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by Skylar Gahagan
Junior Staff Writer
1978 – John Carpenter's Halloween is released on an unsuspecting public and scares the crap out of them. They love it (of course) and the film becomes a big hit, spawning a multitude of gory, holiday themed imitators for years to come. People fall in love with Michael Myers.
1981 – Due to the monumental success of the original, the producers decide to make a sequel which picks up where the open ended conclusion of the first film leaves off. Halloween II focuses more on the now familiar main characters, building more of a back story while still delivering all the escaped-maniac-on-the-loose scares that fans expect. The film ends with the fiery deaths of both Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis, conveniently bringing the story to a close and wrapping up the series...or so we thought.
1982 – When asked to do a third Halloween film, writers John Carpenter and Debra Hill agree only on the condition that it is not a direct sequel of the previous entries, instead wanting to take Halloween in the direction of a series along the lines of The Twilight Zone, with each subsequent film being set at Halloween but having its own completely original and independent storyline. Halloween III: Season of the Witch is released completely Michael Myers-less, its plot instead concerning the conspiracy around a Halloween novelty company trying to murder millions of children when their famous TV commercial interacts with pieces of Stonehenge planted in a line of their most popular masks. The reaction from fans and critics alike is less than positive, many feeling cheated or misled by the concept of a Halloween film without the now legendary Myers, who is now viewed as an absolutely essential part of the series (personally, I don't care what anyone says, it's an awesome movie).
1988 – Slasher movie sequels are all the rage (Friday the 13th releasing it's 7th installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street at its 4th), with many series truly reaching the status of franchises, every couple years churning out a new movie featuring their horror icon to eagerly awaiting fans. With it marking the 10 year anniversary of the original, producers decided to create a new Halloween film, but paid close attention not to make the same mistakes as before, and give the fans exactly what they wanted, the return of their favorite mass murdering psychopath, Michael Myers. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is born.
It's been 10 years since that horrible "night that he came home" in Haddonfield, Illinois, and life has seemingly returned to normal, the residents of the small, Midwestern town resting easy that the nightmare is long over. Little do they know they're about to be in for round two, as Michael Myers, thought to be completely comatose, once again escapes from his hospital transfer and begins his holiday rampage. With his sister out of the way, presumably killed in a tragic car accident, Michael picks the next logical target, her orphaned daughter, his niece, Jamie Lloyd. He then begins the standard hack and slash anyone who gets in his way routine, with his old nemesis Dr. Sam Loomis once again becoming the driving force behind putting an end to the homicidal bloodbath that is Halloween night in Haddonfield.
I've always thought of Halloween 4 as the last decent entry in the series. While it could never quite capture the exact feeling of the earlier films (by this point almost all of the original crew associated with the franchise had moved on to bigger and better things), it does manage to retain some of that eerie Carpenter-esque vibe while still fitting in perfectly with the other flashy horror sequels of the time. It's almost as if it's more of a reworking of the original rather than a sequel (with plots so similar all you'd need to do is interchange some characters), a fresh start to kick off the second wave of Halloween films. It's the same old Michael Myers that we all know and love, only updated ever so slightly to keep up with the newer generation of horror. Things had gotten a little gorier, and Michael was not to be outdone with tricks like jamming his thumb into foreheads or tearing out jugulars. This is also the film where Michael really starts to take on those superhuman characteristics that some of his screen rivals had been exhibiting for some time, like seemingly limitless physical strength and that uncanny ability to walk at a snail's pace yet somehow always manage to end up in front of the victims on the run. But a few silly, belief-stretching moments aside, the film still has its fair share of twists and turns, and most importantly, is still pretty scary.
Anchor Bay graces us with their third or fourth release (I've lost track) of this sequel by giving it their Divimax treatment. What that means exactly is that it's been remastered yet again using high definition technology to improve picture quality. I will say that this presentation is the cleanest and sharpest version of the film I've yet to see, with all the colors and lighting effects still intact and never once appearing too dark even though over half of the movie takes place at night, so their process seems to be working. Now let's just hope that they finally feel like they've released the definitive version so we're not subjected to yet another version a year or two down the road. Extras include audio commentary tracks with cast members Ellie Cornell (Rachel) and Danielle Harris (Jamie) and writer Alan B. McElroy, a Halloween 4/5 discussion panel from the 2003 convention, a trailer, and a short making of featurette called Halloween 4: Final Cut.
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