The Halloween franchise is something that I just cannot be objective about. There is a obviously a lot of weak acting, cheap effects and horrible story lines in the sequels. But they’ve all got Michael Myers - except for the one I will not even talk about(Halloween 3: Season of the Witch ed.).
Michael Myers. The name is enough to send a chill down my spine. The man that never runs (fuck off, Curse of Michael Myers theatrical ending), but always gets to you. Myers encompasses everything that we’re supposed to be afraid of. The fact that the Halloween concept has been copied to death since the original’s release inevitably makes the series rather boring for young people who have seen it all before. To an older man like myself though, mr. Myers will always be the most scariest man on screen.
Step aside, Michael
But enough about Michael Myers. He might be the scariest dude ever to be portrayed on the screen, but in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, he actually has to take a back seat to a fantastic performance of the child actor Danielle Harris. Harris played Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4 and 5 and returned as Annie Brackett in Rob Zombies Halloween-series of 2 films.
Jamie Lloyd is the daughter of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Michael Myers obviously cant have any offspring of his supposed dead sister running around, so he does his best to kill her. One could have lengthy debates as to how badass Mr. Myers really is when he cant even manage to kill a kid, but let’s just assume that he put it off for so long for the viewers pleasure and focus on the real heroics in this film; the kid:
The scene above is the highlight of the film - by a mile. I still remember vividly the first time I saw this scene and until this day I still cannot fathom that it is possible for a child not to to emotionally destroyed by performing in scenes like this. I am not anything close to being an expert on either kids or the art of film making and I am sure that the filming was much less scary than the result, but anyone can see the dread in Harris’ face when her uncle repeatedly tries to stab her to death. The effect at 3:39 where she uses Michael’s knife to stand on so that she can get up the shaft is a beautiful detail that forever will be imprinted on my brain.
After Halloween 5, Danielle Harris left the Halloween series. As a fan I was very pleased to hear that she would return in Rob Zombie’s installments of the franchise. As a human being, I guess I actually just supposed she had turned to religion and drugs just to cope with the stress of that role. Luckily for all parties involved she seems to be doing great in life and actually recently got married.
Danielle Harris might not be the most well known actor, but she will always mean something special to me.
