After a seven year absence from the screen, Michael Myers returns. Set ten years after the first two films (#2 was filmed in 1981, but set immediately after #1 in 1978), THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS opens with the infamous killer being transfered between psyhiciatric hospitals. Naturally, he escapes, and, tipped off that he has a niece (daugther of the now-deceased Jamie Lee Curtis character) living in Haddonfield, sets out to find her. Hot on his trail, as always, is Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). After some were turned off by the more-gruesome deaths in HALLOWEEN 2, this film is more in-line with the original, relying more heavily on suspense and honest scares than blood and gore. For a nine-year-old, Harris delivers a good performance, and Donald Pleasence (as usual) is also good, with a performance that lets you know this is a been-there-don't-want-to-go-through-that-again character. Director Dwight H. Little brings a sense of atmosphere to the film and creates a number of suspenseful scenes. Thankfully, the make-shirt mob of gun-toting beer-guzzlers isn't as bad as it could have been. HALLOWEEN 4 is one of the best of the series.
