As such, "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) isn't a bad film. However, it suffers from the major problem that it has pretty much exactly the same story as parts 1 and 2, only that there's no Jamie Lee Curtis and a lot less suspense. After the third part, "Season of the Witch", had no Michael Myers in it and flopped, the producers decided to bring Michael back in. So this film is simply more of the exact same, which, kindly stated, becomes slightly unoriginal after some time.
After ten years in a high security prison for dangerous mental screwups, Michael gets transferred to another prison and - Surprise! - he escapes, killing all his guards on the way. He wastes no time and hurries to Haddonfield, where the little daughter of his sister Laurie Strode is waiting to be terrorized by uncle Mike... Luckily, good old Dr. Sam Loomis has seen it all coming, and is also on his way to Haddonfield...
As mentioned above, "The Return of Michael Myers" has little new to offer. The majority of late 80s slashers were blatant imitations of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th", but they usually made up in gore for what they lacked in originality. Since this film was intended for wider mainstream audiences, however, it isn't even really gory. Heck, a large part of the murders in this one are not even seen, as they take part off-screen, and those that are seen are scandalously un-bloody. The film does have some positive aspects though, the most welcome being the return of the great Donald Pleasence in the role of Dr. Sam Loomis. Pleasence is great as always, but that doesn't change that he does exactly the same things as in parts 1 and 2. Michael is still a menacing villain, but then, he does nothing that he didn't already do in a scarier manner in parts 1 and 2. Ellie Connel, who plays the teenage victim protagonist isn't bad, but she hardly is a replacement for Jamie Lee Curtis. One very welcome new face is then 10-year old Danielle Harris, who is very likable and cute in the role of little Jamie Lloyd, a character it is easy to be scared for. Furthermore, John Carpenter's brilliant original theme tune simply never gets old.
"The Return of Michael Myers" isn't a terrible failure; it isn't even really a bad film, but it suffers from being nothing but a duller, less suspenseful copy of its predecessors. John Carpenters original "Halloween" of 1978 is a classic and absolute must-see, of course, and "Halloween II" of 1981 is incredibly suspenseful and doubtlessly also a must-see for every Horror fan. All other sequels may be seen or skipped, in my opinion. "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" maybe could have been more entertaining with more gore and brutality, but sadly it is overall pretty dull.
After ten years in a high security prison for dangerous mental screwups, Michael gets transferred to another prison and - Surprise! - he escapes, killing all his guards on the way. He wastes no time and hurries to Haddonfield, where the little daughter of his sister Laurie Strode is waiting to be terrorized by uncle Mike... Luckily, good old Dr. Sam Loomis has seen it all coming, and is also on his way to Haddonfield...
As mentioned above, "The Return of Michael Myers" has little new to offer. The majority of late 80s slashers were blatant imitations of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th", but they usually made up in gore for what they lacked in originality. Since this film was intended for wider mainstream audiences, however, it isn't even really gory. Heck, a large part of the murders in this one are not even seen, as they take part off-screen, and those that are seen are scandalously un-bloody. The film does have some positive aspects though, the most welcome being the return of the great Donald Pleasence in the role of Dr. Sam Loomis. Pleasence is great as always, but that doesn't change that he does exactly the same things as in parts 1 and 2. Michael is still a menacing villain, but then, he does nothing that he didn't already do in a scarier manner in parts 1 and 2. Ellie Connel, who plays the teenage victim protagonist isn't bad, but she hardly is a replacement for Jamie Lee Curtis. One very welcome new face is then 10-year old Danielle Harris, who is very likable and cute in the role of little Jamie Lloyd, a character it is easy to be scared for. Furthermore, John Carpenter's brilliant original theme tune simply never gets old.
"The Return of Michael Myers" isn't a terrible failure; it isn't even really a bad film, but it suffers from being nothing but a duller, less suspenseful copy of its predecessors. John Carpenters original "Halloween" of 1978 is a classic and absolute must-see, of course, and "Halloween II" of 1981 is incredibly suspenseful and doubtlessly also a must-see for every Horror fan. All other sequels may be seen or skipped, in my opinion. "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" maybe could have been more entertaining with more gore and brutality, but sadly it is overall pretty dull.