Review of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) by Mjs M — 06 Oct 2009

It was always the intention of John Carpenter to have each film in the Halloween series to be a different story that took place on Halloween night. Which is why the third entry, Season of the Witch, didn't feature Michael Myers. I know a lot of people don't like that film, but I enjoyed it a lot and would have been interested to see what other sorts of tales could have popped up in the Halloween series. But most fans didn't take this change to heart, and because of the failure Halloween 3 turned out to be the series shifted back to focusing on Michael Myers once again.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers had a lot riding on it. Since fans were jaded by the third film, The Return of Michael Myers had to reintroduce this much loved slasher and put him in a film that would make up for the disappointment Season of the Witch created. For me, this film is a failure. Michael Myers was a scary character the first time around, and was remotely frightening in the second entry. But this time around, he just didn't have the same effect. And the story they put him in did nothing to expand on the character.

This time around Michael (George P. Wilbur) is stalking the daughter of Laurie Strode, who we learn died in a car accident. Jamie (Danielle Harris, who I like in this film) could have been a perfect target for Michael, since seeing children being tormented in horror films tends to be a little scarier than adults being the victim. But the movie never manages to bring these two together in a way that works. In fact, the movie spends more time on Jamie and less time on Michael, who seems to just drift in and out of the story.

I did like that Michael Myer's return to Haddonfield causes a sense of hysteria that makes the community ready to shoot at everything and everyone that looks like Michael Myers. It was odd though that this film shows a side of Haddonfield we haven't seen before; the "redneck" community. It seemed weird to me that what was once a legendary character in a great film, has been reduced to a so-so slasher in a movie with a bunch of drunken hicks.

Seeing Donald Pleasence return as Dr. Sam Loomis was a plus. But it seemed like the writers weren't familiar with the history that Loomis and Michael had. And this time around, Loomis' warnings felt more like the rantings of a loony, rather than a dedicated doctor who knows this madman more than anyone else. Plus, how did he escape the explosive fire at the end of the second film with only a few scars on his one hand and the one side of his face? For that matter, how come Michael Myers has eyes after losing both by the end of Halloween 2?

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers has one of the better endings of the series, which sort of recreates the opening of the original Halloween. Unfortunately this great ending goes to waste in the follow-up film. This entry alone is proof enough that Michael Myers should have stayed dead, and the series should have continued to feature different stories that took place on Halloween, or just ended with Halloween 3. But, since there is more money to be made with Michael Myers, that is why we he got so many crappy sequels featuring him.