Once again it was back to LA to gather material for this Special Feature on the backstory of HW5. I was able to use my previous interviews with stars Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris (both of whom were wonderful, btw) as we had discussed both movies. Moustapha and Malek Akkad were as gracious as ever. Again, budget restraints meant I couldn’t hop a plane to interview this film’s “Michael”, stuntman Don Shanks – but Mr. Shanks hooked me up with a local crew who did a masterful job lighting and shooting an interview with him. (Unfortunately one of the fog machine’s cables crossed an audio line resulting in a persistent hiss throughout the entire interview. EP Bill Lustig recommended an audio program that cancelled it out. Whew!) Master cinematographer Rob Draper was conveniently teaching photography up in Maine, so he put together a 3-camera interview shoot of himself! Thanks, Rob. Trancas Films was kind enough to give me use of their own behind-the-scenes footage and some outtakes as well – which editor Tom Donahue incorporated. I’ve read that fans thought the doc was too short, but contractually, the piece couldn’t be more than 20 minutes long. Inside Halloween 5 clocked in at 17. In addition to the larger DVD release, Anchor Bay also released this as a Collector Edition Tin.
