HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988)
HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS poster artwork
(out of 5)
DONALD PLEASENCE.....Dr. Sam Loomis
ELLIE CORNELL.....Rachel Carruthers
DANIELLE HARRIS.....Jamie Lloyd
MICHAEL PATAKI.....Dr. Hoffman
BEAU STARR.....Sheriff Ben Meeker
KATHLEEN KINMONT.....Kelly Meeker
SASHA JENSON.....Brady
GENE ROSS.....Earl
CARMEN FILPI.....Reverend Jack Sayer
GEORGE P. WILBUR.....The Shape/Michael Myers
Directed by DWIGHT H. LITTLE
Written by ALAN B. McELROY
Produced by PAUL FREEMAN
REVIEW BY THE 1989 MOTION PICTURE GUIDE ANNUAL
The best of the sequels to John Carpenter's seminal slasher movie Halloween, this one hit the screens just in time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original. Picking up 10 years after Halloween II left off (part three had nothing whatsoever to do with the other two), we learn that the infamous "Shape," Michael Myers, has survived the fiery blast that appeared to have killed both him and his perennial pursuer, the slightly mad Dr. Loomis (Pleasence). Having been in a coma all these years, Myers finally comes to, slaughters his handlers, and escapes while being transferred from one federal mental hospital to another. When Pleasence---who also survived the blast, with only some facial scars and a limp to show for it---hears the news, he immediately heads for Haddonfield, Illinois, the site of Myers' rampage a decade ago. Knowing that Myers has a grade-school-aged niece (Harris) in Haddonfield, Pleasence assumes that the psychotic killer will go home to finish her off. Meanwhile, we see that little Harris (the daughter of the original's Jamie Lee Curtis character) has been orphaned and is now living with a local family. Adjusting to a new family is difficult for Harris, who feels left out and resented by her teenage step-sister, Cornell---who learns that she must fogo a hot date with boyfriend Jenson to baby-sit Harris on Halloween night. By nightfall, Pleasence has blown into town and urges local sheriff Starr to close all the businesses and get the citizens off the streets until Myers can be found. Some local good ol' boys get wind of this and form a vigilante group to hunt down Myers themselves. While trick-or-treating with Harris (who wears a clown costume just like the one the six-year-old Michael Myers wore at the beginning of the original film), Cornell is shocked to discover her boyfriend making out with the buxom Kinmont---who just happens to be the sheriff's daughter. Shortly thereafter, the cops clear the streets and Cornell finds herself and Harris being barricaded in the sheriff's house with her boyfriend and his new gal until Myers can be found. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, Myers---who by now has cut off all the power to the town and ransacked the police station---is in the house with them. While Pleasence is out looking for Myers and the sheriff is off trying to stop the rednecks from accidentally killing half the population, Myers makes hamburger out of a deputy, Kinmont, and Jenson. The terrified Harris and Cornell are chased to the roof by the killer and Cornell falls. Harris makes it down to safety and is discovered by Pleasence. They go to the grade school for shelter, but Myers turns up there and throws Pleasence through a window. Harris and Cornell (who survived the fall) are rescued by the vigilante group and taken out of town, but Myers hides in their pickup truck and kills the girls' protectors. Thrown to the side of the road when the pickup crashes, Myers is finally killed by a hail of police bullets that send him tumbling into an old well. Back at home, Harris' step-mom runs some hot water so that the bloodied shell-shocked child can take a bath while the step-dad, the shriff, Pleasence, and Cornell wait downstairs. Suddenly the camera goes to a Halloween-mask point-of-view shot and we see a hand pick up a pair of scissors from the bathroom sink and stab the step-mother to death. Pleasence, et al., run to the staircase after hearing the screams and are horrified to see little Harris in her Halloween costume clutching the bloody scissors. Realizing that the girl has just committed the same crime that the six-year-old Michael Myers had so many years ago, Pleasence flips out and starts screaming, "No, no, no." Michael Myers has transferred his evil soul to a little girl.
Although Carpenter has disowned the Halloween series and had nothing whatsoever to do with this sequel, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is easily the best entry since Carpenter's original. Directed with flair by Dwight H. Little (KGB--The Secret War), who does not blatantly ape Carpenter's sytle, the movie delivers a number of effective chills without relying too heavily on the kinds of tired tricks and bloody gore that have made this genre a boring cliche. The solid script by Alan B. McElroy takes time to develop its characters, exploits each situation to the fullest, has a fairly complicated structure with several simultaneously running subplots, and taps into childhood fears in the way that made the first film so memorable. Aided by a terrific performance from child actress Danielle Harris, the filmmakers do an excellent job of conveying the loneliness and alientaion experienced by the orphaned youngster and her efforts to assimilate into both her new family and at school (in an in-joke, her character is named Jamie, after actress Jamie Lee Curtis). Harris is also able to show pure childhood terror and reacts to Myers with total fear---this is not one of those smart-mouthed, precocious kids who are braver than any adult found in many slasher movies. The Harris character is a normal, sensitive kid, and her conversion at the shocking conclusion therefore seems perfectly logical, not to mention horrifying. Also excellent, again, is Donald Pleasence as the crazed Dr. Loomis. With his scarred face and painful limp, he has begun to take on the mantle of a modern day Captain Ahab madly pursuing his white whale. Pleasence turns in a wonderfully hammy performance, despite the fact that he was surreptitiously conned into taking the part by the producers, who told him that John Carpenter had approved the script and called it "the best of the Halloween series." Reportedly, Carpenter, who didn't want to participate in any more Halloween films and was forced to divest his financial interest in the series after being threatened with a lawsuit by his partners Moustapha Akkad, Irwin Yablans, and Debra Hill, never even saw the script---something Pleasence didn't discover until after the filming was completed. In fact, Carpenter didn't even want his name on the film, forgoing the credit, "Based on characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill." The producers were determined to place Carpenter's name prominently in the credits anyhow, and his name appears by itself on-screen when the Halloween theme music is credited to him. Despite Carpenter's misgivings, Halloween 4 is a worthy successor to his original and nothing to be ashamed of. Given the twist ending, a Part Five, for once, may actually be worth viewing.
From THE 1989 MOTION PICTURE GUIDE ANNUAL.
Review © 1989 CINEBOOKS. All Rights Reserved.
Poster artwork courtesy of www.halloweenmovies.com
Poster artwork © 1988 TRANCAS INTERNATIONAL FILMS. All Rights Reserved.
Title and logo designed by Karen Rappaport
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