Character Spotlight- Rachel Carruthers- Halloween 4 & 5

**This post contains spoilers**

Michael Myers has his sights set on returning to Haddonfield, Illinois, after a violent escape during a late night ambulance ride. Myers’ new target? His eight year old niece, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). Jamie, haunted by nightmares and visions of Myers, leans on her adoptive family for support. Jamie’s stepfather, Richard (Jeff Olson), and her stepmother, Darlene (Karen Alston) are dedicated to building and providing a loving home for Jamie. But her stepsister, Rachel (Ellie Cornell) is more concerned about having to cancel her date with Brady (Sasha Jenson), because she’s the fill-in babysitter for Jamie. 

Rachel is stressed out. Brady quickly moved on with Kelly Meeker (Kathleen Kinmont). But Rachel has to put the Kelly (aka “little miss hot panties”) dilemma on the back burner, while Michael Myers tears through Haddonfield on Halloween. A night of trick-or-treating with Jamie takes a disastrous turn, leaving Jamie and Rachel with three options: run, hide, or stand and fight.

This is Michael Myers we’re talking about after all. The Shape, The Boogeyman, or as Jamie also calls him, The Nightmare Man. Michael single-handedly annihilated the entire police force, and Myers, the unstoppable killing machine, doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Sure, Jamie has a handful of supporters ready to protect her: Dr Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr), Brady, and I can’t forget about local bar owner Earl (Gene Ross) and his gang of “beer bellies.”

A collection of townspeople and Dr. Loomis are all armed to the teeth, but bullets are not enough to completely stop Myers. Jamie also needs emotional support, and that’s why Rachel plays a crucial role in Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers.

The relationship between Jamie and Rachel has a few awkward ups and downs. There’s the one scene, where Rachel feels the need to have a tricky conversation with Jamie about their relationship, explaining the differences between biological sisters and stepsisters, while reminding Jamie she still loves her all the same. 

Rachel whines and pouts about having to cancel her date with Brady. She quickly apologizes to Jamie (after a few strong and harsh words from her father), and you could say Rachel was just throwing the kind of tantrum that’d you expect from a teenager, who’s upset about missing out on a date.

But Rachel slowly corrects her mistakes, confidently stepping into the role of a big sister. Is she nervous? Scared at times? Sure. Still, Rachel fiercely acts as a shield for Jamie throughout the movie. She’s willing to risk her life during a deadly cat and mouse game. After tossing Earl’s corpse on the side of the road, Rachel, exhausted and fed up with Myers, hits the gas on the pickup truck to run Myers over. Yeah, hitting Myers with a pickup truck wasn’t enough to take him out, but it’s still a big moment in the movie. A few good shots with blood smeared on Rachel’s face, determined and deadly serious about delivering the final blow to Myers. 

Michael Myers is back in Halloween 5, ready to leave another trail of bloody destruction to get to Jamie. Rachel knows how truly dangerous Michael is now. You have to believe she’s more prepared for a fight this time around. Protecting Jamie is the main goal. But there’s a big problem with Rachel’s role in the story for The Revenge Of Michael Myers, because Michael murders Rachel during the early stages of the movie.

Killing off Rachel well before the halfway point of the movie is one of those weird decisions I’ve never been able to understand. She was an important character, filling the role of Jamie’s guardian and her protector, the big sister, who threw herself in harm’s way to ensure Jamie’s safety. 

Rachel’s death is easily one of the more disappointing death scenes in the Halloween franchise. They didn’t even give Rachel a chance to fight back. Michael surprises her, stabs her with the scissors….and that’s it. No struggle, no big chase scene, or any kind of tension to at least give Rachel a chance to survive. Rachel deserved a better send-off. Her death scene is the kind of throwaway kill you save for a newbie character to add to Michael’s kill count. You don’t do THAT to Jamie Lloyd’s big sister.

You can see and feel Rachel’s absence after her death. Sheriff Ben Meeker is still around, but he’s busy trying to organize his police force to hunt Myers. Dr. Loomis is deadly serious about putting an end to Michael’s reign of terror, but age is catching up with him.

So who else can Jamie depend on? Tina (Wendy Kaplan)? She’s more concerned with partying, pulling pranks with Spitz (Matthew Walker) and Samantha (Tamara Glynn), and dealing with her boyfriend, Mike’s (Jonathan Chapin) mood swings. Deputy Nick Ross (Fran Como) and Deputy Tom Farrah (David Ursin)? They’re both numbskulls and bumbling fools. You can take one look at Ross and Farrah, and you’ll instantly know they don’t stand a chance against Myers.

The final images of Rachel in the Halloween series? Her corpse is sitting up in a chair amongst Michael’s creepy collection of dead bodies in the attic. It’s an emotional scene. Rachel is dead, and Jamie is heartbroken, calling out to Rachel for help, because she knows Myers is closing in. To be clear, I’m not against killing off Rachel, BUT her death should’ve meant something. Rachel could’ve been by Jamie’s side during the big finale, fighting with her sister until the end, and maybe Rachel’s death would’ve had a bigger overall impact on the story.

Rachel deserves a spot on Halloween’s list of memorable characters. Ellie Cornell always delivered earnest performances, and the sisterly bond with Danielle Harris was believable. Rachel was forced to make life or death decisions. You always got the impression she was someone, who had to quickly figure things out before Michael had a chance to get his hands on Jamie, a real person dealing with the dangers of trying to survive relentless attacks from a maniac. 

Of course, my only complaint about Rachel is, she should’ve had more screen time in Halloween 5. Rachel and Jamie only have one scene together. Rachel visits Jamie at the children’s clinic, and that’s it. Maybe they didn’t want to do a retread of the events in Halloween 4, reusing the Jamie and Rachel run and hide from Michael, waiting for the right opportunity to strike back formula. But I would’ve preferred watching Rachel guide, and protect Jamie through the madness of surviving Halloween night against Michael Myers over seeing her dead body added to the collection of corpses for Halloween newcomers. 

She-Wolves Of The Wasteland/Phoenix The Warrior (1988)

**This review contains spoilers**

Before I jump into this review, I just want to say thank you for helping me reach over 1,000 views for The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia! That's my first review to reach and go over a thousand views, and I couldn't believe it. So again, thank you!

After a series of bacteriological wars and the plagues that followed them, Earth is nothing more than a barren wasteland, and the male population was decimated into oblivion. With help from bounty hunters, and her ruthless enforcer, Cobalt (Persis Khambatta), Reverend Mother (Sheila Howard) took control of everything, as ruler of the world. Using her powers and black magic to kill off the remaining men, Reverend Mother made the choice to breed only women within her sperm banks.

One day, Keela (Peggy Sands) is attacked by Reverend Mother’s bounty hunters, but a Sand Trapper named Phoenix (Kathleen Kinmont) saves her. Demanding answers for her protection, Keela tells Phoenix the truth: breeders gave Keela the only male seed on Earth, so Keela can give birth to a male child with the hopes of restoring balance to Earth’s population. Believing in the just cause, Phoenix agrees to protect and watch over Keela. Eventually, Keela gives birth to her son, Skyler (Sklyer Corbett), but under Reverend Mother’s orders, Cobalt and her forces relentlessly pursue Keela, Phoenix, and Skyler.

Five years after Skyler’s birth, Reverend Mother plans to drain Skyler’s life force, so she can strengthen her weakening powers, and become invincible in the process. A rogue male (James H. Emery), who escaped Reverend Mother’s sperm banks, agrees to help Phoenix, Skyler, and Keela reach a desolate island in the sea to escape Reverend Mother’s clutches for good. But the group runs into some trouble while traveling through the Badlands, and Keela decides to risk everything to save a kidnapped Phoenix from Cobalt’s “fight to the death” arena.

Yeah. I understand what She-Wolves Of The Wasteland was going for. They were trying to make a mindless fun B-movie/post-apocalyptic action flick, but the final product is an epic fail on every level imaginable. I won’t be too harsh on the poor production values and noticeable audio problems, because you have to expect that from a B-movie, especially one from the 80’s.

But EVERYTHING else is beyond horrendous. The acting is terrible. Kathleen Kimmont is just a look, and that’s it. Peggy Sands is somehow worse as Keela, and it sounds like she’s reading her lines from cue cards step by step. Khambatta’s Cobalt is so ridiculous and over the top. Yeah, I know that’s the point, but she’s too cheesy to take seriously, and too brutal to laugh at (Cobalt cuts off the ears of her victims). I don’t think anyone could’ve saved the Reverend Mother character. Bottom line, Reverend Mother’s appearance is too cartoonish for a primary antagonist (she wears a black robe, wrinkly all over, pale, and her body is hooked up to some machine, which is supposed to be a life support system, with a bunch of big wires sticking out on the floor).

Looking for lots of nudity? Well, you should find another movie. She-Wolves Of The Wasteland gives you a few topless scenes, but that’s about it. The most obvious “eye candy only” scene involves two topless women sunbathing or taking a bath (hard to tell what they were doing) under waterfalls. The waterfalls scene goes on for a while, but again, it’s nothing shocking, or gratuitous.

Usually, when it comes to imperfections in B-movies, I look the other way, because B-movies are supposed to be silly fun. But She-Wolves Of The Wasteland pushes everything too far. Poor execution, incompetent directing, horrendous acting, and too many question marks. A short list of some mind-boggling questions:

-Who’s supposed to be the main character? Keela or Phoenix? I guess that’s why they changed the title of the movie (Phoenix The Warrior was the original title), because everything you see on-screen leads you to believe Phoenix is the main character. But on the other hand, Keela is carrying mankind’s last hope. Just another annoying conundrum in the storyline.

- What the hell is a Sand Trapper? They never bother explaining this.

-Okay. Keela is pregnant. BUT you literally can’t see any signs of Keela being pregnant, and a few minutes after she announces her pregnancy to Phoenix, she gives birth out of nowhere?

-What happened to Keela and Skyler? You know, the woman carrying mankind’s last hope, and the kid, who could save the world. The last scene in the movie (which is also the same exact scene used for the  intro) shows Phoenix riding a white horse on the beach…..and that’s it. Sorry, B-movie or no B-movie, you can’t just forget about two very important characters, and not give the audience some kind of explanation.

The lame final showdown between Keela, Phoenix, and Reverend Mother was just pitiful. Reverend Mother has Skyler in a cage, and guess what Keela does to stop her? She pulls out the wires to the machine that’s keeping Reverend Mother alive, killing her. So the most dominant and powerful force in the world is killed, because someone pulled a bunch of wires? Ugh. It was a train wreck to sit through, but the preceding battle between Phoenix and Cobalt was better.

She-Wolves Of The Wasteland stays in its own frustrating safe zone. When it comes to nudity, violence, and dialogue (one “cunt” isn’t enough to raise an eyebrow), everything is too tamed to be shocking. And I couldn’t laugh, because the parody performances and writing are atrocious. Hard to think of any redeemable qualities from She-Wolves, so I’m going with a zero.

Rating: 0/10