttering Billy Hill. “If you look at one of the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Friday the 13th’ movies of the same era, they all have a certain sensibility that I don’t think would fly now. At the time, that’s what a horror movie was, and when you look at the film with those glasses on, then, it achieves its goals very, very well. Those movies at the time were a little more campy, a little more self-aware, a little bit silly, and when you look at it from that perspective, they’re fun movies. They’re not as bone-chillingly scary as a movie today is.”

Walker stresses Girard’s almost avant-garde approach to Michael Myers, now portrayed by stuntman Don Shanks. “Dominique had to strongly convince the powers that be and negotiate a lot to achieve the vision that he wanted. Maybe, other people couldn’t see it. He took some risks. There is a stylish aspect to the film that I think works great and certainly served the horror genre,” he says. “The fans I’ve spoken to have appreciated it for what it is. The diehards will always have an opinion about where they think it should go. That’s what’s great about movies. It gets people thinking and talking. But I don’t really have a dog in that fight.”

For Betty Carvalho, who plays Nurse Patsey at the children’s clinic, the “horrific” nature of the film never quite sat well with her. “It was mind-boggling, wrenching, to say the least. I just couldn’t see the things in it. Frankly, I abhor horror movies. But it’s the part of the journey and of people realizing the depths of destruction and despair and ugliness that is in the world, as well as the beauty and the high-mindedness and the wonder,” she says. “So, we should all be mindful of not buying into the negatives and recognize to take yourself to the highest place that you can possibly reach for. And then, you’ll be OK.”

Regardless, she says “it was a beautiful journey, though, in meeting new people. The crew was fabulous. The director Dominique was so kind and wonderful. But most of all, I will treasure meeting Donald Pleasence. What a giving, wonderful man. God rest his soul. We sat on the bed [in the clinic], and he talked to me about his life. He was just very kind. I felt we connected. He certainly lived up to his name.”

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers opened October 13, 1989 to mostly mixed to negative reviews ⏤ it now has a 14 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. With a filming budget of $5 million, its opening weekend bowed with just over the same amount. It’s total gross would come to stand at roughly $11.6 million, domestically.

Below, production manager Rick Nathanson and actors Jeffrey Landman, Matthew Walker and Betty Carvalho share memories of the set and many of the film’s more daring artistic choices. Also, Halloween 4 director  Dwight H. Little and Ellie Cornell envision a far different storyline for Rachel Caruthers.

What Could Have Been

Little: Moustapha [Akkad] came to me to do ‘Halloween 5,’ and I was busy with another project. I felt like there were a lot of issues with Michael at the end of ‘Halloween 4.’ I wouldn’t have gone the same direction they went. I felt like I had done my  job with ‘Halloween 4’ ⏤ to bring Michael, Haddonfield and Dr. Loomis back. Of course, there’s the question of Jamie at the end. To be honest, I moved on with my career in another direction.

I would have had Michael either dug up or crawled out of the hole and had an explanation on how long he was down there. I would have told the story going forward with Rachel and Jamie and watched her dark possession evolve. My version would have been a little more from a character point of view.

Cornell: I think it would have been more fun and a heck of a lot more interesting if you think Rachel died but she didn’t. Even if she never comes back, just leave it open ended. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. Or maybe she goes out with a bang and Michael Myers hits her with the car. She should have gone out to save Jamie’s life. If Dwight had directed ‘Halloween 5,’ it would have been a different animal no matter what. Rachel’s death would have been handled differently.

Signing On

Nathanson: I came on obviously prior to the script being completed. [laughs] It was probably two months before principal photography. No one was hired yet. We knew there was going to be some of the same characters that had been in previous films. We had to go back through all of the films and see who was left alive and still have an active role in the film that was about to be made. When that was done, conversations were made and phone calls made to actors and actresses. The cast was then secured, and the script writing continued.

We didn’t know if Donald Pleasence would be available. When we found out he was available, and he had sort of limited dates open for filming, that’s what we went with. We sort of put his scenes all together, so that he could come in and shoot his scenes and get out. He didn’t have to hang around in Salt Lake City waiting from the beginning to the end.

The writing of the script was happening every day up until we started shooting. Once we started shooting, there were minor adjustments made to accommodate the locations and the actors. I had worked with Don Shanks the summer before in a movie we shot in Park City, and he was our stunt coordinator. He was very easy to get along with and good at what he did. He’s a very big guy. [laughs] He fit the bill. I reached out to him, and he said, “Sure, I’ll come in and talk to you.” He came in and met with the director and the writers and producers. We all loved him. We said, “Good. Let’s get him fitted for costumes.” They got extra fabric, because he really was a big guy.

Incomplete Screenplay

Nathanson: Shem Bitterman came on board. He was brought in by [producer] Ramsey Thomas. Shem would write us into corners and help us get out of them. So, they did a good job of delivering a workable screenplay that the director and actors could then make a decent film out of. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do, scare the beezus out of you.

What happens with a screenplay when there’s a lot of writers, you start out wanting steak, potatoes and vegetables. Another writer comes in and says, “Let’s put in a little flour.” And another writer comes in and says, “Let’s chop up the steak and vegetables and all the flavors will be blended.” What you wind up with is a stew, but it’s a good steak stew with good vegetables.

That’s what we had with Dominique doing this. He would write and give it to the writers and producers, try to blend it all in. He would use writing to fix some of the problems he saw. Then, moving back to the writers and producers, they would use that to fix some of the problems they had. Eventually, they had a good steak stew.

Filmmaking is managed chaos. [laughs] It’s always like that. It’s never as smooth and as lovely as we’d like. Maybe it is when you get up with other directors. Think of Ridley Scott. Everything is just planned out and scheduled and delivered on time, on date, on point all the way along. They’ve got the money to make it all work. They’ve got the time to make it all work. Low budget productions don’t have that luxury at all times. They have a fixed amount of money and time. You plan everything out very carefully, so that every minute and dollar are stretched to their fullest.

What happens is a hiccup. Now, what do you do? You allow for a certain amount of hiccups in the process, but if you have one more than what you allowed for, then you’re back at a crisis situation. So, it’s chaos. We had a number of chaotic moments where we didn’t have enough time to get both of the pieces of scene as well as we might like. So, what we had to do was set up a second camera for the second unit director and make it work that way.

Down the River

In the film’s opening scene, new footage extends the ending of Halloween 4 to allow the audience in on a secret of Michael Myers’ escape. The brigade of local cops and state police drop sticks of dynamite down into the abandoned mineshaft, but what they don’t know is Myers is crawling away through as mall space in the rock. Myers surfaces at the edge of a river and is swept quickly and chillingly down stream.

Nathanson: A lot of the work that was done with Michael Myers being swept away in the river; we had to scramble to get that done. The river was very cold. You’re trying to put a person in the water, and you have to get a wetsuit or a dry suit for them to wear. Then, you have to adjust the costume. Because Don is so large and needed on two sets, we only had two costumes for him. We had the original and a backup. If the backup is being worn by some guy in the water, there is only one onset. We had to build another costume.

For part of the work, it was Don in the water; for part of the work, it was another guy in the water. You can’t see when you look at the film. It’s cleverly edited together. But in shooting it, it we had to go with a second unit to get a lot of it. They got all the elements, and it was direct to camera. But for all of the shots on the back of the actor going downstream, that’s a second unit.

Ramsey had a clear vision of what he needed the story to be. He was very sensible about production and knew what that needed. He was able to make it work. He was the funnel into which all the writing ideas went and through him came the final script.

Frankenstein’s Monster

Myer stumbles upon a hermit living in a shack and passes out. The hermit takes care of Myers while he’s in a coma for one year. The tone-setting sequence pays homage to a similar moment in the classic Frankenstein story.

Nathanson: By having Michael float down the river, get pulled out by an old man who feeds him soup and takes care of him until he’s better is reminiscent of Frankenstein. I once worked with a wonderful director and still a good friend named Eric Red. He wrote ‘Near Dark’ and ‘The Hitcher.’ When we worked together in eastern Europe on a film, we were shooting a scene, and I said, “Hey, Eric, that scene is a lot like ‘blah blah blah.’ Is that a rip off?” He said, “No, that’s not a rip off. It’s more of an homage. There’s a word that I like to use. It’s called ri-moge.” It’s a combination of a rip-off and an homage. I’ve never heard it elsewhere and only through him.

Rachel’s Early Demise

Within the film’s first 15 minutes, heroine Rachel Caruthers meets an abrupt, jarring and tragic end with a pair of scissors to the shoulder. Originally, she was to get scissors horrifically shoved down her throat. At the recommendation from Cornell, the sequence was re-written to be a bit more dignified.

Little: Well, it was a huge mistake to killer her off. I made this clear to Moustapha, who I always felt very fondly towards, that I did not agree with anything that was going on with ‘Halloween 5.’ It wasn’t my film, though. I had the opportunity. I could have said yes. I definitely wouldn’t have done it that way.

Cornell: When the ‘Halloween 5’ script arrived, I flipped through until my name was no longer on the page. [laughs] I knew. You just know. I didn’t like the way it was written. I felt a sense of ownership. I didn’t like that they wanted to shove scissors down her throat. I thought that was gross and silly. It was too undignified, too.

It was a little bit difficult to get onboard with this movie, because it was so different. The tone of it was different. The direction was different. Look at the difference in characters. Even in playing the bad girl role, Kathleen Kinmont [in Halloween 4] still had an intelligence to her. It was in how she interpreted the role, and you still liked her. She was still a super likable character. I felt like in ‘Halloween 5’ it got…cartoonish. The fact that Rachel would run through the yard in a towel…it’s like…really? When she says Mr. Cornish to her neighbor, all I could think about was a cornish game hen. [laughs] It is what it is.

As people, we are blessed with these things called instincts. There’s just no way that [the dog barking] would have gotten passed Rachel. There was no point in being frustrated by it, because it was so evidently off.

They were completely receptive to wanting the change. I probably should have and could have asked for much more. I definitely felt like I was in the driver’s seat. It wouldn’t work without Rachel. I didn’t and still don’t push my weight around the set. I was just like, “If you guys can just rewrite it, I would be grateful.” There was never any blowback from that, whatsoever.

The thing that strikes me the most about my relationship with Moustapha Akkad was that it was so poignant that he said, with me standing there, that he was bummed that Dominique had made that choice. It’s not like I would have loved to gone on and done three more movies, but it was sweet that he recognized the likeability of the character. So often in those movies, you just couldn’t care less if they lived or died. It made me feel good.

The day of filming was really somber. It was really creepy for me. I didn’t particularly like it. I had never played my own death before. I had a bloodline running up my jeans and up my sweater. I was pre-set up with all the stunt stuff for the blood to pump out. The stunt guy was under the bed. Then, Don Shanks is a big dude. That was weird. It’s one of those shots where you know you don’t have a whole lot of takes in you because of the blood. You have to stay in character but also be highly aware of what your movements are. When it was over, it was not a feel good moment. There was a loneliness to it, too.

People were so invested in Rachel. I think people feel jipped. It’s a really loyal bunch. My experience is that science fiction and horror fans are smart. They’re intelligent people. When they feel duped, they get mad. When you get behind something, you want it to continue. I think that’s what Moustapha’s point was. When you find a good thing, it would have been fun to have it continue on in some way.

Landman: I think it was smart of them to kill off Rachel. Having been the Final Girl in ‘Halloween 4,’ they wanted to shake everyone up and say, “No one’s safe!” They killed off the most beloved character, and people were angry. This was also pre-’Scream’. No one had killed a lead character like that since ‘Psycho.’ It was much more shocking in 1989 than it is now. It was a brilliant idea, and I think some of the fans thought it was a mistake and never quite got over it ⏤ in terms of enjoying the rest of the movie. Jamie as the pseudo-Final Girl and not being what you’d expect was a smart move.

You definitely then think Tina is going to survive. It’s built up that Sammie’s going to be killed and that Tina’s going to be fine. I like that the movie flips that expectation.

Walker: I don’t think I’ve thought about that too much. To us, it just seemed normal. I think the actresses that were cast were all representative of strong women. Danielle, Wendy, Ellie, they all were just smart, independent, strong, funny, and there would be no reason why they shouldn’t be the main protagonists. Dominique made sure it was right and true.

Nathanson: It was kind of a nervous energy on set. When you do a death scene and you know it’s your last scene, even if it’s not the last scene you’re shooting, actors are funny about those things. And I don’t blame them.

Spitz’s Off-Balance Character

Matthew Walker took great care in approaching his character Spitz’s eccentricities, his laugh the most obvious characteristic. He not only dove headfirst in bringing the material to life, but he studied the series’ previous entries.

Walker: Spitz was pretty garish on the page. I wanted to try to bring that out. I think, if anything, the filmmakers were encouraging of creativity and spontaneity in certain areas. As long as it was grounded and authentic, we could have fun with it. But Jeffrey’s character was certainly more pivotal [to Jamie]. Spitz was pretty clearly drawn from the beginning. My laugh was scripted. That was what won me the role, embracing the laugh they wanted and the eccentricity of the character. It was the antithesis to Mikey. Spitz wasn’t necessarily as three-dimensional as Billy needed to be.

I certainly wanted to be a student of the series and the Donald Pleasence work in the first films. Being a young actor and influenced by actors like Donald was a really rare treat. Going into it, you know you’re in a film called ‘Halloween 5,’ and there’s a certain stigma attached to the multiple sequels. Knowing Donald was going to ground the film, it made you want to rise that occasion. I knew his lineages as an actor, and the work in the first two movies was so grounded and real that I was excited to be a part of that.

Also, I knew the character was supposed to be a bit of comic relief, and I wouldn’t have to do any heavy lifting in terms of emotional valute. I tried to bring solid acting and authenticity. I took the time to appreciate that and be around Donald. We didn’t have any scenes together, but I wanted to pick his brain and understand his process and talk about his olden days. He was very generous in that way.

The Halloween 4 Mask

Despite taking place a year apart, the Michael Myers’ masks used in Halloween 4 and 5 could not be more different. The former is pasty white, as many drugstore Halloween masks usually are, and the latter is darker and more sinister ⏤ with a longer neck, stylized hair and a considerably different facial texture.

Nathanson: There was a storage facility, which had props, costumes, old scripts, extra paper. When they shut down after ‘Halloween 4,’ everything they wanted to keep was put in there. That included wardrobe and the mask. What happened was when we went into the box with the mask, we found out the rubber had all dried out. As soon as you touched it, it crumbled and cracked.

A new one had to be made. We knew the guys from KNB Effects, and we got together with them. They made a mask and made it quickly. It had to be sized up to fit Don Shanks’ head. Don is of Native American heritage, and he has a really large head, large hands, large feet. They had to make the mask especially for him. If they had put a smaller mask on him, one that might fit me, for instance, it would have stretched and broken all over his face.

The Children’s Clinic

It is quickly revealed that Jamie did not, in fact, kill her foster mother, Darlene Caruthers, in the previous movie but only seriously injured her. Halloween 5 opens at a local children’s clinic during a stormy night, and Jamie awakes from a nightmare, attempting to scream. Head nurse named Patsey runs into the room to console her. Throughout the film, nurse Patsey serves as a matriarchal figure for Jamie and often shields her from Dr. Loomis’ bizarre mood swings.

Carvalho: Oh, my. Danielle was such a darling girl. Totally innocent and so lovely. I do remember putting her on my back in that one scene. That’s very vivid. That’s what we do as mothers in real life. We take care of children or anything in dire need. That’s important.

Loomis was something else, wasn’t he? The aggressiveness, it was frightening. And yet, he was so calm and collected and cool.

Mute Jamie

Jamie, clearly suffering from PTSD, is unable to speak through most of the film. That only heightens the sense of tension, especially as Michael Myers starts picking off those around her and goes in for the kill. It’s a risky choice storytelling that gives Danielle Harris some meat to work with.

Nathanson: Danielle was just marvelous, just a great actress. She just did so well in the film. She carried it so beautifully. I think there is a lot more angst and anxiety and fear when your lead character, the one being pursued by the monster, can’t even scream for help. There is such frustration and fear in each one of us. It’s like being underwater and not being able to breathe. You know you need to breathe and scream, but you know you can’t. The excitement and tension built up in those moments are really, really good.

I think that’s why the decision was made. If she could have screamed “Help! Help! Help!,” then the lovely Betty Carvalho who played the nurse would have just run into the room and picked up a chair and beat Michael Myers over the head with it. But that wasn’t the case. Everyone else was sleeping comfortably, peacefully, quietly. Even during the thunder and lightning storm, they’re just so peaceful, and juxtapose that with her screaming and no sound coming out. I think it was a brilliant move. Not only that, but she had a tough time just to communicate with Wendy [Kaplan] the entire film. That’s a lot of pressure.

Landman: To my knowledge, the initial plan was that she was going to be the killer. That’s what I was told. The union said, “You can not have a child be the killer.” That’s why they re-shot the ending of ‘Halloween 4,’ so it just looks like she only stabbed her foster mother and not killed her. Then, they retooled that so she was going to be psychically connected to Michael, as opposed to all of his evil being transferred to her. That’s where all that came from. Now, she’s trapped in this body where she can’t communicate.

Before filming started, we spent about a week dealing with a speech pathologist, a stuttering expert and a sign language expert. The stuttering was written into the script, but we talked about how stuttering affects people when they’re in crisis mode and what Jamie would be dealing with in struggling being mute.

When I think about what I had to do in the movie, I think, “Wow, that was a lot of work.” Then, I think about what Danielle had to go through, literally carrying the movie, it’s no feat short of somewhat miraculous. I still think it’s one of the best child-actor performances I’ve ever seen. Horror is terribly underrated as far as acting skills required.

Carvalho: Being mute is a stunning thing to relate to someone that cannot speak. But they speak volumes without speaking, especially if you’re really aware and really tuning into that person. That’s how I tried to play that opening scene. It was touching. We communicated without speaking.

Moments of Levity

Halloween 5 is also known for its comic relief. The two bumbling cops, Deputy Nick Ross (Frank Como) and Deputy Tom Farrah (David Ursin), approach their scenes with considerable truth and really lean into the quirkiness on the page. When they appear on screen, tinny cartoon-ish sound effects are added for emphasis. Later in the film, Spitz is given similar moments to puncture the gloom, from playing pranks dressed up as Michael Myers to his over-the-top squeals.

Nathanson: The actors played it up for themselves. They were finding jokes in everything they did. In order to have a good horror or scary scene, you have to have the levity of comedy or humor. If these two cops are there during the day and this was going on, nobody would be pay attention. It’s nothing. But at night, you get these comic cops who don’t believe in these things happening anyway, except a bunch of kids having a wild party. And suddenly, “Boom! Boom!,” they’re dead. They joke about it, and then, they die. These are guys with guns. They could have done something about it. But they couldn’t. I thought that was effective, as well.

Walker: I think it was Dominique’s willingness to be risky and sort of say, “Here’s a little relief.” Maybe he knew how dark and dramatic and scary the film was going to be, and he wanted to play with the audience a little bit. Obviously, those performances from the beginning were geared to be for comedy, and all the stuff we did along the way to support that was there.

Those gentlemen did a great job with those characters. It was a risky filmmaking choice to add those sound effects, but it clearly sort of tells you to lighten up and take a breath because here we go. In that way, it was provocative and did something different and challenging. It gets people talking and gets them opinionated.

Chasing Tina out of the house with the mask was great. I can say, “Yes, I was Michael Myers.” With the moments in the barn, we were trying to create some scare moments.

Don’t Touch Mikey’s Car, Dude.

The dynamic between Spitz and Mikey, two characters obviously set up for slaughter, brings the audience into the story as best they can. In one of their early scenes together, you get a real sense of who they are: one is a convenience store clerk, and the other a brash, classically-80s bad boy.

Walker: Jonathan and I hit it off early on. By the time we got to that scene [with the car], there was a level of trust and confidence between us as people that we could bring. He didn’t pull any punches. You see him grab my face. He got my attention in that take they ended up using. He was there. Behind the eyes, he was Mikey, and you didn’t mess with Mikey’s car.

Spitz did that in the moment. As an actor, to work with someone who is really present like that and as grounded as he was, too, is an example of “Ok, we are all really going to do the best work that we can.” Not that we needed to elevate the material, but we made sure we could serve it the best way we could.

Mikey’s Gruesome Death

Moments later, after Spitz steals a couple cases of beer for the Tower Farm party later that night, Mikey gets his comeuppance in broad daylight. Michael Myers toys with him by taking a farm tool and drags it across the newly-polished exterior of his car. Mikey tries to defend himself, but you can guess what happened next.

Walker: That reminds me of when we got to go to the special effects workshop. Greg Nicotero [most known for his work on The Walking Dead] was running the show. The cast of Mikey’s head was there, and Greg was showing me a little bit about what the gag was going to be and what the weapons were that they were thinking about. Whenever I see that scene and that special effect, I’m transported back to the day I walked through to get my cast made of the chest for the barn scene and to see all the work that was going on there ⏤ and to realize you were part of something pretty big.

You know what Greg’s gone on to do, and at that time, this was an important job for him. You could tell by the craftsmanship that was going into these things. The frame of Mikey’s death is stuff of real horror right there.  We were done by the time they got to that scene. I had been released, but we stuck around. Nobody left the set. We wanted to see the special effect and how the gag happened. There was a lot of excitement.

Cookie Woman

Billy plays a vital role in the overarching development of Jamie. In the third act, when Jamie senses Michael Myers closing in on Tina, she mumbles her way through trying to describe what she sees. Dr. Loomis, Billy and several detectors try to decipher her speech, but it’s only Billy that can understand.

Landman: In high school, kids would go down the hallway and shout “Cookie Woman!” at me. To this day, at least two or three times a year, and it’s been 30 years ⏤ I’m 40 years old! ⏤ someone will stop me on the street and say “Cookie Woman” or “J-J-Jamie are you OK?!” This floors me. I’m an adult, and I don’t look the same. [laughs] But what you are going to do.

It took a couple days to shoot that scene. The thing I remember most is we were connected to rope harnesses for when she backs up toward the ledge. They were afraid we would fall over the balcony. The whole pageant stuff took about a week, maybe.

Observing a Legend in Action

Donald Pleasence was only on set a handful of days, but his presence had a lasting impact on the film, as well as the other cast members. Halloween 5 was his fourth film in the role of Dr. Loomis, and there’s a noticeable deterioration of his psyche as he tries to stop Michael Myers once again.

Landman: I didn’t pay attention nearly as much as I wish I had, especially now as an adult and knowing who Donald Pleasence was. I was a 10-year-old kid, and so, I didn’t know who he was. He was wonderful to both of us. Everyone onset really went out of their way to ensure that we were taken care of, that we weren’t scared, that there was nothing dangerous or emotionally traumatizing going on.

I remember Don Shanks would take off the mask every chance he got. If you’re dealing with adults, maybe you leave it on for a minute between takes. Donald was the same way. He’d always sit with us during dinner and tell stories. Again, I wish I had had the foresight to pay attention more. [laughs]

Girard’s Gentle Nature & Craft

Dominique Othenin-Girard had a distinct vision for what he wanted Halloween 5 to be. There’s no mistaking that he, at the very least, made his mark on the franchise. He fought for his artistic ideas, and despite overwhelming reception to those ideas, he stood his ground to deliver. Even more, the cast recalls his endearing personality and skill on the set.

Landman: He was really careful to explain everything to us. He kept kid gloves on with us, so that we were able to tell the story he wanted to tell. And he was very clear about that and how he wanted to tell that story. If you go back and watch, there’s not a whole lot of blood in the movie. It harkens back to the suspense more than the gore. There’s still some blood, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not like ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ at the time. It was buckets of blood.

But Dominique really wanted to keep up the suspense. That’s why you have the scene in the basement in the laundry room. That was about the fear in Jamie’s mind than the actual killing by Michael. That was a really great take on the series. He was always pushing us to keep that mentality going. This movie doesn’t dwell on the fetish of seeing all the blood. I do wish he had explained the reasoning for the stuttering and all that, but I don’t know how much at 11 I could have comprehended that.

Carvalho: You’re on set, so you’re always watching others do their work. I didn’t get to see a lot, but I did see some of the scenes being shot. To watch a director work and see a scene take place, it takes you to an entirely different place as an actor. It’s almost as though you’re watching yourself when you do the work. Watching someone else do that, you can almost see their minds going in the scene. It was always interesting to watch Donald work. He was very quiet, but then, all of a sudden, he’s on! It was so exciting.

I’m always in awe with a director. Everybody has a different style. I believe Dominique gave the actors a chance to give him and the editor an option when they would do a scene. That’s what I liked about him most. I don’t believe he was very demanding. It’s a fascinating process. A lot of times as an actor, you’re doing what you believe it should be. Then, maybe you’re not on the same plane as the director, so then, maybe what he had in mind, you showed him something different. Sometimes, you feel things are a gamble, and you just do it from your heart, your center. Play the moment. Do the job.

Tower Farm

The most striking location of the film is Tower Farm, which is some 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City. The story comes to an explosive head here, and Jamie, Tina and Billy face off against Michael Myers, who arrives in Mikey’s 1967 black Chevrolet Camaro.

Landman: That is one of those things where I need to watch it how the audience watches it. I know that the car chase wasn’t in relationship to where it looks like. The relationship of the locations on that farm were not the way they look on screen. So to me, I’m like “But we’re to the right!” And it looks like we’re to the left. I have such vivid memories of that farm and the layout.

Walker: People have asked me where Tower Farm was before, and all I remember is the van probably took us a good 40 minutes outside of Salt Lake City. I wonder if it’s still in tact. It would be cool to see all that stuff again. They spent a lot of time in that field, especially with the driving scene and the barn.

Barn of Kittens, Sex & Death

Sammie and Spitz sneak off into the barn for a little rendezvous while everyone else is partying. Sammie plays with a kindle of kittens, and Spitz plays a few tricks. In the bloodiest sequences of the film, Michael Myers stabs Spitz right through the torso with a pitchfork while they’re having sex.

Walker: I’m not sure where those kittens came from. I want to say they were the house kittens of whoever was living there at the location. I’m pretty sure we didn’t have an animal wrangler and that it was a pretty spontaneous thing.

What wasn’t scripted [for the sex scene] was holding up the condom. That was a conversation, as well. It was 1989 when we were shooting, and that was certainly the time when everyone was wanting to have protection and talking about safe sex. We felt that was something we should show ⏤ to be responsible. I think it turned into a fun moment.

My death was a great ab workout. I remember that. [laughs] It was probably about a two-hour process ⏤ getting in, having the prosthetic applied, going through the different angles shooting it. Interestingly, the prosthetic didn’t exactly execute correctly on the first take. When the pitchfork prongs came through the foam, it was supposed to open up enough of a hole for the blood tubes behind to seep blood through.

But the foam closed up around the prongs, and the blood was trapped in the back of prosthetic. So, I felt the blood running down the inside of the prosthetic and on my real chest. That was an experience I didn’t know was going to happen, and I’m pretty sure they corrected it for the second take. I remember mortician’s wax coming out. They plugged the holes, and reapplied makeup to the chest. But everything was pretty expediently shot.

Sammie Strikes Back

Moments after the shock of Spitz’s death, Sammie utilizes her fear for a moment of resourcefulness and retrieves the pitchfork out of Spitz’s body. In an act of retaliation, she attempts to fight back against Michael Myers. Of course, it’s all in vane, and Myers slashes her with a scythe.

Walker: It was a conversation that Tamara had with Dominique about not wanting her to go out like a sissy. She was adamant about wanting to have the character devastated and then trying to fight back. It gives the scene some attitude and certainly in line with what that character had been building up to.

The Car Chase

The climax of the film sees Jamie follow Tina out to Tower Farm, only to discover Michael Myers has been hot on their trail. Once he discovers Jamie is there, Myers attempts to mow her down with the camaro. During the nail-biting sequence, Myers clips young Billy with his car, and Billy’s fate is left up to the imagination.

Landman: I was supposed to be alive at the end. The scene where Jamie says, “Billy! Billy! Billy!” and they all run to the clinic to save me, you were supposed to see me alive. But I had already been released from filming by the time they shot that scene. So, they don’t ever show me alive at the end. But you also never actually see me dead, so I like to think I’m still alive.

In the original script, Billy and Jamie were both going to be on Billy’s bicycle. The car hit the bicycle, and we flipped over the car. Then, the car backed over Billy. By the time we shot, the bicycle was cut. It was just us running. It was shot, though, where you saw the car hit me and roll over my body. The film initially got an X rating. Rumor is because of the car chase and the laundry chute scene. So, they cut down some stuff from the laundry chute scene and the car rolling over my body. That’s what got it an R rating. So, it was originally far more obvious the car had hit me. Now, it just looks like he clips me as I’m getting away.

Danielle and I have talked a little about how as adults, I would never run in a field with a car chasing me. I would be like, “I need a stunt double now!” [laughs] As a kid, you’re like, “I can do it. It’s awesome!” Obviously, our parents were there, and things were safe. But as an adult, there’s a little more, “Um. This could be quite dangerous.”

I know Danielle had a stunt double for some of the chase. When the chase goes into the trees, that’s a double. Danielle is only running when you can see her face, which is a lot of the chase. But her stunt double almost got hit by the car. I think the dress or the wig got caught on a tree, and she almost actually got clipped by the car. That was a rough night.

Walker: It took all night. They did it multiple ways. There were a lot of conversations with Don Shanks and the stunt team. They wanted it to be done safely and in the right way. Of course, Dominique was pushing for faster and faster, more and more. Aesthetically, he wanted it to be vital and energized.

It was great to see the filmmaking process come together where the creative vision was served through the technical craftsmanship of the people making it. The performances in that scene are so authentic because there was so much emotion that night.

Introducing the Thorn

When Michael Myers is in a coma at the start of the film, there is a quick shot of a triangular tattoo on his right wrist It’s only ever revealed in 1995’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers that it is the mark of Thorn, a curse of Druid origins.

Landman: They didn’t really go down that avenue in this movie. It just introduces the “what is that.” It’s more in six where it gets explained. I sort of like the idea of there having been a cult of people maybe branching out. I don’t think that storyline went where it was initially intended to go. On the other hand, the story is Michael, and when you add in other elements, the story doesn’t work.

Walker: I probably won’t give you the answer you want. I don’t really have an opinion on that. I think that that’s really up to the creatives to decide. As an actor, you’re given a role, and you want to do the best job you can. That was really the focus for me. When I watch those movies, I really appreciate the performance and whatever the vision is. I try to see them for what they are and not for what I think they should be.

Myers House: Gothic Edition

One point of contention for this film is the Southern Gothic-style mansion that serves as the Myers house. It’s certainly a bold choice but one which doesn’t sit too well with many fans of the franchise.

Landman: It’s weird. I love the house, and I think it’s gorgeous. There was an actual family living in the house when we filmed. They moved into the hotel with us, and then, we trashed their house. That was a real functioning house. My only problem with it is we had already seen Michael’s house. It’s one thing if you can’t get the same house; it’s nother thing to introduce, aesthetically, a completely different house. That’s what really upset people. They felt lied to.

The Third Act Delivers Gut Punches

The Laundry Chute

One of the film’s most effective exploitations of tension and dread is the famous laundry chute sequence with Jamie and Michael Myers. To hide away from the Boogeyman, Jamie climbs into the laundry chute. He, of course, finds her, and she loses her grip and falls to the bottom. Myers then heads to the basement, and Jamie must fight for her life to climb back out before he stabs her to death through the metal chute.

Nathanson: We built the laundry chute with removable sections, so we could shoot at different points. Danielle was sufficiently above him in the laundry chute, so we were secure she would not get hurt. Being the wonderful stunt coordinator that he is, Don wants to make it look dangerous. He doesn’t want it to be dangerous. That’s our motto in filmmaking. Make it look dangerous and scary, but don’t have it be dangerous or scary. We definitely took the steps to make sure Danielle was safe. She was in a harness being pulled from above, so she wouldn’t slip back.

The knife strikes into the chute were well below where she was. By shooting down on her and then the knife and then Michael Myers with a long lens, it compresses the distance between the foreground and the background. It makes the background look a little bit bigger and closer, while the foreground looks like it’s right there. It’s a nice trick of filmmaking.

Loomis Beats The Shape

In order to get the drop, literally, on Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis uses Jamie as bate and draws Myers into the very center of the Myers house. When he’s right where he wants him, Loomis drops a heavy chain link net over Myers, who begins to flail against the contraption. Loomis rips a 2×4 from one of the windows and begins to bash Myers’ head in with all his might before he collapses on the seemingly lifeless body.

Nathanson: We wanted to show that Dr. Loomis was beating Michael so harshly that he had exhausted himself and could barely stand. He used every ounce of energy in that scene. I don’t think it was meant for him to die.

Landman: I love that scene, too. I wish I had been around to see it being filmed. And you know, what? If you’re Dr. Loomis, and you’ve been chasing this monster for so many years, and you get him in a house, and you have a 2×4, what else are you going to do? Give the old man a break.

Myers Lands in Jail

The police soon swarm the Myers house and take the demented killer into custody. The very last scene of the film takes place in the police station and the camera lingers on Myers sitting in a jail cell, the iconic mask still on his head. It’s a startling image and one which is a bit left-of-center.

Nathanson: We show that scene because he’s still wearing the mask. That mask has never changed it expression, one that says, “I’m not moved by anything that has happened. I’m an automaton.” You can’t read what he’s feeling. You don’t know who he is. He is our deepest, darkest fear. Whether he’s in a jail cell, a straight jacket, a hospital room tied down or covered by dirt, he’s not dead. The thing about horror films is that there’s always one more. If you kill off the bad guy, you don’t really get one more. So, you can’t kill him off.

Man in Black

It’s famously known the mysterious Man in Black figure was inserted well into the filming schedule as a way to add more spice to the movie. No one knew what it meant, but it allowed the crew to further explore the idea of the unknown.

Nathanson: I don’t remember exactly when that character was added, and I’m not sure why he was added. I didn’t know who he was, but it was a great costume. The boots were great. Leather boots, leather pants, leather duster, leather bag. Why he gets down off a bus instead of a horse is beyond me. [laughs]

In ‘Have Gun – Will Travel,’ Paladin had a business card with a chess piece, a rook, the castle on it. He dressed in black boots, black pants, black duster, black guns, black hat, black mustache, black shirt. You’d know him in a crowd. I think this was something a little bit like that. Was he somebody to take care of business? Or was he somebody coming to ratchet up the business? Not having him clearly identified added to the mystery and the peril.

First Reaction to the Movie

Nathanson: I think I saw the movie in a screening they did here in Hollywood. I agreed that what was in the final cut actually made sense as a story, except for the business about the Man in Black. I never knew who he was, and it never quite made sense to me. I don’t think it needed to. I wasn’t necessarily the audience for this film, nor was I in control of the story that we were putting out to the audience ⏤ only inasmuch as we had recorded on film, so it could be gotten out. That’s my job, to facilitate the production and get what the producers wanted on film within the time allotted for the budget available.

Landman: I didn’t really grow up in a household where R-rated movies were forboden. There were a couple movies, randomly, that I wasn’t allowed to see, just because of what their specific subject matter was. But I have an older sister. So, an R-rated movie was not a reason in and of itself for me not to see it. Because I was in the movie, we had a big party, and all my friends came and saw it with their parents. In fact, the weekend it opened, I think I saw it three times in the theatres.

It was my first movie. Naively, it had never occurred to me at 11 years old that a scene we had spent 12 hours shooting would be cut. The first time I saw it, I thought, “But wait, I’m in that scene? Wait…what happened?” It’s actually taken be a very long time to realize, again naively, the movie the fans know is very different than the movie I know. So, whenever people ask me about it, I have to switch into the version of the story they know.

Carvalho: I was gasping for breath. [sounds of disgust] Words cannot describe how I felt. Just thinking about it, I want to throw up.

Billy’s Alternate Universe

Landman: When we shot it, I was not a patient at the children’s clinic. I had other scenes that the audience doesn’t know about, so therefore is irrelevant to the story.

I know the version where Billy is seen at the Myers house, and in another scene, Dr. Loomis says, “Why aren’t you in school?” I had to realize that to the fans I’m another patient at the clinic. Information like that, I was given from both the original script and the shooting script that had things that were intended. For all intents and purposes, I am a patient there, because you  never see me outside of it until we escape.

Mementos from Set

Nathanson: I might have kept something. At the end of the film, there’s always stuff. Some of it was intriguing. If it’s not going to be thrown out, I’ll give it to whoever I think it’s designed for, or if it’s something that intrigues me and no one else claims it, I’ll take it. I don’t recall having anything from this film. I’m sure I probably have the screenplay, budget and schedule somewhere in my files. Those would be the things I have for reference.

Landman: I have all my costumes. They built five pirate costumes. I have one of them in perfect condition. We shot out of order, so some of them had to be distressed and dirty and bloody. I have my daytime outfit, of which I think there was only one. I think I took some pumpkin decorations, too, but I not longer have those. I also have the ID bracelet I gave Jamie and other little things like that.

Walker: I have my chair back that has my name on it. There might be some odds and ends in my mother’s attic. I was keeping scripts for a long time, but I purged those at one point years ago. So, I probably don’t have an original ‘Halloween 5’ script.