Halloween 5’s Tina is hated by fans of the franchise – even those who carry a soft spot for the much-maligned fifth entry in the long-running series. The hastily made film, directed and co-written by Dominique Othenin-Girard, wasted the good will generated by the well-received Halloween 4 just a year previous.
After the success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers in 1988, with a returning Donald Pleasence, producer Moustapha Akkad ordered a follow-up rushed into production. The fourth film in the series, which brought back boogeyman Myers after the unrelated storyline of Halloween III, ended with intriguing promise. Young Jamie (Danielle Harris), pursued by her uncle Myers, seemingly took up his mantle by stabbing her foster mother. Director Dwight Little (Arrow) and screenwriter Alan B. McElroy ended Halloween 4 on a grisly high note and gave the creatives for the next film a variety of options on how to proceed.
The first mistake came from Akkad himself who was not interested in making Jamie a psychotic killer. This mandate immediately changed the trajectory of Halloween 5, ensuring any path forward would contradict or, at least, lessen the impact of H4’s ending. The second, biggest mistake in the development of Halloween 5 was the hiring of a director who was not familiar with the series. Original Halloween producer Debra Hill suggested Othenin-Girard – who had previously co-directed the thriller After Darkness. Othenin-Girard ran with Akkad’s request to put the focus back on Myers by attempting to humanize the character. He also decided to create a film that was tonally and narratively a complete departure from the previous Myers outings.
Why Tina From Halloween 5 Is So Hated By Franchise Fans
When Halloween 5 was released in October 1989, both audiences and critics were united in their disappointment of the film. While there were many criticisms lodged against it, viewers were unanimous in their hatred for the character of Tina (Wendy Kaplan), best friend of Rachel (Ellie Cornell) – who had been the final girl in the previous entry. Both the character of Tina and the performance by Kaplan were bothersome on several levels. A flighty, free-spirit with whose obnoxious behavior and selfish actions encompassed everything that was wrong with H5; Tina was difficult to endure. Her constant gyrating around characters and innocuous dialogue was far removed from the “ordinary teens” represented in the classic original.
Even creating a heroic arc for the light-headed reveler could not redeem her in the final third. If any character in the Halloween franchise deserved an early and definitive demise it would be Tina. While it would be easy to blame Kaplan for the aggressively annoying character, director Othenin-Girard created the role and guided the performance. In the years since its release, a small, yet vocal, group of fans have come to her defense – even writing detailed articles on how the character, and the entire film, are misunderstood.