Halloween III came and went in theaters. It was poorly received by critics and audiences alike and had no impact on the box office. Audiences were disappointed by the film, thinking nothing of the actual movie and even worse, thinking they were ripped off because Season of the Witch was not a 'Halloween' movie. John Carpenter and Debra Hill left the series and went on to do other things and effectively the Halloween series was dead.
But the slasher subgenre of horror was still thriving. New films were being released such as Slumber Party Massacre and Sleepaway camp. In 1984, the fourth Friday the 13th movie was released and like Halloween, it called for the end of the series. And like the previous entrants in the series, it was a box office success. A few months later another seminal horror movie was released: A Nightmare on Elm Street. With huge box office receipts for the film a sequel was rushed into production.
Over the next few years the slasher film was officially cemented into the annals of cinema history. Not only were they exceptionally popular but they created movie series that continually saw audiences excited for one more movie. From 1985 to 1988 three more Friday movies were released, three more Nightmare movies were released and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre got a sequel. This isn't even counting the countless other films in the genre that came out, such as Silent Night, Deadly Night and Cheerleader Camp.
The one common thing about all these movies, other than the fact that most were carbon copies of each other, is that minus a movie or two, they were all hated by critics. Which of course makes sense, as they had very little in the way of a story, showed lots of nudity for no apparent reason and had increasingly violent scenes of gore. But audiences cared less for the critics and flocked to the silver screen time and time again (or rented the video over and over again).
And so it was that in 1988, ten years after Halloween created this subgenre of film, Moustapha Akkad secured the rights to the franchise and decided to cash in on the genre that he helped create. And on October 21st, 1988, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was released. The first Halloween was original, scary, and well made, the second was well made and fun and the third was original and different. Halloween 4 pales in comparison, not only to the three films that came before it but to many of the imitators that followed in the original Halloween's wake.
Right from the beginning of this film things just seemed off. The credit sequence done so effectively in the first three is gone. Instead we get shots of barns, and painted skulls and windmills with the sun setting behind it. Sure it sets the mood of the halloween season, but it isn't very Halloween.
Once the story kicks in, we find that Michael Myers and Dr, Loomis didn't die at the end of part II, they were just horribly burned, and Myers has been lying in a coma for ten years. Laurie is dead, and her daughter is living with family. And so Myers awakens to go after her while Loomis chases after him.
The acting in Halloween 4 is by far the worst of all the four films. Ellie Cornell, the female lead, is rather stiff and stilted and Danielle Harris, who plays Laurie's daughter Jamie, is a great screamer and can show fear rather well, but when it comes to crying and other emotions she just falls apart.
Donald Pleasance is the only returning actor and as usual his performance is rather good but as a viewer one can't help but feel sad for him every time he appears on screen. He puts so much into his role and loves the character but everything else around him is so badly done that it becomes depressing watching him perform.
Take Michael Myers for example. While a terrible force of evil in the first film and a gruesome killing machine in the second, here he is rather lame. Not only does he move differently (no awkward and eerie head movements) but he just doesn't seem that imposing. He is seen mostly in full frame shots with lots of light and thus he just isn't that scary. What made Myers so scary to begin with was his ability to become one with the shadows.
And the deaths in this film, minus two shots of gore, are pretty lame. They take place off screen for the most part, which seems to be a deliberate attempt at recreating the feel of the original. But in the original, Myers only murdered three people and although there was not much blood and gore, all three deaths were seen on screen in glorious terrifying detail. Here you don't see the deaths, instead the filmmakers either cut away from them or a character stumbles upon them long after they were killed.
The direction by Dwight H. Little is terrible in this movie. The editing is poor and the cinematography is weak. Gone are the glorious widescreen shots of Dean Cundey, only to be replaced by unintentionally shaky and bland shots with generic lighting and poor framing. The editing is choppy and doesn't flow well and the film, although only 88 minutes and the shortest in the series, ends up feeling a lot longer than it's predecessors. And although Halloween III had a lot of plot holes, part 4 makes it seem like an oscar winning screenplay.
Sure Myers can do some incredible things; find people when he should have no idea where they are; drive a car with out learning how to; but in this movie Myers has become something more. Now Myers can appear in one part of town in one scene and in the next he can be in a completely different part of that town. He appears anywhere where the story needs him to be with no regard for logic, spatial awareness or sensibility. And when Loomis is looking for the schoolhouse, in Haddonfield of all places, he needs help, even though he has been there before.
After 7 years of waiting for Michael Myers to return to the big screen, he finally does and boy oh boy does he disappoint. There are very few good things to say about this movie. The best thing about it is the Halloween theme by John Carpenter, and even that isn't heard enough. Donald Pleasance puts his all into the role but is let down by everything around him and the gore and nudity (now an almost requirement in the slasher films) is virtually non existant. Even when the opportunities arise to deliver the goods, they never happen. From the opening frame to just shy of the last minute, Halloween 4 disappoints. Then in the last minute, a twist arrives. It's rather interesting, it's cool, it's original and it opens up room for a rather original sequel. Other than that, Halloween 4 is a disaster, a mess and a complete waste of time. It should of been called Halloween 4: How to Kill a Franchise.
Film Rating: 40%
Breakdown (How Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers scored 40%):
Production Design: 5 out of 10
Cinematography: 2 out of 10
Re-playability: 4 out of 10
Originality: 3 out of 10
Costumes: 5 out of 10
Directing: 3 out of 10
Editing: 3 out of 10
Acting: 5 out of 10
Music: 7 out of 10
Script: 3 out of 10
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