HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988)

Completely ignoring Part 3, which didn't even feature Michael (as a character in the film), Part 4 wisely brings back the series' cash cow: Michael Myers.

So now he's back (complete with funky looking padding underneath his coveralls) to kill his niece, Jamie (apparently Laurie had a kid!), played by Danielle Harris. It's not fully explained, but something happened to Laurie 11 months ago and now her daughter is living with a step-family. So anyway, even though Michael has "killed 16 people", the state decides to just send an ambulance with no guards to transport him to a new facility. As expected, Michael goes bonkers and kills his escorts, then returns to his old stomping grounds to kill his niece.  Dr. Loomis, the police and even a humorous gang of vigilantes are determined to stop him.

As far as the HALLOWEEN sequels go, H4 is just okay, but it is a lot of fun to laugh at.  Especially Michael's ridiculous padding and shitty looking mask. The kills were passable...thumb to the skull, shotgun rammed through a torso, a few stabbings, a throat ripping, Michael's patented face crushing technique and a few other odds and ends. My biggest complaint is we never see the police station massacre, just the aftermath. That's fucking bullshit!

No nudity, nice body count, plenty of stuff to laugh at, zero cheesy 80's rock, some blood, the worst looking Michael ever (well, outside of Part 7), poor lighting, dumb teenagers, quick pace, lackluster ending. Worth a watch for horror fans.

I would absolutely love to see a full-length movie about the Michael from HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS versus the lame Jason from FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING.

Part 1 - Halloween (1978)
Part 2 - Halloween II (1981)
Part 3 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Part 5 - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Part 6 - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Part 7 - Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Part 8 - Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Remake 1 - Halloween (2007)
Remake sequel - Halloween II (2009)
Sequel to Original - Halloween (2018)
Direct Sequel 2 - Halloween Kills (2021)
Direct Sequel 3 - Halloween Ends (2022)

Strange.  This advertisement for HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS features a picture of a kill from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Haddonfield, Illinois. Halloween night 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers kills his older sister with a large knife. Why? Because he's pure evil. He's sent off to a insane asylum and does nothing but stare at the wall. Then 15 years later, right before Halloween he busts out and heads straight back to his hometown to raise some H-e-double-l.

Unlike Jason who literally kills everybody he sees, Michael is a little bit more thoughtful and only kills those he deems unworthy of being alive. Exactly what this criteria is, I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with being friends with Jamie Lee Curtis (her role in his life is explained in Part 2) and/or being in possession of something he wants. Anyway, Jamie is babysitting some local kids and hanging out with her friends when Michael crashes the party and starts killing people. Sounds exciting, but it's actually pretty slow going as far as the actual violence goes. Where HALLOWEEN shines is the slow-boiling tension.

Even though I love the film, I don't think HALLOWEEN has fared as well over time as other horror films of the 70's. TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE would be the best example of this. If you were to have a double-feature of TCM and HALLOWEEN to a bunch of first time viewers I think TCM would still get some scares whereas HALLOWEEN would probably get a lot of yawns, because it's based more on a Hitchcock kind of suspense with only minimal blood and zero gore instead of an actual attack on the audience.That's just my worthless two cents.

That said, HALLOWEEN is a landmark in cinema history and I still love watching it.  Michael is a great villain and outside of Part 2 he's never really, even to this day, given the respect he deserves. Jason at least had 4 excellent movies before Hollywood decided to shit all over his character. Michael wasn't so lucky. Maybe one day a savior will come along a resurrect the HALLOWEEN franchise to the level it deserves, but I'm not holding my breath.

Nice slow pace that builds the tension, two extremely short topless scenes, THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and FORBIDDEN PLANET shown on TV, teenagers doing dumb shit, awesome 70's fashions, very little blood, zero gore, a large house with the washer and dryer in a completely separate building in the backyard...I'm sure that's a lot of fun in the dead of winter.

HALLOWEEN is dated, but still mandatory viewing for horror fans.

Part 2 - Halloween II (1981)
Part 3 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Part 4 - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Part 5 - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Part 6 - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Part 7 - Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Part 8 - Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Remake 1 - Halloween (2007)
Remake sequel - Halloween II (2009)
Sequel to Original - Halloween (2018)
Direct Sequel 2 - Halloween Kills (2021)
Direct Sequel 3 - Halloween Ends (2022)