Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

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Halloween Reviews

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Following the original series, the next film is 1988's 'The Return of Michael Myers,' taking place in almost real-time on Halloween of '88, ten years after the events of the first two films. This chapter also begins the path of the "Thorn Timeline," or the "Carpenter/Akkad" timeline, which picks up after 'Halloween II' and continues to 'The Curse of Michael Myers.' It's just one of many timeline splits, but honestly, it is probably what I'd consider the proper timeline as, simply put, it's the original direction they went with it.

While the original will always be the big "go-to" for me, I admit that I have a soft spot for 'Return' and 'Revenge,' which were released in parallel years to slasher horror peaking and falling in pop culture. With 'Friday the 13th' releasing 'The New Blood' and 'Jason Takes Manhattan' in those respective years, as well as 'Elm Street' respectively releasing 'The Dream Master' and 'The Dream Child,' I'd argue that Michael Myers held his own with a couple of steady movies while Freddy and Jason definitely started to take a nosedive on those latter-listed films. Michael Myers returned strong enough here, and after 'Halloween III,' he was missed by many.

The film opens the night before Halloween, 1988. Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) survived the explosion and fire after the events of 'Halloween II.' He has since been in a comatose state for ten years and is about to be transferred to Smith's Grove Sanitarium from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium. The paramedics have a conversation that brings up Laurie's daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), and this triggers Myers to pop awake, crash the ambulance, and start making his way back to Haddonfield, where he hopes to carry on his family-killing legacy. Meanwhile, our favourite melodramatic doctor, Loomis (Donald Pleasence) learns of Michael's escape, and the chase is back on for him as he returns to Haddonfield to intercept.

Jamie lives in Haddonfield with her foster family - parental units, Richard and Darlene Carruthers (Jeff Olson and Karen Alston, respectively) and their daughter, Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Jamie is a bit of a tortured little eight-year-old girl. She knows about her mother's history with Myers, has terrible dreams about Michael Myers (who, being unfamiliar with, she refers to as the "Nightmare Man"), has to deal with school bullies, and struggles with her "sisterhood" with Rachel. Rachel loves Jamie, but is still pretty reluctant to take care of her on Halloween night while the parents go out. She'd rather go on a date with her love interest, Brady (Sasha Jenson).

As the night wears on, Rachel and Jamie eventually go from having the fun of trick-or-treating to being safeguarded by Loomis and Sheriff Meeker (Beau Starr) from an unknown enemy who, Jamie eventually finds out, bears a striking resemblance to her "Nightmare Man" and has come for her as it turns out, she's his niece. So, this is essentially when the series first suggests that Myers has a blood lust for his family line, not just his sisters. And being the embodiment of pure evil, according to Loomis, numerous times, Myers is also prepared to kill whoever stands in his way without any real motivation apart from "because I can."

For me, this is another 'Halloween' film that actually has the right atmosphere to it. I actually enjoy the fact that they bring a kid into it, as it brings the things like trick-or-treating a bit more into play, along with other Halloween traditions, including a prank that damn near gets some kids killed. Danielle Harris is well-known as a solid Scream Queen today, but this film was where she got her start, and it's clear that she was meant to be a horror icon from the get-go with that insane scream of hers, and very real-looking fear coming across her face most of the time. And, according to her, she had more fun as a kid in these movies than as an adult in Rob Zombies 'Halloween' films, so she kinda nailed it from the beginning.

While perhaps not at the front of the franchise, there are still various things that make this chapter well worth it to me, which, other than Harris' convincing performance, include an array of pretty great kills, a little bit of extra intensity considering Michael's chasing down a child, the return of the cheesily awesome Dr. Loomis, and I guess above all else it still just feels like a somewhat proper 'Halloween' movie as compared to a few leaps the series takes in the future. It still kept the spirit of things here, and in my humble opinion, it's a decent tenth-anniversary movie that parallels in quality to the other horrors released that year. Truly, 1988 seemed to be when the slasher craze officially peaked.


​4/5

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