The Ending Of Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers Explained
The "Halloween" story has gone in some bizarre directions throughout its franchise history. However, no entry introduces more strange story additions than 1989's "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers." From touching on Michael's ties to a cult to featuring a mute protagonist, "Halloween 5" is certainly one of the weirder "Halloween" movies. It still follows a familiar formula as it sees prolific killer Michael Myers (Don Shanks) return to Haddonfield once again to kill a new batch of victims on Halloween night. His main target is his niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris) who has been left psychologically traumatized and unable to speak after her first encounter with her evil uncle in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers." However, the presence of the increasingly frenzied Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and the arrival of a mysterious Man in Black (also played by Shanks) complicates Michael's revenge mission.
A lot is going on in "Halloween 5" — despite it following all the recognizable slasher movie beats — and its legacy in the franchise is unique yet controversial. The film hints at things that would be further explored in the follow-up film, "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers," and mixes in some new characters while continuing some of the arcs from the previous film. For better or worse, "Halloween 5" gives fans a lot to reflect on. Let's delve into the film's ending and look at how "Halloween 5" has impacted the legacy of the franchise.
What you need to remember about the plot of Halloween 5
After Michael escaped from the police in the previous film, he was found unconscious by a local hermit and taken care of for an entire year. As for his niece Jamie, she's become mute due to the trauma she's gone through and has been residing at a children's clinic. However — just before Halloween comes back to Haddonfield — Jamie develops a telepathic link to Michael that ultimately resurrects him and shows a cryptic thorn tattoo on his wrist. While no one seems too concerned about Jamie's recent behavior and potential connection to Michael — aside from a paranoid Dr. Loomis — Michael ends up returning to Haddonfield to restart his blood-soaked rampage.
Although Jamie tries to warn people of Michael's presence, Michael ends up killing many Haddonfield residents — including Jamie's step-sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Eventually, Michael sets his sights on Jamie. He chases Jamie in a car until he crashes into a tree but is ultimately unscathed and nearly has her in his grasp. However, Rachel's friend Tina (Wendy Kaplan) sacrifices herself so that Jamie and her friend Billy (Jeffrey Landman) can run away. When Jamie and Loomis reunite, Loomis sets up a plan to trap Michael with the police and it takes them back to Michael's childhood home.
What happens at the end of Halloween 5
With Loomis and the Haddonfield police looking to use Jamie as bait so they can lure Michael into their trap, it seems like the pieces are falling into place to stop Michael for good. Unfortunately, the masked killer is one step ahead of them and has created a diversion. It seems like he's made a detour to the children's clinic to kill again, and when the police are alerted to his presence there, they leave to investigate. This clears the way for Michael to find Jamie unchallenged, kicking off another tense cat-and-mouse game as he stalks his niece. Eventually, Jamie makes her way back to Loomis, but he's less than helpful. Instead of protecting Jamie, he uses her to lure Michael closer. However, this ends up being a ruse as Loomis draws Michael into the right spot so he can drop a heavy metal net on him. Loomis beats Michael, but in the process, he has a stroke which causes him to pass out.
When the police come back, they take Michael to jail and go to take Jamie home. Suddenly though, the mysterious Man in Black — who's teased throughout the film — arrives with a bang. He causes a huge explosion in the police station and kills many officers — ultimately helping Michael escape his cell. Jamie returns to see the bloodshed and notices that Michael is gone and once again free to kill.
What does the ending mean?
By the end of "Halloween 5," we get a unique conclusion for the franchise that isn't seen often: Michael being captured by the police. Normally, he suddenly disappears or is presumed dead. But here, he's actually caught and it seems like his reign of terror might finally come to an end. Unfortunately, Michael is given some assistance by the Man in Black and Haddonfield is left in disarray once again after his escape from his jail cell. Not only has Michael's escape left a trail of blood and many dead police officers, but the police's failure after being so close to stopping him is undoubtedly gutting for the Haddonfield community. Their nightmarish boogeyman is back out on the streets again, and everyone — especially Jamie — is left in a state of absolute shock and fear.
While Michael being free to roam the streets once again is a familiar sight for "Halloween" franchise fans, the ending of "Halloween 5" is unique in another aspect: Michael has an ally in the Man in Black. Fans recently saw Michael team up with another killer in "Halloween Ends," but "Halloween 5" marked the first time that Michael actually had someone helping him. It's something that makes him more dangerous than ever at this point in the franchise, and it adds new layers to the story. Because the Man in Black was shrouded in mystery throughout "Halloween 5," it left many fans wondering what his connection with Michael was. Eventually, audiences would get their answers, but it left a big question mark at the end of the film that created some intrigue for where the next movie would go.
What is the significance of the thorn tattoo?
"Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" teases a lot of small storylines that are meant to expand Michael's lore — some of which would be explored further in the next film, "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers." From the small glimpses of the Man in Black to the strange thorn tattoo seen on Michael's wrist when he reawakens, there are plenty of little details that would be paid off further down the line. In "Halloween 6," it is revealed that the Man in Black is a man named Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitch Ryan), the leader of a dark cult who believes that Michael holds the power of the thorn. The thorn runic is symbolic of Michael killing his family on Halloween night when he was a child. Because of Michael's connection to this ancient power, Wynn's cult believes that he embodies a pure evil that they would like to duplicate.
The cult has been working in a lab to conduct DNA experiments so that they can create offspring that harness the same evil power as Michael. As we later learn, Wynn's experiments supposedly worked on Jamie's baby Steven and now he believes that he and his cult can control the power of the thorn. Throughout "Halloween 6," they also let Michael hunt down the remaining Strode family members in Haddonfield so that his evil power can grow. It's a bizarre deviation in the storyline that isn't always looked back on fondly, but the clues are there in "Halloween 5" — as cryptic as they may be — for what would come next.
Jamie's expression of silent trauma
Unlike in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers," Jamie can't speak in "Halloween 5" and it creates distinct problems when Michael returns to Haddonfield on his latest murdering spree. When Jamie develops a sudden psychic connection with Michael as he is killing people, she can't muster up the words to tell everyone what's going on. So, Jamie often relies on the help of people like Loomis and Billy to decipher what she wants to say. Jamie's muteness also plays a role in some of her reactions since she generally only speaks at times when she's full of emotion. Jamie becoming mute after surviving her first encounter with Michael is an interesting aspect of her arc in this franchise and helps express a subtle aspect of her anguish and trauma.
Jamie represents the pain of silent trauma — feeling all the devastation and destruction that's occurred without being able to express it in words. While her emotions might seem unclear at times or downright confusing at others, her anguish is always present and a key part of her arc in the film. Her fear and trauma have consumed her so much that she can't even audibly scream at this point. Jamie is certainly the heart of "Halloween 4" and had some connective emotion thanks to some good writing and Danielle Harris' great performance. That continues to be the case with "Halloween 5" as she conveys so much without saying anything, as her trauma makes a silent yet distinct impact.
Loomis pursuit of Michael sees him clinging to his sanity
Throughout the "Halloween" franchise, Loomis' obsession with Michael has only grown — causing his sanity to come into question. This is especially true in "Halloween 5" as Loomis' behavior and decision-making become increasingly erratic. Although Jamie has gone through such traumatic turmoil — having to deal with her murderous uncle to the point where she can't speak — Loomis is constantly in her face demanding answers about Michael. Loomis is at times pretty cruel towards Jamie and is all too eager to use her as bait to get Michael in his grasp. He even holds Jamie captive at one point just to get Michael to come nearer to him, and it's difficult to watch.
In terms of his obsession with Michael, it's truly at an all-time high in "Halloween 5." Just before he plans a trap with the police, Loomis is seen screaming at Michael to "Go home!" When he finally gets Michael trapped in the metal net, Loomis screams for Michael to finally die while beating him. He actually gets so worked up about Michael and finally beating the boogeyman he's been after for years, that he ends up having a stroke. Loomis is on a whole new level of instability in "Halloween 5" and it nearly causes him to die in the process.
Setting up a family storyline
When looking at the different eras and timelines of the "Halloween" franchise, there's always one aspect that plays an important role in the story — family. In the first two films, the familial connection between Laurie and Michael is built. Then in Rob Zombie's two films, there's a deeper exploration of Michael's childhood experience with his family and his relationship with his mother. Even Blumhouse and David Gordon Green's modern trilogy explores family through generational trauma and seeing how Michael impacts subsequent generations of Laurie's family. With this middle trilogy, there's an important story thread surrounding family that remains and is built upon in "Halloween 5."
The concern over whether Jamie is destined to become like Michael remains prevalent and — in a similar vein to Laurie — Michael continues to hunt Jamie because of their blood connection. Also, because Jamie is related to Michael, she receives some hatred from Haddonfield residents who believe that her blood makes her evil. There are also those small teases with the thorn cult that bring more Strode family members into the mix and touch on a strange part of Michael's backstory in this timeline. While this part of the story does take some pretty big leaps, "Halloween 5" sets the tone and builds out a bigger family storyline that unfolds in this middle trilogy in the franchise and embodies a common theme of family seen in almost every "Halloween" movie.
What is the film's impact on the franchise?
"Halloween 5" might be caught in the middle of a soft reboot trilogy — made up of "The Return of Michael Myers," "The Revenge of Michael Myers," and "The Curse of Michael Myers" — but it does have an interesting impact on the events of this timeline. For Jamie, it continues her arc and thematically expands on her character well. The film delivers some pretty important kills — including the death of the previous film's final girl, Rachel. Also, Michael leaves Haddonfield in shambles by the end since a lot of police officers are killed during his final escape, and the whole idea of Michael slipping out of their grasp will certainly leave many feeling defeated.
Most importantly though, "Halloween 5" establishes this trilogy's unique storyline. Where "Halloween 4" was mostly a pretty standard reboot and doesn't introduce too many new ideas, "Halloween 5" delivers some fresh lore along with familiar notes. The presence of the Man in Black as well as the whole thorn mystery added some new intrigue to the franchise that showed potential to build a whole new storyline. Now, whether it worked out and was worthwhile is a whole other discussion. But it still helped to show that this trilogy was something entirely new for the franchise and this makes "Halloween 5" stand out.
What is the legacy of the film?
While "Halloween 4" was seen as a very successful reboot for the franchise since it introduced a beloved protagonist in Jamie, brought back Donald Pleasance as Loomis, and reinvigorated the franchise's slasher formula, "Halloween 5" is far less revered. For many, it was seen as a sour turning point for the story and it resulted in a disappointing box office take compared to the previous film. Even the new story beats surrounding the thorn cult were disliked by many and some were especially disappointed that the film didn't explore the idea of Jamie potentially becoming Michael more. On Rotten Tomatoes, one user expressed this exact sentiment, saying, "'Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers' is without a doubt a disappointing sequel. The film basically ignores what the last film built up at the end," said the user, "because of that, we got a pretty stupid movie, with obnoxious characters, an unexplained subplot, and a lot of questionable editing choices"
Another user also shared their frustration for how "Halloween 5" needlessly kills off Rachel far too soon. "Jamie should have been the killer after that amazing ending from the 4th film and killing such a great and likable lead from the last film was a huge mistake. For many fans, when it comes to the "Halloween" franchise, "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" continues to be seen as a disappointment.