Review of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) by John P — 03 Oct 2013

Mothers and fathers lock up your horny sons and daughters; because Michael Myers is back in town. That's right folks; he makes his return (pun intended) after the sheer mass of narrow minded people who wanted the same thing over and over again. Well complain and ye shall receive. That or the sheer number of box office dollars.

The only one positive thing I could say about this is that the opening credit scene is pretty awesome. It is all your shots of a basic farmland with everyday Halloween decorations which seem to be overtaken by a dark presence in the air. The appropriately color of orange title seems to glow in contrast with the scenery rather than the traditional theme music; it uses a chilling drone sound which captures the pure Halloween season. The plot on the other hand is mediocre as hell in which Michael Myers wakes up after being in a coma for ten years after being burnt alive. I am not a medical expert, but if someone were to survive being burnt alive they wouldn't go into a coma. Any way I didn't like this person who played Michael Myers because now he looks too bulky and his shoulders are hunched up like a football player. The complete opposite of what Myers should look like. Even the mask they used is so cheap looking. In the first film, it looked kind of dirty and the hair was all a mess, but now the hair is straight and it does not look right. Donald Pleasence returns as Dr. Loomis who also somehow seemed to have survived the same explosion Michael Myers was in. He doesn't have much new material to work with him chasing down Michael and trying to warn people, but plays it off seriously and does a great job. There's this one scene where Loomis hitches a ride with this whiskey chugging preacher and he pretty much nails this scene. As for Jamie Lee Curtis well...she's not in this one because they say she died somewhere off screen, but did apparently found the time to have a daughter in which is Myers' main target in the movie. How he figured out that he has a niece is one of those "Just because" moments. Any way my other favorite scene is when Myers gets more creative with different weapons to kill people with. Like one scene where he holds a shotgun and actually stabs a teenager right through her chest and into the wall. The ending is a bit anticlimactic and I really didn't like how Myers gets put down. Overall it is not that bad mostly because it is well shot, well paced and has some good chase scenes. It is flawed and has some great taste to the ten year anniversary.