Starring Donald Pleasance, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell
Directed by Dwight H. Little
Well, the people cried out for it, and they were heard. Halloween 4 meant the triumphant return of Michael Myers. And his return was well-timed too, as Halloween 4 was released ten years after the first Halloween. It has been a while since I've seen the movie I'll be discussing today, so we'll see how it holds up in my eyes after all this time.
So SOMEHOW both Michael and Dr. Loomis survived the fire from ten years ago. And the story begins with Michael being transferred to Smith's Grove, where he used to spend his days a long time ago. He has been in a coma for the past decade, so the transfer goes smoothly, and without a hitch. Hahaha, just kidding. One of the transfer personnel happens to bring up Michael's niece in his presence, and is promptly attacked and killed. He now has a new goal, to kill Jamie, the daughter of Laurie Strode, and his own niece.
We then are introduced to Jamie, played by one of the present-day scream queens Danielle Harris. Jamie has been having visions of Michael, but isn't aware of who he actually is, so to her he is "The Nightmare Man." As is to be expected, nobody takes her seriously, chalking it up to typical childhood fears. Fortunately Dr. Loomis (after already having one encounter with Michael outside of Haddonfield) arrives and convinces Sheriff Meeker to be on the lookout for Michael.
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| "Can I sleep in your bed tonight? Pretty please?" |
Michael's return to Haddonfield is chaotic, as he manages to knock out power in most of the town, wreak havoc in the police station, and ups the body count to new heights. To make matters worse, it's become the trendy thing for moronic teenagers to dress up like Michael, risking an even higher body count just from mistaken identity. It seems like the odds are stacked way too high for a mere ten-year old to overcome. But Loomis has managed to stop Michael before. Will he be successful yet again?
I have some mixed feelings about Halloween 4. It certainly has it's good and bad points. Let's take the acting for instance. The acting, while passable for the most part, was hindered in many cases by the weak dialogue that I noticed here and there. It didn't help that a couple of the main teenage characters were dumb as bricks and people I really didn't care about at all. Danielle Harris had some good moments, but she was still around ten years old, and as you would expect she had some less than stellar moments. Donald Pleasence was as good as usual, so there isn't much to say there.
The movie itself has several issues that really weaken it. For instance, it's having to use squash instead of pumpkins due to filming out of season. Michael's ability to go from one side of Haddonfield to the other in seemingly too short of a time. How at one point Jamie's foster-sister Rachel somehow knew to go to the school where Loomis took Jamie, even though Rachel was unconscious on the ground when Loomis took Jamie away.
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| "That's ridiculous, of course I'm not wearing padding. I've always looked this way!" |
Also, what the hell is up with Michael? He looks goofy as shit. First off, that mask he's wearing doesn't look creepy whatsoever. I get that after a decade you probably aren't gonna get the exact same mask from the first Halloween, but come on, this seemed like such a lazy recreation. Also, what is up with the damn shoulder pads? Did Michael hit up a high school football player's locker on the way to Haddonfield? Michael is not supposed to be a giant guy. Trying to make him look big was a huge mistake in my opinion. The funny thing is, I can and will complain more on this point again before the retrospective is done.
But it wasn't all bad times for me. Halloween 4 had good points as well. The stunt work was pretty damn impressive, particularly the scene with the moving pickup truck near the end of the movie. Some of the kills were pretty nice to look at, and there were a few tense moments. I can also point out that the camera work for the most part wasn't too shabby either. As I already mentioned earlier, if it wasn't for some awful dialogue, the overall acting would have been much better. And I can at least say that a few of the main protagonists were people I actually wanted to see survive, which is a big plus in my book.
Well, it may have seemed like I didn't like Halloween 4 all that much. However, it's a treat compared to what I yet have to review, so stay tuned for that. Rest in peace everyone.
Macabre Rating: 2.5 out of 5 tombstones
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