[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

Not a patch on the fourth installment. How could it be when it loses one of that films star performers - Ellie Cornell - in the first half an hour leaving us with Donald Pleasence's Loomis who might be more deranged than Myers.

More of a run of the mill slasher with a loony finale than the haunting menace originally created by John Carpenter. The many sanitarium scenes with young Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) were surely an inspiration for both Rob Zombie and his remake not to mention that thing released last year.


Tales of Halloween (2015)

Ten stories are woven together by their shared theme of Halloween night in an American suburb, where ghouls, imps, aliens and axe murderers appear for one night only to terrorize unsuspecting residents.

It's impossible not to compare Tales of Halloween to Trick r Treat (2007). However whilst that film works a treat (ahem) the same cannot be said for Tales of Halloween.

After a terrific opening half hour with the short stories hitting you thick and fast it suddenly became a bit of a chore to sit through. Visually it's excellent with so many references to horror down the years you just don't have chance to take it all in. Ten stories in a mere 90 minutes is too much and it feels unfocused after around the forty minute mark.

Where Trick r' Treat really shone through for me is the loving way all the stories interconnect with each other and you notice scenes from one story taking place whilst watching another. There's nothing like this here. Some of the ideas used did seem to come from other films such as Jeff Lieberman's Satan's Little Helper (2004), but it was lovely to hear and briefly see Adrienne Barbeau reprise her role of a late night witching hour DJ throughout the film.

Some of the stories amuse, some repulse, a couple i felt didn't work at all. Mostly though Tales of Halloween is merely average and i think i'll be giving it a miss next year.