Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a 1988 slasher
film. Directed by Dwight H. Little (Bloodstone) starring Donald Pleasence
(Halloween, Phenomena), Danielle Harris (Hatchet II) and Ellie Cornell (House
of the Dead). The film was the first Halloween movie in 6 years and the first
to be produced without co-creators John Carpenter and Deborah Hill.
Halloween 4 is set ten years after the events of the
original film. Once again, the psychotic Michael Myers has escaped from a
lunatic asylum and is on his way back to Haddonfield to kill his niece Jamie
(Harris), daughter of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has moved into a
foster home. Pursued once again by Dr Loomis (Pleasence), Michael starts ruining
the town’s Halloween celebrations and ripping through the locals as the inept
local law enforcement are organised by Loomis. Jamie’s stepsister Rachel
(Cornell) is left to protect Jamie as Michael continues his rampage, despite
the efforts of a vigilante mob, and a final showdown ensues in the Sheriff’s
house.
As many people know, after the wild success of the first
film, and it’s slightly disappointing sequel, John Carpenter and Deborah Hill
conceived of a new vision for the franchise where every sequel would focus on a
different Halloween story. This resulted in the cult classic Halloween III: Season
of the Witch (1982) which, despite lacking Michael Myers, weaved a spooky and clever
story around Halloween masks that possessed children. However, come 1988,
executive producer Moustapha Akkad wanted to revive the franchise and this
meant bringing back the Icon himself, prompting Carpenter and Hill to promptly
leave the franchise. You would think that the lack of the creative geniuses who
spawned the franchise would harm the film, however, the film still works
remarkably well and, as good as Halloween III is, Michael Myers is too effective a
villain not to bring back.
Taking inspiration from the Friday the 13th and
Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, which had already ballooned into parody by
this point, Halloween 4 certainly cranks the volume up on the more nuanced
atmospherics of the previous films. But still, the plot makes a remarkable amount
of sense. Ten years have passed, a new generation of Myers is around,
Haddonfield have almost forgotten about 1978. Aside from the old escaped
lunatic thing, the plot elements fit really well in the updated setting and
Danielle Harris is one of the better child actors to appear in an 80s horror
film. Donald Pleasence is always a welcome presence on the screen, however, he
looks like he’s starting to get a little sick of the franchise and his
whispered/yelled dialogue does get a little annoying after a while. Although
the film is pretty over the top in terms of its violence and dripping in the
80s, there is still a great deal of atmosphere retained from the original film
and Carpenter’s creeping dolly shots live on.
Stronger than most horror franchises by its fourth entry, The
Return of Michael Myers delivers what it promises and there are certainly many
franchises of the day that would’ve benefited from a 6 year gap and a break for
their antagonist. A surprisingly inventive plot with a great shock ending and some
excellent reworkings of the iconic theme music. Halloween 4 is a lot better
than you remember.
What do you think of Halloween 4? Were you glad to see
Michael Myers back?
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