FAQ

Having moved back to New York and now in the Witness Protection Program, architect Paul Kersey (now renamed Paul Stewart) (Charles Bronson) has a new girlfriend, fashion designer Olivia Regent (Lesley-Anne Down). Olivia's ex-husband Tommy O'Shea (Michael Parks) is a big-time mobster, having his fingers in the till of 35 companies. Only Olivia refuses to cooperate with him, so Tommy hires an enforcer named Freddie "Flakes" Garrity (Robert Joy) to mess up Olivia's face. Paul contacts his district attorney friend Brian Hoyle (Saul Rubinek), and Hoyle agrees to prosecute Tommy if Olivia will testify. Soon thereafter, Freddie shoots Olivia in the back, killing her. When Tommy is cleared of any involvement in Olivia's death and takes custody of their daughter Chelsea (Erica Fairfield), Paul springs into action for the fifth time as vigilante to take down Tommy and his racketeers.

Garfield created the character of Paul Kersey in his 1972 novel Death Wish, but the plot for Death Wish V was based on a screenplay by American screenwriters Michael Colleary and Allan Goldstein, who also directed the movie. It was preceded by Death Wish (1974) (1974), Death Wish II (1982) (1982), Death Wish 3 (1985) (1985), and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) (1987).

Very little in the way of a clues are given, with the exception that Hector Vasquez (Miguel Sandoval), the D.A.'s assistant, tells Tommy O'Shea that Olivia's boyfriend Paul was the vigilante killer "a few years back."

Paul follows Sal Paconi (Chuck Shamata) (Tommy's bodyguard) and Chelsea to Olivia's studio where Tommy has three new thugs—Frankie (Scott Spidell), Mickey (Tim MacMenamin), and Angel (Sandro Limotta)—waiting to kill him. Paul kills Frankie and Mickey and wraps Angel in plastic wrap until he begins to smother and tells Paul where Tommy is hiding Chelsea. He then hangs Angel on a clothing rack and calls Tommy on Frankie's to let him know that he's coming to get him. Chelsea hears Paul's voice and runs out of the room with Tommy in pursuit. Sal goes down to the factory searching for Paul and winds up shooting Angel, thinking he is Paul. Paul steps out of the shadows, pointing his gun at Sal. Sal drops his gun and pretends to be unarmed while actually pulling a knife from behind his head. Paul shoots him before he can toss the knife, and Sal falls into a shredding machine. Paul follows Chelsea's screams and trips Tommy so that Chelsea can get away. Chelsea makes it outside just as Lieutenant King (Kenneth Welsh). King tries to stop Tommy and Paul from shooting each other, but Tommy shoots King instead. Tommy turns to Paul and offers him "Anything you want, anything you need, it's yours." Paul replies: "I don't need anything, but you could use a bath," and pushes Tommy into the acid bath. In the final scene, Paul thanks King, who is not seriously wounded, and heads outside to join Chelsea. As he walks away, Paul calls back to King, "Hey Lieutenant, if you need any help, give me a call."

The death toll is seven, starting with Tommy's bodyguard, Chicki Paconi (Kevin Lund) (Sal's brother), whom he kills by sprinkling cyanide on his cannoli. Chicki is followed by Freddie Flakes when Paul explodes a soccerball in his face. Next to go is Hector Vasquez when Paul shoots him with a gun he had hidden in a Raggedy Ann doll after Vasquez was about to shoot Paul. He kills Frankie and Mickey, two of Tommy's thugs, in the clothing warehouse and Sal Paconi in a shredding machine. Finally, Paul kills Tommy O'Shea by pushing him into an acid bath.