1989 sequel Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers ended the decade with a slash, but almost earned an X rating on the way to theaters. It's no secret that slasher movies dominated the 1980s when it came to horror, most notably the "unholy trinity" of the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. By the end of the 1980s though, the slasher tide was finally ebbing, setting the tone for the sub-genre to fade into the background for much of the 1990s.
Case in point, there were new installments in all three of the aforementioned slasher franchises in 1989, and none of them are considered anywhere near the heights of their properties. Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan saw Jason spend a few minutes in New York City after slaughtering people on a sparsely populated boat for most of the running time. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child saw Freddy nearing the apex of his penchant for terrible jokes, and of course, Halloween 5 failed to retain the large amount of goodwill directed toward Halloween 4.
Halloween 5 kicked off the groan-worthy Cult of Thorn storyline that effectively removed Michael's agency as a character, quickly killed off the popular Rachel Carruthers character, turned Dr. Loomis into a raving madman, and rendered the likeable Jamie Lloyd almost entirely mute. On top of that, the MPAA had to take their pound of flesh as well, or pound of celluloid as it were.
Why Halloween 5 Almost Got An X Rating (& How It Changed)
Halloween 5 had a hell of a time getting its final R rating, with director Dominique Othenin-Girard being forced to cut quite a bit of gory content from the slasher sequel. Most notably, the scene where Jamie momentarily escapes Michael Myers by climbing up a laundry chute was punctuated by Michael brutally stabbing his niece in the leg. Othenin-Girard says the stabbing wasn't particularly graphic, but the MPAA demanded it to be cut to get an R rating. Other kills were also cut down, including Michael stabbing a character named Mikey in the head with a rake, Michael bashing a cop's head into a car windshield, and Samantha being impaled with a scythe, which originally went through her face.
These trims seem quaint when compared to the level of extreme violence regularly seen in later film franchises like Saw and Hostel, but sadly, they were all too common in the 1980s, especially later in the decade. The MPAA hated slashers with a passion, and as the 1980s wore on, began to get more and more strict with what it would and wouldn't allow to be shown in an R-rated film. Couple that with violence against children being involved in the Jamie scenes, and it's no wonder at all that the MPAA played hardball with Halloween 5. While none of the cuts substantially impact the film's story, it's still a great thing that such content fights with the MPAA are much less common now.
