Halloween 5 Horror Book Review
A year after his seemingly fatal fall down a mine shaft, the enigmatic Michael Myers emerges once again, driven by an insatiable thirst for vengeance.
On the anniversary of his last killing spree, Michael sets his sights on his niece, Jamie Lloyd, who narrowly escaped his clutches the previous Halloween. Jamie, now a traumatized young girl with an insidious psychic connection to her murderous uncle, becomes the focal point of Michael’s obsession. Together with the equally traumatized Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie must navigate a treacherous path of survival while attempting to unravel the dark secrets that bind her to the malevolent force that stalks her every move.
With relentless pacing, spine-chilling suspense, and heart-pounding action, the novelization of “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” invites readers to revisit the fifth film in the long-running “Halloween” franchise and experience it in a brand-new way. As the stakes heighten and the body count rises, the boundaries between reality and nightmare will blur, leading to a shocking climax that will leave readers breathless.
Horror Book Review: Halloween 5
The ending of Halloween 4 left many Halloween fans, including myself, stunned and with unknown expectations of what was to follow. We got Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers one year later. The filmmakers left us for a year, pondering what became of our beloved characters only to completely retcon the last events of Halloween 4 and diminish Jaime’s character to a mute. It was a slap in the face and an insult to the fans and actress Danielle Harris. Why handicap what was probably the best thing about Halloween 4? The decision to divert from what could have made for an interesting turn of events was an odd choice. I could not understand why they strayed away from a concept introduced with a massive cliffhanger, only to scrap the idea. But then again, we saw what happened with Halloween 3 and then Halloween Ends. The thought of a Myer-less film scared producers, understandably. And so, we got Halloween 4, 5, and 6, AKA, the thorn trilogy. This was, for lack of a better word, different. But, I was game to see where it led. While the common stipulation for Michael Myers was pure evil, killing “just because”, etc. The introduction to Laurie, being his sister, gave him a motive, a drive, and a reason to kill. Yes, he was after his kin, but he also pulverized anyone that got in his way. Was it better when there was no reason behind the madness? Some can argue that yes, it was better. But, still, a whole other camp can debate that. The Halloween films can only go so long without there being a motive or reason behind Michael’s madness – his rage. It will become redundant and boring. So, I welcome fresh additions to the storyline. The no reason bit worked for the first film but with Halloween 2, Carpenter scrambled to come up with a storyline for the sequel. Otherwise, it would have been more of the same and it would have been boring. Granted, Halloween 2 was more of the same, however, with Laurie being the sister of Michael Myers, it gave him a reason to continue his killing spree. Halloween 4 did the same, but at its conclusion the filmmakers eluded into something else that might have spelled the end of Michael Myers and his niece, or the curse of thorn, carrying on the legacy. Getting rid of Michael Myers altogether was not going to happen and so the curse of thorn took on a new light with Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and not Halloween 5: The Birth of Jaime Lloyd. You can see how this could have been a problem. Still, I was open to the idea of doing something different and the curse of thorn intrigued me. The execution of this storyline in the film, however, did not excite me.
Author Jake Martin (no relation to Halloween II author Jack Martin), took on the arduous task of novelizing Halloween 5. Arduous because a lot was going on in the film and the script itself was challenging because writers scrambled to try to figure out how to pick up where Halloween 4 left off. Still, Martin, being a fan of the series, wanted to take a stab at writing the novelization to fix a few things and add more depth, fleshing things out. Accomplishing this was no easy task for two things: one, the movie itself was a mess and so making the novelization itself better was certainly no easy feat and a challenge. And, two, acquiring the rights to write the novelization was a path met with obstacles, but that is another story that can be found on the internet. Alas, Martin finished his novelization. Where can you purchase a copy? Well, you can’t. However, Martin graciously made it available in its entirety online for everyone to read.
I am a fan of the Halloween series and although I know that, aside from a few of the films, it is not the greatest horror franchise in terms of quality. It is also not the worst. Still, in my opinion, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloween 8: Resurrection, and Rob Zombie’s Halloween II are hard to watch because they are just b-a-d. Do I own them? Yes. What can I say, I’m a completist. Halloween 5, however, tried to bring back the essence of Michael Myers; the stalking, the mystery, the darkness. I said the filmmakers tried. However, there was no success in bringing the franchise to its original form. Instead, it was the beginning of the franchises’ descent into the proverbial rabbit hole. But, to be fair, as mentioned prior, I was open to seeing a departure from the norm. The thorn storyline connects to the first Halloween novel by Curtis Richards, where the book opens in ancient Ireland in the time of the Celts and unleashes an ancient evil to curse the land. It is this evil that possesses young Michael Myers, bidding him to murder his sister, Judith. So, according to this reading of the first novel, the curse of thorn is fitting to the Halloween lore. Unfortunately, not many have read the original Halloween novelization, so to bring this curse attributed to Michael’s rage late in the franchise is a big curve ball. This story arc divides fans in that some like it while others don’t. I am ok with it. One problem with the Halloween franchise is that there are multiple storylines. It is like the Marvel universe where there are different Michael Myers in different dimensions. There is a world where Michael and Laurie are siblings, another where they are not. There is another where Michael is a fictional character. In another world, Laurie has a daughter and dies in a car accident, while in another world she has a son and Michael kills Laurie. To explain the universe to a newcomer, one requires an erasable whiteboard which, still, has the potential to be confusing. Halloween 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 were part of one timeline that saw the fruition of the thorn curse that ended with 6 when the franchise spiraled, the break in the space-time continuum, if you will. One might say that Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers was another pivotal moment in the franchise’s history after Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Either way, we got what I consider a lackluster outing with Halloween 5, which is why I was very excited to get my hands on the novelization of the aforementioned film.
The novel continues immediately after the events of Halloween 4, where Michael was run over by a pickup, shot to death, pushed down some sort of well, and exploded to smithereens. In the movie, once Michael escapes from the explosion, he falls into a creek/river that brings him downstream where a homeless man living near the water’s edge recovers Michael. Michael thrashes at him to no avail because of his weakened condition. Who is this stranger and why does he care for Myers? There is no answer to this…until now. Author Jake Martin too was curious about this character when he saw the film and thought it would be a good idea to give some background information that leads him to that fateful night when he encountered Michael. Is this scene vital? Not at all. But, it gives us a sneak-peak of what to expect with Martin’s retelling of Halloween 5.
There are numerous differences with Martin’s Halloween 5 novelization where he filled in gaps, added backstories to characters both in the film and not, lot of inner dialogue, descriptive death scenes with lots of gore, and extended and added scenes (including a very brutal one involving a lawn tool) and he added more meat and flesh to the story. I welcomed this. Even though I knew the story and what would happen, I found myself immersed in the narrative as though it was my first time experiencing Halloween 5 all over again – a testament to the great writing and storytelling of Martin. He also managed to make Loomis a little less unhinged in that we were able to get inside his head and get a better understanding of what he was going through and has gone through with Michael all these years.
Martin’s novelization of Halloween 5 was an unexpected pleasant surprise that took me off guard. I went in with very little expectations and assumed that I would get the same that the movie delivered, which was disappointing. No, Martin’s interpretation and retelling of Halloween in this novelization had his fingerprints and voice all over it. It’s easy to copy and pass the existing script, but Martin opted not to go that route. Sure, it followed the blueprint but, again, Martin made it his own and I can confidentially say that this novelization was hands-down the better version of this installment. There is even a great lead-up to Halloween 6. Unfortunately, Martin has stated that he has no interest in writing a Halloween 6 unless the powers that be contact him to make an official novelization. Could a professional editor have proofread this book? Yes. But being that this is an independent self-published and edited by the author’s father, this is an exceptional first go at writing and publishing a book. I recommend getting your hands on a copy and giving it a read.