Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (dir. Dwight H. Little, 1988)
Where has Michael been these last six years? It turns out that he survived the fire at the end of Halloween II, and has been comatose in a maximum security hospital ever since, wearing bandages over his whole head. His eyes, as far as I can tell, have not grown back, making his eventual violent rampage all the more eerie.
It was established in Halloween II that Michael was driven by some force to murder his own family members, but would slaughter others as rehearsal, I suppose. Halloween 4 establishes that Michael (George P. Wilbur) has one surviving family member (other than the now-absent Laurie), in his long-lost nine-year-old niece Jamie (Danielle Harris). Jamie is a typical little girl who hates Halloween because of her uncle’s legacy of murder. Jamie lives with her adopted family, notably her adopted older sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell). The bulk of the movie will be Michael stalking about Haddonfield, IL, killing random folks, trying to eventually get to Jamie.
Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is also back, sporting a wicked-looking facial scar from the Halloween II fire. In Halloween 4, Dr. Loomis is still respected as a doctor, but is teetering closer and closer toward a legit maniac phase.
A notable detail: The fictional Haddonfield, IL was previously (and deliberately) a kind-of generic Smalltown, America; it could have been anywhere. In Halloween 4, Haddonfield is evidently in Texas. It is now much more of a truckstop sort of rural place full residents are all ready to load up their shotguns and form a posse when the police force is taken out. There are more truck-driving, gun-toting beefy guys in this film than in Road House.
Michael has the same mask in this film, pilfered from a Halloween store. He is now, then, in the continuity of the movies, wearing a Michael Myers mask, inspired by the very slaying he started. That would be like Charles Manson wearing a Charles Manson mask in order to kill. It’s a weird self-reflexive detail.
Michael kills a lot. Some kids dress as Michael. Rachel is dumped by her boyfriend for the bustier girl. Not much else happens. Indeed, I was struck by how uneventful the flick is. Sure, it brought back Michael Myers, which was a minor slasher event in 1988, but as a film, it’s kind of dull. The most notable thing about the film is that Jamie, traumatized by the events of the film, ends up stabbing her adopted mother, implying that Michael’s legacy will live on in her. It’s a cool ending, at the very least. Can a series ever switch killers mid-stream? The answer is no. Case in point: How well-loved is Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning?
And Michael? Michael is shot hundreds of times by the Texan posse and falls down a mine shaft. Is he dead? Does anyone think he actually is? Indeed, now he’s mad, and will be back the following Halloween for…
