Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
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Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Movie Review
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is 1988 slasher film directed by Dwight H. Little and starring Donald Pleasence. It’s such a weak, lazy sequel.
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“You’re talking about him as if he were a human being.
That part of him died years ago“
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Michael Myers returns home to kill his niece Jamie, the daughter of Laurie Strode, while Dr. Loomis is once again pursuing him. Needless to say, this movie is simply a rehash of the first film. Now, I liked that it emphasized on chills and old-fashioned style of filmmaking instead of gore present in the second entry, but the movie never took any chances and it ended up being entirely unoriginal and simply an infinitely weaker version of the original.
Dr. Sam Loomis is excellent here and although he couldn’t have possibly survived the ending of the second flick, I still liked that he returned and he is by far the highlight of the film with another strong performance from Donald Pleasence. Jamie Lloyd is fine herself, but not particularly memorable. As for Michael Myers, he is creepy in some scenes and definitely a menacing presence, but still he was too supernatural here how unbeatable and devil-like he is.
An indestructible entity is fine to have in your film and it can make for a very entertaining flick which Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers certainly is, but it took away from the seriousness of it and I simply could not take any of this either serious or plausible in any way.
The direction from Dwight H. Little is rather pedestrian and uninspired, resulting in a very bland movie. The cinematography is fine, though a far cry from the original film. The score is good though and it makes use of its iconic theme quite well in a couple of scenes. I also found the overall acting pretty good actually.
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There are a couple of sequences here that are quite creepy and memorable in a similar vein to ‘Halloween II’, but it’s weaker than that movie because it’s much more rehashed and unoriginal, though definitely fun in some scenes. And I liked the niece character solidly and how she established new canon for the franchise where Michael and Laurie are actually siblings.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is more traditional in approach and definitely quite fun with a couple of pretty solid scenes, but it’s mostly such a bland, uninspired rehash of the original film with not a single ounce of originality in it. The performances are fine, but the movie is too unrealistic and it’s the weakest entry up until this point for the franchise.
