Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) Review -

After Halloween III: Season of the Witch veered off in an entirely different direction, 1988 saw the return of the man who we’ve all been waiting to see. Michael Myers was back!

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers welcomes back Donald Pleasence as Dr. Samuel Loomis and introduces a new set of characters into the mix in a bloody entertaining sequel that manages to retain the mystery of John Carpenter’s original while embracing some of the more brutal slasher tendencies of the 1980s.

And it’s quite a return, I have to say.

It’s been ten years since the events of Halloween II. Both Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis survived the explosion at the hospital, although neither of them were without their injuries. Loomis bears some pretty bad burns, while Michael has been in a coma for a decade at a psychiatric facility.

Naturally, when it comes time for Michael to be transferred, things don’t go as planned.

The moment he learns that he has a niece living in Haddonfield, the nightmare is set to resume as Michael escapes in the most brutal of manners.

One thing I really enjoyed about Halloween 4 is the fact that it jumps straight into Michael’s new persona. Instead of lurking around, waiting for the perfect time to strike, he doesn’t hold back in the slightest. The body count certainly reflects this.

There’s an early scene involving Michael driving his thumb into a man’s forehead that’s absolutely bloody grotesque. It’s the kind of thing that will stick with you for a long time.

We’re also introduced to Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), Michael’s young niece who has become the focus of his newest killing spree.

The movie sets us up to care about Jamie, especially during the frightening sequence where she imagines Michael in her room. There’s something really unsettling about watching this monster stalk a child, and it adds a degree of emotional investment that some of the sequels have struggled with.

Ellie Cornell makes a strong impression as Rachel Carruthers, Jamie’s foster sister who attempts to protect the girl as events spiral out of control.

Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis is hot on the trail of Michael Myers, following the bodies back to Haddonfield.

Donald Pleasence is fantastic.

His Dr. Loomis is older, physically injured and emotionally drained, but he’s still the only man who seems to understand what Michael Myers is. He teams up with Sheriff Ben Meeker (Beau Starr), who isn’t best pleased to see Loomis wandering around telling him about an unstoppable killer.

As the body count rises, however, Meeker soon learns that Loomis’ words carry a certain amount of weight.

Instead of simply rehashing Halloween’s formula of Michael Myers stalking a group of unsuspecting victims, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers has him on the rampage across Haddonfield.

The locals have had enough.

They band together to form a hunting party to track down Michael Myers and stop him from killing again.

It’s a fun sequence, watching these armed residents storm the streets looking for a masked killer. They may not be the brightest bulbs in the box, but they do make for an interesting change of pace.

Of course, this means that Michael simply has to be a complete and utter bastard.

He’s an absolute killing machine. There are some wonderful moments of gore and brutality, such as when Kelly, Sheriff Meeker’s daughter, is pinned to the wall with a shotgun. It’s a particularly nasty death that will haunt you for a long time.

Brady has the misfortune to encounter Michael, and decides to stand and fight.

Big mistake.

After grabbing him, Michael proceeds to crush him with his bare hands – another gruesome moment that showcases the strength of this new Michael Myers.

The scenes involving the townsfolk and their pickup truck are a real highlight as well. Michael tearing through this group of would-be slayers is great fun. After all, they’ve spent so long trying to track him down, it’s only fair that they get torn apart in spectacular fashion.

We discover that Michael has wiped out the local police station as well. It really is the case of no-one being safe in Haddonfield.

I think that’s why I appreciated this movie so much. Instead of abandoning the mystery and suspense that made the original series so good, Halloween 4 manages to retain that sense of dread and unpredictability. Michael Myers is still able to appear when you least expect him and watch his victims like hawks.

But, for once, the filmmakers aren’t afraid to embrace the full-blown slasher movie. It makes for quite the combination.

My only real gripe with Halloween 4 is the mask that Michael wears.

I don’t know what they were thinking, but it simply doesn’t look right. The original mask was frighteningly simple, which added to its appeal. In Halloween 4, the mask looks stretched in places and simply isn’t as menacing as it did in Carpenter’s original.

It’s a shame, because Michael Myers himself seems more vicious and brutal than ever. Thankfully, there’s enough going on in this movie to overlook this particular misstep.

Enough of my rambling, let’s talk about the ending shall we?

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

For me, Halloween 4 provides one of the most shocking endings in the entire series. After everything that Jamie Lloyd has been through, you’d be forgiven for believing that the nightmare was over.

Instead we’re treated to the sight of Jamie standing at the top of the stairs in a clown costume, holding a pair of bloody scissors after attacking her foster mother.

It’s an absolutely brilliant twist that serves as a wonderful homage to the opening of the original Halloween.

While a young Michael Myers murdered Judith Carpenter in a clown costume, it now seems that the evil in Jamie Lloyd is following in her older brother’s footsteps.

Donald Pleasence’s Dr. Loomis is horrified at what he sees in Jamie Lloyd.

He screams in terror, realising that the monster that he knew as Michael Myers is about to be reborn in a new body. In his eyes, he sees Michael Myers 2.0.

Loomis is so appalled by what he sees that he tries to shoot Jamie on the spot. If he can kill this new monster before it begins its killing spree, he will.

Sheriff Meeker stops him.

It’s a truly shocking ending, not just because Jamie Lloyd has become a murderer, but what it means for Loomis.

After everything he’s been through, after all the horror and heartache, Dr. Loomis is faced with the prospect of a new generation of Haddonfield residents being slaughtered by Michael Myers.

What a bloody ending.

It wraps everything up nicely, pays homage to the original while leaving the door wide open for another sequel. More importantly, it makes you want to see what happens next.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is exactly the kind of sequel that I like. It embraces what made the original series so special while providing more than enough for fans of the slasher genre to enjoy.

Donald Pleasence is excellent as ever, Danielle Harris ensures that Jamie Lloyd is a character worth caring about and the inclusion of Sheriff Meeker and the hunting party add a new lease of life to the series.

The bodies pile up in some truly gruesome ways and Michael Myers is more terrifying than ever.

Yes, there’s a disappointing mask and I wish that they’d managed to recreate the look of the original. But when your biggest gripe about a Michael Myers movie is the mask, it shows that the filmmakers got plenty right.

Michael Myers is back, Haddonfield is in trouble, and Halloween 4 is a bloody entertaining return to form.