Review: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

In 1982, the second sequel to Halloween, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, was released to cinemas with one obvious feature left out: Michael Myers. In an attempt to turn the Halloween franchise into an anthrology, the filmmakers' intent was to produce a new Halloween story every year. This was doomed for failure from the off. With Myers missing from the picture, fans were no longer interested in the series, and the film flopped at the box office (However, it did earn back more than five times its budget). Hoping to regain the public's interest in the franchise, producer Moustapha Akkad decided to bring back Myers for the series' fourth installment, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

10 years after the original Halloween took place, Michael Myers once again manages to escape from the custody of the sanitarium he resides at. Well, strictly speaking, he was inbetween sanitariums, transferring from one to another. He actually escapes from his transfer officers, while the transfer is being carried out. Anywho, he escapes, and Dr Loomis (Of the first two Halloween movies) finds himself once again trying to track Myers down.

"You're talking about him as if he were a human being. That part of him died years ago."

One thing about Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers that immediately outraged me was that the filmmakers had had the audacity to kill off the main character of the first two Halloweens, Laurie Strode. And in a car accident, of all things. To add insult to injury, the crash didn't even happen on screen, and occured eleven months before the events of this film took place. Thankfully, the damage would be undone a dacade later when Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role as Laurie in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and the events of Halloween 4, plus the two films that followed it, would be ignored. 

And another thing that aggravated me: Michael Myers doesn't really look all that much like Michael Myers in this movie. Sure, he's wearing a white mask, and yes, he's got a great big knife with him, but he just doesn't look the same. Even his hair doesn't look right.

"Maybe nobody knows how to stop him."

This movie wasn't very scary. In fact, Halloween: Resurrection scared me more than this film did, but it was somewhat entertaining in a humorous, unintentional sort of way. Though practically all the plot had been recyled from the first two films, and deaths were predictable to an extreme, I didn't hate Halloween 4. I only mildly disliked it. I'll even go as far as saying that I actually liked it's unexpected ending. But that doesn't mean I'll ever sit through it again.

The cast of Halloween 4 was actually quite decent. Donald Pleasence reprises what is perhaps his most famous role, Dr. Loomis, for a third time, and he's very good as the character. Two other standouts were Ellie Cornell, who plays the character of Rachel effectively, and Danielle Harris, who portrays Jamie, Myers' niece. Boy does that girl have a set of lungs!

Overall, I can't say that I disliked Halloween 4 more than Halloween: Resurrection, but then again, I can't say it was any better than Resurrection either. 5/10

Trivia: Danielle Harris, who played young Jamie in Halloween 4, would go on to star in three more Halloween movies. She would reprise her role as Jamie in 1989's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael, and as an adult, she would take over the role of Annie Brackett (Played by Nancy Kyes in the original Halloween) in the Rob Zombie remakes, Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009).

- Vixtastr43