This terse and to the point fifteen minute documentary offers an enjoyable and fairly illuminating take on the making of the fifth "Halloween" sequel. Executive producer Moustapha Akkad admits that this film was immediately rushed into production to cash in on the success of the fourth one. The lovely Danielle Harris celebrated her 12th birthday on the set and kept a prosthetic leg that was used for the laundry chute sequence (ironically, the shot with said prosthetic leg wound up being cut from the movie because it was too gross and disturbing). Moreover, Harris relates a sweet story on how Donald Pleasence let her have his trailer after he was done working on the picture. Ellie Cornell admits she was in awe of Pleasence and reveals that she objected to the original manner in which her character Rachel was killed by having a scissors put down her throat. Cinematographer Robert Draper admits that he hadn't seen any of the previous "Halloween" movies prior to being hired to shoot the fifth one and shot the film in a naturalistic European style. Don Shanks talks about a close call he had performing a car stunt and reveals that he became Michael Myers when he put the mask on. We also find out that the laundry chute sequence was filmed in a single day and everyone tries to figure out who exactly the mysterious man in black was. Worth a watch for fans of the film.
4 Reviews
A New Look At Halloween 5
moviefanesc11 July 2002
I recently purchased the Halloween 5: Limited Edition Tin DVD and watched this documentary, it was fun to see Danielle Harris, Don Shanks, and Ellie Cornell the way they look now. This documentary also answers the question of "What was the purpose for The Man In Black?"
We also get to see the original opening scene in which someone removes Michaels mask and looks at it funny. We get to see a much better look at Don Shanks, and Danielle Harris tells all of one cut scene that was cut, because it was too graphic.
The collector's booklet was a nice edition, and the miniature sized poster of the original H5 poster helped make the DVD worth buying.
So if you want to see this documentary, the only solution is to buy the DVD. As for the documentary I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I mean it is a documentary and not a movie.
We also get to see the original opening scene in which someone removes Michaels mask and looks at it funny. We get to see a much better look at Don Shanks, and Danielle Harris tells all of one cut scene that was cut, because it was too graphic.
The collector's booklet was a nice edition, and the miniature sized poster of the original H5 poster helped make the DVD worth buying.
So if you want to see this documentary, the only solution is to buy the DVD. As for the documentary I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I mean it is a documentary and not a movie.
Halloween V should have been Halloween Ends
dtucker8628 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I have always been a Halloween buff but I always thought that the series drug out too long because the people behind it were just interested in making money instead of good quality work. I enjoyed Halloween Ends last year where they finally killed Michael Myers and Laurie Strode could enjoy old age in peace but it should have ended with this film. If there was ever a film that could and should have been done better its Halloween V. First of all they killed off Rachel in the beginning and she was the spunky heroine from IV that everyone loved and then they had that idiot Tina character whose only redeeming quality was saving little Jamie and they had Loomis being a near raving madman who tormented little Jamie and endangered her life in the end and ALSO they had that mysterious man in black who shot up the police station. NO! It shouldn't have been like that I would have liked it if the people who made this film had Jamie, Rachel and Doctor Loomis join forces and get rid of Micheal once and for all. They had a chance to go out on top and they blew it miserably!
Good Look at Halloween 5
Michael_Elliott31 October 2011
Inside Halloween 5 (2004)
*** (out of 4)
Good 15-minute featurette about the making of HALLOWEEN 5. It starts off with Moustapha Akkad admitting that he was "success drunk" due to the previous film so he quickly went into production on this one. He admits quite a few things throughout the interview and it's clear that he probably wasn't overly thrilled with some of the decisions made on the picture. From here we hear from Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Don Shanks and through promotional materials we hear from director Dominique Othenin-Girard. For the most part this is a pretty good documentary with several nice stories including Harris talking about Donald Pleasance and how he gave her his large trailer once he had finished shooting all of his scenes. There's a lot of talk about what type of film the director wanted but we never get to hear too many details. Many fans of the series, myself included, feel that HALLOWEEN 5 is one of the worst so there are many aspects that aren't mention. It's never really mentioned why they wanted to connect Jamie to Myers and it's also never really mentioned why they went with the Man in Black. The producer and stars all admit they have no idea what it was for, although Shanks shares a story that originally it was going to be Michael's twin brother. In one of the best moments, Cornell talks about how she was unhappy about her character's original death and later even Akkad admits they made a mistake. The film ended up doing poorly at the box office but this too isn't discussed. Overall, a nice little featurette to view after watching the film.
*** (out of 4)
Good 15-minute featurette about the making of HALLOWEEN 5. It starts off with Moustapha Akkad admitting that he was "success drunk" due to the previous film so he quickly went into production on this one. He admits quite a few things throughout the interview and it's clear that he probably wasn't overly thrilled with some of the decisions made on the picture. From here we hear from Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Don Shanks and through promotional materials we hear from director Dominique Othenin-Girard. For the most part this is a pretty good documentary with several nice stories including Harris talking about Donald Pleasance and how he gave her his large trailer once he had finished shooting all of his scenes. There's a lot of talk about what type of film the director wanted but we never get to hear too many details. Many fans of the series, myself included, feel that HALLOWEEN 5 is one of the worst so there are many aspects that aren't mention. It's never really mentioned why they wanted to connect Jamie to Myers and it's also never really mentioned why they went with the Man in Black. The producer and stars all admit they have no idea what it was for, although Shanks shares a story that originally it was going to be Michael's twin brother. In one of the best moments, Cornell talks about how she was unhappy about her character's original death and later even Akkad admits they made a mistake. The film ended up doing poorly at the box office but this too isn't discussed. Overall, a nice little featurette to view after watching the film.
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