10 Horror Movies That Squandered HUGE Potential
5. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers ended with one hell of an enticing tease for the fifth film, as it's implied that Michael Myers' niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) has "inherited" his murderous tendencies, when she apparently stabs her foster mother Darlene (Karen Alston) to death.
But Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers swiftly unpicks that ending, revealing that Darlene survived the attack and not having Jamie follow in Michael's footsteps. Rather, her trauma renders her mute and she develops a psychic link with Michael instead.
Though Danielle Harris gives a strong performance as Jamie and the iconic laundry chute scene is the easy highlight, for the most part Halloween 5 is a rather cowardly backpedal following the previous film's provocative ending.
While an early draft of Halloween 5's script did indeed feature a killer Jamie, this was ultimately vetoed by executive producer Moustapha Akkad.
Instead, Halloween 5 marked the point at which the series descended into outright farce, effectively dooming it until it went back to basics with 2018's direct sequel to the 1978 original.