Halloween 4 - The Return Of Michael Myers (Special Edition) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Re - energising a tired franchise
Disadvantages:	Does not match up to its promise

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

What sort of horror movie fan would I be if I let Halloween pass without a horror movie?

It was 1988 and it has been 5 years since the last Halloween movie and seven years since Michael Myers had taken count for his shortcomings. After year in the wilderness during a time that the slasher movie was having a renaissance the original stalker killer was bought back from the grave. This time however the movie had a big budget (well bigger than the usual), the familiar Halloween anthem jazzed up for a new generation of fans, this time Michael and the movies producers were relentless in bringing terror to cinema screens.

Many years since Michael stalked the streets of Haddonfield have passed, and Michael is clinically speaking "a vegetable". The legend of Michael has long passed, and for the residents of Haddonfield things are looking up. That is of course till a routine transfer from a mental hospital goes chillingly wrong. Believing that Michael is in a comatose state, two hospital orderlies transfer him to a new place of residence the high profile security is no longer needed. Of course there would be no movie if this was the case, and in a quick and decisive action Michael springs too life puncturing the forehead of one of the orderlies with his thumb, while the other is brutally beaten to death. Michael is on the loose...

No sooner has Michael gone missing than the transport ambulance is found littered with the bodies of its passengers. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) returns and heads off in search of his nemesis now of course older, slower and disfigured by fire from the movies second outing (interestingly the disfiguration disappeared by the movies 5th and 6th chapters). Everyone doubts Loomis' view of the situation, believing the deaths of the orderlies are pure accident and that Michael is incapable of looking after himself "You're talking about him as if he is a human being!" Loomis says in a rasped voice. Loomis first re-encounters Michael at a petrol station where after a deadly game of cat and mouse the station explodes destroying Loomis' only for of escape.

With Loomis stranded Michael can make his way back to Haddonfield, business needs attending to and while his previous target is now out of the picture, her daughter Jamie is not. Horror has returned to Haddonfield.

Halloween 4 starts impressively a completely rescored version of the soundtrack that has become so familiar with the franchise gives a chilling reminder that this is a new generation. Unfortunately the movie although a reasonable addition to the franchise never quite lives up to the threat and menace the opening score and title sequence almost promises. A secondary reminder that your in a new generation is the not so hot fashions of the day white blazers and grey jeans were never really a good look, a hint of pink Cashmere for the ladies, and wall to wall denim and you know that you're in the wrong end of the 80's.

The movie is quite atmospheric a new style wobbly camerawork (seen often now) creates the feeling that you're travelling along with the action. Action is something that after the first five minutes is painfully missing for a considerable period of time, with the exception of Jamie's rather annoying visions there is no action to speak of for the first 45 minutes. The visions are quite annoying because they are of Michael trying to attack Jamie, of course when it gets down to it there is nobody there, and you have to ask how without any knowledge of the Michael Myers legend how she is able to imagine such an accurate description of Michael. This little bursts of activity prove annoying, especially after the first viewing, you almost wish he would cut off the little creatures head and get it all over and done with. The lack of action is not something that went unnoticed, when the final cut was available before its world premier the movies producers and directors ordered a days extra shooting to add some much needed gore, and a bit more violence.

After the initial cool start, action moves at a much progressed pace with a victim falling foul of Michael every few minutes. A little more creativity in death is met here than in the movies previous instalments, there are very few cut and runs; death seems to be more complex than that. The producers fully aware that in order to bring Halloween to a new generation that the same generation expects more for their money. The action is mixed with atmospheric scenes generally with Jamie's Aunt Rachael (Ellie Cornell) running around the town looking for the increasingly annoying Jamie. There is one really interesting scene that stands out in which Loomis, Sherriff Meeker (Beau Starr), Rachael and Jamie are surrounded by not just one but an army of Michaels, a kind of side angle that is not really picked up until two movies later. It's at this point that you actually start to realise that to some degree this is a very different movie, it's a bit short lived though and you realise your still stuck in a similar franchise to the predecessor.

The last 45 minutes becomes very claustrophobic as a group of 10 or so souls become locked in a house waiting for Michael to strike. But the reward of the movie comes in its conclusion, a shocking hark back to the movies first chapter but given a brand new spin.

The film is fairly badly cast Ellie Cornell annoys and spends most of the movie screaming either "Jamie!!!" or "Brady!!!" this almost hero just screams and screams her way through the movie. As for Danielle Harris the young girl who plays Jamie, her faults lie in direction more than anything else, but an actress at age 11 she was not, and it took until this years remake of Halloween when she returned to Haddonfield (as a different character) to prove that she even had a crack at being an actress. There was of course one good all round solid worker, the late Donald Pleasance bless him; Pleasance struggles to keep up with the fast pace of activity going on around him, and its a clear sign that the franchise was now getting beyond him, this being said he soldiered on for another two movies dying before the 6th Halloween hit cinemas. The thing about Pleasance performance in these movies is that to some degree he is as dangerous as the man he is pursuing, and I'm not sure another actor could pull this off with quite the same amount of empathy you feel for pleasance.

Sound is the biggest issue with Halloween 4 and had this instalment been made in mono as its previous chapters had it would be a much smaller movie. Initially in stereo and then remastered into 5.1 surround sound for this addition even in its gain it has a few losses. That surround sound sounds at times a little fake, especially when we are looking at the dialogue, it's very echoed. On the plus side the music benefits from whatever the sound is doing and makes it hard to beat on any of the movies prior or since.

The biggest issue for me with Halloween 4 is the reworked musical score, and it's the first thing I think of whenever I have to think about this movie. And this is a strength that the movie cannot compete with; when the 5th chapter was released they reverted back to its original music leading me to believe that even the movies own producers knew that the music was stronger than the film. What ever the case it's a reason to allow this instalment a reasonable middle ranking place in the Halloween series. If its on TV then why not give it a glance, but if your considering a buying decision think again, its dated too poorly and comes off like a 50's horror tale rather than something from the late portion of the 1980's.

Special Features:

Inside Halloween 4: The late Moustapha Akkad talks about bringing back the Halloween franchise after a long break. Interestingly enough the screenwriter of the movie tells how during to a screen guild writers strike he had to produce a completed script in eleven days, maybe something that unfortunately carries across to the screen. Unfortunately most of the crew seem deluded in thinking that the movie was something stronger than it actually was, they talk as if they had just finished filming Gone With The Wind, a classic this movie is not. A real benefit of this feature is the fact that it actually discusses the true meaning of Halloween, and what the event symbolises rather than the horror aspect we all automatically associate with it now.

Trailer - This action packed trailer not only gives an inaccurate view of how action packed the movie is, but it actuallu gives away much of the movies core scenes. As a result if you had seen the trailer prior to viewing you would have been robbed of its more memorable qualities.

The DVD is available in two formats Anchor Bays Special Edition I have listed here is about £5 where as the Castle Vision edition can be picked up for as little as £1.