It seemed like the Halloween series was dead after Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The creators had a great idea for an anthology series, but they never followed up after the movie was released in 1982. The series went on a six-year hiatus while it was retooled for the return of Michael Myers after a disappointing box office for Halloween III. Halloween 4 would be the first movie in the Michael Myers timeline that didn’t feature Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter behind the scenes. It’s a soft reboot for the series (and one of many to come).
| Release Date | October 21, 1988 |
| Genre | Slasher |
| Studio | Galaxy International Releasing |
| Director | Dwight H. Little |
| Cast | Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, and Michael Pataki |
| Rating | R |
Story
Ten years have passed since that Halloween night in 1978 when Michael Myers slaughtered 16 people, maybe more. The movie doesn’t seem too sure about that stat. The film begins with a distinctly Fall feel, which looks a lot more ominous than the setting of the first movie. Halloween 4 doesn’t entirely ignore the ending of Halloween II, in which an inferno engulfed both Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and Michael Myers, which should have killed them both. That moment still receives recognition as Loomis has some scarring on his face.
They both escaped death, and Michael was institutionalized once again. He is to be transferred to Smith’s Grove. There, he ends up killing the people transferring him after they mention his niece Jamie (Danielle Harris). This was a decent route, considering Laurie Strode wasn’t returning as a character at that point, and having a main child character in the series could bring some new life into it.
A New Approach
This movie feels like a remake of the first movie, just swapping out a character. We get a scene where Michael is stalking Jamie and her foster sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) through a house that was guarded by police and onto a rooftop as he kills everything in his way. The death scenes in this movie were still gruesome, but not as sensational as they were in Halloween II, nor did they need to be. The town seems to be a bit more aware of what Michael is capable of in this film after the events of the first two. They seem pretty ready to take the fight to him, including a scene in which they kill one of their own because somebody “saw” Michael, which was kind of comical in hindsight.
A Different Michael Myers
Michael Myers was not nearly as menacing or scary in this movie. He seemed very bulky compared to earlier versions of the character. It’s almost like he struggled to walk around while stalking his victims. I also felt like we saw him so much that it wasn’t that suspenseful. We almost always know where Michael is, so it’s hard to build up to any scare.
What’s with the mask? It’s the brightest white it can be and looks nothing close to what we’ve seen. It can be explained that he found it in a corner store, and it isn’t his original mask. It still seems very out of place in this movie. It’s my least favorite Myers mask in the entire series’ history. He does seem a bit more superhuman in this film. He uses his bare hands for some kills, including a particularly unnerving one where he rips the driver of a vehicle’s neck open.
THAT Ending
The best part of the film comes at the end, with Michael Myers gunned down in a hail of gunfire from seemingly everyone in Haddonfield and falling down a mineshaft. It seemed like a fitting end for the main villain. There was a moment when Jamie went up to him and touched his hand as he lay motionless before the gunfire. This seems inconsequential at first, but it becomes significant by the end of the movie.
Jamie’s foster mother draws her a bath, and we pan to a first-person view through Jamie’s eyes as she grabs the scissors. This mimics the beginning of 1978’s Halloween when Michael killed his sister. A shrieking scream reaches our ears, and Jamie appears at the top of the stairs with a bloody pair of scissors as Loomis looks on in horror and tries to shoot her, only to be stopped by the police. This is my favorite moment in the Halloween series, and it would have easily changed the game for the entire series. Unfortunately, this whole scene was forgotten in the next movie. Oh, what could have been…
Final Thoughts
Halloween 4 is a solid return to form for the series and one of the best sequels in the franchise. That’s not saying much, considering the dip in quality after Halloween II. It’s an entertaining movie, and it opens up numerous interesting new directions the series could have taken.
