Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) Galaxy/Horror RT: 88 minutes Rated R (graphic violence, language, nudity, sexual content, child in peril) Director: Dwight H. Little Screenplay: Alan B. McElroy Music: Alan Howarth Cinematography: Peter Lyons Collister Release date: October 21, 1988 (US) Cast: Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, George P. Wilbur, Michael Pataki, Beau Starr, Kathleen Kinmont, Sasha Jenson, Gene Ross, Carmen Filpi, Raymond O’Connor, Jeff Olson, Karen Alston, Jordan Bradley, Leslie L. Rohland, Gene Ross, Carmen Filpi. Box Office: $17.7M (US) Body Count: 16
Rating: ***
I suppose it was inevitable that they’d find a way to resurrect Michael Myers even though it’s strongly implied that both he and Dr. Loomis (Pleasence) were killed by an explosion at the end of Halloween II (1981). According to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, both men survived the explosion that left Dr. Loomis disfigured (physically and psychologically) and Michael in a coma. It figures. We live in a world where “The Final Chapter” is almost never final. They’ll always find “A New Beginning”.
Ten years after the events of the first two movies, Michael is about to be transferred from one maximum security facility to another despite the objections of Dr. Loomis. Even though Michael has been unconscious all these years, Loomis believes that moving him would be a huge mistake. He’s right because Michael wakes up en route to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium (the hospital to which he was originally committed) and kills everybody in the ambulance, but not before he learns he has a seven-year-old niece living in Haddonfield. What better reason to go home again?
Jamie Lloyd (Harris, Hatchet II) is the daughter of Laurie Strode who was killed in a car accident about a year before. She’s been adopted by the Carruthers family, but she knows about her legacy (as does everybody else in Haddonfield) and has nightmares about her uncle coming to get her. Her foster sister Rachel (Cornell, House of the Dead) is forced to babysit Jamie on Halloween night. She has to cancel a date with her boyfriend Brady (Jenson, Dazed and Confused), something that she’s not too thrilled about.
Meanwhile, Loomis makes his way to Haddonfield where he alerts the new sheriff, Ben Meeker (Starr, Goodfellas) that Michael Myers is coming home….again. Oblivious to the night of terror that awaits them, Jamie and Rachel head out trick-or-treating. They stop by the Meeker house where they’re greeted by his teen daughter Kelly (Kinmont, Bride of Re-Animator) who’s half-naked and entertaining Brady.
It doesn’t take too long for the residents of Haddonfield to learn that Myers has returned. A drunken lynch mob forms and rides around with shotguns, shooting anything that moves. Sheriff Meeker, Dr. Loomis, Rachel, Jamie, Brady, Kelly and another deputy barricade themselves in the Meeker home, waiting for Michael to make his move. It’s only a matter of time before Michael shows up to kill his niece and everybody else within his reach.
As far as sequels go, Halloween 4 isn’t all that bad. It’s actually one of the better ones. John Carpenter and Debra Hill sold their interests in the Halloween franchise to producer Moustapha Akkad so without John’s creative input, the element of suspense that defined the first movie is gone. In the ten years since the original Halloween was released, there have been countless imitations so everybody knows that the killer is going to strike when they least expect it. That’s kind of a contradiction because a seasoned viewer is going to know to expect the killer to appear when he/she least expects it so there’s still expectations on the part of the viewer. Does that make any sense?
Of course, the gore quotient has been upped to accommodate those who like their horror movies with plenty of gratuitous violence. The bloody highlights of this installment include an ambulance attendant getting his skull crushed, a girl getting impaled by a shotgun, somebody gets electrocuted, several men are thrown from the back of a pick-up truck, the bloody bodies of many cops are shown in the police station and a boy’s face is crushed by the hand of Michael. Incidentally, Michael still wears the mask except it’s noticeably different from the one he wore in I & II.
By now, the franchise has become a series of splatter flicks designed to shock the viewer with creative new ways of taking another person’s life. That’s the essence of a splatter flick. I have no problem with graphic violence and gore; it’s just a shame the Halloween series started to drift in that direction. But that’s not what bugs me about this movie. What really bugs me is a gaping plot hole that nobody else has ever pointed out. This particular plot hole is big enough to drive a truck through, why have I never heard anybody else mention it? At the end of Halloween II, Laurie (who knew she was an expert marksman?) shoots out both of Michael’s eyes leaving him blind and unable to ascertain her location. By some miracle of medical science, Michael has regained his sense of sight. He can obviously see well enough to drive a car and find his victims. How is this even possible? Did they waste the taxpayers’ money on an eye transplant for a homicidal maniac? Is such an operation even possible? The writer appears not to be interested in details like this, but I imagine that fans of the series would like some sort of explanation.
Whew, I finally got that off my chest! Back to my review of Halloween 4 which actually seems to have a sense of humor about itself. In one scene, Dr. Loomis is trying to thumb a ride to Haddonfield after losing his transportation in an explosion at a gas station. He gets picked up by a drunken reverend, Jackson P. Sayer (Filpi, Beetlejuice), a self-described pilgrim looking to fight evil wherever it may rear its ugly head. He’s a Bible-beating preacher who keeps talking about the Apocalypse, Dr. Loomis finds this amusing because the good reverend has no idea what Loomis is about to face, the very personification of evil or, as he puts it, “evil on two legs.”
By now, it’s clear that Loomis is insane in his obsession with Michael Myers. Pleasence does pretty well if somewhat hammy as a character that has degenerated over the years. He’s gone from committed psychiatrist to a raving lunatic who should be committed. After 25 years of dealing with the same madman, who wouldn’t get this obsessed and crazed? It’s the exact right direction for the character.
I’d also like to point out the performance of young Danielle Harris, who was 10 years old when Halloween 4 was made. She convincingly portrays a troubled little girl who has to live with the fact that her parents are both dead and her only remaining blood relative is the neighborhood boogeyman. It’s rare to see a child deliver such an open performance. This is an extremely vulnerable child with deep emotional scars. The kids at school give her a rough time. She feels unwanted at home after hearing Rachel’s initial reaction to having to mind her on Halloween night. Also pretty good is Cornell as Jamie’s foster sister (and “final girl”) who doesn’t completely understand the girl’s problems until she’s right in the middle of a nightmarish situation. She has to call on her inner strength as she intends to survive the night and protect her little sister.
Incidentally, there’s something that I’d like to point out to those of you who might have missed this while watching the movie. Remember the scene where Rachel and her friend Lindsay (Rohland) pick Jamie up after school? Does the name Lindsay sound familiar? That’s because she’s the same little girl Annie (Nancy Loomis) was babysitting in the first movie. Lindsay doesn’t figure into the storyline; she just makes a quick appearance. It’s a way of establishing a stronger link with the first movie.
Of course, this does have some negative consequences. We are reminded of the perfection of the first movie while watching one of the sequels, none of which are as great as the original. Overall, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a serviceable horror-thriller. It’s low-budget all the way, but it has enough scares and kills to please fans. It’s actually one of the better sequels. After this, the series started going downhill. You’ll see as I continue to review the movies in this franchise.
