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Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
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Movie Review by Chris
January 25th, 2009
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The Halloween series seems to take a very different approach with it's sequels then what other classic horror trilogies did, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street started off well, but eventually the entire series died by the time the third or fourth film was released. In the case of Halloween, the second and fourth film are very acceptabe sequels. I actually completely skipped seeing the third film, Season of the Witch, because it has nothing to do with Myers and I just thought it would be a complete waste of my time, so I figured it's whateveer and jumped right into the fourth film. Dwight H. Little, the director of 'Halloween 4' really knows his horror, his approach to the basic premise of the movie is well, the execution is fine, it's just the fact that its not a very memorable film, in terms of a sequel its passable though. 'Halloween 4' takes place ten years after the events in the first and second movie, which were combined together setting and time wise.
The beginning of Halloween II was the ending of Halloween, so it was literally a direct sequel. At the end of the second film, Loomis is in a hospital with Myers, gas is released into the air and Loomis lights a lighter causing the whole room to ignite and explode, contaning himself and Myers. With 'Halloween 4', Loomis is scarred, just not terribly and Myers seems to be able to work every muscle function just fine, it's like the fire never happened to him. I never really noticed until this movie how small George Wilbur is as Myers himself, hes not a built guy and hhe's actually kind of short. 'Halloween 4' does succeed though in creating some pretty good jump scares, including Myers appearing in a mirror suddenly or showing up very fast around a corner, stuff like that. The film also has a pretty high level of violence, the film was actually scheduled for re-shots because producers though the movie was to "clean" and needed to be gored up a little bit, so John Carl Buechler was called in to do extra violence. May I also add that for those horror fans who has seen Sleepaway Camp, the ending to that film is extremely creepy, the ending of 'Halloween 4' is on the same level of creepiness and those who enjoyed Sleepaway Camp may enjoy this as well.
is October 30, 1988, and Michael Myers has been in a coma at the Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium since that night a decade ago when his doctor set him on fire in Haddonfield, IL. An ambulance makes its away along the road to Ridgemont in a thunderstorm, and Myers is soon on his way to another hospital in Smith's Grove, IL. During the ride, he overhears the crew mention his young niece in Haddonfield, and he comes to life, savagely killing the crew trapped inside. Dr. Loomis & Dr. Hoffman, head of Ridgemont, are alerted by the state troopers after the ambulance is found upside-down in a river with blood everywhere. Meanwhile, Myers has already started to make his way toward Haddonfield, where he acquires his traditional coveralls & nasty-looking knife, confronts his niece in a pharmacy, and then kills the town's phone & power lines, leaving his niece & her adopted sister trapped in their home...and he's coming to pay young Jamie a visit...
It's usual for a series of any kind such as this to eventually replace old characters with new ones. After the ending of Halloween II we get no explanation of where Laurie is or anything like that, well her niece is the main star of the movie this time and she is played by Danielle Harris, who stars in Rob Zombie's Halloween as Annie. She was and still is very cute, Jamie is her name and for a young girl, her performance is actually really well done. She does a lot of yelling and screaming, but her performance seems so much more mature then we would expect, it's a nice surprise though. Donald Pleasence returns for Dr Loomis, he has burns all over his hands and legs, one on his face and he walks with a heavy limp which then explains the cane, but this doesnt mean he still doesnt act great. Hes determined to catch Micheal at all costs and he seems as if he will never give up. I still think he's a great actor and the character of Loomis is excellent.
Ellie Cornell plays as Rachel, who is Jamie's older sister, kind of. I like Ellie, though she seems very much like the average teen slasher role, shes not really one to stand out or anything to much, shes very cute though. Overall 'Halloween 4' isnt a terrible movie, it's forgettable in sequel terms but I think its a solid sequel with an insane yet confusing ending, so check it out.
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