I've been writing this novelization column for almost two years now, and the last paragraph usually includes some reference to the book's availability. Most of the time they're easy enough to find, with a few instances of “OK it's on eBay but not cheap…”, but this month's installment breaks that tradition. Because even if you are willing to shell out three figures for a copy of the Halloween 5 novelization by Jake Martin, chances are you won't even be able to find it. Indeed, I've included this photo just so you know a physical copy* ever existed at all.
The reason for its scarcity is simple enough: Martin wrote the book unauthorized, just out of pure love for this not exactly cherished sequel, and self-published it on Amazon. But a day or two after the book's spring 2023 release, Martin got cold feet about having it out there due to potential copyright infringement issues, and yanked it. A handful of readers (myself included) managed to snag it during that incredibly brief window, but those copies are almost certainly the only ones in existence. Thriftbooks, eBay, etc. won't help you – it's safe to assume that only die-hard Halloween fans grabbed it, and we ain't parting with these scarce collectors' items.
So then comes the question: is it WORTH the effort of tracking down? Well, if you can settle for the digital version, of course! But when it comes to whatever a physical copy would set you back, I'd say… maybe? Again, Halloween 5 is hardly anyone's favorite entry in the series, and while Mr. Martin was a first-time novelist here, I don't even think someone with a Stephen King-sized bibliography could make the film's story work any better on the page.
As we've learned through the documentaries over the years, the film not following H4's promise of a murderous Jamie wasn't a copout on the producers' part – they were told that if they focused on a killer who wasn't Michael Myers, the theaters wouldn't carry the film (being an independent production and release, they didn't have the theatrical security a major studio film would receive).
But with the date locked in, they had to scramble and come up with a new idea. In all honesty, under those circumstances, it's a low-key miracle the film is watchable at all, let alone occasionally quite good (as I've said elsewhere: it's either the worst good one or the best bad one in the series).
For those who haven't seen it or have just forgotten, this is the one where Jamie (Danielle Harris) is now mute and living in a children's clinic after momentarily being possessed by Michael Myers and stabbing her foster mother. Loomis is as crazy as ever, big sister/protector Rachel is Marion Crane'd 25 minutes in, and throughout the story we are treated to mysterious appearances of a stranger dressed entirely in black, whose identity wasn't something anyone involved at the time bothered to figure out.
It's not a complete disaster, though, and the series has certainly sunk further. Director Dominique Othenin-Girard (who eventually got to flex his “evil little girl” muscle on the Damien-less Omen IV a year later) offers some terrific suspense scenes (the laundry chute!). If you're a fan of Donald Pleasence, this entry offers him at his most crazed (read: fun to watch). The seasonal atmosphere is on point, Alan Howarth continued to expand on his own ideas for the score, and KNB offered up a few solid gore gags for good measure. It's not that bad, people!
But yes, it's certainly “less than”, and at the time, it became the first film in the series not adapted for novelization (a sad tradition that continued until the DGG trilogy), something Martin rectified over thirty years later with his debut. To his credit, he doesn't attempt to “fix” too much of the film; he tones down the goofy cop stuff (even having one of them reflect on how moronic he and his partner are acting) and reduces some of Tina's antics, but otherwise sticks pretty close to the film's events, scene for scene.
In fact, he doesn't even restore the things that hardcore fans know were cut, like the Man in Black's massacre at the children's clinic or the “Dr. Death” character, which surprised me. Some new scenes seem to be entirely Martin's invention. In the movie, someone throws a rock through Jamie's window, and it's never mentioned again. But Martin has Myers see it happen and then follow the perpetrator (a kid not much older than Jamie), before murdering him with a lawnmower. He adds a scene on the bus when the Man in Black arrives in Haddonfield, with the driver considering how, of all the weird passengers he's had over the years, none creeped him out as much as this stranger.
He also gives Loomis more to do. Early on, we see Loomis and Meeker's trip to the cemetery to find the coffin has been taken, and later we see the doctor break down and cry after Jamie disappears, feeling he's failed her just as he did Michael. They all feel naturally ingrained in the story, and honestly, that second Loomis scene would have probably helped the movie's rep, since a frequent complaint is that Loomis seems as much of a threat to Jamie as Michael is.
This version also makes one thing very clear: Tina is dead. The movie leaves her fate ambiguous; she is only stabbed in the arm, and when we see her on a gurney later, she isn't covered with a sheet as you'd expect for a corpse. But Martin definitively kills her off; either out of annoyance for the character (in addition to removing some of her scenes as mentioned, he also characterizes her as an alcoholic!) or perhaps because H6 didn't bother to pick up with her character, so her possible survival here is moot anyway.
Similarly, the movie suggests Loomis dies after taking Michael down, since we don't see him again. H6 claimed he merely suffered a heart attack, and Martin makes it clear here that the good doctor will live to see another horrible Halloween with his former patient, placing him at the hospital at the time of the Man in Black's assault at the police station.
(Meeker's death is also clarified here, something only those with 4K UHDs or maybe perfect vision can detect from the movie, where there's a quick glimpse of his body mostly obscured by darkness.)
But the author occasionally makes strange deviations from what the 1989 sequel established as well. Some are minor, like Samantha reflecting on how she and Spitz were about to have sex *again*. In contrast, her on-screen character admits to Tina that tonight was going to be their first time (that whole conversation, with “satin sheets” and such, is MIA here) or Rachel inexplicably referring to Kelly Meeker as her former best friend.
Others are a little more intriguing, if still rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. For example, instead of having all the cops return to the clinic during the climax, Martin posits that Myers actually murdered them all one by one (off the page) and stacked their bodies at the front door to prevent Jamie from escaping.
The one change that would have really mattered (and again, maybe improved the movie somewhat) is that Rachel decides not to go to the Tower Farm party after all, and instead spends the night with Jamie. Not only does this allow Martin to make a pretty funny joke about Rachel's chosen wardrobe (in the movie she picks a rather drab sweater for the Halloween party? Here she considers that it's just some old comfort wear), but lets her demise hit all that much harder. It's actually pretty heartbreaking that she dies with Jamie thinking she didn't care enough about her to skip a party, but letting the audience know that wasn't the case sure stings.
Obviously, it wouldn't have helped change the minds of the people who seemingly hate the movie specifically because it dared to kill off Rachel. Since I'm one of those weirdos who thinks no one should ever be safe in a slasher movie and that filmmakers deserve credit for doing something that risky in a sequel (see also: Scream 2, 5), her death never bothered me – only that she was seemingly blowing off her poor sister at the time.
On that note, Martin retains the movie's confused retconning of Jamie's relationship to them and her age. She was very clearly established as a foster child to the Carruthers in H4. Still, in both the on-screen and novelized versions of H5's events, she's repeatedly referred to as a “stepsister” or “stepdaughter”. She has somehow even earned the surname “Carruthers” (so AFTER she stabbed Mrs. Carruthers, they decided to adopt her officially?). Her age is also all over the place; in H4 she is said to be seven years old, but in the movie (which takes place a year later) she's somehow boosted up to nine.
Martin goes a step further and depicts her age as 7 *and* 9 at different points in the book, though these may be editorial issues that have been corrected in another edition if he didn't pull them entirely, as there are several typos and even a few crossed-out words. The author has since publicly admitted (via Reddit post) that he used the AI tool Grammarly to clean up his book and hated the changes it made, wishing he had just published his “warts and all” only-human version, but it's safe to assume we will never see another version of this endeavor, meaning these glaring discrepancies will remain forever.
Still, for a first novel based on a fairly messy, not fully satisfying movie, it's a solid read. It's also constantly “different”, because Martin changes a lot of the dialogue, making it feel fresh even if you've seen it a dozen times. The sentiment of the conversations is always the same, and I'm sure if you've only seen the movie once, you won't even notice. But if you've lived with this movie for decades, you'll notice that nearly every line is altered.
For example: in the movie, Loomis memorably bellows “We both know he's alive – BUT YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS!”, whereas here he simply says “I know he went home, that much I can be sure of. But I need to know where he is *now*!”
Again, doesn't really matter in the long run, but it's interesting that Martin stretched his creative muscle to that extent. It's essentially an alternate universe take on the sequel, and it's a shame it only properly existed in the world for about 48 hours before being banished. Good luck hunting one down if you try – I know I am proud to be in the exclusive club of fans who acted fast enough to grab it.
