Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers – Film Review

The apparently comatose Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) is being transferred from one hospital to another, but he wakes up when the ambulance crew talk about his surviving niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). After slaughtering his attendants, Myers sets out to find his one living relative who is, fortunately, being cared for by a kind and resourceful foster sister named Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Meanwhile, the ever-cautious Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) remains on the killer’s path.

After the release of Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it was clear that John Carpenter and Debra Hill‘s idea to make a franchise centered around various crimes on Halloween night was not what the audiences wanted – they wanted to see more Michael Myers slasher goodness. Although it definitely would’ve been incredibly fascinating to see where the immensely popular Halloween franchise would be today if the pair had stuck to their original idea, I think that ultimately, bringing Michael back was for the best.

There’s just something so oddly terrifying about Michael Myers. On the surface, he’s just a man in a white mask in blue coveralls, carrying around a kitchen knife and murdering the people of Haddonfield, Illinois. So why do so many people fear him more than they do Freddy Kreuger and Jason Voorhees? Well, in my opinion, it’s because Michael is described as being the embodiment of evil.

Dwight H. Little‘s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers tries to strike fear into the hearts of audiences once again while also passing the torch away from Laurie Strode to Dr. Loomis and Strode’s young daughter Jamie. The results are quite decent, even though this movie certainly had the potential to be incredible. Watching Halloween 4 can definitely be somewhat disappointing because the film occasionally seems to set up plot points that will get audiences excited, only for them to fizzle out later on in the film.

How awesome is it that Donald Pleasence gets to take over the reins of the cast as Dr. Loomis? Well, it would’ve been super exciting had Loomis actually felt like the main character here. Sadly, he doesn’t. There really isn’t a main character in this movie – not even Michael. In a way, I kind of appreciate how this movie doesn’t put all of its attention on one character and one character alone, but at the same time, it can result in a strange story.

But that doesn’t mean the story is all bad – far from it. There are plenty of moments in Halloween 4 that are sure to excite and entertain fans of the franchise immensely – me included. Certain scenes and plot points are incredibly well-thought-out. Interestingly, the body count for this movie is quite low, with only a handful of deaths being shown. Still, there are more kills in this film than there was in the dreadfully boring disappointment that was Season of the Witch.

I don’t know why, but it seems that the online Halloween community has been debating for over a decade about which Michael Myers masks are the best. The number one choice for almost all fans is the mask used in the original 1978 film, and I certainly agree with that. But the rest of the masks are all divisive with many fans. Personally? I think that the mask shown in this movie is the third best, right behind the mask used in 2018’s Halloween. It’s sort of a funny little debate the internet has, and I don’t know why.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers definitely could’ve been a bit better in the long run. There are too many plot threads introduced here and the script simply doesn’t have enough time to explore them all. But at the same time, it serves as a remarkably entertaining return to form for the franchise after the dreadful third film. Is it another masterpiece like the original? Absolutely not. Is it a highly entertaining slasher? You bet.